Name: Mikhail Aleksandrovich ChekhovBorn: 29/08/1891. Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire.
Died: 30/09/1955
Occupation: Actor, author, theatre practitioner, and director.
He was a student of Stanislavski and studied his "system". He experimented with affective memory and had a nervous breakdown, causing Stanislavski to realise the limitations of his early concept of emotional memory. Later on, Stanislavski and Chekhov split. Chekhov went to tour with his own company. He believed that Stanislavski's techniques "lead too readily to a naturalistic style of performance". He moved to Germany to set up his own studio. He taught a physical and imagination-based system of actor training. He developed the "psychological gesture" concept - leaving Stanislavski feeling betrayed.
The "psychological gesture" concept is where your character's internal need or dynamic is expressed as an external gesture. The outward gesture is then supressed and incorporated into the piece - allowing the actor to have muscle memory to visit when becoming this character again. As well as this concept, Chekhov also taught how to find the physical core of a character - this was achieved through movement dynamics, such as floating, folding, moulding and radiating. Chekhov's own students include Clint Eastwood and Marilyn Monroe.
Quotes: "An actor has to burn inside with an outer ease" // "Real inspired acting is never DOING, it is always HAPPENING" // "The inner life of the [imagination], and not the personal and tiny experiential resources of the actor, should be elaborated on the stage and shown to the audience. This life is rich and revealing for the audience as well as for the actor himself".
