Naturalism and what we take from it

My notes from my Novermber workshop on naturalistic theater. I believe that knowledge and understanding of theater history essential in general but naturalism especially is one of those things that will really up your game as a director. Naturalism was the starting point of the theatrical stage and style of acting that we mostly see on stage now. If you are more into physical or experimental theater it’s still good to know the basic ideas of naturalism, so you can get away from them.

Rehearsal Process 101 aka “Stanislavsky says…” 

A very brief history of naturalism 

• Naturalism as a theatre mohvement emerged at the end of the 19th/ beginning of 20th century. Deals with both subject matter, stage and mode of performance. This is when director as a profession first emerged. (as appose to, for example Melodrama – idealization and simplification of reality.)
• The idea is to represent reality as closely as possible – “slice of life” – was not the case before.
• Moved away from the understanding of reality that involves God or fate, focus on dispassionate analysis on the workings of society, tend to avoid the outright judgement of characters, neither sympathies nor condemn them.
• Characters don’t only exist in the moment of performance, but have a continuous and real past. Formed by their past and immediate environment.
• Staging:  for the first time the distinction between the audience and the actors is removed (gets rid of Platea), the convention of pretending that the audience is not there emerges. As if the audience are spying on the actors. Equally, the audience can no longer see each other – their sense of being in a group is diminished.
• Naturalist performance seems to want to persuade us that what we can see on stage is not self-sufficient, it’s complete with larger unseen. The characters have lives that exists before, after or elsewhere. Performance implies extended actuality.
• Actors interact with their environment in a realistic way – take as long as they need to to get through an action, for example. Silent interactions with the environment. You can turn your back to the audience – idea of four walls, one being absent.
• Naturalist theatre pioneered the ensemble type of performance. The identity of individual performance doesn’t matter, all performers are equally important and the success depends on the work of the whole.
• Not thinking of what might be effective on stage, but how the actor would act in the given situation.
• Stanislavsky mobilized all theatre resources to establish a desired mood at the beginning or each act. – Unity of purpose and production internal aspects.
• Stanislavsky is interested in the truth of an imaginary situation on stage. He aspires for a complete unity between the actor and the character.

First read through – how to prepare, how to work with your actors

• What is your vision of the show? Make notes, analyse the script, but don’t fixate on this initial vision. It will change, especially so after the first read through.
• First read through is your opportunity to hear the show out loud for the first time. It’s inspiring, at the same time reveals tricky spots – what will need more work? Actor unique traits? Make note of them.
• Talk to your cast about the script. Ask them the same questions you asked yourself. What is the play about? What is it trying to say?

Understanding Characters

Stanislavsky says: people best understand what they have previously questioned. Thus, to understand a character we must set a series of questions that establish the given circumstances. This will anchor the character in known past.

• Where am I?
• What is my specific location?
• What year is it?
• What relationships do I have?
• What has happened before the play begins? How did I spend yesterday?
• Can be more specific: eg. What is in my bag?

Sometimes, more than anything, it serves to show our ignorance about the character. Stanislavsky says that’s cool, because then things we discover about the character afterwards feel like “revelation, not recognition”. Of course, often the character’s motivations and desires steam from given circumstances.

You then need to locate the character in context and intended future, thus determining their “units and objectives”.

• Stanislavsky proposes to divide the text into sections time bounded by internally related action. For each of those sections, an objective should be found. Stanislavsky insists that the objective must be expressed as a verb.
• “give me one word, a verb, which will intensify your actions”
• What techniques do they use to achieve it? Do they achieve it or not? If not, don’t be afraid to use techniques that are doomed to fail.
• To make sure that the local objectives do not neutralize each other and we don’t lose track of the overall plot Stanislavsky says we need to determine what the superobjective of the character is.
• The superobjective is the characters “raison d’etre”, final goal and shaping influence. It’s an aim that runs through the entire play and determines the manner in which the role should be played.

Developing Character 

• Ok, we know what the character wants, but how do we develop it from there?

Stanislavsky’s MAGIC IF

Your character is in a specific situation. The Magic If answers the following question: “What would I do if I were in the same situation?”

The “If” is very important. Again, this about your real life experiences, in combination with your imagination. The situation is not real, and the system doesn’t assume you have ever been in that situation. But knowing yourself, what would you do? How would you act? Take the imaginary situation and make real life decisions as to how you would behave.

It’s crucial to determine the “do” in the question. What action would you take?

Emotional Memory

Not acting out an emotion, but remembering when you felt that way and trying to replicate it.

• Cautions against trying to bring out painful memories – “do not assault the subconscious. This is a play, not therapy.”
• Casual memory, or even something they were not directly involved with – something the saw, read or heard.
• The idea is trying to pull out all five senses out of the memory.

• Michael Chekhov – continued developing Stanislavsky’s technique. Very interested in movement.
• He says that to create characters with physical features different from his own, the actor must first visualize an “Imaginary Body.” It belongs to hers or his character, but the actor can learn to inhabit it; physically transform herself into the character.
• He says that every gesture originates from the character’s “centre”. If you are able to find that centre that will be a critical push through in understanding and embodying the character.
• Psychological gesture – a single movement that embodies the psychology and objective of the character. An entire body should be moved by this gesture. The gesture can be used to put the actor in different moods required by the script. – those of you looking at more abstract scripts, such as “Scenes in Oil” might be interested in looking more at this and using that concept?
• Everything on stage is unreal. Work with feeling of style to capture the special nature of a play, rather than strive for superficial reality. Each genre requires a separate and precise experience.

How to get your actors to learn their lines 

• Italian run – run through the lines of the scripts as quickly as you can. No emotions, no gestures.
• Isolated run – separate the actors into different parts of the rehearsal room. Get them to close their eyes. Do a run without gestures. Actors can be given different emotions/ different volume.
• Play ball – when saying the line the actor holds a ball, then passes it onto the next person speaking. Should also go quickly.

All of those work especially well in candlewasters, since they are short!

Rehearsal vs. Performance

• For the performance/dress run you will be adding costume and props. Costume, in many ways, can enhance the performance. Props, on the other hand, can be an inconvenience. Keep in mind that they will have to be working with them throughout the rehearsals, maybe replace them with something.
• If the actor is going to do it on stage get them to do it in the rehearsal room. Various reasons: it might not work. If they insist they will do it later, you are only seeing part of the performance. It hinders the other actors. It can screw up a lot of things.
• Maintaining your vision – keep all your notes.