Master Classes

The purpose of a master class is to educate an audience of students on a specific subject, usually one of the arts such as music or drama. Rather than a workshop in which all students actively take part in the space, a master class is based further on demonstration and explanation for note taking.

I have written down a few thoughts on some of the master classes presented in the lesson.

Response to the Meisner Master Class

Positives

- Very clear demonstration, allowing students to see the technique in use as well as its effect.

- There was lots of detail in the explanation of Meisner’s background and concepts.

Negatives

- The scene presented was very long – a shorter one with further developed repetition may have been more appropriate to demonstrate the technique in detail.

Response to Laban Efforts Master Class

Positives

- There was a clear justification of the pros and cons of each effort when they were suggested by students in the audience.

- Audience participation and input meant that we were drawn in to the presentation and were encouraged to engage with it.

- The group gave a control example of the speech before applying efforts, allowing the audience to see the complete effects of the efforts.

Negatives

- Initially there wasn’t any background information/recap of Laban or the process.

Understanding why certain aspects of the master classes did or didn’t work will help me when planning workshops in the future. It has become clear to me that comprehensible demonstrations and detailed background information are vital in the presentation of an effective master class.

A memorable quote from the lesson for me was “practitioners highlight aspects of your process that already exist”. I remembered this because it defines why we have acting technique classes: I can now employ so many more techniques when exploring a text or devising process. This is because each practitioner approaches a different area of acting, creating a variety of ways to help actors grow and develop.

 

Michael Chekhov

The playwright Anton Chekhov's nephew, Michael Chekhov was born in 1891 in Russia. He was a director, author, practitioner and actor in America as well as Russia and his acting technique has been employed by many actors including Clint Eastwood and Marilyn Monroe. 28 years younger than Konstantin Stanislavsky, Chekhov worked with him at the Moscow Art Theatre as an actor from 1912.

One of his most notable works is To The Actor (1953) in which he invites the reader to experiment on their own, rather than providing them with a set of exercises within a narrative like Stanislavsky in An Actor Prepares.

His practice is based on the use of imagination, rather than linking a character to the actor's own attributes. He believed actors should have an objective point of view on the whole piece and their character, the same as a director would, rather than a subjective look at themselves using techniques such as emotional memory.

This means that instead of searching for a character's similarities to yourself you look at the differences. Therefore, Chekhov's technique is unlike naturalism in the way it is presented by Stanislavsky because it focuses on detachment instead of links.

Relaxation and finding character

1. We sat in a space in the room and closed our eyes in order to picture our character completing an everyday task. I visualised Ruby sat on her bed, reading a book. Her hair was blonde and in bunches. A concentrated facial expression, in her own world.

2. We then imagined our character in a new space. I pictured Ruby chopping vegetables with her mother in the kitchen but I couldn't concentrate properly and she kept blurring out of view. I think this was my own personal concentration block rather than an actor's block.

3. Going back to my original image, I realised, through asking Ruby how she felt, that although it is never seen in the play, Ruby's place of true serenity is in fact when she is alone with a book; away from Sarah.

Seeing Ruby as a separate person helped me notice more about her such as the way she looks and sits and moves. We think about the character in the third person because:

The character is not you. You are not the character.

The importance of Ruby in 13

She establishes the conflict between atheism and religion which is apparent across the world, not just in America and the UK. Ruby and Sarah are representations of the two sides and how arguably this conflict ultimately ends in death, that may come out of war for example. The Harrison family are also a representation of different groups of people in America: the provider (Dennis), the Christian fundamentalist (Sarah), the youth (Ruby). Ruby's views show how some young people in America have more radical views now than previous generations did. Without the scenes with the Harrison family, these themes are not established.

Creating and atmosphere

When creating the atmosphere of a library we are working as an ensemble; considering the whole space and nit just our own characters. We almost take on a directional role; which allows us to be objective.