ISTA's Scene Magazine - The ABC of theatre theorists September 2021

Scene Issue 1 September 2021-2022

The ABC of theatre theorists: Artaud, Brecht and Chekhov 1

Patron and Global Partner Schools Patron Professor Jonothan Neelands National Teaching Fellow, Chair of Drama and Theatre Education in the Institute of Education and Chair of Creative

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Education in the Warwick Business School (WBS) at the University of Warwick.

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Global partners Atlanta International School, USA Artist Residency Thailand, Prem Dulwich College, Singapore International School of Phnom Penh, Cambodia ISTA Performing Arts Academy, Hong Kong Near West, China St Julians School, Portugal 20

Scene Editor Emmy Abrahamson

Contents 3

Editorial

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Chekhov was cool by Natalie Diddams

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B is for Bertolt Brecht by Liane Campbell

Association (ISTA) 2021-2022

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Accessing Artaud by Kieran Burgess

ISTA and its editors accept no

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Checkov and the puzzle of comedy by Jake Murray

Artwork Jo Doidge © International Schools Theatre

liability for the views, opinions and advice contained in this

20 How can we change the world? Brecht as a stimulus for devising by Kate Friend

journal. The editors reserve the right to edit any materials submitted for publication.

ISTA contact information International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA), Lakeside Offices, The Old Cattle Market, Coronation Park, Helston, Cornwall TR13 0SR United Kingdom

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Katie Mitchell: making the micro macro by Simon Bell

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Theatre and the Virus by Sophie Galton

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C is for Chekhov by Nita Dewse

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Take a stab at Artaud by Samantha Pierce

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Unmasking the elements by Lian Sutton

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Brecht, the storyteller by Joachim Matschoss

66 Chekhov, the David Attenborough of playwrights by Anna

office@ista.co.uk

Andresen 68

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Biographies

Editorial And… we’re back!

As we watch the end credits roll to this most boring and grey pandemic movie, let’s all take a big breath. Everyone at the same time: in through your nose and out through your mouth. Aaaaaaahhhhhh…

Are we all feeling better? Yes? Yay! Then let’s rejoice for so many, many reasons: ISTA is back to face to face events as of next month, we have got loads of exciting events planned for this year - both face to face and virtual, and - my personal favourite highlight - ISTA’s magazine Scene is back as a quarterly journal with a strong thematic focus in each issue. And as Scene will now be online, the articles can be as long and thorough as we like. And easily printed out by you. Oh, and did I mention that I will be returning as editor of Scene, i.e. the best job in the world? Reasons to rejoice indeed.

As ISTA has always been an organisation by drama teachers for drama teachers, the 2021-2022 Scene issues all contain themes requested by YOU. And one of the most frequent requests we have had was to publish an issue about theatre theorists, so in this issue we take a closer look at not only Artuad, Brecht and Chekhov (both Anton and Michael) but also Katie Mitchell. There are both practical and more theoretical articles on these revolutionary theatre practitioners, useful for both you and your theatre students to dip into.

In our next issues we will focus on cross curricular projects, comedic world theatre traditions and the drama journal. If you have any questions, requests or comments please feel free to email me on emmy@ista.co.uk.

Let the good times roll!

Emmy

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Chekhov was cool

By Natalie Diddams Chekhov was cool.

themselves from. Do we need another production of The Cherry Orchard? Probably not. Are some of his

This is a phrase I have said more than once, usually

plays a bit dated? Yeah. Should we still get to know

while standing in front of suspicious-looking

him? Absolutely! Why? Because… Chekhov was cool.

students. Their suspicion, I imagine, is partly to do

And I’m going to prove it to you.

with my use of the word cool. Is ‘cool’ still cool?

And if it is, what on earth would I know about it?

1) He had a difficult childhood

However, it’s also to do with what my students

Chekhov was born in 1860. He spent his childhood

associate with Chekhov. Stuffy theatres. Dusty

in Taganrog, where his grandfather had been a serf,

costumes. Boring conversations about tsarist

and where his parents ran a small grocery store.

Russia. Basically, stuff that isn’t that cool (whatever

In 1876, Chekhov’s father was declared bankrupt

you take that word to mean).

and took most of the family to Moscow. Chekhov - at the age of 16 - was left behind to sort out the

And, I get it. Chekhov has become the moustachioed

family’s possessions. He paid for his own education

symbol of the western theatrical canon; something

by catching and selling goldfinches, and sent every

that - rightly - a lot of young people want to distance

spare ruble to his family in Moscow.

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I’m not saying that having a difficult childhood

Realism is easily taken for granted now. But it’s

is cool. However, it is remarkable that Chekhov

important to remember that - in the 19th century -

didn’t come from more aristocratic stock. He wrote

it was an extraordinary idea. When The Seagull was

because he loved it; not because he saw a glittering

first staged in 1896, half the audience walked out

literary career ahead of him. And his stories were

and Chekhov vowed never to write another play.

good because he was great; not because he’d

Luckily, it was picked up by Nemirovich-Danchenko

received an expensive education.

and Stanislavski and staged at the Moscow Art Theatre where it became a hit.

2) He cared about social issues Chekhov knew what it was to live in poverty, and

Chekhov’s plays went on to inspire an entirely new

- as a result - he cared deeply about social issues.

system of acting; one that aims to recreate the way

When he qualified as a physician in 1884, he moved

people speak and act in real life. In the west, this

to Moscow and started offering free medical

system is the cornerstone of actor training, which

treatment to the poor. In 1890, he even spent

means that almost every American and European

three months in a penal colony called Sakhalin,

actor you can think of has been directly influenced

looking after the prisoners and their impoverished

by Chekhov. I have one word for you. Cool.

families. He was particularly moved by the plight of the children that lived there, and campaigned for

4) He was funny

government reform on his return.

In pictures, Chekhov looks pretty serious. So, you might be surprised to know that he was great fun

Chekhov was the 19th century’s Chris Thorpe or

to be around. He was known for his humorous

Javaad Alipoor. His plays and short stories were a

letters, love affairs and late night drinking sessions,

vehicle for his political ideas, and they were made

and - according to legend - his last words were: ‘It’s

better by his commitment to helping real people.

a long time since I had champagne’.

It’s even said that Chekhov inspired Lenin to become a revolutionary. How cool is that?!

He also meant many of his plays to be funny. He was a master of subtext and misdirection, where

3) He wanted to shake things up

hidden meanings emerge in-between the lines.

Early Russian drama looked a lot like the early years

Unfortunately, some serious-minded directors

of theatre in France, Germany or Italy. There were

don’t ‘get’ his humour, which is very dry, and

mystery plays and folk comedies that eventually

quintessentially Russian. His plays are tragic, yes,

gave way to neoclassical scholastic dramas. In

but wonderfully silly, with as much space for mirth

the 1700s, the first professional theatre was built

as for sadness.

in St Petersburg, allowing audiences to enjoy adaptations of Shakespeare and Molière. Later,

Once upon a time, I was like my students. Chekhov

some Russians - such as Pushkin and Lermontov -

appeared in my imagination as a fusty academic;

tried their hand at romanticism but their work was

one with a large ego and little relevance. However,

heavily censored by the tsarist regime.

that has more to do with how he was taught than who he was.

When Chekhov started writing, he wanted things to change. He thought that drama should feel like life,

As I have tried to show in this article, Chekhov was

saying that:

a humble man, who cared deeply about other people. He was a political playwright before activist

‘In life, people do not shoot themselves, or hang

theatre was a thing, and he was the rockstar of the

themselves, or fall in love, or deliver themselves

realist movement. He was inventive and rebellious;

of clever sayings every minute. They spend most

playful and curious. He would have been an

of their time eating, drinking, running after

excellent dinner party guest.

women, or men, or talking nonsense. It is therefore necessary that this should be shown on the stage…

In other words… Chekhov was cool.

Life on the stage should be as it really is. And the people too should be as they are.’

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B is for Bertolt Brecht

By Liane Campbell

‘Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.’ Bertolt Brecht Bertolt Brecht (born in 1898,

using theatre as a tool for action

and WW2 China; and Caucasian

Augsburg, Germany – died

and change.

Chalk Circle (1945), the struggle

1956, East Berlin) was a poet,

of possession of a child from a

playwright and theatrical

Brecht lived in Bavaria until 1924,

high status mother that deserts

practitioner and reformer, whose

where he studied medicine in

it, and the servant girl who

Epic Theatre departed from

Munich. During this period, he

cares for it. Brecht returned to

the conventions of illusion and

developed an anti-bourgeois

Europe in 1947 after appearing

developed drama as a social

attitude that reflected his

before the House Un-American

and ideological forum. The idea

generation’s disappointment in

Activities Committee. By the

of objectivity and the absence

society where they were appalled

time of his death in 1956, Brecht

of empathy developed into a

by the effects of World War I.

had established the Berliner

concept of theatre called Epic

Brecht moved to Berlin in pursuit

Ensemble and was regarded as

theatre, as opposed to what

of a career in theatre but that

one of the greatest theatrical

Brecht refers to as Dramatic

came to an end in 1933 when the

practitioners.

theatre. Epic theatre is historical

Nazis came to power in Germany.

and reminds the audience that

He also became a Marxist. The

As an artist, Brecht was influenced

they are getting a report of past

Nazis formally removed his

by a diverse range of writers

events and are being encouraged

citizenship so he became a

and practitioners including

to look at the world differently.

stateless citizen.

Chinese and Japanese theatre,

Brecht wanted his plays to arouse,

Shakespearean drama, Greek

shock and alienate his audience

Brecht went into exile, mainly in

tragedies and chorus, Edwin

by making them think and then

Denmark (1933 – 41), and then

Piscator, Expressionist writers

hopefully act to change society.

in the United States (1941-47). In

and Karl Marx. The turmoil of the

Germany his books were burned,

times Brecht lived through gave

Brecht’s ideas always fascinated

and he was cut off from the

him a strong political voice. Brecht

me as a theatre teacher, as they

German theatre, but between

wanted to make the audience

were so revolutionary that they

1937 and 1945 he wrote most of

think and used a range of

changed the theatrical landscape

his great plays, essays and many

techniques to remind them they

forever. However, they are also

of his poems. Notable among

were watching theatre and should

very tangible for theatre students

them are Mother Courage and

not identify or have empathy

to explore and utilise in their

Her Children (1941), a chronicle

with the characters on stage -

own directing or devising work,

play of the 30 Years’ War; The

this is not real life – but rather an

particularly in this age of social

Good Woman of Setzuan (1943),

account of events to be watched

and political commentary, and

a parable set in between WW1

with critical detachment.

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‘Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.’

Bertolt Brecht

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The key to Brecht’s work is the idea

Coming out of role to give

about to watch. Another example

of alienation or estrangement. His

a third person narration e.g.

might be the scene of a married

theatre is based on detachment,

midway through a heightened

couple arguing on stage where

on the Verfremdungseffekt (the

scene, action might break for the

the wife is very upset and then

‘v’ effect), which actually translates

actor to comment upon their

she holds up a placard saying:

more closely to distancing.

character in the third person.

‘I’m having an affair’. This forces

Brecht’s ‘alienation effect’ is

They might explain why they

the audience to consider other

achieved through a number

might be feeling that way.

aspects of their relationship.

of techniques that remind the

Direct address. The ‘fourth wall’

Gesture. The stylised movement,

audience they are being presented

– the imaginary wall between

formal gestures and unemotional

with a demonstration of human

the actors and the audience - is

way that Chinese theatre actors

behaviour, rather than an illusion

broken when an actor speaks

performed, influenced Brecht

of reality. He wanted the audience

directly to the audience. This

immensely. In Chinese theatre a

to consider varying viewpoints

device keeps the spectators as

gesture that shows the character

and sides to an argument. Brecht

active members of the theatrical

is crying is moving the finger up

wanted them to remain engaged,

experience. Shakespeare used

and down in front of their eyes.

so they would consider the

this technique as ‘an aside’ to

Brecht encouraged actors to use

political, moral or social message

show the character’s private

character gesture or movement

– the parable as such - but didn’t

opinions or reactions.

to demonstrate what happened

want them to have emotional

Voice techniques. The use of

and capture a moment or

investment in the characters.

song, chants, mechanical and

attitude rather than delving into

strange sounding voices, different

emotion. Actors are required

Devices and staging choices

class accents, opposite emotional

to demonstrate, suggest or

onstage using the ‘v’ effect

values from those that seem

describe behaviour as opposed

had the specific purpose to

apparent in a speech, non-human

to realistically creating the ‘inner

remind the audience they were

sounds or to possibly speak in a

truth’ of a role.

watching a piece of theatre.

range of dialects, were all effective

Spass, translates into English

These devices include:

techniques to produce alienation.

as ‘fun’. Brecht realised that

Dialogue could be interrupted

even if a message is serious,

Narration is used to remind the

with sections of narration

comedy could be an effective

audience this is the presentation

throughout the play.

way of engaging the audience

of a story, and they might even

Using placards, signs or

and forcing them to think about

tell you the end of the story in the

multimedia slideshows are used

issues or perspectives. Spass was

beginning just to make sure you

to emphasise the themes and

also a brilliant way to break rising

don’t get emotionally involved

issues in order to enhance the

tension, through black comedy

in the action. The narrator is

didactic message. Characters

and contrast. An example

to observe the action on stage

might hold up or wear a sign

would be to break the action at

and report events to counteract

that identifies their character

a key moment in a character’s

emotion onstage. This is similar

or what they represent e.g. girl,

unhappiness with life or a

to the role of the chorus in the

police officer, car door. When I

situation, and break into a comic

Greek play Antigone.

directed the play A Thousand

song, slapstick sequence, physical

Scenes are episodic and can be

Cranes, I opened with a slideshow

comedy or stand-up routine. The

fractured, where they stand alone

to demonstrate the bombing,

audience should question why

and can jump about in time,

loss of lives and destruction of

they are laughing.

rather than a linear narrative

Hiroshima, and gave context

Multi-roling is when an actor plays

structure like Dramatic theatre.

to the story the audience were

more than one character on stage.

“‘The human race tends to remember the abuses to which it has been subjected rather than the endearments. What’s left of kisses? Wounds, however, leave scars.’ Bertolt Brecht 8

The differences in character are marked by changing

EXERCISE

voice, gesture and movement but the audience can

Here is a great practical task that

clearly see this is the same actor.

really explores and demonstrates the

Minimal set, costumes, props and lighting means

difference between Dramatic theatre

everything is kept simple and representational.

and Epic theatre techniques and

• The absence of elaborate costumes and set

performance. I don’t lay claim to creating

stifles the sense of theatre, of pretending to be

this task, as I picked it up along my

something else, for the audience.

journey as a theatre teacher but thank

• Props can often be symbolic and used in a variety

you to the person that shared it with me

of ways. A suitcase might become a desk or a

many years ago. I have now shared it

bomb.

with many others along the way.

• Lighting to be kept simple so the production effects don’t overshadow the message of

In two groups of between 5 to 9 people in

the work. Brecht believed harsh, white light

each group.

illuminates the truth. House lights could remain on together with stage lights, to ensure the actor and audience can see each other.

It is important to be aware that many of Brecht’s plays and characters do use elements of both realism and Expressionism, as it is not possible to be totally true to the style and still maintain audience acceptance. Contemporary productions of Brecht’s plays have seen actors and directors use the Epic style combined with traditional conventions and modern technology. This more eclectic mix of the Epic, non-real and real, has greater audience appeal and still sustains the didactic messages of the play.

‘Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.”’

Bertolt Brecht The information and practical task I’ve shared above is a culmination of my resources I’ve collected about Brecht over the last 20 years. I need to credit and source many wise colleagues, websites, handouts, BBC Bitesize resource material, conversations with

The scene: An accident Setting A motorcycle accident – Jimmy has been taking illicit drugs.

Jimmy and Mary are both lying on the ground, both have had bad injuries.

Jimmy cannot walk and Mary is bleeding profusely from the head.

Jimmy has a mobile phone and contacts the ambulance, who in turn call the police. The police come and contact Mary’s parents who arrive on the scene.

Characters The boyfriend – Jimmy The girlfriend – Mary Mary’s siblings – however many left in your group The parents of Mary – Bob and Thelma 1 or 2 police 1 or 2 ambulance officers Conflict The parents dislike Jimmy.

Jimmy’s drug problems lead to the accident.

fellow theatre teachers and more. I don’t have all the

Climax

exact references to do so but here are a few websites

The girlfriend – Mary dies.

to further your exploration of Brecht and source great exercises. Thank you to all for sharing your

The task

knowledge, and I hope you can use this resource too

The class will divide into 2 groups. Group

in your classroom.

A will perform the scene in Dramatic theatre style. Group B will perform the

Resources

scene in Epic theatre style. Refer to your

www.dramaworks.co.uk/publications/

handouts for guidance. You have 15

https://brechtinpractice.org/

minutes to prepare, the scene must be

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

no longer than 5 minutes.

9

Accessing Artaud: Four layers of cruelty

By Kieran Burgess We live in a paradox in 2021:

his theory) but this can become

comfortable existence, Artaud

these are both strange times and

misinterpreted as a blunt cruelty

believed, would result in mediocrity

familiar times. The pandemic

to the audience. It often gets

from people and a reduction in the

has brought on many changes

superficially conflated with the

quality of art. So if the real cruelty

and conflicts of course, but on

Assault on the Senses that Artaud

is life itself, then the superficial

the other hand we are becoming

writes of - the intense, blinding,

cruelty of loud noises and bright

familiar with new ways of living

flashing light; the loud, distorted,

lights is merely a tool to make the

now. And, of course, living through

screeching noises; the proximity of

audience uncomfortable enough

a pandemic is very familiar to

raw actor to bombarded spectator.

to take notice of what you are then

humanity as a whole. Antonin

It is often interpreted that the

to show them. The presentation

Artaud talked of Theatre and the

actor’s job is to be cruel to the

you show is in itself another layer of

Plague, noting that in times of

spectator by making them as

cruelty.

previous pandemic, humanity had

uncomfortable as possible. But, of

been confronted with the fear of

course, it is more nuanced than

We can therefore start to see

death - the fear of not being in

this. Artaud means to confront

Theatre of Cruelty as a Theatre of

control - and had been driven to

spectators with ‘the brutalities of

Layers. I identify four layers in this

create the most exceptional works

life’. He appears to be thinking of

cruelty. I believe these four layers

of art, architecture and scientific

the cruelties of life itself in a similar

are a useful lens through which to

progress.

way as Nietzsche, believing that

scrutinise Artaud’s ideas in a safe,

modern life was too protective

school-friendly way, and could

Much is said of Artaud’s Theatre

and hid these cruelties from

form the structure for a unit of

of Cruelty (the name given to

the population. Such squidgy,

inquiry.

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1.

The core cruelty - life itself,

There is a certain level of ethical

and framing them in a way that

masked by social niceties.

and practical consideration we

presents Artaud’s theories as one

2. Cruelty of the message

must bear in mind when working

possible external perspective,

or themes of the play:

with young practitioners, and so

rather than the immersive

representing life’s core cruelty

the outer layer - cruelty inflicted

method for creating work.

and highlighting the need to

on oneself - is a delicate one.

awaken the population.

Likewise, how much does the

It is important to first help

3. Cruelty to the spectator:

classroom teacher really want

students understand what

exposing them in order to

to drag students into the pit of

Artaud wanted to achieve with

make them ready to absorb

despair that plagued Artaud’s

his theatre, before exploring

the inner layers of cruelty.

drug-addled mind, by deeply

some of his strategies for getting

4. Cruelty to self as an actor: to

exploring the essential misery of

there. To understand why he

be in an exposed state that

existence? But we can help our

approached theatre the way

shocks the spectator and

students by scaffolding them

he did, will enable us to not

facilitates the next layer in.

through smaller, isolated tasks

only interpret his ideas more

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faithfully, but to create our own

with students, where they lead

the core cruelty that Artaud

original approaches to achieve

the discussion entirely, and the

wished to expose, and further

the same aims. The Diary of

teacher sits outside of the circle

literary review of Artaud’s ideas

Anais Nin (1966) is a wonderfully

and maps the conversation

are more meaningful for students

packaged way in. Nin was a

(literally: lines of engagement

once they have understood the

contemporary of Artaud and a

between individuals), noting

concept of cruelty that Artaud

close friend, who experienced

down possible lines of inquiry to

was struggling to express.

first hand how Artaud tried

pursue later and staying silent

to awaken the public ‘to force

throughout. The student agency

Artaud’s ideas by themselves

them into a poetic state’. I have

from this method of exploring

can be really hard for students

abridged here her account of a

Artaud’s intentions can prove

to grasp onto. They are often

lecture/demonstration Artaud

powerful for engagement in

coherent in and of themselves,

gave in Paris. I dim the lights,

later explorative activities, and

but can be incredibly abstract

set the atmosphere, and read

the mapping of contributions

and lack structure or synthesis.

out Nin’s words to my students

can be a really useful reflection

Peter Brook was a great admirer

before facilitating a discussion:

tool for students more broadly.

of Artaud’s ideas and, being

Why was Artaud frustrated?

Of course, the teacher may

the magpie theorist that he

How did he want the audience

identify a need or wish to add

is, was unafraid to experiment

to respond? One possibility

further activities that ensure

with applying these abstract

for this facilitated discussion

understanding of Artaud’s

ideas in conjunction with other

is to prepare a provocative or

genuine overarching intentions,

inspirations from his travels and

controvertible statement or

rather than the superficial aims

studies e.g. with the ideas of

question about Artaud’s ideas or

that students left alone often

other theorists. The combination

overarching intentions, and then

arrive at. Through this phase of

approach is a good one - though

to run a Harkness discussion

exploration, we aim to uncover

for students approaching Artaud

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‘Artaud suggested that spectators be placed in the centre of the space, with actors performing all around them – including above on balconies.’ for the first time, consider

on that Thursday evening in

pointless and ineffective if there

scaffolding the conjunctions in

the Sorbonne that Nin recalled.

is no layer underneath. This is

more simple terms.

Indeed, this activity overlaps

where Artaudian exploration

the layers of deepening our

can fall flat. Assault the senses,

Armed with an authentic

understanding of core cruelty

but do it in order to make the

understanding of what Artaud

itself, and also the text or piece

spectator feel - as authentically

was trying to explain and achieve,

of theatre that students can use

as is ethically possible - that this

the next level of scaffolding

to package this to an audience.

world is in fact not safe for them,

is to create a piece of theatre

Another text I have used with

and that their mortality is real

that presents or re-presents

students in order for them to

and possibly imminent. The text

this cruel reality to spectators.

‘hang’ the abstract ideas and

or piece of theatre you choose or

By having a concrete text or

intentions of Artaud, is the

develop will further reinforce this

starting point (stimulus) to latch

pileta scene from Art of Silence

essential intention.

onto, students will not become

by Jennifer Hartley. To take the

utterly lost in Artaud’s nebulous

awful experience of the real-life

So how do we go about

thoughts, and can drift in and

character that this play tells the

authentically, yet ethically,

out of being either more text

story of, to ‘snapshot’ and distort

exposing spectators? The

or piece-oriented, and more

it, and to use it as the vehicle for

obvious approaches are with

Artaud-oriented as they grapple

trying to assault the senses and

bright lights and loud sounds,

with what is hopefully an ever-

inflict a cruelty upon oneself as an

and these are obvious for good

changing zone of challenge.

actor (albeit ethical and school-

reason. Play with angles, sources,

friendly), is to blend the layers of

directions, intensities. You don’t

But Artaud’s own play text can be

textual representation and use

need expensive equipment to

just as nebulous as his ideas. The

one form of cruelty to expose

effectively irritate a spectator

Spurt of Blood is Artaud’s most

another, essential, cruelty. What

with sound or light - torches can

famous piece of writing, with

texts or stimuli do you know that

be as useful as overhead moving

some amazingly impossible stage

would similarly work in providing

lights, particularly where colour,

directions, but this can similarly

this crossover from one layer of

angle or strobe are explored. But

leave students falling down rabbit

cruelty to the next?

always remember why these

holes. One task I have undertaken

To assault the senses means

assaults are taking place: not to be

with students is to narrate

to overstimulate the senses of

merely irritating or uncomfortable.

them through a spontaneous

the spectator, to make them

Smell, taste and touch are much

kinaesthetic response. By

uncomfortable, to shock, and,

underused. Pungent smells,

describing in as much graphic

above all else, to expose them.

sometimes coupled with the sight

detail as I feel that particular

In applying this superficial

of something equally unpleasant

group can handle whilst still

level of cruelty to spectators,

up close, are ripe for exploration,

being ‘grossed out’, I ask them

Artaud intended that they be

and often when a thing is smelled,

to act out what is essentially

confronted with the base reality

it is also tasted e.g. a bucket of

being consumed by the Plague,

of life: to awaken them, and

‘vomit’ consisting of spoiled foods

characterised by a Creature

‘force them into a poetic state’

and thrust into the face of a

Inside, on fast-forward.

through their realisation that

spectator can be quite effective if

they were mortal; that they were

coupled with a relevant passage

There are direct links to The

not safe and protected; and that

of text. Touch requires more care

Theatre and the Plague lecture-

‘the sky can fall in on them’. But

in order to stay within the realms

performance that Artaud gave

executing this layer of cruelty is

of ethical school-based practice.

13

Person to person touch, for

any laws or ethical considerations,

the audience. This sheer wall of

example in pushing or herding

and you’ve cracked this layer.

extreme energy from an actor

spectators, is not necessary

can easily be breathtaking for a

to make full use of this sense.

The outermost layer, the actor’s

spectator. Bringing in the intense

Creating a texture underfoot, such

cruelty to themself, can be

primal sounds - groans, screams

as broken glass or thick mud, or a

wrapped up in the exploration of

and guttural chokes, adds

texture on or around the seating,

the other layers and also distinctly

another layer of bombardment.

can help to place the spectator

examined in the classroom.

In adding intense light, sound

into an experience not previously

Artaud spoke positively of his

and smells to this, we can start to

encountered.

time as an apprentice with

see how overwhelming a theatre

actor Charles Dullin, enduring

experience should be for Artaud’s

By far the easiest ethical way to

exceptionally long days and

spectators.

expose a spectator is to place

physical intensity. Working from

them in a location where they feel

9am to midnight daily, Artaud

But Artaud meant much more

watched by others. Audiences

participated in regular ‘rhythmic

with the cruelty he intended

hate this more than we theatre

gymnastics’ which, in tandem

actors to inflict upon themselves.

makers remember. Artaud

with Dullin’s process of the actor’s

He asserted that cruelty was life

suggested that spectators be

inward looking ‘perception of

itself - as an interface between

placed in the centre of the space,

himself’ self-discovery, helps

reality and ‘the dark forces

with actors performing all around

us understand why Artaud

behind it’. That to be confronted

them - including above on

equated theatre with intensity

with the truth that the world

balconies. This inverted theatre

and truthfulness within the actor.

can crumble around us at any

in the round is very effective,

Physical training methods similar

moment is the cruelty that

and actors can explore this to

to those practiced by Suzuki or

people had shielded themselves

‘As a teacher and a facilitator of student exploration, how can you create a culture in your classroom where students feel comfortable to stretch the class comfort zone to access this core?’ a high extreme: How close can

Grotowski can wear down the

from, using social pleasantries,

you get to a spectator without

actor to a point where sheer

material wealth and fickle wants

touching them? How many

exhaustion leaves them prone

to mask the need for purity in

spectators does it take for any

to exposing and being exposed

art. So it is natural that actors will

or all of them to feel exposed?

to the truth within themselves.

naturally encounter this cruelty

Can other elements be used to

On a superficial level then, hard

of life before they can begin to

heighten the feeling of being the

physical exertion is a form of

confront their spectators with

centre of unwanted attention e.g.

cruelty to oneself. Of course, the

it? But how many teachers will

lighting, gesture, characterising

training over time will also build

want to confront their students

the spectator as the subject of

up the actor to the point where

with the dark forces behind the

an actor’s rage? However you

they can endure much more

thin representation of reality that

go about assaulting the senses,

intense physicality and for longer

is a cruel life, before cheerfully

ultimately you must identify

durations. In turn, this requires

sending them off to Geography?

what it is that the spectator feels

even more intense physical and

is protecting them, and tear it

vocal energy expenditure in order

An objective exploration of

down to expose the cruelty of life,

to wear oneself down and achieve

cruelty to oneself can be

through the text you present, to

the exposed state. Such intensity

sufficiently undertaken with the

them. Do this, without breaking

in performance is exposing for

physically exhausting rehearsal

14

room explorations. Cruelty to self

themselves of the barriers of

being able to express through

as an actor can be extended with

social acceptability and being

language precisely what he

exploration of difficult spaces -

ready to place to one side

felt and thought. The beauty of

squeezing the actor into a tiny

their deep need to conform?

Artaud is both the sheer volume

space and expending as much

Facilitating the unpacking of this

of writing out there about him,

energy as possible through the

layer for students is an exercise

and the loosely defined theories

voice and body is superficially

in leadership and management:

that allow each of us to latch

cruel, but it is all done in order

of knowing your students well,

onto different combinations of

to expose the actor to the true

knowing what motivates them,

interpretations to make Artaud

cruelty of life - the core cruelty.

where their boundaries are and

our own. Your students, too,

how far they can be stretched.

will find their own corner of

As a teacher and a facilitator of

Artaud’s mind to explore further,

student exploration, how can

Working with Artaud’s ideas

and will benefit from melting

you create a culture in your

and my interpretations and

it with other learning, other

classroom where students feel

assumptions about what he

theorists, texts and experiences.

comfortable to stretch the class

was trying to overcome and

By looking at Artaud through

comfort zone to access this

achieve, has changed my

these four layers, I have begun

core? What ensemble building

theatre style and teaching

to scratch through the surface

activities can you lead that, over

practice over the years. I’ve

of superficial and common

time, will allow all students to

been through a bit of a journey

misconceptions about what

feel safe and comfortable in

with him. My first encounter

Artaudian theatre is, and I hope

doing so? How do you know

generated a perplexed reaction,

you can help your students do

when students are ready to

before evolving into dismissing

so too.

engage in a meaningful process

shows influenced by him as

of exhausting their energy

hackneyed, to now appreciating

More Artaud resources available

reserves, screaming willingly

just how much we can learn

on my IB DP Solo Theatre Piece

and authentically, purging

from his deep frustrations at not

article here.

15

Checkov and the puzzle of comedy

By Jake Murray There is a saying among actors that you always know what kind of production of Chekhov’s The Seagull you are going to get from as soon as you hear the opening lines: Medvedenko: Why do you always wear black?

Masha: I’m in mourning for my life. I’m unhappy.

If this is delivered in full on tragedy mode, with Masha revealing her inner self as if there is a ten tonne weight on her back, you know you are in for a heavy, ponderous, self-indulgent evening. If it is delivered more lightly, with Medvedenko baffled by Masha’s behaviour and Masha replying with irony, even throwaway, something different, more interesting and ultimately more tragic will unfold.

The question of comedy in Chekhov is one of the most debated and argued about in drama. Undoubtedly one of the ten greatest playwrights in the western canon, his four great plays The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard are seen as masterpieces which transformed the possibilities of theatre. Along with Ibsen and Strindberg, he is seen as one of the founders of modern drama, and without argument a great tragic playwright. His plays leave audiences devastated, moved beyond belief by what happens to his characters, and yet he always insisted that his plays were comedies; he even went so far as to tell the actor/director who made him famous, Konstantin Stanislavski, that The Cherry Orchard was a farce. So what was going on? What did he mean? And how do you play Chekhov?

16

17

To answer those questions, you

behave as people do in real life:

know and love find themselves

have to be aware of two things:

they try to disguise their tragedy,

crushed under the weight of

firstly that Chekhov was Russian,

they hide it, they fight against it.

events. Some, like Konstantin

and in Russia the tradition of

Like David Brent, who suffers from

and Tuzenbach, are killed, but

clowning and comedy was

a desperate feeling of inadequacy,

most, like Vanya, the Prozorovs,

one in which a clown could be

or Tim and Lucy, who can never

Ranyevskaya and Gayev, are

simultaneously funny and tragic.

properly express their love until

denied the escape or even the

The old cliche ‘the tears of a

the final moments of the last

grandeur of such a tragic end

clown’ was central to Russian

Christmas special. Every moment

and are forced to go on living

laughter. The attempts of a clown

of social embarrassment - Brent

with the same people in the

to not be tragic was what made

doing his famous dance, Tim

same way that trapped them in

them all the moving when they

asking Lucy out on a date during

the first place.

were. Comedy does not mean an

a group training session, Gareth

absence of seriousness or truth

looking sheepish as he goes home

So it is only in the last act that

- just look at Beckett’s Waiting

with a couple after the office party

they become truly tragic. No

For Godot - rather it depends

- makes us cringe because we

Chekhov character knows that

upon seriousness to be comic.

feel the reality of their pain, their

they are in a Chekhov play. Like

We laugh to release tension, to

humiliation, their sense of trying

most of us carrying great pain,

forget the seriousness, but we

to give meaning to their lives but

they don’t go around like the

laugh because of recognition. We

instead falling flat on their faces.

walking wounded; they hide it,

see ourselves in the characters,

Once again, they make us laugh

they fight against it, they go on.

we see our mistakes and pratfalls,

because we recognise ourselves

And this is key to how they need

and, probably most of all, our

in them.

to be played. The comedy comes

attempts to make light of what is

from how they try to avoid their

happening to us.

fate, the misunderstandings, the

Secondly, Chekhov was the master of the comedy of social embarrassment which masked deep pain. If you want to understand what I mean by that, watch The Office. Indeed, that is what I always tell my actors when

‘The old cliche ‘the tears of a clown’ was central to Russian laughter.’

I direct a Chekhov. They always

failures of communication, the accidental shattering of hopes and the attempts to present as happy and confident. It is only at the end that they cannot avoid the tragedy of their lives, but it is the fact that up until then comedy and lightness is how they have dealt with their pain that

look astonished at me, and then

makes the tragedy all the more

come to understand when I

So it is with Chekhov. In almost

agonising and moving. Chekhov’s

explain: Chekhov, like The Office,

every play the tragedy creeps

characters are comic figures who

was the great comic satirist of

up on us. We see Vanya railing

suddenly find themselves tragic,

human nature. As in The Office,

against his fate, almost like a

and the shock of that is what

his characters exist in tight, closed

bitter stand-up comic (Astrov

breaks our hearts.

circles, usually extended families

even finds him funny), we see

in remote estates buried in the

Konstantin running around with

So next time you tackle a

Russian countryside. They can’t

a bandage on his head having

Chekhov, look at the tragic

escape each other, rub each

failed to shoot himself, we see

undercurrents but be aware

other up the wrong way, compete

the gradual, almost accidental

that they are not to be played

with each other for status and

loss of the Prozorov sisters’ estate

tragically until the last moment.

attention, battle loneliness and

long before they do, we watch

Look at how, as with The Office

despair, they fall in love with the

Gayev playing his fantasy game of

the comedy is underlaid with very

wrong people, fall out with the

billiards for scene after scene, and

astute psychological insight, real

wrong people, get challenged to

then suddenly events overwhelm

emotional situations, and play

duels, have affairs, but rather than

them and, in their last acts, these

that subtlety on stage. See what

behaving as if they are tragic, they

characters we have come to

comes out.

18

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20

How can we change the world? Brecht as a stimulus for devising

By Kate Friend How can we change the world?

I’ve always been a bit of a Brecht obsessive, so much so that one of the happiest summers I’ve ever spent was in Brecht’s former house, reading his manuscripts for my masters dissertation, taking my lunch breaks in the graveyard where he is buried (Hegel and Heiner Müller are there too!).

‘The theatre has hitherto interpreted the world; the point is to change it.’

Bertolt Brecht

As a workshop leader and theatre teacher, Brecht’s

With this in mind, we set our Year 10 students the

theories are central to a great deal of my work. But

task of devising a short piece focusing on a current

while almost every production I’ve ever directed has

issue of their choice. Their staging should employ a

been liberally sprinkled with Brechtian techniques -

range of Brechtian theatrical techniques and their

from exaggerated characters to on-stage costume

overall aim was to make the audience question their

changes to use of puppets - it is really the purpose

own opinions and, perhaps, complicity in the issues

behind his work that has brought me the most

being addressed.

lasting inspiration.

Students were given the following parameters: I first encountered Brecht as a university student and found his artistic mission revelatory. I love introducing students to this central idea: that

1. The play should follow an episodic, montage structure with unconnected scenes, rather than a narrative structure.

theatre can change the world. For while our

2. They must not present a single point of view on

students might not be able to recreate the

the issue e.g. they had to choose an issue that

production values of professional theatre, they can

stimulated debate, rather than a lecture.

equal any theatre company in the world with their

3. They should engage and interact with their

honest desire to address current issues, confront

audience, encouraging them to play an active

the audience and get us to question how we could

role in their response to the issue.

change our own actions.

We had eight groups of students, who chose to

‘ I love introducing students to this central idea: that theatre can change the world.’

examine a wide range of issues: from the influence of violent computer games to issues surrounding the meat production industry; from an exploration of the impact of gender stereotypes to a group who questioned our relationship with our mobile phones.

What the plays had in common was the strength of feeling, for our students, these were urgent issues that the audience needed to engage with, for the sake of us all.

21

A few of our students chose to

audience and how it can really

can be. So, in our first scene our

share their reflections on the

challenge the way we view the

silent protagonist carried around

process:

world around us.’

a stack of cards with “choice”

Amélie Nissen

written on them and gradually

‘Our group wanted to address the

these were taken away from her

issue of glamorisation of violence

‘Our goal was to talk about

in the media. We chose this topic

choice, what it means and what

because we all play a lot of video

it’s like to have it taken from

We also figured out that once

games that often have graphic

you, with a focus on abortion

we made the audience a key

depictions of violence and we

rights. We really wanted to get

character in our performance,

felt people are often aware of this

the audience to empathise with

they had to pay attention and

issue but choose to ignore it. This

us and others, and put them in

be interested in what we were

is often because they believe they

other people’s shoes.

saying. In our final scene, their

are in control of their exposure

by other people.

participation was crucial: we

to violence in the media and

Abortion is a widely debated

made the audience laugh when

they believe that they are able

topic, where both sides are

we told them to, by holding up

to stop it from affecting them.

vehemently passionate about

giant “Laugh now” signs, and at

However, it is very

the end we broke

common for this

the fourth wall

to affect people

and asked the

subconsciously

question: “How

while they believe that they are in full control.

We used a lot of Brechtian techniques such as placards and exaggerated characters to convey this issue to the audience and to get them

‘Through creating this piece I realised just how much of an impact theatre can have on an audience and how it can really challenge the way we view the world around us.’

does it feel when you are told what to do?” and that helped make our point about choice.

In our TV scene, which was my favourite to perform, we tried to use a mixture of humour and

to think about it

then sudden

more carefully.

seriousness

We used a lot of

to shock the

labelling so that people could

their arguments. We didn’t

audience into feeling almost

clearly see what each object was

necessarily want to promote

guilty for laughing or enjoying

supposed to be e.g. we attached

one side over the other, just the

the scenes. We would have a very

a sign saying: “This is a gun” to

idea of choice and how it feels

lighthearted performance that

a wooden stick. We also used

to have it taken away from you.

had a mocking and joking tone,

quite a bit of humour in our piece

We wanted our audience to

and then we would freeze and

in order to try and shock the

think about their daily lives and

suddenly switch to something

audience, to make them realise

the choices that they have: the

serious and deep. This contrast

what it is that they are laughing

fact that they can choose to do

would show the emotions of

about and to get them to think

whatever they like to an extent,

people whose choices are taken

about the issue.

and what it would be like if they

away, and how society often

couldn’t. I wanted the audience

pushes those people to the

Through creating this piece I

to think about that feeling of

margins and cuts them out. We

realised just how much of an

being helpless and without

wanted to give a voice to the

impact theatre can have on an

control, and how damaging that

voiceless, so to speak.

22

Before, when I thought of

between the action that was

example, at the very end of

theatre, I imagined big Broadway

being performed (a scene

our piece we decided to use a

musicals and Shakespeare - I

where a young boy and girl are

placard saying “Can I reduce

never thought that it could be an

being moulded and controlled)

my meat consumption?”. This

art form that is used to discuss

and shocking facts delivered

hopefully made the audience

and change the world around

directly to shake the audience

ask themselves this question.

us, but now that I have done this

e.g. “Women only hold 8% of

project, I have deepened my

CEO positions in Fortune 500

Another technique we used

understanding of theatre as art

companies”.

was a song. In musical theatre,

and a force for change as well

songs are often used to elaborate

as entertainment. I thoroughly

I have discovered that theatre

on the emotions a character is

enjoyed exploring theatre as a

transmits messages much more

feeling and make the audience

tool for changing hearts and

clearly than I once thought. None

emotionally connect. In Brechtian

minds.’

of the theatre pieces I watched

theatre, however, the goal is to

Meera Shroff Feldman

had a clear moral to them,

keep the audience as emotionally

which would have made them

distant as possible so that

‘To get to the issue we wanted

lighter to take in and easier to

they can use their minds to

to address, we first made a list of

simply breeze over. However, the

question and think. My group

everything we were passionate

Brechtian pieces I saw will not

decided to do a song because

about addressing. From here

leave my mind.’

it is entertaining to watch so it

we could see that most of the

Alice Capobianco

gets the audience’s attention,

things we had written either had

it is catchy so will stay in their

something to do with gender or

‘My group chose to explore the

heads for a longer amount

stereotypes and so we decided to

issues surrounding limiting your

of time and it offers a strong

mix the two.

meat consumption. It is a very

contrast to our issue. For this we

relevant topic as many people

used the melody and chorus of

We wanted to show how society

have very unhealthy diets both

Old McDonald Had a Farm but

is making kids grow up according

for them and for the climate. One

changed some of the lyrics e.g.

to gender stereotypes e.g. in one

disadvantage of this topic was

“Old McDonald had a farm,

of our scenes the girl had a truck

that it is already addressed very

eieio

and the boy had a Barbie-doll

often but this presented us with a

And on that farm he had a

and these were taken away from

challenge. We had to find a new,

million cows, e i e i o

them and swapped around, in

engaging and different way to

They were stripped away from

another scene the girl was being

present this.

their parents the second they

encouraged to wear makeup

were born and force fed kilos and

while the boy was ridiculed for

In our piece, we used placards,

dressing up. We wanted to show

a song and breaking the fourth

that the children weren’t allowed

wall. These are, in my opinion,

We performed the song in an

to be themselves. I know lots of

three of the most powerful and

upbeat, kid’s TV style to contrast

people who stopped liking what

effective Brechtian techniques

the horrifying facts contained in

they liked because they were

as they target different types

our lyrics.

teased about it so this theme

of people. When an audience

speaks very strongly to me.

member reads a placard, they

Brechtian techniques are very

hear it in their own voice, in

powerful, clear and direct with a

We used many Brechtian

their head. It’s an internalised

focus on engaging the audience

techniques to engage the

thought, a question one asks

and getting them to change

audience on this subject,

themselves. This sparks material

the way they think and act. In

specifically and most notable,

for thought and the individual

my opinion, Brechtian theatre

facts, over-exaggeration of

will question the issue more

techniques are the ones I would

characters and twisted humour.

deeply, instead of just accepting

incorporate into all future theatre

The first one we used right at

it and absorbing the information

work to engage my audience.’

the end of our piece, by cutting

and letting it stagnate. For

Pola Aleksandrowicz

kilos of hay, e i e i o.”

23

Katie Mitchell: making the micro macro

By Simon Bell I’ve always had a huge admiration

be inspired by the work she saw

particular, she is interested in the

for the work of theatre director

that integrated video. She first

female perspective. She found that

Katie Mitchell and last year I had

made the leap herself with the

in many classic plays, the text is

the huge pleasure of chatting

2008 production Waves, which

very rooted in the male psyche and

with her on Zoom about her craft.

was a theatrical representation

it’s very hard to get away from this

Here are some of my recollections

of Virgina Woolf’s novel. In the

perspective. Therefore, she wanted

and observations from that

productions she has created

to use the female gaze as the way

conversation.

herself, like Waves, Mitchell

into the text, both as the director,

says that linear narratives don’t

and visually within the production.

Katie Mitchell’s real passion in

reflect how she experiences the

She felt that by focussing the gaze

theatre is the radical use of video

world. She says you experience

for the audience, politically, she

within the theatrical experience

the world in fragments e.g. you

could really control the narrative.

and the way it can be used to

are walking down the street and

It is also playing with the idea of

expose character psychology. She

see something and it jogs your

attachment. By foregrounding

was first inspired as a 21-year-old

memory about something from

the female perspective, she is

(in 1985) by a company called

the past and suddenly that is in

attaching the audience to the

Hesitate and Demonstrate when

your mind, then you are back

female character, therefore

she visited the In Teatre festival.

in the present. But you never

creating empathy for her. If you

They staged a show called So, no

ACTUALLY leave the present. So in

want to get deep inside someone’s

more songs of life which used

a way you are in two places at once.

head then video is the way to go

radical forms of video, and this

She is interested in how we can

because you can really access their

sparked her imagination. The

visualise that on stage. In Waves

perception of the world.

Wooster Group’s LSD and Robert

we also start to see Mitchell’s

Lepage’s Polygraph were the

interest in the balance between

Mitchell’s signature is to make the

two other definitive shows about

visuals and sound. She prefers

micro, macro. By zooming in on

the use of video in theatre which

thought to dialogue and therefore

someone’s eyes or hands, we can

inspired her. Her training was

leans on voiceover heavily.

notice the little things that betray

focussed on naturalism and she

someone’s inner life. Mitchell

wanted to explore how the two

In the pre-existing play texts

says: ‘I really like the tiny things in

could work hand in hand.

Mitchell stages she is most

life. My life isn’t heroic. Fighting

interested in the characters on

dragons etc. It’s the tiny aspects

She got a bit lost in naturalism in

the margins. How can we see

of what it is to be human that you

her early career but continued to

things from their perspective? In

can only really get on film. So for

‘It’s the tiny aspects of what it is to be human that you can only really get on film. So for me it’s about the tiny made big so everyone can see.’ Katie Mitchell 24

Orlando, Schaubuhne 2019

Fraulein Julie, Schaubuhne 2010

Judith: A Concerto Bluebeard’s Castle, Munich Opera 2020

25

me it’s about the tiny made big

consciousness - not being fake,

Immediate circumstances

so everyone can see.’ (K Mitchell,

that is the power of theatre’ (K

• Immediate circumstances

personal communication, 7th

Mitchell, personal communication,

are the detailed events of the

September 2020)

7th September 2020).

24 hours leading up to the

As she became more confident

What you need to make the

play has time shifts, then the

in the use of video in theatre,

work

immediate circumstances

she started to create miniature

Camera (iPhone is fine)

should be established for

film sets on stage and create

Projector

every 24 hour period leading

the form of live cinema. When

Media server

up to entrances.

we watch her pieces we are

A lot of imagination

characters first entrance. If a

The features of live cinema

watching live action, the cameras which are filming the action

Some key Mitchell naturalism

and the cinema screen which is

techniques

displaying the action. In a piece

Facts and questions

with multiple characters on stage

• Facts are the Given

• Text focussed on female experience.

• Story carried by visuals.

• Most text is voiceover.

• Written in a film script format.

• Audience always sat end-on.

• Design of the space is a

(along with camera operators etc)

Circumstances. What

this again helps control where

the characters say about

the eye goes - it enables nailing

themselves, what other

the female protagonist as the

characters say about them,

series of small film sets

place to look.

information we are given

and a cinema sized screen.

by the playwright in stage

Individual sets only need

directions.

to be the portion seen by

In terms of pre-recorded video material, the director has even

• Questions are the Imaginative

the camera e.g. a single

more control because you

Circumstances. The questions

wallpapered wall to represent

have complete ownership over

we ask, based on the facts. Our

the room a character is sat in.

emotional material in terms

answers to those questions

of the editing. It is crucial to

will come from a combination

note that the video is never

of research and our own

decorative. It is never set design

imagination.

• Sound/music used as in film to

by Tarkovsky, David Lynch and

Character biography

• The acting is screen acting, so

Jane Campion, and we can see

• This is a system of analysis.

• Character biography is

techniques (dado lights, light boom, stand mounted lights). underscore action.

alone. Film-wise she is influenced

this influence in the filmic style

• Lighting utilises filmic lighting

very detailed.

a biography from the

A Zoom technique using

character’s birth through to

Mitchell’s ideas about video to

Before getting to this point,

the moment they first enter

create small scale live cinema

however, Mitchell employs her

the play. Alongside this, the

• Set up a Zoom call on your

naturalism training. Stanislavskian

performer should create a

work is used to access the inner

timeline of historical events

world of the character. She always

relevant to the world in which

phones and open up Zoom on

starts with character biographies,

the character lives. They will

them.

immediate circumstances and

then layer the world timeline

facts and questions and then

onto the character biography

mixes the other Stanislavski

in order to see how world

work around the technical work

events may have had an effect

other phones by clicking

on their life.

participants then mute all to

she employs.

as the process progresses. The authenticity in performance is

• Mitchell then advises

laptop.

• Send a Zoom invite to two

• The phones can be on tripods or handheld by actors.

• Turn off all audio on the

avoid any feedback.

• You can then experiment

essential as she says that ‘the

improvising around events

ability to communicate the

from the character biography

with how you use the three

ACTUAL experience of being

in order to create a lived

devices e.g. the laptop could

alive - subjectivity, thought,

history for the character.

be used simply to capture the

26

Al Gran Sole Carico D’Amore, Salzburg Festival 2009

After Dido, Young Vic 2009

La Maladie de la Mort, Bouffes Du Nord 2018

Waves, National Theatre 2006

27

Reise Durch Die Nacht, Avignon Festival 2013

The Forbidden Zone, Schaubuhne 2014

La Maladie de la Mort, Bouffes Du Nord 2018

28

footage. The camera of the

microphone etc) as well as

actresses were sharing the same

laptop could be turned off and

the Zoom screen from the

role). We then experimented

phone 1 be focused on actor 1’s

main laptop, which is being

with how to use video in order

face in close up and phone 2

projected as big as possible in

to present the story from W’s

focussed on actor 1’s hands in

the space.

perspective.

close up.

• Alternatively, you could use

Project design

This is an interesting perspective

the laptop to capture the wide

This year I worked on a

to take on any text. Take a classic

shot of actor 1, so we see their

production of Duncan

text and find a marginalised

full body in the surroundings,

Macmillan’s play Lungs using

female character - Shakespeare

with phone 1 on the face and

Mitchell’s approach. The play is

and contemporaries, Greeks,

phone 2 on the hands.

about a couple wrestling with

classic misogynists like Strindberg

• Another alternative is to have

the ethical decision of whether to

are all great for this. See how you

a conversation between two

have a child in a world of climate

can reimagine a scene from this

actors. Actor 1 is seen in the

crisis and the repercussions of

character’s perspective using

laptop in full view with e.g. actor

these decisions for them as a

Mitchell’s theory.

2 seen just with their back to

partnership. The two characters

camera. We see actor 2 in a

are labelled M and W. In our

This would also make a great Solo

close up of eyes and mouth, say,

staging, M was played by one

Theatre Piece. How does Ismene

through the two phones.

actor and W was played by a

view the events of Sophocles’

• Thoughts could then be

range of different actresses.

Antigone? What is going through

layered on top as a voiceover

We used Mitchell’s naturalism

Portia’s mind in Julius Caesar?

into a microphone.

techniques listed above to explore

Does Christine really go to bed in

character development and have

Miss Julie, or is she listening at the

the stage (there is no attempt

a shared understanding of who M

door to conversations that make

to conceal the cameras,

and especially W were (as many

up the later part of the play?

• This whole set-up is seen on

Resources > Katie Mitchell on directing multimedia productions www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAij9r9RvF0&list=PLSOwa_h-p4qdgAzBCB0jeK2N4wnWnVEik&index=1 > Devising a multimedia production www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqJxI3SNFlc > Acting in a multimedia production www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hK0y8tN29w&list=PLSOwa_h-p4qdgAzBCB0jeK2N4wnWnVEik&index=6 > ...some trace of her www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrBIbIhUQHY&list=PLSOwa_h-p4qdgAzBCB0jeK2N4wnWnVEik&index=8 > Cinematography in a Multimedia Production www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPSKRv5rRk8&list=PLSOwa_h-p4qdgAzBCB0jeK2N4wnWnVEik&index=10 > Making a Live Cinema Show: The Forbidden Zone www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSj7cnwY-sg > Katie Mitchell, Auteurism and the Canon www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/collections/digital-theatre/wilful-distraction-katie-mitchellauteurism-and-the-canon-a > Katie Mitchell, Theatre Aesthetics www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/collections/digital-theatre/stages-and-screens-katiemitchell-theatre-aesthetics > Katie Mitchell and the Politics of Naturalist Theatre www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/collections/digital-theatre/katie-mitchell-and-the-politicsof-naturalist-theatre-dan

29

Theatre and the Virus (because Theatre and the Plague was taken)

By Sophie Galton

For those of you who don’t know

For some the reality of the past

and practices were rejected for

much about Antonin Artaud, now

18 months has been all too real,

being too vague and extreme

might be a good time to become

too horrifying and too relevant

to be followed and applied.

acquainted with him - or rather

for us to put into words, lest be

He was inspired by events and

his views on the experience of

inspired by it. However, some

experiences that most consider

theatre. If you haven’t read his

may even go so far to suggest

too horrifying to admit. His base

book Theatre and Its Double, then

we have now become immune

line for theatre was one that

I suggest you do. You might be

to the awfulness of it all, we have

sought to remove aesthetic

mildly surprised to find that it is all

moved through the rollercoaster

distance, bringing the audience

rather familiar to you. At least one

of emotions and we are now

into direct contact with the

chapter of it. The descriptions of

riding through to the other

dangers of life. By turning theatre

the plague that ignited Artuad’s

side, frustrated and bubbling in

into a place where the spectator

passion for theatre, the horrors of

tension that it is not over. Yet we

is exposed rather than protected,

the breakdown of society, unrest,

are at a precipice within the arts.

Artaud was committing an act of

the torture and death is globally

With many theatres still closed

cruelty upon them.

all we have consumed over the

all over the world, new ideas

last 18 months.

have been created, inspirations

One event that inspired Artuad

inflamed and there is a burning

is something we have all recently

In a way, you probably all have

desire to bring back experiences

experienced. Artaud spoke about

one up on Artaud because we live

of live theatre, to feel, to be

the plague as ‘a social disaster so

in the digital age, we are seeing

present, to react. It is time to act.

far-reaching, an organic disorder

and living the reality of it all, not

so mysterious – this overflow of

just the imagined recounted tales

Artuad often struggled to find

vices, this total exorcism which

from one artist told to another.

his place in theatre, his ideas

presses and impels the soul

‘With many theatres still closed all over the world, new ideas have been created, inspirations inflamed and there is a burning desire to bring back experiences of live theatre, to feel, to be present, to react. It is time to act.’

30

to its utmost – all indicate the

effects of the scourge. Order

brush of an elbow in a crowded

presence of a state which is

disappeared. He witnessed the

corridor became a potential

nevertheless characterised by

subversion of all morality, a total

brush with death. The feeling

extreme strength and in which all

psychological breakdown….’ The

of being trapped on something

the powers of nature are freshly

dream was powerful. So powerful

that had no land legs, isolated,

discovered at the moment when

that he sent a pilot out to the

restricted whilst across the world

something essential is going to be

now waiting to dock Grand-Saint-

people watched aghast at what

accomplished’. It was the starting

Antoine and ordered it to leave

seemed an absurd B horror

point of his journey in theatre, the

their waters immediately or face

movie, a virus so contagious that

parallels of the plague and how

the cannons. People thought

people were dying after merely a

theatre needed to disrupt the

the prince was mad, his actions

few moments contact. With very

relationship between audience

ignited by a dream. The ship

little knowledge about what the

and performer was a consistent

left the waters and sailed on to

virus was and what it meant for

thread through his writings.

Marseille where it wreaked havoc

all of us, we watched as the world

on the people as the plague

lost its pivot, our fear moved into

Drawing on parallels, let me

ripped through the communities.

unknown charters, our hearts

direct your attention to the

Just a little lesson in history there.

beat faster, panic struck us as we

opening paragraph in Artaud’s chapter on the plague which

witnessed country after country 300 hundred years later…….

become victim to the virus,

starts as

borders closed,

follows: ‘In the

people made

archives of the

prisoners

small town

of their

of Cagliari,

own home,

Sardinia, lies

resources

an account of

rationed,

an astonishing

voices silenced.

historic occurrence.

‘The theatre,

One night,

like the plague,

about the end

is in the

of April or the

image of this

beginning

carnage and

of May 1720,

this essential

some twenty

separation.

days before

It releases

the ship Grand-Saint-Antonine

February 2020 and a ship arrives

conflicts, disengages powers,

reached Marseille, where its

in Japan. Not quite in the style

liberates possibilities, and if these

landing coincided with the most

of the Grand-Saint-Antoine. The

possibilities and these powers are

wondrous outbreak of plague to

Princess Diamond had a cocktail

dark, it is the fault not of the plague

be recorded in that city’s history,

bar, cinema screens and slightly

nor of the theatre, but of life.’

Saint-Remy, the Sardinian

better toilet system, yet the threat

Viceroy, perhaps rendered

was the same. It was a contained

Our adrenaline pushed us

more sensitive to that most

vessel full of people potentially

hesitantly forward. We all sat on

baleful virus by his restricted

carrying the virus making

the edge of our seats unknowingly

monarchical duties, had a

the headlines ‘Corona’. The

holding our breath as we watched

particularly agonising dream.

inhabitants were made to stay

our heads of state announce

He saw himself plague-ridden

on board, out of harm’s way. The

measure after measure that

and saw the disease ravage his

holiday of a lifetime had turned

would remove our fundamental

tiny state.’ (The Theatre and Its

into a shiny prison sentence

rights to contact, movement,

Double) He continues…. ‘society’s

where suddenly people were

freedom. People started to battle

barriers became fluid with the

fearful of each other, the slight

in the supermarket aisle for

31

‘Exploring Artuad’s theories is about experimenting, taking risks and pushing boundaries, all things that can be challenging in a school environment.’ something as ludicrous as toilet

where we have ricocheted

can be challenging in a school

paper, our senses heightened

between feeling shocked and

environment.

by our growing fears of the

vulnerable, we have to question

unknown, nothing made sense

how theatre and its rawness

the audience at the centre

anymore, the simple sound of a

can now meet the expectations

of the action. To be taken on

cough made our heart quicken,

Artaud once set.

the journey alongside the

• Theatre of Cruelty is to place

actor. As the actor becomes

our order was disarranged,

overwhelmed and exhausted,

noises got louder, faces became

Stepping into Artaud can be

distorted, lights flashed, people

tricky. Giving students a list of

were isolated, masked, head to toe

Artaud’s performance techniques

in white robes, streets emptied,

can often result in a wailing,

language, breaking down

horror unravelled and we had no

screaming, chaotic nonsense

the communication barriers

control. We were suddenly the

which draws in teachers from

into symbols and sounds,

unwilling participants of a Theatre

other classrooms to see what

a language we can all

Of Cruelty performance. Artaud

insanity the drama teacher has

would have been delighted.

unravelled on their class today.

• Artaud consistently argued

so does the spectator.

• Emphasis is on non-verbal

understand.

Artuad doesn’t have a system

that theatre should be the

‘The plague takes images that

that can be applied to a process.

opposite of the ‘slice of life’

are dormant, a latent disorder,

Artaud doesn’t even have a wide

work being created. He

and suddenly extends them into

range of play texts to pull apart,

wanted theatre to overwhelm

the most extreme gestures; the

just one brief script, A Spurt of

all reason and communicate

theatre also takes gestures and

Blood, 3 pages long. Showing

with a primitive emotional and

pushes them as far as they will

students Artaud inspired work

go: like the plague it reforges the

can be dark, depressing and

chain between what is and what

downright off-putting to a group

is not, between the virtuality of

of curious drama students

the possible and what already

wanting to reshape the arts.

sensory level.

• Artuad’s work is physically, emotionally exhausting and raw.

Activity ideas

• Build with basics. Use the body

exists in materialised nature.’

So where to start?

and voice to communicate

I am not suggesting that we

• Artuad’s main premise is that

something simple. An adjective

are about to birth a whole new

humanity does not change.

such as excited, exasperated,

generation of Artaud devotees

When we are thrown into a

nasty, funny etc. Standing in

but it is certainly an interesting

situation (such as a plague),

a circle each student steps

time to reflect back on the

when society and order are

forward and speaks their word

journey of theatre practitioners

toppled from their axis we will

- they must use body and voice

and how often new theatre is

turn to whatever it takes to

to communicate this word.

born from an alchemy of social

survive. Murder, theft, pillaging

Keep moving round the circle

unrest, change and downright

(albiet in the supermarket

until everyone has delivered

‘turn the world upside down’

aisle over loo roll) we are

their word. Then ask them to do

kind of stuff we have experienced

reminded that our ability to be

this again:

over the last year. Artaud wanted

savages is never far away.

• Round 1 - loud and clear with a

theatre to shock and surprise,

• Exploring Artuad’s theories

physical expression.

pushing the audience to face

is about experimenting,

• Round 2 - louder, change

their own fears or, at best, feel

taking risks and pushing

of tempo and tone, bigger

their vulnerabilities. In a year

boundaries, all things that

physical expression.

32

‘As we navigate our way out of a global pandemic that has had far reaching ramifications, our roles as artists, teachers and students have shifted.’

• Place students into small

The Theatre of Cruelty is both

distorted, physically in pain,

groups. With their own

a philosophy and a discipline.

remove the word, keep the

individual word, they

Artaud wanted to disrupt the

sounds.

need to build on this and

relationship between audience

create a ritual within a

and performer. The ‘cruelty’ in

group. Spend 5 minutes

Artaud’s thesis was sensory, it

discussing rituals.

exists in the work’s capacity to

• Round 3 - angrier, more

• Round 4 - faster, louder, bigger, more energy - each student can overlap the person ahead of them.

• Artaud was hugely influenced

shock and confront the audience,

• Round 5 - students can start

by rituals - within their group,

to go beyond words and connect

students need to create a

with the emotions - to wake up

ritual.

the nerves and the heart. He

to move around the circle, across the room, dragging,

believed gesture and movement

• This activity can be done for as

• They must introduce lighting.

• They must decide the role of

long as you feel it is necessary.

the audience, where they will

Sound and lighting could also

be placed.

be used as tools of sensory

pulling, tearing at themselves.

Keep repeating. Push them till

to be more powerful than text.

they are exhausted, explaining

• They must decide on how they

that Artaud wanted his actors

can make the audience feel

argued, should be placed at the

to feel this emotion as they

vulnerable.

centre of a piece of performance.

performed it. Artaud wanted his actors to lose their senses and be completely in the moment of their expression.

• They must assault the senses.

• Encourage them to

disruption. The audience, he

Theatre should be an act of ‘organised anarchy’.

experiment.

• Repetition is a tool used in

As we navigate our way out of a

Explore how the students felt

many Artuad inspired works.

global pandemic that has had far

taking their word to extremes.

• Avoid narratives.

• Introduce the dream concept

reaching ramifications, our roles

Ask them to research Artuad and

- dreams often are confusing,

have shifted. The urgency to bring

the Surrealist movement. There

surreal, detached from reality.

back live theatre experiences is

as artists, teachers and students

paramount to feed our curiosities

are some great art works that have come from the surrealism

Set some ground rules as the

as theatre makers but there is

movement such as Salvador

teacher. Decide on no contact

a new vision, one that has seen

Dali, Andre Breton, Frida Khalo.

for audience and actor. Remind

theatre successfully explored

What was historically happening

students that audiences need to

through the online digital world

during this time that influenced

be waiting for the unexpected.

over the last year and we now have

their ideas and resulted in a move

Like the rollercoaster ride as it

an opportunity to forge ahead

away from the social norms of the

reaches the top and balances on

with new ideas, knowledge and

time? Is this something they can

the peak before hurtling down

passion, exploring the role of the

relate to in today’s world?

the other side. Students need to

performance and the audience.

find that peak, that edge of the

We are rebuilding our values and

Taking their research and ideas

performance that keeps their

a renewed appreciation for the

they can continue to build on

audience gripping in fearful

things that matter. And the arts is

the above

anticipation of what comes next.

high up on the list.

‘We are rebuilding our values and a renewed appreciation for the things that matter. And the arts is high up on the list.’

33

C is for Chekhov

By Nita Dewse A theoretical and practical guide to teaching or exploring the acting techniques of Chekhov as part of your IB Theatre programme.

Chekhov… who?

find aspects of Stanislavski’s theories that will be

So, the first thing to clear up about Chekhov is the

visible to an examiner, then Michael Chekhov might

name. In this article, we are not talking about the

just be your answer. The Michael Chekhov technique

playwright Anton Chekhov who wrote The Cherry

is a psycho-physical approach to acting. It privileges

Orchard and The Seagull. We are instead talking

the imagination as the actor’s source of inspiration

about Michael Chekhov, the renowned actor and

and favours an impersonal, objective approach to

theorist, who was in fact the nephew of the famous

characterisation. The work is intended to create

Russian dramatist. At 16 he joined the Savorin

a real and spontaneous connection between the

Theatre School in St Petersburg before ultimately

actor’s physical body and psychology, and prepare

going on to train with the Moscow Art Theatre as

the actor for what Chekhov calls ‘inspired acting’.

a student of Stanislavski. Ultimately, Chekhov was

The aspects of Chekhov’s work that we will focus on

considered one of the most versatile and brilliant

in this article relate to 3 As: Archetypes, Attitude

actors of his day. However, during the time of the

and Atmosphere.

Russian revolution, he was exiled from Russia and after living and working in England and Europe, he

Archetypes

eventually went to live and work in the US where he

As a theorist, Michael Chekhov publicly rejected

formulated a number of his acting theories.

Stanislavski’s ideas relating to the use of emotion memory on the grounds of it being detrimental

Chekhov… why?

to the actor’s mental health but also, and more

If you are getting a bit jaded with teaching

importantly, because it limits an actor’s imagination

Stanislavski alongside naturalism or have students

and ability to be other than who they already are. He

who are interested in exploring naturalistic theories

believed audiences wanted to see the theatrics of

for their Solo Project, but they are struggling to

acting and not just people playing themselves.

34

Chekhov’s father used to draw caricatures of people

class, I know that nearly all students will respond

and so Chekhov believed in finding the essence of

with practically identical gestural responses.

a character – a symbol of the thing that could stand

Stereotypes are a way of ignoring difference and

for that character. This eventually evolved in him

limiting expression. The aim of using archetypes

developing theories around ‘archetypal gestures’.

in Chekhov’s work is to identify and get different

He believed in using physical action to stimulate

information about the character to expand our

emotions and understanding of characters’ internal

conception. There is a choice of gestures available

dilemma and world. He found this to be a quicker,

that amount to an interpretation. Furthermore, a

more accessible, and safer way for an actor to

character may play different archetypes within the

immerse themselves in the world of the character.

arc of the story even if one is dominant e.g. Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House plays the role of the child for

As a teacher and director, having to work in

a large majority of the play, but she also plays other

compressed periods of time with young people who

archetypes like the innocent and the seductress

don’t yet have much life experience to draw from, I

before she plays Nora or the ‘home wrecking

think Chekhov’s techniques have a lot to offer. I have

monster’, depending on your interpretation.

found that getting students to shape the emotion or intention of their

Chekhov’s work using

character in exaggerated

archetypes helps the

movement with their bodies and gestures, and then feel the physical reaction of this pose in the pit of their stomachs, in their hands, in their toes, really helps them to remember the contextual truth or needs of a character and then act their lines with more integrity. It also helps them to clarify and make

‘I think it’s important for an actor to consider attitude in two different ways when studying Chekhov: as an actor and as a character.’

distinct choices about the

technical and objective. I don’t have to love someone or find them attractive in order to seduce them. I make an archetype and from this I will be able to find a range of natural movements depending on the qualities I add, which makes it a very safe way of working with all students.

For more exercises to explore this aspect see the

body language they use.

By making an exaggerated pose of ‘give’, I have to

work be impersonal, clear,

Routledge Performance Guide quoted at the end of this article.

be clear that I am showing ‘giving’ and not ‘begging’ for example. What are the subtle nuances of these

Attitude

gestures that make them look and feel different

I think it’s important for an actor to consider attitude

from each other? Through repetition this act can

in two different ways when studying Chekhov: as an

then be honed down to become more naturalistic

actor and as a character.

but still deeply felt - the sweep of a hand or a clenched fist can become triggers to the emotions,

Attitude of the actor: The ideal self and the

thoughts and intentions of a character.

ensemble Chekhov was inspired by Rudolf Steiner – the

Archetypes are different from stereotypes in that

Austrian philosopher and founder of Steiner schools

they leave room for interpretation. A stereotype

around the world - who stressed the importance

consists of one agreed upon way of playing a

of intuitive spiritual knowledge. Chekhov wanted

character – it must always be played this way,

actors to be more in touch with their own spirituality

whatever the play and whatever the circumstances

and that we should be kind to ourselves as actors

e.g. a stock character like the heroine in a

as well as to each other. He wanted to be rid of the

melodrama is a stereotype. There are a set of agreed

actor’s ‘higher ego’ where we create to be seen and

upon stock gestures that make this character

lose our awareness of each other. Actors also need to

what they are. If I call: ‘Somebody help me!’ to a

be able to laugh at themselves. His methods call for

35

mutual respect and sensitivity to the ensemble and

as a way of connecting with each other at the

the audience. This begins with being kind to yourself

start of each lesson or as they prepare for their

by dismissing the voices in our head that can cripple

Collaborative Project.

our creativity. Actors should believe in an ‘ideal self’ where we create an image for ourselves that lives

Giving and receiving as an ensemble

in the centre of our chest – this symbol radiates out

• Stand in a circle and in an open and neutral

from us and says: ‘I am the best actor I can possibly

stance, look around at your ensemble. See them

be’, and we let the world see this as it pours out of

and let yourself be seen. Call someone’s name

us. He believed like an athlete, that makes incredibly

and throw the ball to them as you speak – the

difficult tasks look effortless, so an actor should do

action and the dialogue must happen together

everything with a sense of ease that comes with

like they would if you were acting in a play.

lots of rehearsal and practice. Natural talent is not

Normally when we play this game with students,

enough. We need to work our skills like a muscle. This

we stress the importance of the students getting

does not mean that after repetition of an exercise

someone’s attention first by calling a name

we can act a scene in a mindless ‘going through the

before they throw the ball - so it is important

motions’ kind of way but instead we can act even

to recognise that when doing this in the style

the most challenging of scenes with ease. With this

of Chekhov that both action and voice happen

comes an ability to be separate from yourself. You

simultaneously.

can listen to the character you are playing and whilst

• Now let’s think about actually receiving the

they may be arguing and showing great tension, you

ball. We are all in such a hurry to catch the

can separate yourself from this and be able to exert

ball and call someone else’s name, that we

these emotions with a mastery that allows you at the

are disconnected from the receiving. Hold the

same time to be distanced from it. He believed in an

gaze of the person, not the ball. If you drop the

actor having a dialogue with their characters rather

ball, it doesn’t matter. Pick it up again but stay

than becoming them.

connected with your eyes and energy to the person who threw it to you. Then take your time

Practical exercises to explore the theories

to select the next person. Connect through the

Teacher to narrate the following while students

eyes with every person in the ensemble before

respond.

choosing someone. Slow everything down so that we can focus on the basics of receiving.

The ideal self • Walk around the room. As you walk, imagine that

• Repeat if necessary, until everyone is engaged on the receiving.

there is a source of power inside you – it gives you completeness – you are now the ideal version

Although the activity seems simple, I often have to

of yourself. It lives in your chest and connects to

repeat this activity several times until the right level

your heart and your core. It radiates outwards – it

of focus, commitment and connection is achieved.

makes you the ideal actor. You can see and feel

Remind students of how this relates to the actor’s

the world more clearly through it. Hold an image

job of receiving new information in the form of

in your head of what this ideal source looks like.

dialogue and body language from their fellow

Everyone’s image will be different – personal to

actor. The idea of 50% of acting is reacting.

them. How does this image affect the way you now walk? Don’t act a part - just walk as your ideal self.

• Now, start to speed the game up without losing focus on the receiver. Break up the circle and begin to move independently around the

The ensemble

room still throwing the ball, making sure to

Chekhov wanted there to be an attitude of warmth,

stay connected to each other regardless of the

friendliness, freedom and ease in the workshop.

movement. This is harder than it sounds. As

Giving and receiving, underpinned by a sense of joy,

soon as speed is factored in, everyone forgets

is at the heart of the work. If we don’t find any joy in

to connect. Strip it back down and start again

our work, then why do we do it?

if needs be. This is the most basic but essential

The exercise below is great for teachers to explore

element of Chekhov’s work – connecting with

ensemble with the class or for students to use

each other.

36

Exploring archetypal gestures

The ideal self – radiating.

Throwing the ball with a sense of ease

37

Text and ball

Sinead Rushe – character interactions 1mm in the forward.

Establishing relationships in the atmosphere.

38

‘Chekhov wanted there to be an attitude of warmth, friendliness, freedom and ease in the workshop.’

Exploring ease

are more viable for that moment depending on

• Imagine as you stand in the circle that there is a

the character and the context, then branch out to

golden hoop laying on the ground just in front of

play different characters. Additionally, you could

you like a threshold. Within this hoop is freedom

have the whole class look at just one character but

and ease. You can see it floating everywhere in

with each person having different quotes across the

particles inside the hoop. Imagine what it feels

whole play to see where there are shifts in attitude.

like to enter this space of complete freedom.

• Stand in the space in neutral. Shift your weight

Enter the space and do whatever you want, still

1mm forward without losing your balance. Now

or moving – it’s your choice – explore the space.

do the same to the left, right and back. Find the

• Now the hoop spreads to the edges of the room.

Explore the whole space with this feeling of ease and freedom.

middle of all these points – this is your home base or neutral stance.

• Exploring forward. Stand in neutral and

• Now play the ball game mentioned above again

imagine the world rushing by you in a streak

but this time with this same level of ease and

of light. Everyone is moving forward and going

freedom but at a fast pace. What happens? The

somewhere. Now, lean 1mm forward and feel

trick of an actor is to be able to perform with

yourself beginning to become a part of this world

this level of inner ease, even if the character is

of forward thinking. When I say: ‘GO’ you will start

required to do something complicated or violent

moving around the room with this forward level

- the actor’s attitude or approach is one of ease.

of energy.

• Explore the space doing different things with this

Studying a playtext

forward energy. How does someone with forward

Below are some ideas to use when working on the

energy e.g. sit, stand, change direction?

Director’s Notebook/Production Proposal or when

• Continue to explore the space but this time,

rehearsing for a production.

when you make a decision to do something, you

• Use quotes from the play you are studying. The

say: ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in a voice that reflects this energy.

Crucible is a great one to use for this activity.

Have students find a quote for a character they

Experiment with saying it in different ways.

• Now walk around the room, saying your line of

want to explore or give out random quotes to the

text from The Crucible. Meet with another person

class from a range of characters. Think about the

and exchange lines – remembering to receive

hoop activity above where students moved with

their lines into you before giving a reply.

complete ease and freedom within the space.

• Now repeat but with the ball game making sure

Get them to say this quote as they move around

to throw the ball with the line. This exchange

the room. Students should say the quotes with

is like a figure 8 – you receive the line, filter it

a feeling of ease and confidence until they feel

through your gut/emotion and send it back out

they can throw the paper away.

as your line. How the person before says their line

• Play the ball game saying your quote as you

should influence how you deliver your line.

pass the ball. Receive the ball on the move

Repeat the above activity for:

whilst listening to what the first person is saying

• 1mm backward

and then respond with your quote holding the

• 1mm down

connection with the first person until the line

• 1mm up

is finished. After receiving the line and ball and delivering your own line back, keep moving and

Use the direction of the character as an inspiration

find a new connection, say your line and pass the

to action, impulses and exchanges. An atmosphere

ball at the same time – all with a feeling of ease

of greed may emerge from 1mm forward – this

and confidence.

might mean that people take the ball from each other rather than respectively wait for it to be

Qualities of a character: Direction as attitude

thrown to them. As long as the student keeps

Teachers can narrate the instructions below to

connected to the person they are getting the

students as they explore the action. Use the same

ball from and it is a genuine response to the

quotes as above for all four directions initially so

atmosphere and direction being explored, this is

students are challenged to interpret text in different

perfectly fine. Be playful.

ways and to discover which ways of saying the text

39

Reflect on how our character’s attitude in relation

as relating to Time, Place, Event and Relationship.

to direction and time alters our interpretation of

Relationship includes the relationship between the

the line, the interchange of dialogue, and the use

characters in the play, between the actors on stage

of space. What qualities are we discovering about

AND the relationship between the actors and the

this character? Does our character live mostly in a

audience. All of these must be fully considered by

forward direction leaning into the future – planning,

the actor. We’ve all directed or performed in plays

scheming, looking out for trouble like Abigail? Or

where the atmosphere on one night is completely

is their life weighed down in the past (1mm back)

different to another night, not because the actors

like Elizabeth? Are characters firmly grounded with

did anything particularly different but because the

certainty to the earth (1mm down) like John Proctor

audience brought an energy and atmosphere with

at the end of the play, or do they live in a heightened

them to the show.

plane of their own importance (1mm up) like Danforth?

Chekhov was interested in examining how two objective atmospheres could not coexist at the

Can you see how this gives actors a rich palette

same time – that a forest in Salem at midnight

to begin to choose from? The character might be

might have one atmosphere for example but it

predominantly happy, optimistic, dizzy, heady etc

would have an entirely different atmosphere if

when they are 1mm up but there may be moments

a group of girls and a slave entered the forest to

when they need to switch momentarily in the play

dance and perform witchcraft. After the characters

or scene, and this minute shift of direction can help

leave, the forest atmosphere would again return.

an actor to do this.

Understanding the way atmosphere shifted according to dominance was crucial in his work.

Note. The palette is rich because there is no one way

Idea for assessment. As a designer this could be

to interpret the attitude of a character. An upward

an interesting thing to explore for a Solo Theatre

character may be godlike and disconnected from

Piece - using design/technical elements to exhibit

reality, or it may be flighty and gossipy, or arrogant

time, place, event and relationship and how these

and proud.

atmospheres might shift in a scene according to dominance.

These directions, qualities or attitudes could also link to ideas presented in the play: heaven and hell,

Class exercise to explore the 4 components of

the earth and the spirits, people in a rush to lynch

atmosphere

people, people backing away from each other, full

Again, teacher narrates as students act:

of doubt and suspicion. All of this happens in The

Time

Crucible – so this becomes a great tool for exploring

How does the time of the day influence

the world of the play. As a teacher it is also a great

atmosphere?

way of combining theory on a practitioner whilst

• Imagine the space is bathed in crepuscular light

covering the exploration of a playtext in preparation

– that 5 o’clock warm golden evening. How do

for the Director’s Notebook or Production

you move in the space? How does this influence

Proposal (pilot programme).

the way we relate to each other in the space? You aren’t playing a character or acting a scene, just

Atmosphere

imagining the time of day and the light and the

Michael Chekhov believed that atmosphere was

warmth, and letting that influence your reactions

central to an actor’s work and that without an understanding of atmosphere and how the actor

and movements and interactions.

• Now compare, with a cold evening of midnight

can influence the atmosphere or be influenced by it,

blue light. What happens to spatial relations and

an actor’s work could never live fully.

interactions? How is the atmosphere changed by the time of day?

One of the things I often found difficult to teach

Place

students as part of the IB Theatre programme was

Create a space of around 3m x 2m on the ground,

the difference between emotion and atmosphere

marked by tape or by objects at each of the 4

when discussing TEAM. Chekhov gives us a neat

corners. This is where we will focus on atmosphere.

answer to this. Atmosphere is defined by Chekhov

Stand around the edge of the marked area. Focus

40

Clearing atmospheres.

Clearing atmospheres.

Performing a scene in atmosphere.

41

in on the space and note the atmosphere that

make a physical archetype of this place from

currently exists in the space.

the threshold by reducing your movement and sound down to its simplest form. Repeat this

Temple in the ruins of a jungle

simple movement and sound from the outside

1.

Now imagine that in this space lies an old

of the threshold, projecting this atmosphere

temple, ruined and long forgotten. See the

into the space. Finish in a final archetype or still

details of the scene, feel the warm glow of heat,

image and hold. Release and present this energy

the tangled foliage reclaiming the temple. Hear

in your natural state back into the circle/temple.

the sounds. Enter the space one at a time as

4. At any one time, one person will enter the

yourself, without acting, and observe this place

space and without planning, they will immerse

and atmosphere and how you react to it. More

themselves into the atmosphere of this temple

than one person can be in the square at any one

and see what effect it has on their actions.

time but just space it out so that each person

Someone else should then enter – find a

can have a moment to feel the atmosphere

meeting point of contact between the two

without the intrusion of other people. Walk

people in the space. How does the atmosphere

around the space, stand still, soak up the atmosphere and once you feel you have absorbed it, leave and return to the threshold.

Radiate what you feel back into the space as other actors enter and leave.

2. Now keep imagining the space and observe it – stay connected to it – but this

influence the

‘With young students I love the ‘external to internal’ approach of Chekhov and how so much of what he valued is not dissimilar to what we find in yoga teachings or mindfulness programmes.’

time enter one at a time until everyone is in the space. When you enter, make an abstract stylised

relationship between these two people? Do they smile, hug, cry, turn away from each other? Do not act as a character – just respond naturally to the atmosphere and the energy/behaviour of the other person in the space. The first person to enter the space should find a natural leaving point.

Second person feels the atmosphere,

reacts and leaves.

5. The circle stands around the edge of the space

movement that represents the atmosphere of

and feels the power of the atmosphere together.

the temple – it could be a static or free flowing.

They connect with each other by looking and

Next, add sounds. Build up the atmosphere as

sharing this moment with every member of

an ensemble in a gradual fashion until everyone

the group. Don’t speak - feel the electricity that

is in the space contributing a movement and

exists.

sound. Listen to the collective atmosphere that is

6. Collectively, it is then important to clear the

created. Leave in the same way, one at a time to

space between atmosphere activities, so the

the threshold so that the sounds and actions of

ensemble dissolves this image with physical

the atmosphere gradually fade out. Each person

action and sound. First, keep connected to

should radiate the atmosphere back into the

each other and without speaking, collectively

space from the outer edge. Let the atmosphere

bend down while holding each other’s gaze,

sit in the silence that follows. What are the

pick up the imaginary golden hoop that holds

rhythms/patterns of this place?

the atmosphere in it and intuitively throw the

3. Repeat the activity above - you can choose to

atmosphere into the air together with a whoop!

keep the same gesture and sound or change

Finish activity by running around the edge of the

it - but this time keep the sounds and gestures

space in different directions to completely clear

running as you leave the space, and without disconnecting from the imagined temple,

42

away the old atmosphere.

7. The space is then ready for a new atmosphere.

Event

Relationships – Proctor is present on stage with

Backstage at the opening night of a show

Abigail (whom he had the affair with) as Elizabeth,

Now, repeat the same exercise above but this time

his wife, (who knows about the affair) enters.

for a new atmosphere that is an event – opening night of a production with nerves, excitement,

It is an atmosphere of anticipation.

audience entering, hearts beating, reciting lines

Create this atmosphere of anticipation using any

etc. Follow the same process as above but this time

of the techniques above, and once you have it, the

when you get to stage 5, pass the ball to someone

actors in this scene should meet in the middle and

and finish with the ball game in this atmosphere.

start doing the script, listening to the atmosphere,

How do we play the ball game as if it is in an

and reacting to it with feeling and movement.

atmosphere of opening night?

If needed, get the people on the outside to help create the atmosphere with archetype and sound so

Finish up around the rectangle and connect with each

that the actors can feel the atmosphere as they say

other. Feel the atmosphere living all around you and

their lines. Repeat this until they no longer need the

inside you. Then clear the space collectively like before.

help from the ensemble but instinctively hold the atmosphere inside them as they act the scene.

More ideas 1. Walk around the room in an atmosphere of:

So over to you…

• potential

See for yourself how this very physical approach

• danger

impacts the psychological truth of the acting and

• eternity

intuitively increases the depth of understanding

• and then add whole chunks of text or

of a text with your students. With young students I

improvise lines. Atmosphere might be a great

love the ‘external to internal’ approach of Chekhov

way to approach devising a scene or develop

and how so much of what he valued is not dissimilar

characterisations for the Collaborative Project.

to what we find in yoga teachings or mindfulness

2. Play the ball game in an atmosphere of:

programmes. Apart from teaching about acting

• suspicion and doubt

and text analysis, this approach also gives students

• anticipation

life lessons about playfulness, generosity, human

• respect and reverence

connection, confidence and self-belief, which for

• or any other atmosphere that is pertinent to

me is the most important reason for including his

the play you are studying.

techniques in my teaching repertoire.

3. Identify the atmosphere of a particular scene in one word or short phrase based on an analysis of the 4 factors that make up the context of the scene – time, place, event and relationships.

Create it inside the golden hoop as above and have actors enter the space and say their lines in this atmosphere once it has been created.

An example from The Crucible Identify what the atmosphere is in act 3 of The Crucible, when Elizabeth is brought into the court to testify in front of Danforth. Read the scene and listen.

What is the time? It is the 1600s and summer? Midday?

Place – antechamber of the main court – the public is waiting downstairs – this also contributes to the atmosphere.

The events are that Mary Warren has given a deputation and Proctor has admitted adultery.

Elizabeth is walking into a situation where she knows

Bibliography Adjjima Na Patalung www.artsonlocation. net/?page_id=1567 Accessed 25th May 2021 Chamberlain, Franc, Michael Chekhov, Routledge Performance Practitioners, London & NY, 2004.

All practical exercises come from workshops led by Sinead Rushe (Senior lecturer in Acting and Movement, Central School of Speech & Drama), ‘Michael Chekhov Technique’, Arts on Location International Programme at Srinakarinwirot University, Bangkok, 25th June – 1st July 2018.

All photos by Johnny Ordonia courtesy of Adjjima Na Patalung, Arts on Location, 2018.

something is expected of her but she doesn’t know what it is. Everyone has a stake in what she says.

43

Take a stab at Artaud

By Samantha Pierce

‘Theater of Cruelty means a theater difficult and cruel for myself first of all. And, on the level of performance, it is not the cruelty we can exercise upon each other by hacking at each other’s bodies, carving up our personal anatomies, or, like Assyrian emperors, sending parcels of human ears, noses, or neatly detached nostrils through the mail, but the much more terrible and necessary cruelty which things can exercise against us. We are not free. And the sky can still fall on our heads. And the theater has been created to teach us that first of all.’

Bertolt Brecht

44

45

I’ve always been a bit intense.

with Grotowski and told us stories

world offered; all the sorrow,

While everyone swooned at

of his initiation, where he was told

all the joy. Artist friends of my

Jordan Catalano in My So Called

to lay down on a highway and

professors came to test out their

Life I identified with this quiet

only get up at the last minute as

work and deliver workshops,

character who felt everything

a test to see how on the edge he

some of which I loved, such

the world had to offer deeply. My

was. Another opened our eyes to

as Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, the

mother would whisper to friends:

the world of Franko B and Annie

wonderful interdisciplinary Butoh

‘She’s a sensitive sort’ as if it were

Sprinkle, and charged us with

performer with her show Angel/

a condition. Words like ‘empath’

interviewing artists who were

Animal and some of which I felt

or ‘highly sensitive’ didn’t exist

incorporating the body into their

violated by, such as a professor

in the 80s and 90s. So maybe I

work in seemingly cruel ways. I

who created a piece about

turned to theatre as an outlet?

watched Franko B bloodlet with

the bourgeois in London and

Though the twee thigh-slapping

equal parts horror and fascination.

served us tea with sugar lumps

theatre of my youth did little to

One professor was fascinated

made from his own semen and

inspire me.

with Hijitaka and turned up one

sandwiches with his ‘blood’ jelly.

morning with a shaved head and

We weren’t sure if they were real,

It was my mix of eclectic,

covered in white; her private parts

but l wasn’t going to find out.

alternative and downright-a-bit-

barely covered. Thus began our

bonkers university professors

Butoh unit.

who bit me with the Artaud bug. After we had done the mandatory Realism study of Stanislavski and performed a yawn inducing The Cherry Tree - where even I was bored at myself sighing ‘I vant to go to Moscow’ and wistfully looking out of the window as I played out my uninspiring super-objective - we finally got to choose our next elective course and I found myself drawn to a course entitled Alternative

And then it was our turn to create our own solo performance.

‘I found myself fascinated at the scope of what theatre could be to each person and I wanted to know more and more.’

Forms that predictably was

And it had to speak to the world. A big task for a 20-year-old from a small farming village. But it turns out that if we are brave enough we all have something to say, we’ve just been taught not to. And we felt immense pressure to do so, as our professors had all modelled the process, the successes and the failures.

It turns out, predictably, that my ‘something’ to say

taught from a tucked away part

I found myself fascinated at the

involved me being almost naked,

of the college. Cue a whirlwind

scope of what theatre could be

with raw chicken breasts taped to

and in-yer-face study of some

to each person and I wanted to

my body in an attempt to scorn a

of the most interesting artists

know more and more. They didn’t

previous partner, who sat in the

and theorists. And cue a bunch

shy away from the intersection

audience. Bit of a sad cliche really

of professors who were clearly

of their mental health and their

but, alas, I was young and we

side-gigging at the teaching

work. In fact one morning our

start with cliches. Friends created

thing but were practicing artists

much beloved professor came in

pieces about their own traumas:

performing in the underbelly of

and sat looking at us in silence

a friend who transitioned a few

London. Looking back, a lot of

and then asked us how we

years ago created a piece about

the work we did would now see a

could even feel alive today, on a

being caged in their dysphoric

professor immediately escorted

day when so many had died 10

body, a friend with an eating

off the premises but, wow, did

years ago in Tiananmen Square.

disorder created a piece where

we learn and stretch our shallow

She told us as artists we had

she ate a giant tub of butter at

18-20 year old thoughts about

to channel the cruelty of the

speed until she was physically

what theatre was.

world into our work as we had

sick and then threw the vomit

One of our professors had worked

a responsibility to feel what this

at her audience, another friend

46

exposed that he was HIV+ and

theorists are fragmented,

his piece discussed the shame

disjointed and a little bit all

attached, using a barbed wire

over the place, I share with you

cage that he asked the audience

some activities that I designed

to tighten as he performed his

that have worked really well

monologue.

in workshops with students and teachers. I hope that you

Why am I sharing this with you?

will come away feeling brave

Well, aside from context being

enough to dip your toes into the

EVERYTHING, several of you

world of Artaud. Maybe you dip

have watched workshops I’ve

into him to look at how context

done with students on Artaud

shapes a theorist but I would

and asked me how I learned to

highly recommend you go a step

be comfortable being so raw

further and create alongside your

when demonstrating Artaudian

(Rotie: Angel/Animal, 1999)

students, exposing them to the

movement or sound or breath.

intense world of this theorist,

It comes down to the fact that

who during his time was only

I never learned from books or websites about Artaud - I learned from professors who modelled it, who encouraged us to try it out and who truly believed that performers must be cruel to themselves in order to create something worthy of being called original. And I cannot emphasise the impact this had on me - the constant by our side learning, never delivering dull lectures but helping us live the

‘I hope that you will come away feeling brave enough to dip your toes into the world of Artaud.’

experience.

misunderstood.

Things to avoid when working with Artaud • Don’t glorify or use his madness as a sideshow spectacle. His whole work is his madness really, and understandably so. So would anyone’s work who had suffered over 52 electro-shock treatments.

• Have students move away from gore for the sake of

Getting started with Artaud

gore. This isn’t Grand Guignol

I never went back to any of

Despite accumulating a vast

(ISTA artist and member

the more traditional courses

amount of written work that

teacher Anthony Cunningham

after that, something had

theorised about theatre, he

does a wonderful GG

been opened in me in the way

never really had the chance

workshop though!).

I saw theatre and the mind

to realise his work on stage.

intersecting more so than ever

Students (and teachers) often

before. Some years later I took

find his work intangible but

an MA in Counselling and I feel

if given the confidence, they

my interest in Artaud also led

come to understand that they

me there and planted that seed

may have more freedom for

of understanding that people

interpretation with Artaud than

are complex: simultaneously

say the fixed aspects of other

perfect and broken, thriving and

theorists. Once you start to do

struggling.

the work (read a few of the key books rather than try and

I’m hopeful that I can suggest

imitate anything you find on

a mere few activities that

YouTube), you’ll find that ideas

you might feel comfortable

for the HOW of how to approach

unpacking with your own

his work will come.

students. Go on, be brave!

In the same way that Artaud’s

47

• Don’t even attempt practical

Theorist’s context task

part of the Criterion A in STP)

work with Artaud if the

I used to do a pretty decent

so they have to say how this

students aren’t bonded,

presentation to the students

impacted him, e.g.: ‘During

supportive and mentally OK

to model what a 3-minute

this time opium was the drug

with this.

introduction to a theatre in a

of choice and this caused

TedTalk style might look like. They

hallucinations, paranoia,

And forgive me if I go on a rant

would then create one of their

fatigue and convulsions. The

here. But so many students

own and - boom - we would cover

mental anguish that Aratud

seem to think being ‘cruel’

some A.1 work for the STP and

was subjected to - from a very

means scaring the audience

also practice the demands of the

young age - no doubt shapes

like a spectacle.

RP oral presentation (including

his dark and intense ideas

oral citation, people!).

about the world.’

• This isn’t a Halloween show.

• Trauma isn’t fun. Remember that. Your role as a theatre teacher is not to unpack a student’s hurt. Whether you are doing Stanislavski or Artaud or Prince, don’t ever tell a kid to ‘use their pain’. We are teachers, not psychologists.

Things to do prior to working with Artaud

‘I have found that there is much freedom when working with Artaud.’

• Understand Surrealism. Not

Quotes as a way in Do some reading on Artaud. I highly recommend The Theatre and its Double (Artaud) and Blows and Bombs (Barber), and pull out 10-15 quotes which kind of put their finger on what the essence of Artaudian theatre is.

Print these quotes out and lay them around the room. Play intense music, ask for silence

understanding this important

and have students go around

contextual information won’t

But then it didn’t feel like a

with their journals, reading the

allow you to peek below

dynamic way into Artaud.

quotes and writing any notes

the iceberg. It would be

Instead I had better success with

that come into their head about

like studying Boal without

the following steps:

what type of person this Artaud

knowing about his arrest

• Students brainstorm what

theorist was and what their

and torture by the Brazillian

they believe to be true about

thoughts start to become about

regime, or studying Brecht

Artuad. Have them write a list

his theatre style.

without understanding

in groups of 3-4. This activity

Marxism.

will only work if they have

Focus on an aspect

dipped in and out of a little bit

Artaud had a lot of thoughts

prior to this.

about theatre, many would call

• Embrace the ambiguity. I have found that there is much

• Pair students up and give

them ramblings. You would too,

Artaud. But less concrete

them 30-45 minutes max

if you spent much of your years

answers about what an

to research Artaud. Have

theorising about the state of the

aspect looks like. I see this

them deliver a 4-minute oral

world while high on drugs in an

as a strength. Enable your

presentation on Artaud’s

asylum during one of the most

students to do the same.

context and how it relates to

avant garde eras in France. With

• Find connection points.

freedom when working with

48

his work as a theorist. Person

Artaud, the aspects are harder to

Students are pretty great at

A is in charge of making the

put an exact label on, as Artaud

being in touch with intense

context statements, e.g.:

himself didn’t. You won’t have the

feelings and I’ve found 99% of

‘Artaud spent a total of nine

clarity of ‘gestus’ from Brecht or

them can identify with feeling

years in asylums and was

‘projections’ from Lepage. The

like an outsider. Before you

heavily medicated for the

student has to be braver and

paint Artaud as a madman

majority of this time’. Person B

more committed to finding an

or insane person (both true),

is responsible for then making

aspect and truly understanding

look at the WHY and help your

the statement that connects

it, so they can interpret it in their

students connect.

to reason and cause (explain

own way.

For the purpose of this article

room. Drop the head to your chin.

not rushed. Continue with this

I will focus on what he later

As you breathe in, raise your head.

for 60 seconds. Examine what

defined as GLOSSOLALIA. Artaud

Experiment with the following

happens to your eyes. Have a

himself never really defined the

ways:

partner watch you from the other

meaning of this but he did say in

1. Sharp inhalation when

side of the room. Discuss. What’s

his writings about the plague (a

breathe in, head up quickly.

central theme of this work) that

2. Slow inhalation when breathe

the lungs and the mind were

in, head up slow.

the only two parts of the body

3. Sharp exhalation and head up

that you can consciously control,

quick.

so choosing to disrupt the

4. Slow exhalation and head up

traditional use of breath can be a powerful tool in Artaudian work.

slow.

happening in your brain due to the body changes?

Alert. Your inhale and exhale are measured equally; they are getting a little sharper, a little more effort on the exhale.

Tragic. You are almost unable

Discuss what kind of character

to breathe. Breathe in as if your

or emotion you associate with

windpipe only has 1% space. Hold

A ‘cruel’ physical warm up

each style of breathing. Maybe

for as long as you can. On the

Artaud believes the actor is an

the quick inhalation made you

exhale don’t gasp, don’t panic.

athlete. He valued people who

feel like an angry person and so

Think about that last breath

gave 100% rather than those who

on. This would be a great way

before someone drowns; the last

were talented but did not try. He

for a chorus to start on stage.

breath you will ever have, you

felt that cruelty was just as much

The purpose of this activity is to

want to hold onto it, you don’t

about the disciple and depth of

look at how breath can make an

want it to finish. Empty your lungs

effort the actor is willing to take.

impact on a character.

slowly and continuously. I suggest doing this half a class at a

Put an object in the middle of the circle. Do the following with the object as the winning thing: • Super slow motion race towards it.

• Do it with utter JOY! • Move away from it in slow motion with utter SADNESS. • Towards it with ANGER. • Away from it

‘Artaud believes the actor is an athlete. He valued people who gave 100% rather than those who were talented but did not try. ’

HORRIFIED. It makes

time, with the other half watching and writing down on post it notes.

The above is what I call ‘play’. You are testing out ideas. Imagine for the Collaborative Project the group has decided that they want to do a piece inspired by George Floyd.

For Criterion B.2 someone in the group leads through

you think of the most awful

Breathing and the Seven Levels

this practical exploration of breath

thing.

of Tension

work and as a group, the results

Most of us know Lecoq’s 7 Levels

are used to determine what’s next.

Have students repeat this until

of Tension, and we have applied

Artaud work is fantastic for getting

the slow motion is painful, until

this to our bodies. Try now

work started and leaving an open

the muscles are working. It

dimming the lights and talking

ended ‘what’s next’.

should NOT be easy. Obviously

students through breathing like

anyone ‘winning’ the race isn’t

the states e.g.:

How would *you* describe

doing it right. The students might

Catatonic. Breathe slow and

SUSPENSE, PASSIONATE or

moan, they might huff and puff,

long, your breath is almost lazy,

EXHAUSTED? Can you think how

keep pushing them. If they lose

you don’t think about it but it’s

you would lead your own group

tension in their bodies, stop and

that breath between asleep and

through this?

start again.

awake.

Economic. You take in only the

Applying breath to a

A breathing exercise

amount of breath you need and

performance

Stand in neutral in a space in the

no more, your exhale is quick but

So it is really important that

49

students get practice applying

1) Standing in the line.

decides if silence will be the

an aspect to a moment of

2) Sitting in the carriage and

sound).

theatre. This is what Criterion

buckling the seat belt.

12) Coming back to the start (the

C with the Solo Theatre Piece is

3) The gradual increase in speed.

group might decide to go the

all about but, equally, this could

4) The moment just before the

euphoria or dysphoria route).

be used in the Collaborative

drop.

Project or as an idea in the

5) The drop.

Step 4

Director’s Notebook. It also could

6) Coming back to the start.

Practice and find a way to stand

be spoken about as part of D.1

as a chorus ensemble. Don’t

in the Research Presentation

Step 3

move the body at all. This could

assessment. This idea will have

As a group, decide what kind

come later but the idea of the

moments of solo work and group

of breathing or sound (not

rollercoaster is just a vehicle to

work, to hopefully show you that

words) would match each stage.

get the breath word grounded

it’s not only with your HL kids that

Each stage must last at least 10

in something. We don’t want

you should study theorists.

seconds but some stages may

to see students raise arms, put

last longer. For example:

seatbelt on etc.

Step 1 Have students grab a piece of paper and sit in a quiet space. Instruct them to

7) Standing in the line (very economic breathing, trying

Step 5

to keep control).

Perform. Experiment with eyes

8) Sitting in the carriage and

closed by audience v. eyes open.

respond in silence by writing

Play with having the audience

or drawing answers to the

close by. What does this

following prompts.

• Think about a time in your life where you felt like an outsider. Be specific.

Describe it using adjectives (teacher gives an example)

“Courageous work never came from a place of comfort.’

using the phrase ‘The time when….’.

• Tell me about a time in your

do to the performers? The audience should not know the start ‘story’. At this stage it is redundant. The feedback from the audience will give a narrative that is far more enlightening.

buckling the seat belt (irregular breathing, calm

You can then play with adding

life when you felt panic at a

and then not, guttural

facial expressions, though this will

high level. Describe.

sounds pepper in to show

probably come out anyway. The

• Tell me about a time in your

struggle between wanting

feedback of the performers and

life when you felt like you

to stay and do it and also

audience should dictate the next

had to make yourself smaller,

get out).

steps in developing a performance.

or hide from something/

9) The gradual increase in speed

someone. This could be

(sucking in breaths faster

Where to look next… more

metaphorical e.g. ‘Hiding from

and faster and deeper

resources

my Mom asking me how my

breaths, slight high pitched

• Jenni Whittaker has made

day was as it was terrible’.

whine sound like a dog

several workbooks. There is

whistle that represents the

a chapter that is free that

building panic).

you can follow to give your

In groups of three, the students get together and share ideas, eventually choosing one scenario.

10) The moment just before

students a taster.

the drop (could play here

• Ask your students if they see

Step 2

with absolute high level

any parallels with Artaud’s

As a group, decide on 6 separate

‘passionate’ level of tension

disillusioned world views and

moments in the scenario e.g. if

breathing, this should be

those in video games, manga,

the student was looking at the

overwhelming to both play

graphic novels or songs. You

moment when they experienced

and listen to.

will be surprised at how many

sheer panic before a rollercoaster they might have:

50

11) The drop (tragic level caught breath, can’t breathe, group

resources your own students will know about.

• Grant Morrisons Arkham

does cost a small fee, this

lot with humour actually and

Asylum: A Serious House on

was a fascinating read and it

the work itself can be a light

Serious Earth. Morrison states

will blow your mind to read

that the Theatre of Cruelty was

about how Artaudian theory is

one of his primary influences

surviving and evolving when

your students. Feel scared or

and it is easy to see the links

other theatrical styles haven’t.

silly or vulnerable? Perfect.

release.

• Model everything alongside

here. I would not use this as

• Check out ProjectArtaud

a text in class - but perhaps

in San Francisco. They are/

from a place of comfort.

you as the teacher might find

were an amazing live-work

• If a student ever does get

appropriate excerpts.

theatre space and have

• Digital dramaturgy of cruelty:

some great links.

Courageous work never came

emotional with the work then STOP. • Praise growth, bravery (no

Antoine Artaud: Ludology and the plague metaphor in

Closing points

matter how small it may

contemporary video games

• Artaud doesn’t always have

seem) and students who try

and new media. While this

to be so heavy. He played a

something new.

Other recommended reading > Sources: Artaud, Antonin. Collected Works of Antonin Artaud, trans. Victor Corti. London: Calder and Boyars, 1971. > Artaud, Antonin. Selected Writings, Trans. Helen Weaver. Ed. and Intro. Susan Sontag. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976. > Artaud, Antonin. Pour en finir avec le jugement de dieu, original recording. Edited with an introduction by Marc Dachy. Compact Disc. Sub Rosa/aural documents, 1995. > Artaud, Antonin. The Theatre and Its Double, Trans. Mary Caroline Richards. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1958. > Artaud, Antonin. 50 Drawings to Murder Magic, trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith. London: Seagull Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-905422-66-1 > Artaud, Antonin. Artaud Anthology, edited and translated by Jack Hirschman. San Francisco: City Lights, 1963. ISBN 978-0-87286-000-1 > Artaud, Antonin. Watchfiends and Rack Screams: works from the final period, trans. and ed.

Clayton Eshleman, with Bernard Bador. Boston: Exact Change, 1995. ISBN 1-878972-18-9

51

52

Unmasking the elements

By Lian Sutton

I first encountered the use of images in actor

art that uses the imagery of the five elements:

training early on in drama school. My voice and mask

Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Aether (Space, or Cahaya,

teacher at the time, Budi Miller, had worked closely

meaning light) as a foundation to explore martial

with Per Brahe, an internationally known expert in

movement. These elements sought to free the

Balinese mask work as well as a master teacher of the

bodymind of its habitual movement, highlighting

Michael Chekhov technique. Budi introduced us to

and encouraging other ways of approaching both

a riveting chapter of Arthur Bartow’s book Training

violent and non-violent action, thus creating a

of the American Actor (2012) and in one chapter

‘dance of life’ if you will.

by Per Brahe on his work with Balinese masks, he quotes Chekhov in a phone call from a hospital bed

A few years after I graduated and started my work as

to his long-time secretary, Deirdre Hurst du Prey.

an actor, I began to feel the call to the masks once

He quoted: ‘Mama, Mama, I am lying here and am

more. Having set aside a small fund, I contacted

thinking it all over again and again. And if I can, when

Per Brahe to commission the elemental masks. We

I get out of the hospital, I will work more with masks,

began a back and forth of explanations and videos

because I am sure there is more in the masks I need

of myself moving in the elements in a Silat dance,

to know’ (p. 98). He died a few months later, unable to

and he would reply with questions and drafts of the

follow his inspiration with the masks, a pursuit which

mask templates. As a testament to his life’s work,

Per Brahe now continues in his annual intensive

Per is incredibly sensitive to images, and I found it

workshops in Bali, Indonesia.

easy to trust in his instincts implicitly in the creation of these masks.

This extension of Michael Chekhov’s work with the imagination, the body, and his legacy with the mask

What followed, and still does to this day, is an

work, my teacher Budi had shared with us stirred

exploration and constant discovery of what these

something within me very close to a practice I had

masks are, who they are and their behaviours in

been actively training in from a young age. This

different bodies. For those familiar with the Michael

practice, Silat Tua, is a traditional Malay martial

Chekhov technique, one particular philosophy of

53

his is already connected to these masks, the five

practices, to resolve or rest the bodymind. Perhaps.

qualities of movement: Moulding, Floating, Flying,

There are still a lot more discoveries to be made.

Fire and Radiation. It is with these qualities that I often begin my introduction into the elemental

Chekhov’s legacy in the ImageWork

masks. Students are brought on a long journey

Contradictions sit comfortably in this work with

through each quality, gaining a psychophysical entry

images and the masks. Every certain discovery

into each element. Then the students jump into the

made surely gets debunked in my next workshop.

masks, with no clue as to which mask is associated

Each group is different, and each participant brings

with which element. A line of questioning, a sense of

with them a different body, a different imagination.

discovery and the complexities of just ‘being’ in the

Which is what is so beautiful and frustrating about

masks begin.

this work. So what is the point? Why do it? And, more importantly, what remains from the work?

Recent discoveries I’m hesitant to boil the masks down explicitly into

Something very important for us storytellers is

certain movements or behaviours but I’ll give you

what David Zinder, acting teacher and author of

an overview of the discoveries made thus far. Please

Body Voice Imagination: ImageWork Training and

note that these discoveries are also by no means

the Chekhov Technique (2009), calls The Actor’s

definitive. They will change, and I expect them to.

Catechism. He mentions how the exercises we do often have no existence beyond their duration

The first thing that always needs to be addressed in

in time, so we have to develop a mechanism for

all the workshops I’ve conducted, is that the colours

turning ‘behaviour’ into a learning experience (p.

of the masks are often a red herring. They do not

21). It begins and ends with a habit of questioning

necessarily reflect the element they represent as

ourselves about processes as we are experiencing

we have come to understand it. But it’s often the

them. What am I doing when I do this? What did

first thing we cling on to. Participants start seated

I do to make this happen? What do I need to add

and often find curiosity in their limbs first, either

or subtract to make this happen? This is what I try

in the expression of the fingers, or tapping of the

to emphasize, not just with what the participant is

feet. The Earth and the Fire masks interact a fair bit,

experiencing in the mask but also what is seen and

as do Fire and Water. Air is often solitary but again,

felt by the people observing.

not exclusively. Water and Air tend to be the more ‘sensible’ of the four, often becoming a mediator

You don’t need the masks to enter into this type

in conflict or a distraction to it. The Air mask seems

of work with images either. In theory, if the actor’s

to be the easiest for participants to ‘be’ in. The Air

catechism is in play, any image can spark and

mask immediately wants to stand, take off from the

transform the actor. I recently conducted a workshop

ground, and sometimes expresses itself fervently

with a group of middle school students who took

with the fingers tapping the air. Fire and Water have

on the images like ‘a carpet being rolled out’, ‘an old

an obviously interesting dynamic, as sometimes

tree that gets struck by lightning’ and ‘burnt coffee

a Fire mask sits more intensely on a participant,

that has been left out for days’. With the actor’s

muting any interaction with Water, yet other times

catechism, one starts to ask, what is a carpet like

it’s the opposite. Earth likes the ground, and may

with arms and legs like me? How long have I been

often be found close to it or stomping. Now, Aether

rolled out? Do I, the carpet, want to be rolled out?

is an exceptionally difficult element to play with.

We took these abstract images and each participant

In the Silat tradition Aether, or Cahaya (meaning

interpreted the images in their bodies, into what

Light), is a rather still element. It is believed to be

observers could read as concrete behaviours, then

the closest to the divine, in a sense. When I have

we did a short scene with rehearsed lines. One

allowed the Aether mask to come to play, there is

student kept coughing, it was a dusty old carpet,

a big dynamic shift in all the elements. It has often

and what the observers saw was a sick old man who

muddied, and disrupted the session in a way I can’t

perhaps hadn’t been outside in a while. Suddenly,

actually put a finger on yet. Currently, I have a strong

people were able to identify other potential given

instinct that tells me the Aether mask may be a

circumstances: wants, needs, character motivations,

healing mask rather than a movement one. Which

even different settings. You can have endless fun

means it may be worn for meditative or restorative

getting suggestions from students for the images

54

e.g. you could start with an adjective, add a noun (it

elemental mask and we can ask more questions,

doesn’t necessarily have to make sense, e.g. running

and make more discoveries together. I leave you

mirror, crazy umbrella), and if the students are really

with a quote by Michael Chekhov himself:

thriving and daring with the image, add something for the image to work on in the scene e.g. running mirror trying not to shatter, or crazy umbrella trying to open but it’s stuck.

This type of work can induce a real sense of fear, confusion, as well as play, it may even fluctuate between all three. It can be approached at all levels but will take more work and finesse, on the work of the director/teacher to further allow the image freedom to thrive in a naturalistic setting. In the rehearsal room, one may have to turn the intensity

‘The actor imagines with his body. He cannot avoid gesturing or moving without responding to his own internal images.’

notch down but it has often proved to be a good way of shaking things up if a scene feels too stale or

Resources

if an ensemble needs to create more content from

Bartow, Arthur. Training of the American Actor.

devised shows. I urge all teachers to give it a try and

Theatre Communications Group, 2012.

to read the books and chapters I have mentioned to

Zinder, David G. Body, Voice, Imagination:

aid in this journey with images. And perhaps, world

ImageWork Training and the Chekhov Technique.

events permitting, I may be able to visit you with my

Second Edition ed., Routledge, 2009.

55

56

Brecht – the storyteller

By Joachim Matschoss

‘Our theatre must arouse delight in knowledge and organise pleasurable festive feelings at the changing of reality.’

Bertolt Brecht Along with Constantin

prolific. He was a theorist, poet,

Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht was

playwright, essayist and, above all,

one of the two most influential

a practitioner who painstakingly

figures of 20th century theatre

applied his theories to the works

and the most significant

of one of the great theatre

practitioner since World War II.

companies of the world, the

Brecht’s theories for the stage,

Berliner Ensemble.

including his well-known Epic Theatre form, made him a force

One of Brecht’s favourite

to be reckoned with. Although

sayings was: ‘The proof is in the

it is well documented Brecht

pudding’. Although his essays,

had a team of workers around

poems and plays tell us a great

him to ease the load, his creative

deal about both his aesthetics

output was nothing short of

and his dramatic theories, it is

57

58

to his practice and to that of

deceive, not a literal fact but an

among others. What interested

others engaged in performing

imaginative one: dark and even

him were social and objective

his work that we must turn for a

inhuman nature, the blackness

contexts and to some degree the

meaningful insight into Brechtian

of the forest as metaphor of the

self’s capacity to ‘endure’.

performance/ Epic Theatre.

unknown and irrational, was what

His dramatic characters operate

To me, Brecht was a man of

Brecht understood his internal

in an arena designed for the

the theatre, not a theorist first.

background to be.

exhibition and struggle of public

He was a playwright who also

issues, transformed by his art into

directed and who seemed to

To me, Brecht should be seen

metaphors for the difficulties

have referred little even to of the

as a playwright who remained

of personal, though never

most famous theoretical ideas.

essentially a poet or a poet who

idiosyncratic, existence itself.

only found his true voice in the Lotte Lenya, one of Brecht’s great

theatre. Throughout his life

He who is beaten cannot escape

actresses, was asked shortly

Brecht was engaged in an interior

From wisdom

after the war what it was like

war between his instinctual,

Keep hold of yourself and sink! Be

rehearsing with Brecht: ‘Right

anarchic private being and

afraid! But sink!

in the middle of the rehearsal, I

his reason and social sense, a

At the bottom the lesson awaits

stopped for a second and said:

conflict which eventually made

you.

“Brecht, you know your theory

him adopt Marxism as a sort of

Bertolt Brecht, Fatzer-fragment:

of Epic Theatre – maybe you

restraining force.

Decline of the Egoist

don’t want me to just sing this song in the way I sang it – as emotional as it has to be done?”…He said: “Lenya, darling, whatever you do is epic enough for me”.’ (Der Zuhörer, 1979) So, in other words, when dealing with Brecht it is important to not get bogged down in theory.

In Brecht’s own words the

‘Brecht does not begin with the individual but with the problem.’

Walter Sokel

Dramatic Theatre’s spectator says: ‘I feel like that, too – just like me – it’s only natural – it’ll never change – the sufferings of this man or this woman appall me because they are inescapable – that’s great art;

Brecht was of course not only

it all seems the most obvious

a playwright and director, but a

thing in the world – I weep when

poet and it is in that area of his

Brecht’s lifetime, 1898 to 1956,

they weep, I laugh when they

work that one can find further

began early enough and

laugh.’

clues of what to do with the man

stretched far enough for it to have

Whereas the Epic Theatre’s

and his thinking.

incorporated the 20th century’s

spectator says:

central events, nearly all of them

‘I’d never have thought of it

One of his best-known poems, ‘Of

disasters. He was just old enough

– that’s not the way – that’s

poor B.B.,’ announces that

to take part in WWI, and by the

extraordinary, hardly believable

‘I, Bertolt Brecht, come from the

time the Nazis surged and took

– it’s got to stop – the sufferings

black forests… and the coldness

over, he was at the height of his

of this man or woman appall me

of the woods… shall remain in me

intellectual and artistic powers

because they are unnecessary –

until my dying day.’

during his nearly twenty years in

that’s great art: nothing obvious

However, he had in fact been

exile. He returned to his homeland,

about it. I laugh when they weep,

born and raised in the small

which was now East Germany,

I weep when they laugh.’

industrial city of Augsburg near

in the state that artists reach (in

I believe the above is helpful for

Munich, the child of thoroughly

high middle age) when they know

teachers and students of Brecht

urbanised parents: a factory

precisely what they want.

alike.

a civil servant. To say that he

Brecht was never interested in

What followed was that acting

originated from the forest was

the ‘soul’, even as a concept, or in

had to transform itself as far-

to claim, without any wish to

the ‘self’, apart from its situation,

reaching as that which affected

manager and the daughter of

59

• Actors speaking in the past

dramatic writing. The phrase

remind them that they were in a

v-effect, Verfremdungseffekt

theatre, being presented with a

in German (‘alienation effect’

performance by actors.

but sometimes translated as

1. Stage design

‘distancing-effect’), seems to

Only items and props that

not have appeared in his essays

were absolutely necessary to

It should be said however that

until 1936, but long before Brecht

tell the story were used. Props

Brecht was not attempting

had the belief that the function

were symbolic rather than

anything new. He used

of acting was that of creating

representational. Set changes

techniques that had been

a new reality by estranging the

were made in full view of the

around pre-realism/naturalism

spectator from what was familiar.

audience.

for thousands of years e.g. in

The key is to make the familiar

2. Lighting

Elizabethan theatre, medieval

strange.

As simple as possible. Lights

plays, Greek theatre and in Asian

could be seen from the audience

theatre techniques.

tense.

• Actors articulating stage directions.

Brecht wrote in the 1930s: ‘The

as were the operators.

actor needs to make the man he

3. Music

Simplified, Stanislavski would

is representing understandable.

Used to comment on or conflict

say: The actor must ‘do’ and not

Not so much the man as what

with the action on stage. Songs

‘show’. Brecht would say: The

takes place.’ Furthermore, Brecht

should be clearly marked out

actor must ‘show’ and not ‘do’.

tried to explain himself in the

from the rest of the performance

Brechtian training does not teach

poem Showing Has To Be Shown:

and there should not be any

how to act, how to be clever, does

Show that you are showing!

smooth transitions.

not prepare one for creation.

Among all the varied

Training here is the

attitudes

process of self-definition,

Which you show when showing how men play their parts The attitude of showing

‘The key is to make the familiar strange.’

must never be forgotten.

a process of self-discipline which manifests itself through what it is about.

The view of actors who worked with Brecht at the

All attitude of showing

Berliner Ensemble could

must be based on the attitude of

4. Structure

be helpful here to understand

showing

In theory all elements of the Epic

this more clearly: ‘Brecht would

This how to practice: before you

play are capable of operating

say that he wanted no discussion

show the way

independently of each other.

in rehearsal – it would have to

A man betrays someone, or is

Each song and scene is capable

be tried.’ (Carl Weber) ‘I am not

seized by jealousy

of telling its own story and

at all a distancing, distanced

Or concludes a deal, first look

carrying its own message.

actor. I am a passionate, a very

At the audience, as if you wished

5. Suspense

passionate actor. But I’m not

to say:

There was no place for this in Epic

an actor who gives out pure

Now take note, this man is now

Theatre. The point was not, will A

emotions; emotions want to

betraying someone and this how

deceive B, but how will A deceive

impress but not to disturb. To

he does it,

B? Therefore, each scene often

disturb, that’s more important

This is what he is like when

had a title or a song informing

to me…I don’t act emotions,

jealousy seizes him…

the audience of what was to

I present them as ways of

come.

behavior. Brecht’s term here

And behind your stage parts you

6. Actor as storyteller

would be Gestus. And when you

yourself must still be visible.

The Epic actor wants to show

fill behavior with emotion, that’s

As those who are playing them.

their character rather than live

when you get passionate, or

it. Brecht came up with several

intense or vital.’ (Eckehard Schall)

Brecht developed a number of

rehearsal techniques such as:

key techniques to encourage

• Actors speaking in the third

the audience to think and

60

person.

Gestus is one of the keys to understanding Brechtian

performance and it is not easy to

excited, the actor will e.g. take a

to create a performance so that

grasp. Brecht believed that it is

lock of hair between his lips and

the process of editing, selecting,

the actor’s business not to express

chew it. This is like a ritual. It is

shaping, and reshaping can take

feelings but to ‘show attitudes’

clearly the actor’s repetition of the

place. The most important piece

or Gesten. In the accompanying

incident: a representation, even

of material was this:

essay on the Dreigroschen-

though an artistic one. This was

prozess (Threepenny-case) he

very exciting for Brecht.

developed this conception of

POEM The most beautiful of all doubts

the Gestus a good deal further,

Creating a piece of theatre

Is when the downtrodden and

speaking not only of individual

around Epic principles

despondent raise their heads

Gesten but of Gestisches Material

Unlike Grotowski for example,

And

and the Grund (or basic )-gestus

Brecht preferred to demonstrate

Stop believing in the strength

of a play. It is at once gesture

his concepts for Epic Theatre

Of their oppressors.

and gist, attitude and point: one

in performances instead of

aspect of the relation between

acting exercises. Unlike Artaud,

Oh, how laboriously the new

two people, studied singly, cut

Brecht’s ideas were concrete

truth was fought for!

to essentials and physically

and translatable for actors for

What sacrifices it cost!

or verbally expressed. Glenda

generations to come. A staunch

How difficult it was to see

Jackson in preparing for Mother

Marxist, Brecht’s plays often had

That things were like this and not

Courage decided that in order to achieve a Brechtian kind of truth she needed ‘the simplicity, the immediacy and totality of a child. That kind of simple, immediate response was what I was working for.

That’s exactly what Brecht is about, it seems to me.’

like this.

‘If we cut ourselves off from our past, we will have no future.’

Theatre d’Complicite, A Disappearing Number

B.Brecht Near the poem was this quote: ‘If we cut ourselves off from our past, we will have no future.’

Theatre d’Complicite, A Disappearing Number

On a trip to Moscow in 1935, Brecht viewed Chinese theatre for

a political and social message for

What the ensemble and I set

the first time and one of its great

those viewing them. Accordingly,

out to do was to create a musical

actors, Mei Lan-Fang, and found

his works included songs that

theatre piece. It was eventually

that traditional Chinese acting

drummed home the message

called Shivers and was performed

also used Verfremdungseffekte

of the play, storytellers, narrators,

at the Malthouse and then toured

(‘alienation effects’). Not only

projection, placards and actors

Australia and Europe.

Chinese theatre but Asian culture

directly addressing the audience.

in general began to play an

In the following I would like to

important part in Brecht’s writing,

share notes from my rehearsal

influencing for example his play

diary with the reader to illustrate

A mother of a friend in Ireland told

Good Person of Setzuan (1938-41).

an approach/way of working to

me a story about what happened

The Chinese artist’s performance

create an original piece of theatre,

to countless young unmarried

often strikes the western actor

using Brechtian techniques and

mothers only 50 years ago. These

as cold. That does not mean that

elements of his theory.

women were often hidden from

the Chinese theatre rejects all

A story.

family and friends in ‘homes’

representation of feelings. The

The beginning

attached to convents, nunneries.

performer in Chinese theatre

The rehearsal space was brimful

They were forced to do hard

portrays incidents of utmost

with material of all kinds: images,

physical work, in laundries among

passion but without their delivery

quotes, objects etc. It is important

other places. The more I found out

becoming heated. At times when

to note that there should always

about it, the more I felt this was a

a character might be deeply

be far more material than needed

story that needed to be told.

61

As someone once said: ‘Human beings

Early in the process we all felt that

are made up of water, a few dollars’

this would be a piece of theatre that

worth of chemicals and a story’. And it

would gain a lot from the inclusion of

is the story that should always matter in

soundscapes and music in general.

theatre. It was clear from the outset that

We wanted to use sound/music in a

Shivers would be a touring production. It

Brechtian way and juxtapose and break

involved a two-year devising process and

the flow. We played with sounds and

actors soon began to workshop initial

soon began to work with a composer

ideas, explored fragments of the story.

on songs and key musical themes that became, in a way, a backdrop for and of

Elements of Brechtian theatre such as

the piece. The elements of sound were

use of narrator, breaking the fourth wall,

consequently explored further, looking

making the familiar strange, Gestus,

at the role music plays in religion, like in

Bruch and Gestalt were instrumental

the mass of the Catholic church.

to create the theatrical language. The ensemble began to play with ideas,

Soon other aspects needed to be

explore history, and explore stories which

considered in regard to the performance

were so far removed from their own.

style of the piece. It was all about advancing the narrative as well as

What follows is the opening passage

‘breaking the flow of the piece’ (Epic

from one of the early drafts of the script.

Theatre convention). Somehow the

It underlines the Epic Theatre nature

possibility of puppets was explored

of the performance. This section was

and in the end the need for puppetry

included in the performance version.

became apparent. We decided to develop Bunraku-style puppets to represent the

Narrator: ‘In the nineteen-fifties it

babies. They were to look ‘newborn’- like

was commonly known that ‘bad

but also to show the life they were thrown

girls did the best sheets’. The phrase

into. The element of puppetry related to

referred to the inmates who worked

other non-naturalistic conventions, such

in the commercial convent laundries,

as stylised movement.

operated by the Catholic order. I started working there, as a nurse

The cast continuously workshopped the

in a hospital in one of the convents

themes of the play over a period of two

and I decided to keep a diary, keep a

years and researched the background

record of my time there and of what

on which the ‘fictional’ story was to

I learned, experienced. (beat) From

be based on. They read stories and

the late 19th century through until the

talked to people who were around at

1970s these homes took in girls, young

the time. We spent time at the still-

women, between the age of 13 and

existing Abbotsford Convent in inner

18 who had been deemed wayward,

Melbourne to get a first-hand feel of the

homeless, deviant, at risk of moral

aura of places like that. It was extremely

danger or simply pregnant. Thousands

helpful. The cast used the information

of unmarried mothers and their

as provided by the Abbotsford Convent

babies passed through these homes,

as important dramaturgical assistance.

in Australia, in Scotland, Ireland and

The following sample of the script was

wherever else. (beat) Some of these

used to get the cast used to liturgical

girls came to the homes through the

language. The importance of ‘prayer’

courts, others were placed voluntarily

was integral to maintaining the sanity

by their families, or the local priest.

of the girls in the story, and was far

(beat) And, just like orphanages,

removed from the cast as almost all of

these homes were overcrowded and

them had little connection to religious

underfunded.’

rituals.

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63

Script sample

Nurse

He has only weeks to live, Sister.

The litany starts again.

Sister

Have I made myself clear?

Single Voice Heart of Jesus, fountain of life and All

Nurse

Yes.

holiness

Sister

That’s it then. I am busy.

Have mercy on us

Nurse

He’s been having terrible

Single Voice Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins All

Single Voice Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offences All

haemorrhages... but he may not die

Have mercy on us

until the end of the month...

Sister

Have mercy on us

tomorrow week. If you cannot do that,

Single Voice Heart of Jesus, obedient to death All

Nurse, we need a midwife by you are wasting my time.

Have mercy on us The lyrics were developed first to ensure the flow of

Script development

the narrative. After discussions with the composer,

Sections of the script were given to the cast to

the style/type of music for each song was work

workshop and explore. The script went through

shopped. Numerous songs were written and only

some 20 drafts. It needed to feel right for the

a few made it into the show. The songs were then

performers. We felt that the ‘church’ should be

workshopped with the performers and eventually

represented by only one character, a nun, while the

recorded. It is important to see the songs and the

nurse is the protagonist of the story. She is someone

soundscapes as an integral part of the show.

who sees what is wrong and desperately tries to make some sort of difference.

Puppetry Fairly early in the development of the piece,

Script sample

discussions took place how to ‘portray’ the children

The light changes.

of the ‘inmates’. For a while it was thought only

Sister

Are you the nurse that was

to imply to them would be the way to go but

recommended to me?

fairly soon it was decided to create puppets.

Yes.

Rod Primrose, a puppet designer and performer

From the maternity hospital?

in Australia, came on board and was given the

Nurse Sister Nurse

Yes, Sister. I am. Matron asked to come to see you… for an interview...

that have their adult life already behind them’,

Sister

Matron asked you... what would

in other words bodies of babies/small children

following brief: To create representations of ‘babies

Matron know about our situation…

with the ‘faces’ of adults that went through

Nurse

So you are not looking for anybody?

life’s hardships. The designs were changed

Sister

Whether we are or not is not Matron’s

continuously, and workshops took place with

Nurse

No, Sister... it is not Matron’s business...

business... or is it?

prototypes. The puppetry design took close to a year and a half.

Sister

You are a trained nurse?

Nurse

Yes. I am. I am trained...

Set

Sister

We want a midwife.

It was important to design a visual representation

Nurse

Matron didn’t say...

of ‘two worlds’: that of the nurse and that of the

Sister Well there you go! (beat) The position

girls. As this was a touring production, simplicity

is live-in, you will be paid on the first

and practicality were important factors, as were the

day of every month... ten pounds,

theatre styles Epic Theatre and Non-Naturalism

eleven and threepence. You will start

which informed the overall performance style. It was

tomorrow week!

also vital to create a bare, uncluttered space so that

Nurse

Thank you, Sister... but...

the puppetry element could be a strong focal point.

Sister

What?

Nurse

I’m on a private case at the moment.

Costume

I’m helping a young man.

The costumes were inspired by 1950s clothing as

He is dying... dying from tuberculosis...

worn by the inmates etc. They were designed and

I can hardly leave him.

manufactured in late 2006 and allowed the cast

Sister

want this position filled by tomorrow week...

64

to work in them as ‘their second skin’ for a lengthy period of time.

Directing

• Contrast

It was important for me as well as the ensemble to

To create/come up with a ground plan is similar

experiment with Gestalt Psychology Concepts to

to blocking actors. Both set design and staging

give the Brechtian piece more grounding. Gestalt

practices are influenced by many of the outlined

is a German word that is quite difficult to translate

factors. For example, just as focus needs to be

into English, the word encompasses such things as

given to specific actors in a grouping of characters,

form, shape, configuration and pattern. The term

focus often needs to be given to specific parts of a

is derived from the work of the late nineteenth-

ground plan.

century Austrian and German psychologists who experimented with the role of pattern-seeking

Questions to directors

in human behavior. The result of these studies is

1. Did the inspiration for the scene come from the

Gestalt psychology whose practitioners argue that ‘every perceptual image consists of more than

scenario or from the ground plan, or both?

2. If inspiration was from the ground plan,

the sum of its parts; it also possesses a gestalt, a

did this inspiration come by thinking about

patterning force that holds the parts together’.

possible movement patterns in the abstract

In other terms, Gestalt psychologists believe that

(i.e. before trying to attach any meaning to the

perception is like a magnetic field that can bring

movements), or was it the specific set pieces

sensory imagery together into holistic patterns, or

that sparked the idea?

gestalten. According to Gestalt theory, perception obeys an innate urge toward simplification by

3. Was the ground plan easy or difficult to work with?

What did you like and dislike about the plan?

assembling complex stimuli into simpler groups.

This perception process is however totally automatic

Questions to viewers

– we don’t think about it, it just happens.

1. Was the off-stage activity that involved all of the characters clear? Was it believably

Rudolf Arnheim demonstrated this thinking in his

communicated, or was there too much telling

study Art and Visual Perception:

and enough showing? In general, was the

‘In an experiment with preschool children,

situation (the who, the what, and the where) well

Giuseppe Mosconi showed six pictures, of which five represented large animals, one a warship. The children were asked to tell which of the pictures was ‘most different’ from the seventh image, representing sheep. Although adults and older children pointed at the warship without hesitation, only four out of fifty-one preschoolers did the same.

communicated?

2. What gestalt principles were in effect? What was the dominant principle, and were there any secondary, overlapping ones?

3. Was the scene more visually or verbally oriented?

Or was there a balance?

4. Was the ground plan visually effective? Did any of

When asked why they did not pick the ship, they

the movements seem to go with or against the

responded: “Because it’s not an animal”.’

design of the ground plan? What movements

The overall point here is that meaningful comparisons will not be made between unrelated things. This had a great influence on our patterns, shapes and the general plasticity of the blocking and positioning.

were especially interesting?

5. Was the staging generally effective? Did any movements appear unmotivated?

6. Was there a definite beginning, middle and end to the scene? Was the scene effective theatre, or did the scene come across only as a completed

Sample task for actors Create a scene with a specific location in which

exercise?

7. Favourite moment? Least favourite moment?

three characters onstage pursue an activity while something that involves all three of them is taking

Production

place somewhere else. Create a ground plan for this

The Melbourne performances of Shivers were

scenario by basing it on one of the following Gestalt

presented at the CUB Malthouse Theatre. Shivers

psychology concepts:

then toured within Australia to Tasmania, South

• Proximity (or similarity of location)

Australia and parts of Victoria, before heading

• Similarity (of size, shape, spatial orientation, color,

overseas to Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria,

or direction) • Line of direction

Portugal, Germany, United Kingdom, Singapore and Switzerland. Shivers is available for performance.

65

Chekhov, the David Attenborough of playwrights

By Anna Andresen

‘An incomparable artist…an artist of life.’ Leo Tolstoy For me, Anton Chekhov is

and time to really explore his

There was also his use of off stage

the David Attenborough of

characters’ psyche. He wanted to

events and absent characters

playwrights. What Attenborough

capture the essence of human

- subsequently pioneering the

has done for our innate

expression and for the actor to

term ‘indirect action’. This not

understanding of the natural

use his writing as a subtle and

only helped create dramatic

world, Chekhov has done for our

naturalistic device to portray their

tension but also prevented the

human one. Through his writing

characters’ inner world.

audience from being distracted

he observes characters in their natural habitats informing his audience about the beauty and fragility of the human experience.

His approach to writing was scientific in terms of observation and how people actually behave in certain situations which makes sense considering he practiced as a medical doctor

by activity, focusing their

‘Suffering should be presented as it is expressed in life: not via arms and legs but through tone and expression; and subtly, not through gesticulations. Subtle emotions of the spirit, as experienced by people of education, must be expressed subtly, through external behaviour.’

throughout most of his literary

attention on the psychology of his characters.

In his later plays - Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard - Chekhov refined the concept of dramatic naturalism and realism by aligning his stage time with real time. It was the breaks in between acts that represented the passing

career. He put his characters

He was adamant that actors

of months or years, dramatised

under a microscope and without

should move away from the

by the changes that have taken

judgment allowed them to take

then present hammy, almost

place in his characters. This way

flight. It was this way of working

pantomime, style of acting

of working seems so obvious

that awakened a naturalistic style

and instead carve their stage

now and yet at the time it was a

of dialogue and acting.

performances around the

revelation. It’s so important to go

behaviour of human beings in

back to the roots of it all, isn’t it?

‘real life’. Indeed, he wanted his

To really understand why there

actors to approach their parts in

was a need for this naturalistic

the same way he approached

style and why it’s still so relevant

his writing. He used many

and part of our playwriting and

different techniques to create

acting makeup today.

‘It is better to avoid descriptions of the mental states of your heroes; the effort should be made to make these clear from their actions.’

this impression of realism in his By painting life through normal,

plays. Some of which are the use

There are of course millions of

everyday activity Chekhov

of ‘broken conversations’, a much

contemporary playwrights that

allowed himself the space

more natural way of speaking.

have been inspired by these

66

techniques, but one who comes

them they almost become

A point he also highlights

to the forefront of my mind is

one, creating an extraordinarily

through the character Lyubov in

British director/writer Mike Leigh.

nuanced and naturalistic

A Cherry Orchard.

He is an excellent example of how

performance.

far naturalism and social realism

Leigh also took the idea of ‘real

have come. He’s taken Chekhov’s

time’ to the absolute extreme. In

‘scientific’ approach and not

his stage production of Abigail’s

only runs with it - he dances and

Party the character Laurence

makes love to it.

has to go to the shop to buy

‘You shouldn’t look at plays, you should look at yourselves a little oftener. How gray your lives are. How much nonsense you talk.’

more drinks. Instead of going

‘My natural instinct is to see people, to see society as society, but really as a society that works because of the nature of the individuality of individuals. I can’t look at a crowd without seeing thousands of individuals.

What’s fascinating to me is that each of us is different.

So in each of my films/plays, each of the characters, large or small, is properly and organically and thoroughly, in a three dimensional way, at the center of his or her universe.’

backstage and sitting in his

He shows his audiences the

dressing room for 15 minutes

possible triviality, the mundanity

and then being given a prop

of their lives, in the hopes that it

bag with bottles to take on

will trigger and motivate change

stage Mike Leigh insisted the

within. Much like Mike Leigh:

actor Tim Stern actually go to the local corner shop up the road from the theatre. He had to do this every performance. If there was a queue of customers and it took longer than usual the actors on stage would just

‘I want you to walk away with things to argue about and ponder about and reflect on and procrastinate about and, you know, supply for yourselves.’

have to improvise around it.

Unfortunately there was one

But in the late 1800s this

time when the actor stepped in

thinking was revolutionary,

dog s**t without realising and

something that had never been

trampled it all over the stage

done before. Naturalistic plays

so the small theatre absolutely

that audience members could

In terms of process Leigh will

stank. Maybe this is taking

relate to and feel frustrated

first ask his actors to think of a

naturalism too far …. ?!

about to then instigate change.

character based on someone they

This was true MODERN ART.

know and do a solo improvisation

So why was naturalism so

framed around a ‘rest point’ in

important to Chekhov and why is

It is a stylistic choice that is

this person’s life. For example,

it still so relevant today? Chekhov

ever present and will, I think,

it might be Sunday morning

wanted audience members to be

continue on until the end of

and the character decides to

face to face with characters they

time. If we can see ourselves in

make themselves a cup of tea,

could relate to. Characters that, just

a character, if we can relate to

if they’re out of milk they may

like them, were being governed by

them or a situation they’re in, it

have to go to the shop. The idea

their passions, heredity and social

will affect us in a far deeper way.

here is to avoid dramatic tension

environment. But taking it one

We will walk away from that

so he can really feel what their

step further, Chekhov wanted to

production with questions: Did

character is about. Much like

use this mirror he had created to

that character make the right

Chekhov’s way of working. This

instigate change.

choice? Should they have done

process of solo improvisation, observation and research can go on for weeks, sometimes months, before he introduces the actor to another character and starts to formulate his script around their improvisations. Throughout this process the actor’s character becomes so ingrained within

‘Look at yourselves. See how badly you live and how tiresome you are. The main thing is that people should understand this. When they do, they will surely create a new and better life for themselves.’

that? Why did they say that, why didn’t they just leave… WHAT WOULD I HAVE DONE? And it’s when you reach that point, the point where you start to turn those questions in on yourself, that you’ve hit the sweet spot and naturalism starts to work it’s true magic.

67

Biographies

Anna Andresen

Simon Bell

Kieran Burgess

I’m an actor, writer and director

I was born in the United

I am a practitioner, teacher

based in London. Since

Kingdom, trained as an actor at Bristol and worked professionally as an actor/director before becoming a theatre teacher in the UK and US. I am now a freelance theatre artist who travels the world looking for exciting creative opportunities

and student of theatre – a photographer, an author and a supporter of the world’s greatest football team: Manchester United.

I have worked professionally in theatres across the UK, Japan and Singapore as a designer, stage manager, director and actor, and

and the best beaches.

currently live in Switzerland.

Liane Campbell

Nita Dewse

Natalie Diddams

I’ve had a fortunate life travelling

I grew up in Melbourne but

the world, juggling my careers of drama education and business marketing. I’ve taught IB MYP and DP Theatre in Australasia for 18 years but my life journey has now taken a new turn – as a freelance director and owner of a boutique lodge in New Zealand. My creative and business energies are combining forces,

have spent most of my adult life abroad teaching drama in England, Mexico, Singapore and now in Thailand. In 1999 I completed my MA at the Central School of Speech and Drama, specialising in the use of drama therapy in anger management programmes with violent offenders in prisons and on probation.

I am a theatre director and academic based in Manchester.

As a director I have a large number of productions under my belt, ranging from large-scale community pieces to one-person shows. I recently completed a PhD on the importance of humour and laughter in the fourth wave

graduating from both the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and Drama Centre London, I’ve worked extensively across the industry. From West End theatre, television and film to writing, producing and performing a one-woman comedy show for Edinburgh, coaching students applying for drama school and leading workshops in both London and New York.

every day is a new adventure.

68

feminist movement and am the founder of the Women’s Comedy Workshop in Bradford.

Katie Friend

Sophie Galton

Joachim Matschoss

I am a teacher and director of

I have a BA in Theatre Acting and

I was born in Germany and

youth theatre and I have taught

PGCE in Drama. I have worked in

drama in the United Kingdom,

schools in the United Kingdom

Germany, China and Thailand.

My current home is Switzerland where I can be found teaching, directing and eating a great deal of cheese.

and internationally teaching IGCSE drama and IB Diploma Theatre. My core teaching is a mix of devising work and the exploration of practitioners such as Antonin Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty.

now call Melbourne, Australia home. I am a playwright, poet and theatre maker. I lecture in devising at the National Theatre Drama School and I am an examiner for IB Theatre and am on the examination panel in Victoria/Australia for Solo Performance.

Jake Murray

Samantha Pierce

Lian Sutton

I am an award-winning theatre

I have been teaching for 14 years and have been lucky enough to call England, Spain and Hong Kong my homes, though I now reside in the United States. I have led many theatre departments and most recently spent eight years in Hong Kong at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong. I have also taught TOK, film and dance. I am a team leader, a curriculum consultant and a workshop leader for teachers. I also act as the DP Theatre Facilitator for the online My IB Forum.

I graduated from the BA (Hons) Acting programme at LASALLE, Singapore in 2014. In 2019, I completed my Masters in Arts Pedagogy and Practice by researching the pre-performance rituals of professional actors. I am currently co-founder of theatre collective Dark Matter Theatrics and Artistic Director of Nusantara Theatrical Combat (NTC).

director and currently cofounder and AD of my own company Elysium TC (www.

Elysiumtc.co.uk). Notable productions include premieres of plays by Brad Fraser, Amy Rosenthal, Owen MacCafferty, Tom Murphy, David Williamson, Jez Butterworth and Gary Kitching. My latest work is the #Covid19Monologues which you can find on YouTube.

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