AAS (10) - Stanislavski & "He's Talking"

To begin this lesson we discussed Stanislavski and his beliefs. I wrote a little blog post on Stanislavski at the beginning of year 12 but I have obviously done a lot of work on him since. Stanislavski is a Russian practitioner who has made a lasting impact on theatre as we know it. Stanislavski believed that performances should be as realistic as possible - he created the idea of realism and naturalism. He used the following techniques / believed in the following:

• Emotional memory -- the actor should link the character's emotions that they feel in given circumstances in the script to real events that have happened to the actor. The purpose of this is to make their reactions more realistic.
• Subtext -- This is the actual text itself, and understanding what it all means.
• Method of physical actions -- This is how a simple everyday action would change depending on the situation (for example, someone putting down a glass whilst chatting to a friend, compared to putting down a glass whilst preparing to tell your partner that you are cheating on them).
• Given circumstances -- This is the information that you are given through the character's lines, what other characters say about your character and how the stage directions describe your role. This is the starting point to creating and becoming your character. 
• "If" (also known as the "Magic If") -- What would your character do in different circumstances or situations. An actor should consider these as to know their character better.
• Objective -- This is what your character's aim is. There can be several different objectives within one short section of script.
• Super-objective (also known as the intention) -- This is what the overall objective or goal of the play is. It is normally linked to the overall outcome of the play. If there is one clear path to the outcome of the play, then this is called the "through-line". 
• NOT breaking the fourth wall -- Stanislavski didn't believe in breaking the fourth wall as this would involve directly addressing the audience and thus breaking their emotional connection to the character(s). He did believe in the circles of attention though. The first circle of attention is yourself, the second is the closest people to you and the third are others around you.

After discussing Stanislavski's methods, we were given a part of the script from "He's talking". This play was written by Nicholas Wright. The synopsis is as follows (taken from the website: http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsW/wright-nicholas.html#87299): "What would you do if you were caught and interrogated? How long would it be before you cracked? Would you betray your friends? Would you give the names of the ones who had escaped to safety, and then stay silent? But once you'd started talking, how would you find the strength to stop? And if you went on to do the worst thing you can imagine, what would the rest of your life be like? 'He's Talking' is a fact-based fiction about an anti-racist bombing group in apartheid South Africa. Luke, the leader, is seized and questioned. Every word he speaks will have a lifelong effect on his young friends and on himself. One year later, they all meet up. Or some of them do. Or only a few. It all depends on whether he talked. . .or not."

In this lesson we sorted out who would play who and read through just Scene One (but not the next part). There are a few replays of this scene. These replays fit very well with what Stanislavski would have wanted. Each replay is basically another "If" scenario. Our cast list is as follows (every character is in their 20s):

• Katya Solley (KS) = Tanya -- British & in a relationship with Deon in this scene
• Lorna Clark (LC) = Rosie -- South African & extremist & used to live with Sal & only one who knows Skeets in this scene
• Hope Fashina (HF) = Sal -- South African & used to live with Rosie
• Lewis Fisher (LF) = Luke -- South African & extremist & was the one who got discovered
• Oliver Kelly (OK) = Oscar -- South African & doesn't agree with anything that has gone on
• Robert Andrew (RA) = Deon -- South African & in a relationship with Tanya in this scene
• Ollie Marshall (OM) = Skeets -- South African & only known by Rosie
• James Borg-Clancy (JBC) = Miles -- British & Tanya's brother

Next lesson we shall probably read through this scene again to ensure that everybody understands it, and then we shall begin staging it.