They Once Walked Among Us, Eleven O'Clock Always Comes, Meritocracy

This has been a wonderful read but I am glad it's over. Mamet wraps up his book by telling us that the greats that once walked among us were just like you and me. The final chapter then is about learning from the audience. When going straight into film you miss the interaction from the audience. If it is funny the audience will laugh, moving then they will sigh, etc. "A standing ovation can be extorted from the audience. A gasp cannot." I really liked this. I think it is true. A gasp from an audience means you have awaken something in them. Standing ovations can feel necessary rather than earned.

The Villain and the Hero, Acting "As if"

Humans are susceptible to suggestions. We will readily believe things we are told. There for the audience does not need characterization because it will be provided in the script by the author. Okay yes this I understand and I can agree with for the most part.
Acting "As If" did not feel like any new information. Mamet says to use your insecurities on stage. Don't use technique. As an actor you don't need faith. Mamet also talks about actors feelings of being a fraud. I enjoyed and understand the ideas of acting out fantasies for a one person audience. It's true this is easy. You don't need to prep yourself to act out your fantasy. But I feel the difference is that your fantasy is tailored to you. You are not granted this luxury with a play.

The Designated Hitter, Performance and Character

Most of these chapters feel as though Mamet is just writing and you need to shift through for the important information. From this chapter I basically got that the Good Actor is usually not good. We call him good because of our own need. The Good Actor is just a place holder. I don't get this and there for I don't agree or disagree...I don't know.
In Performance and Character I take away that you need to look outward and not inward. Again be brave be honest. Being brave seems to be one of the big messages through the whole book. It is a message I agree with and understand. Than Mamet goes on about how teachers are charlatans. Yes Mamet doesn't like school or teachers again we get it. He does make a good point about questioning what is told to you in an acting school. It's true if a teacher can not explain or demonstrate something for you it is likely he or she is lost as well.

Talent and Habit

Talent is like luck and it favors the prepared. So Mamet tells us to learn the skills of voice, dance and how to read the script like an actor. This to me means schooling which is not what Mamet would suggest. I don't get it. How do you become a competent actor if you can't go to school and there fore don't have the skills to get work and there for can't learn from the stage as Mamet says it should be done. I do however agree that talent like luck will come from determination and dedication.
I enjoyed Habit. The chapter felt like all of the basics. Things like leaving your problems on the street and being totally there in rehearsal and ready to get work done. Be an overachiever rising above the ranks rather than with them. Constantly improve your skills. However my favorite parts of this chapter were about how actors try with everything they have. They constantly hand themselves up for inspection by others. It is you on stage and you can hide nothing. It's a very reveling choice to put yourself on a stage.

Guilt and Concentration

Okay so David Mamet has now given us "actable objectives", "punch-lines" and "As ifs". He does not however believe in a method or schooling.......*pulls at hair* This book is now just making me angry. He most certainly is giving his own method and it is simply not the same as that of others before him. He talks about scholarship and staying in school and how they are bad things. He however is a teacher and has with this book made himself and his METHOD better than that of others. Anyway getting back to the chapter as ifs serve as reminders. Guilt from unattainable request causes actors to feel that they would have succeeded if they had only believed more. I agree. Walking like the color blue or unzipping and stepping out of my shell has never quite worked for me.
So concentration can not be forced suggesting then that it is a subconscious action. Okay I can jump on board here although I'm not sure I agree as countless students forced concentration in classrooms on a daily bases. So assuming that concentration flows to what is most interesting it would make sense to do as Mamet suggests and pick the most interesting play and the most interesting and fun action in the play. Concentration then will not be an issue. The problem here is that the actor does not get to pick the play and does not get to cut this play. That job is given to the director, the dramatrug etc. Mamet seems to have a habit of talking about things that are lovely in theory but not practical in the real world.

Emotions and Action

The chapter Emotions seemed to be a kind of repeat of other chapters. False emotions are a bad thing. We don't like it in our day to day lives when people smile to big or over express their sadness (although many are guilty of this on a daily bases) nor do we like to see it one stage. Then Mamet again calls emotion memory and sense memory paint by numbers. Then again he goes on about how you don't need school and it will not teach you these things. You must learn from the stage. Yes we got this in previous chapters I think we get it.
Now I may be interpreting this wrong but the idea of a "punch line" sounds a awful lot like a through-line as I believe it was called. I am again experiencing flashbacks. It does however kind of work if you think of a "punch line" scene by scene rather than a "punch line" for the whole play. To be honest I am really confused.

The Rehearsal Process,The Play and The Scene

So in rehearsal the play should be blocked and the actors should become accustom to the actions they are going to perform. Yes. I do however hate how cut, dry and impersonal this feels. This could be that I have only experienced rehearsal through a college and high school atmosphere but I love discovering a play along with my other actors. Things that you should just know or that should be taken care of before rehearsal are things I enjoy experiencing as a group. Then Mamet starts ranting about "actable objectives" and I start flashing back to Units and Objectives, making Mamet seem a little hypocritical. Yes you must have an actable objective and this according to Mamet this requires commitment but I also believe it requires preparation if not on paper than in your mind.
Focus your efforts scene by scene and not on the play. Yes.

Helping the Play and Acceptance

I feel again that we are being pulled by extremes here and that the better place would be somewhere in the middle. I will say that yes physical actions are more important than belief or emotional preparation but you can not completely leave these out. I do not however agree in anyway that most plays are better read than preformed. I have never thought that a play was better read. I hate to read a play. Plays are written to be preformed. It's just like Shakespeare never making sense to me until I actually saw it preformed or performed it myself.
As for Acceptance again I get a little lost. I feel as though Mamet is ranting. I agree that you can't make yourself believe something is true when it isn't nor should you try. There is no way you forget you are in a play onstage. Mamet than lose me with his talk of acceptance and it's being the key for happiness and actors. But I do get that the world is the way it is and really there isn't much you can do to change it. I do not however agree with this. There are many ways you can change things in the world around you. Perhaps it would be better to say change what you can and accept what you can't.

Work and Oral Interpretation

So Mamet does not believe that book work is necessary. Well how can I not agree with that. I do however feel that you must do something. You can't just memorize lines and they will come out just like they are suppose to right? It should also be mentioned that book work helps some people. I enjoy doing very unstructured book work. I may not have any documentation of the work but I'm understanding both the play and the character better. This however would be incorrect in the world of Mamet. I also like the idea of the 4th wall even thought Mamet calls it "a construction of someone afraid of the audience". Creating the idea of a 4th wall helps me to remember that I am in a play and just like when you watch a movie you the actors do not acknowledge that the audience is there. Mamet does make a good point of not trying to force yourself to believe in something that is obviously false. Yes you know that there is in fact no wall between you and the audience but it using this concept I cut down on side glancing and eye contact than I think I'll keep it.
The chapter titled Oral Interpretation was not a favorite of mine. It felt as though Mamet was oversimplifying. In no way shape or form do I believe that you could convincingly play , say a queen of England, without some background work. I hate this idea because some of my favorite times spend on plays in doing background work. You are able to make connections you didn't see before. Things the author thought you would know or people use to know or even things that have gotten lost in translation. Simply getting on stage and saying words is stupid! Witch I guess would be what Mamet is looking for when he says that the audience is looking for someone who can act. He describes this by saying "who can bring to the script something they couldn't have learned or imagined from reading it in a library." Well how does one do this if they don't do more than simply read the play and memorize lines ? Maybe I am the one oversimplifying what Mamet has wrote or maybe I am not a what Mamet would define as a competent actor.

Paint by Numbers

Mamet is blowing my mind. So in the chapter Paint by Numbers we're are given the wisdom of rehearsal. Now I suppose that if you have a set of competent actors then rehearsal would not have to take long. However with out training how does one get a competent actor? Mamet says himself that an actor needs to be trained to speak well etc. But with out school how do you get that. Even if you get experience on the stage it means at some point in time you will be in a show that is not full of competent actors and there for rehearsal just can't work that way. See blowing my mind. It feels to me like he is over simplifying and looking at an unattainable ideal.

Auditions

An audience comes to a show to be entertained and there for it stands to reason that they would be easier to please. Auditions are intimidating because a producer or an agent could really care less about you entertaining them and more than likely wont be entertained. To them you are another face in a crowd and they have seen many others like you. So I understand the concept of walking off stage and talking about how my performance was terrible. But usually this is to my fellow actors, my director. When an audience member comes to compliment me on my performance more likely than not i reply with a simple thank you. No matter how bad I fell I have done, my job was to entertain them and that I did. It is different with fellow actors and directors etc. I feel as if they are judging me, comparing me to something unachievable or even to themselves. It is not about simple enjoyment anymore and that intimidates me. Now reading this I hate the concept of auditioning or performing for anyone but an audience even more than I did before.

I'm on the Corner and Business is Business

So don't have a back up plan and don't go to school...This man is crazy. Not everyone will make it in the acting world no matter how bad they want it or how hard they work for it.

So this odd thing is starting to happen. I read and agree with everything I read. But then I think about it and I can't put together a "bigger picture". So anyway in the chapter Business is Business I get the concepts of wanting to please everyone and agree 100%. Then I can latch on to the idea that there is no character you are the character. But then there is all this talk about not adding to what the writer has done. "invent nothing, deny nothing" what the heck does that even mean? I've always been of the impression that invention is what theatre is all about. You invent another person another world. This is what makes me like theatre. Mamet then goes on to talk about acting teachers. Now I agree that acting teachers are not the best (although I would not call them frauds). I also think that being in a school simply allows you to call your self part of theatre (I'll admit it's why I'm here). I do believe that you will get more out of stage experience rather than class room experiences. Now with all that said I can't help calling Mamet himself a fraud. Is he not trying to Teach people a way of approaching the theatre world. Isn't this just a different method that has evolved out of what Mamet thinks others did wrong?

Find Your Mark

So....Umm.....I love the opening paragraph. It was exactly what I find myself asking. But then as I continue with the chapter I confuse myself. I find myself agreeing with everything, but I also don't understand how it can be true. Yes I don't think that you can know what you would do in a situation but I also do not think that you would be able to simply feel your way. Acting has to involves some sense of repetition and rehearsal. I mean although there is always a chance for the unknown the actor pretty much has to know what is going to happen next right? I also like the concept of wanting real heroism from real people. But the great part about that is the knowledge that it is real. The audience is aware that a play is not reality. I also don't quite understand the concept of acting on what you feel onstage. I can say that at times what I am feeling would not be even remotely appropriate for the moment. I suppose this means that I'm not in the moment or something *sigh*

A Generation That Would Like to Stay in School and Scholarship

So basically Mamet says don't go to school. As lovely as that sounds it is impractical. Almost everything these days requires a college degree. Including acting, most of the time. I do agree that you need to be dedicated and it is okay to live with uncertainty but I also believe you should put yourself in the situation that will give you the most opportunities and more often than not that is school. As for scholarship well I agree all it is about being better than the audience and what good can come of that.

Ancestor Worship

In the first lines of this chapter Mamet calls Stanislavsky an amateur. Essentially making all of that reading last semester feel worthless. It felt even more worthless as I continued reading and finding myself agreeing with everything Mamet said. I agree that there is only an ills ion of a character on stage. You are your self and can not "become" a character for a play. The audience knows that this is all an illusion. I also agree with the concept that trying or achieving to reach a required emotional state only takes the actor out of the play. I can't tell you how many times I forget what's happening on stage because I'm trying so hard to get myself to think or feels something that I believe I should be thinking or feeling at the time regardless of the stimulation from the outside. Mamet does end up going on about how Stanislavsky's method is "hogwash" as he dubs it. I feel that this comes in part from his dislike of formal training and I get it. Stanislavsky = bad. He almost says it to much...

David Mamet's True and False

Mamet's book True and False starts with a slow first page and then you get to the second and read the words "That's what acting is. Doing the play for the audience. The rest is just practice." from that moment on I was hooked. Although I have read ahead I am going to try to cover only the first two chapters I suppose you could call them. I don't feel like this book is split into chapters as much as it is split into ideas. Hopefully by posting in smaller chunks I'll prevent my overgeneralizing topics. The first section is titled To the Actor. The section is short and basically tell you that Mamet is experienced and comes from a family of actors. He's been doing this for around thirty years now. Although it is short it sets you up for the rest of the book by telling you that this book is basically going to challenge everything you've been taught. By doing this Mamet hooked me in and I could hardly wait to read what came next. The second section is titled Some Thoughts. This second little introduction made me feel like Mamet knew me. He opens with a lists of feeling that I could identify with. Yes indeed I do feel confused, guilty, lost and ashamed as an actor. I then thought to myself "Oh my goodness is he going to tell me how to fix these feelings?"It is almost as if he is given words to the feelings you haven't been able to describe for yourself. Now I do wonder how much of this is my real feeling and how much of it is me latching on to something that "sound good". I suppose I'll just have to wait and see.

Elena Andreyena

Elena Andreyena, who is also known by the names Helena and Yelena, is a 27 year old beauty born in Petersberg. In her youth she studied at a conservatory and is now seen by others as an idle and board in her life of privilege. She is accused of using her beauty to bewitch men. She is the wife of Serebryakov, an elderly professor. The fact that Elena has given away her youth to the professor is a constant theme in the play. Elena and the professor have just recently moved back to the estate and joined up with Sophie, Elena’s step-daughter. Elena is extremely unhappy in her marriage and can no longer stand her bitter grumbling old husband. She did marry for what she thought was love only to find out that her love was false. Even with all the accusations of bewitching beauty and the love (or lust) of both Uncle Vanya and the doctor, Elena stays faithful to her husband. There is a sense that Elena is in love with the doctor as well but she will not give into this feeling as it would not only hurt her marriage but it would hurt her step-daughter Sophie, who is in love with the doctor as well. Elena is seen as slightly mysterious because she does not have many monologues. Not much is known about her past other than her birthplace, where she studied and her love of music. In the end Elena opts to leave the estate rather than deal with the affections of both Uncle Vanya and the doctor.

A Final Thought on Stanislavski

There are many thing that I learned from An Actor Prepares by Stanislavski. It should be said though that I'm not sure I buy into the whole idea. I feel the need to take what I find helpful and throw out the rest. As seen in many of my blogs I don't be live that you can tap into your subconscious. It can change with you but you can't do this a will. I do however like the ideas of emotion memory and as much as I hate units and objectives I do think that the general idea of them is a solid one. I highly recommend the book to any actor who hasn't read it. Agree with it or not it does give you great ideas and gives you the opportunity to analyze just what your system is and how it compares to that of others.

On The Threshold Of The Subconscious

The last chapter! I made it, and what a journey :) So first of all this felt like there was a bit of repetition happening which make sense with this being the final chapter and all. So the high points or the new information I noticed starts with working with accidents that happen on stage rather than hating them because they will help you become more in touch with your subconscious (which I'm still not convinced you can do). There is a lot of talk about bringing everything together and we see repetition of what has been said before. Then there is talk about your subconscious stepping in and taking over when you do everything right. This says to me that your part consumes you and you lose you own identity to the character (if only for the time of the play). It also tells us that everyone is in fact different and you must process this information so that it makes sense to you. You have to be able to establish your own sense of purpose.

The Supper Objective

So plays have super objectives that which is the driving force of the whole play and every thing must work toward this super objective. This is of course easier to do when a play is well written and must have that lovely thing called a verb. Also all of the smaller units and objectives must serve the greater purpose of the super objective. This is done with a "though line of action" that leads everything to the super objective. The pictures that were given to help the reader understand did not help me at all. if anything they slightly confused me. Thankfully or hopefully the text was understandable to me.

The Inner Creative State

I really enjoyed the first paragraph of this chapter. The concept that the actor does not have a physical outlet for his emotions. Physical isn't quite the right word but it's close. Unlike the pianist going to his piano an actor turns to his mind, will and feelings. All these things combine to get the inner "elements" going. I assume elements is the things that we have been talking about through the rest of the chapters. Then there is the inner creative mood which is bad because it screams of theatre and self exhibition. It is good in the fact that it creates solitude in public which is something that you can not achieve in life. Audiences are good things that both scare actors but also get their creative energy flowing. A natural creative mood almost never happens spontaneously but when it does it creates a wonderful performance. In many cases the actor is not "in the mood" which means his "creative apparatus" is not functioning properly, is not functioning at all or is being replaced by something mechanical. All of these are bad things that create bad performance. Then the book goes into all kinds of reasons this may be happening or bad actor habits as I would call them. Towards the end I feel that the director is just talking and all I get from the last like two pages is: do well, show up early, prepare inside as well as outside.

Inner Motive Forces and The Unbroken Line

In the chapter Inner Motive Forces we learn that the mind, feelings and will are the things that move us forward in life. On stage everyone can use one of these to spark the creative process. By creating a spark in one of these areas it will then spark the other two. So I may be wrong but what I get from this chapter is that everyone starts somewhere different but it will bring us all to the same place if done correctly.

The Unbroken Line points out the fact that in all forms of art (music, design etc.) we feel the need to have an unbroken line in order to feel right about calling it art. On stage your character must possess an unbroken line of events and emotions. The problem is that you only have small moments on lines and there for must create the rest to continue the line and create a convincing life. The actors attention must be continue in a steam to move from object to object but this does not include attention to the audience which is in fact bad.

Adaptation

So adaptation...we as people in life and actors on the stage we adapt the ways we behave, the way we speak etc. to fit the situation we are in, who we happen to be speaking to at the time and what we want to gain from the moment. These adaptations are made both consciously and unconsciously. Then on stage actors have "rubber stamps" which are conscience adaptations of subconscious behaviors. Actions on stage should never just be taken but they should be adapted to fit your needs in the situation. Then as the book starts to talk again about tapping into the subconscious I suddenly don't really understand anymore as has been the case anytime this is mentioned. I think this is because I don't believe that this can be done. If we could access our sub conscience when ever we pleased it would not be a sub conscience.

Communion

So again this is a chapter that I am struggling to comprehend. It seems a little out there at times. So when you preform soliloquies you have to look inside your self and establish communication between your brain and the solar plexus. I can not lie this makes no sense to me.... at all. Then we move on to communicating with a partner witch is a little easier for me to connect with. When you communicate with a partner you have create a flow and maintain that flow using your eyes and the emotions of your body rather than your voice. This sounds hard and I find it hard to believe that this director and his students were able to communicate this way as well as the books makes it out to be. Although you may be able to get a general idea across with out words emotions can be extremely misconstrued. You should also always practice with a real persons not an imaginary one. Towards the end the chapter lost me completely by talking about conducting and receiving rays or currents and I can't comprehend how to make this happen or even what exactly it means.

Emotion Memory

So emotion memory is the concept that you use the memory of emotions in order to recreate said emotion on stage. Sometimes these emotions are driven from sense such as smell and taste. Emotions have to be something that comes from yourself rather than something that is taken from someone else. That is not to say that you can't experience an emotion in many different ways such as viewing an incident rather than participating. With these emotions coming from you it means that you are always playing you on stage. This does not work in my mind. You don't play yourself on stage you create someone new or so I understand it or want it to work. It was interesting to see the madman exercise come back. As I read about them recreating the moment I couldn't help but think that I would do the same thing. Repetition is a good thing right...but then again so is spontaneous moments. Ahhhh confusion. I can't fathom recreating a moment or a emotion without it coming across at least slightly mechanically to the trained eye. The other point that really struck me was the concept of doing something perfect but on accident. This happens many times and when you try to recreate the event you simply can't and it seems that the harder you try the harder it becomes. Trying to find the stimulus of the action rather than simply trying to go through the motions is a much better idea.

References

(2007). Character Analysis. Retrieved February 24, 2009, from Monkey Notes Web site: http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmWinters42.asp

Greenblatt, S. (Ed.). (1997). The Norton Shakespeare. New York, NY: Norton.

(2009). The Winter's Tale: Characters. Retrieved February 24, 2009, from Spark Notes Web site: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/winterstale/characters.html

Character Anaylsis

Hermione, who is the wife of Lenotes, is not a large part of The Winter’s Tale in fact after act three she is not seen again until the last scene of the play. Despite this fact Hermione is a strong and memorable feminine character. Her charm and dignity are seen throughout the play. She exudes absolute confidence and is quite intelligent and possesses a great wit. She is the personification of innocence which is ironic when it comes to her charge.
The trial scene is one of the most significant scenes for Hermione. During this scene we see Hermione’s trust of her husband. She has total faith in the love of her husband. We see her think of his comfort rather than hers. We also see this selflessness when she comforts her ladies as she is taken off to prison. Hermione’s defense is interesting in the fact that she does try to deny the charges against her instead she references to her past conduct. She argues her points with great skill and shows us her confidence.
Hermione kindness is also seen in the fact that the members of the court hold her very high self esteem. This is a great example of Shakespeare revealing a characters identity through the other character in the play. Hermione seems to be gracious, loyal, virtuous, etc. in the eyes of everyone but her husband. We then see Hermione reborn in the character of Perdita, Hermione’s daughter.

Faith And A Sense of Truth

I have very little idea as to what the chapter was all about. It has confused me greatly. Essentially I have gathered that you can in fact try to hard to be "truthful". Critics can be really bad people and lead an actor to helplessness. I'm lost with the "life of the human body"stuff. I really don't get what it is that going on. As far as I can figure you have to put pieces together to make them flow and this can be achieved by repetitive action. An actor should also focus on what they must do rather than the emotion. This seems backwards because I thought this method was all about feeling emotions. *sigh Perhaps I shall have to come back and reread this one.

Units and Objectives

This chapter was a struggle for me. Uniting plays is not something new to me because I have experienced it in two plays now. The difference is that I have never had to do this on my own. I find it easy to unit but hard to title these units. I can't seem to sum things up into one sentence no matter how short of a unit I make it. Objectives and tactics is something I've also had some experience with. I struggle with this concept. I can usually identify what it is my character wants and how they plan to get it but I have trouble putting this down into words. I have trouble creating a sentence that has the proper weight of what I'm thinking. I was hoping that this chapter would help clear this up for me but really it just left me more confused. It all sounds great and I understand 100% when I'm listening to an example but when it comes to practical application I suddenly can't seem to put anything I have heard or read to any good use. I'm hoping that with more practice objectives and tactics will become easier.

Hermione Monolouge

HERMIONE
Since what I am to say must be but that
Which contradicts my accusation and
The testimony on my part no other
But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me
To say 'not guilty:' mine integrity
Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so received. But thus: if powers divine
Behold our human actions, as they do,
I doubt not then but innocence shall make
False accusation blush and tyranny
Tremble at patience. You, my lord, best know,
Who least will seem to do so, my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devised
And play'd to take spectators. For behold me
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe
A moiety of the throne a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing
To prate and talk for life and honour 'fore
Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it
As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honour,'
Tis a derivative from me to mine,
And only that I stand for. I appeal
To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be so; since he came,
With what encounter so uncurrent I
Have strain'd to appear thus: if one jot beyond
The bound of honour, or in act or will
That way inclining, harden'd be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry fie upon my grave!

Hermione monolouge (folio)

Her.
Since what I am to say, must be but that
1197: Which contradicts my Accusation, and
1198: The testimonie on my part, no other
1199: But what comes from my selfe, it shall scarce boot me
1200: To say, Not guiltie: mine Integritie
1201: Being counted Falsehood, shall (as I expresse it)
1202: Be so receiu'd. But thus, if Powres Diuine
1203: Behold our humane Actions (as they doe)
1204: I doubt not then, but Innocence shall make
1205: False Accusation blush, and Tyrannie
1206: Tremble at Patience. You (my Lord) best know
1207: (Whom least will seeme to doe so) my past life
1208: Hath beene as continent, as chaste, as true,
1209: As I am now vnhappy; which is more
1210: Then Historie can patterne, though deuis'd,
1211: And play'd, to take Spectators. For behold me,
1212: A Fellow of the Royall Bed, which owe
1213: A Moitie of the Throne: a great Kings Daughter,
1214: The Mother to a hopefull Prince, here standing
1215: To prate and talke for Life, and Honor, fore
1216: Who please to come, and heare. For Life, I prize it
1217: As I weigh Griefe (which I would spare:) For Honor,
1218: 'Tis a deriuatiue from me to mine,
1219: And onely that I stand for. I appeale
1220: To your owne Conscience (Sir) before Polixenes
1221: Came to your Court, how I was in your grace,
1222: How merited to be so: Since he came,
1223: With what encounter so vncurrant, I
1224: Haue strayn'd t' appeare thus; if one iot beyond
1225: The bound of Honor, or in act, or will
1226: That way enclining, hardned be the hearts
1227: Of all that heare me, and my neer'st of Kin
1228: Cry fie vpon my Graue.

Character analysis: part 1

My character analysis of Hermione from The Winter's Tale has been slow going. So far I have united my monologue and also done objectives and tactics in my monologue. I have also picked a scene and scene partner. Picking a scene partner was a difficulty because of class time conflicts. Once the option of preforming the scene outside of class was given I new Andrew would be a good choice. I did this because I felt it would be good to give Andrew this experience. I also believe that we will work well together. We have meet to look over the scene and to discuss objectives and tactics through out. We will be meeting again soon to work out blocking.

Works Cited

Hirsch, Foster. A Method To Their Madness. New York: Da Capo
Press, Inc. , 1984.

Scheeder, Louis. "Why Classical Theater Deserves the Spotlight in Acting Classes." Chronicle of Higher Education 45.43 (02 July 1999): B12. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Luise V Hanson, Forest City, IA. 1 Feb. 2009 .

Strasberg, Lee. A Dream of Passion. Boston: Plume, 1987.

"Strasberg, Lee." Britannica Biographies (Jan. 2008): 1. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Luise V Hanson Library, Forest City, IA. 1 Feb. 2009 .

Strasberg, Lee. Strasberg at The Actors Studio. New York: The Viking
Press, 1965.

Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Lee Strasberg Theatre and
Film Institute. 1 Feb 2009 .

Relaxation of Muscles

Chapter six blew me away. The chapter is all about the idea of relaxing unused muscle groups. It made perfect sense to me. Before I step on stage I always find myself trying to loosen up my body. If I don't do or fail at trying to do this my voice locks up and I struggle to walk (yes we've all seen me trip on air). As I was reading I found myself trying the exercises and failing miserably. I lay on my back and find that it is imposable to get my body to fully relax. As soon as you releases one muscle another contracts to take the weight. It was impossible to get my whole back on the floor without engaging my abdominal muscles. It just seems natural and necessary. This chapter also managed to overwhelm me. So now we have to focus on concentration of attention, imagination, emotions and action on stage. On top of that we are adding relaxing your muscles witch is a three stage process (superfluous tenseness, mechanical relaxation and justification of the pose) that has to happen all in a matter of seconds. Were only on chapter six and my brain has hit overload.

KCACTF

I didn't take many acting workshops while at KCACTF. The first workshop I took was all about acting with an accent. It was very informative and the workshop provided us with some great resources to check out. The workshop itself focused on how to use the tools rather than learning actual dialects there in the room. I had hoped that the dialect we would work with would be British or a least a mix. Sadly the only dialect that was used was Scottish. The other one acting related workshop I went to was about acting in Shakespeare's plays. It was a great workshop. I was really able to make the connection he was trying to get across. I think that this was because of his vocal training. He could make you see the differences in vocal choices. There were many moments where he would give examples of the wrong way to do something and I would experience a moment of "oh yeah I do that". It was my favorite of the acting workshops. I also tried to go to a workshop that I believe was titled The Action in Acting. I sat in the room fro twenty minuets before we all gave up on the professor showing up. Even though the professor never showed up it was time well spent meeting new people and talk over why they had picked the workshop and what experiences they had over the week.

Concentration of Attention

Yippy chapter five! This chapter tackled the concept of the "black hole". Now this doesn't totally register with me because we do not have a stage that creates this "black hole" per say. The concept still rings true though. As an actor you need to have a "point of attention that is not in the auditorium". This is not to say that you can't look out into the audience but then your imagination comes into play because you are not looking out into the audience you are looking at a wall or into a window. Easier said then done. This chapter examines how the pull of the audience is a hard thing to break away from. The concept of the circle of light sounds interesting to me but I'm not sure it would work for me. I'm also not sure how it translates to looking "normal". When I try to think of myself and how I act on a daily bases I don't think that I stare intently at objects, memorizing every detail of them. This has me utterly confused and not sure what message to take home with me from this chapter.

Imagination

Chapter four....took me by surprise. I was not expecting to see a chapter on imagination in this way. I enjoyed the chapter very much. The concept of developing you imagination intrigues me both as an actor and as a human being. Imagination is the driving force behind creating a role this way. You give your character a life that he or she has had before and after the script. I know that I personally think that I have a very active imagination but also a very picky and selective one. My imagination can create wonderful stories about people I know well or people that I have never meet. (it is unfortunate that I currently lack the writing skills to tell these stories) However my imagination does not like to be given a tiny piece of information and then have to give that person a story. It feels to restricting. (Yes I confuse myself as well). The nugget I take with me from chapter four is that imagination is that everything that you do on stage is the result of your imagination.

Action

I finally made it past chapter two! I have also made the choice not to blog about it haha. Okay maybe a few words are needed. Chapter two was hard for me to follow. Mainly what I got from it was that everyone was doing something wrong. The concept of acting from a subconscious level seems to me to be not only an unreachable goal but also an unhealthy one.

So moving on to chapter three. Chapter three was when things finally got interesting for me. It starts with the first day of lessons with the director. The director has a young girl sit on stage and do nothing else. This seems to be an easy task at first but the more you think about it the harder the task would actually be. I know I would feel stupid sitting up there doing nothing. The take home message I got from this chapter would have to be something along the line of the best acting happens when you "aren't acting". Along with that you can not use the false acting of emotions or the use of conventional gestures. Instead of this false acting you must live in the emotions and types. (This is a concept that both intrigues and worries me)

The First Test

The first Chapter in the book An Actor Prepares reads like a story rather than a text book. The chapter is entitled The First Test which seems to me like an extremely appropriate title. It shows that it is normal to struggle to construct a character and bring it to life. The concept of the lines getting in the way of the character was something that I was able to identify with. It is very common for me to create this character in my mind and then have the lines get in the way.

This chapter does a very good job of presenting the problems you face when you first start looking at a script. The part that struck me the most was the concept of letting go. The best work coming from the subconscious. This rang very true to me but how do you control something such as that? I'm hoping that this story of perfect costume, perfect make-up, perfect set, etc. will be the bases for the rest of the books. How do you create that moment of subconscious perfection?