Critical Report (Acting)

In Dirty Butterflies, I used my knowledge of Stanislavsky to incorporate a naturalistic style of acting. For example, Stanislavsky’s main aim was to teach actors to feel what their character would be feeling. Despite it being an abstract and confusing piece to grasp, the more research I did on the play and the more we rehearsed it, I learned more about my character and began to understand completely how he would be feeling and thinking. When saying certain lines, I was able to grasp a motive for what I was saying and this made my acting more realistic. In Bliss, the only thing I knew about my character was that I was supposed to be perceived as a needy fan of Celine Dion. I used one of Stanislavsky’s ideas of using my own experiences to create a more realistic performance by remembering exactly how I felt when meeting one of my ‘idols’. I exaggerated this feeling inside of me so I could express it more easily to the audience.

Uta Hagen’s questions for understanding my Given Circumstances also helped me create a more realistic performance in Dirty Butterflies. When thinking about the specifics such as where I was, the time of day and my objectives, it was clear who my character was and I therefor found it easier to put myself in his shoes. I also managed to empathise with his issues and could see his problems from his point of view. For example, other people would find me to be a troubled stalker whereas I managed to see myself as someone to feel sorry for. In Bliss, it was difficult to pinpoint the answers to Uta Hagen’s questions as it was an extremely abstract ensemble performance. However, I knew that I was one of many ‘crazy fans’ and I could answer the biggest question: What does my character want? I clearly wanted to be noticed by Celine Dion in amongst the chaos. Knowing the answer and putting myself in the shoes of someone who wanted that made my performance more realistic.

Throughout the rehearsal process, I learned more acting skills. Practice of trying to come across as a realistic character even in an abstract piece where I had lines that wouldn’t be said in real life gave me the opportunity to use other techniques to present something realistic. The main thing I learned was that I need to fully understand my character especially when performing something abstract such as Dirty Butterflies or Bliss. When I know my character well and put myself in their shoes, the physical movements, facial expressions and stance come naturally. My ensemble skills improved, too. I had more practice performing this way and therefore understood what was meant by the terms complicité, dispondabilité and le jeu. At first I wasn’t sure how a group of performers could feel so ‘connected’ to one another that they could easily work as one. But with the amount of practice we had doing an ensemble piece, I completely understood.

As well as this, I learned that the more I rehearse a piece, the more I understand the whole piece (no matter how abstract) as well as my character and others in the play. I originally thought it would be impossible for me to understand and properly perform the pieces I was given as they were extremely abstract and I didn’t understand at all what was happening in them. However, with research and plenty of rehearsals, I completely grasped the plays and found it easier than expected to perform realistically.

One of my areas for development are to learn my lines earlier. Although I found it reasonably easy to learn them without trying hard (I just learned them the more we rehearsed), I know that I can proceed with understanding the motives of each line quicker if I am confident on them already. Another area for development is to be more specific when answering Uta Hagen’s questions for my character. I found that knowing these answers dramatically improved my confidence when performing as I knew exactly what I would do as my character. However, if I had thought more about not only the answers but why I had chosen them, I feel that my performance would be much better.

I’ve decided that my targets for the next term should be to understand Stanislavsky more. To do this, I will continue to practice his techniques such as using my own life to incorporate real emotions into my performances. If there’s one thing I learned last time, it’s that continued practice of something makes it easier to understand. Therefore, I will also aim to use Uta Hagen’s questions for every single role I am given. And hopefully I can go into more detail with my answers for each question for a further understanding of my character.

Commedia Dell’Arte

The History of Commedia Dell’Arte

Commedia Dell’Arte translates to “comedy of the profession”. It was an early type of theatre that allegedly began in Italy (although there is no certainty as to where the style originated). It became popular in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century.

The first recorded performances, in fact, came from Rome as early as 1551 and it was performed by actors in costumes and masks. Female roles were played by women which was frowned upon at the time. Performances were often improvised but the entrances and exits of the characters were scripted.

Stock Characters

A table found here show the characters and if they wore a mask.

Short list of characters^[38]

Character(s)	Masks	Status	Costume
Arlecchino	Yes	Servant (sometimes to two masters)	Colorful tight fitting jacket and trousers
Il Dottore	Yes	Head of the household	Black scholarly robe
Il Capitano	Yes	Indigenous loner	Military uniform
Innamorati	No	High class hopeless lovers	Nicely dressed on par with the time
Pantalone	Yes	Older wealthy man	Dark capes and red trousers
Colombina	Yes	Perky maid / servant	Can be colorful on par with Arlecchino or black and white
Pierrot	Yes	Servant (Sad clown)	White, flowy costume with large buttons

Magnifico is somewhat an eagle that looks down on everyone. He leads from his chest.

Zanni is described as pigeon like. He leads with his nose and feet and is a curious, enthusiastic character.

Pantelone is like magnifico. He is mean and vinegary; he is compared to Mr. Burns from the Simpsons or Scrooge. He has a bent back and walks like an old man.

Il dottore is the fact doctor and he oozes words and thoughts. He leads with his belly.

Brighella is a brain character who follows logic.

Arlecchino is a body character who has open hips.

Columbina is at the centre of the Commedia Dell’Arte diagram. She is cunning and playful.

The 1st Actress and Actor are like the parents of Romeo and Juliet. They are top players of politics and lead from their shoulders. They are unmasked.

The Innamorati are the children of the 1st actress and actor (like Romeo and Juliet).

The Witch is an earthy, supernatural character who moves in figures of eight and has a large essence of freedom.

Il Capitano brags all of the time. He does anything to avoid a fight, however and has a very large sense of self preservation. He leads from his knees.

The ‘masters and servants’ were masked and the ‘lovers’ were unmasked.

Lazzi

Lazzi are stock comedic routines associated with Commedia Dell’Arte. These routines are often used to keep the audience engaged and entertained when a line is dropped or if the scene was dragging. The actors playing Arlecchino commonly used these routines.

They could be improvised or pre-planned within the performance. For example, a high status character could pour wine into a glass whilst someone like Zanni could trip and fall to entertain and engage the audience.

The Characteristics of the Performance Style

Commedia Dell’Arte is extremely melodramatic with exaggerated movements. Fawlty Towers has perfect examples of the style. For example, Manuel is like Zanni. He dramatically falls all over the place and is extremely enthusiastic and fast-paced as well as leading from the nose: seeming curious about everything when there is nothing to be curious about specifically.

The style can be compared to slapstick comedy at times whilst also being similar to classical plays such as Shakespeare’s.

Grammelot

Grammalot is a fake language consisting of nothing other than complete, improvised gibberish which is associated with Commedia Dell’Arte a lot.

It allows for expression, voice and body language to tell a story and present a character without the need for real words. Although the words are meaningless, Grammelot is supposed to sound like a real language and actors can use their own intuition when using it to create their character.

Grammelot is extremely useful for actors so that they can learn to use only their body and face to express exact emotions and personalities. Because the characters in Commedia Dell’Arte are extremely exaggerated, this made-up language becomes easier to use.

Mask Work

The Commedia Dell’Arte masks are one of the biggest classifiers for each character. The masks look different and go only with one character and should only be an extension of the hair, costume and other accessories.

The masks tend to make a large impression on the audience immediately, as they first step onto the stage. They tell the audience who they are, what their social status is and what their attitudes are.

Creating My Character

We were given an hour to make an observation of an intriguing stranger and then come up with an inspired character and make a monologue. To do this, I needed to come up with a full backstory and think about my character’s intentions.

I had chosen to focus on a Mormon (Who I’m calling Jacob) in town who was dressed formally. He offered me a card that was an invitation to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. After passing up the offer, a group of drunken men shouted “Tell him Jesus is gay!” and began to sing a hateful song. Jacob reacted by standing awkwardly as these men danced past. It seemed as though he was hurt but had no real opinion on them. This response inspired me to think about what was really going on in his head at this time and what his life was like. I asked myself, “How often does he have to deal with this?” and “How does he really feel in these situations?”

I intend to express my character’s private thoughts and feelings throughout my performance realistically by using character development.

So far, I have thought about my character’s background in which I have decided that he has a strict family and still live with them despite being in his early twenties. I have to research what the daily and weekly lives are like for Mormons as this would be a big part of his life. Additionally, I want my piece to be focused on the fact that he is religious so I really have to look into what his days might look like.

So far, I have found out that Jacob would be named a Mormon Missionary. With this information, I researched what they do and why. I found out that they not only engage in proselytising (attempts to convert new members), they also partake in community service and church services. They may serve part-time or full-time. To make my piece more focused on this aspect of my character’s life, I have decided that he does this full-time.

However, with my new knowledge that Mormon missionaries are volunteers, I know that my character and his family must be wealthy to be able to sustain themselves well without a job. This adds a new dynamic to my performance which is that his home and family are well-kept and upper class. This allowed me to further think about my character’s feelings. I imagine that he feels trapped in such a strict home with a family that expects great things from him. With this new development, I decided to incorporate it at the beginning of my piece.

I decided to dig deeper and think about any mental issues my character may have. I came up with the idea that he is immensely stressed due to the expectations from his family made worse due to the religion he must follow. In order to show this, I feel that I must really put myself in his shoes and feel as though I am the character.

My main course of action is to imagine every detail of my character’s thoughts during everyday activities so that I can get used to him and make the performance as realistic as possible.

Stanislavsky Technique

“Living truthfully in imaginary circumstances”

• Objectives
• Super Objectives
• Emotional Memory
• Sense Memory
• Given Circumstances
• Relaxation
• Magic If
• Imagination
• Units
• Public Solitude

Objectives: What are the character’s current objectives?

Super Objectives: What is the character’s main intention/objective throughout the entire piece?

Emotional Memory: Can you use your own emotional memories to ‘method act’?

Sense Memory: Can you remember what it was like to experience a certain smell, taste etc to ‘method act’?

Given Circumstances: Is the set and situation able to put you further into the shoes of your character?

Relaxation: Create a blank canvas. Can you eliminate your own stance and step foot into the character’s?

Magic If: Can you fully imagine yourself in the character’s shoes? How would you genuinely react?

Imagination: Can you use your imagination to create the character without needing to connect the character to your own life?

Units: A portion of a scene that contains one objective for the character. What is that objective?

Public Solitude: Can you make the audience feel as though they are watching a private moment ‘in public’?

Using the Techniques

I will aim to use the new Stanislavsky techniques that I have learned in my performance. The most important technique that I feel I must use is public solitude. Whilst planning to speak to my audience, I also want to include moments of my life that the audience wouldn’t ever see. For example, waking up from a private nightmare and then putting on a smile. By doing this, the audience can see that I am only pretending to be joyful. Usually, the audience wouldn’t know this.