Rehearsals for Ranyevskaya

Today we introduced the idea of given circumstance more and discussed where my character had just come in from. She had previously been out having lunch squandering her money and probably drinking, so therefore she may have been slightly tipsy and so her characteristics may be heightened, and more flirty. This is due to the fact that she had men throughout the previous part of her life, and at that moment no man was present and that probably gave the impression that she was in desperate need for masculine affection and attention. So Sarah directed me to perform in that way more, and so I have thought even more thoroughly about how my character may be in that particular scene and how I can present that with how I know where they have been previously. We also decided the lay out of the scene and blocked it, so that we collectively bring on chairs and lower them simultaneously, taking the place of the people who were previously performing as our character so that it will be clearer for the audience, this is called a motif, as it will run throughout the play.

In today's rehearsal we went through the entire play and wrote down any constructive feedback to our fellow peers. 

Themes, Stanislavsky, Place

28th August 2014

On the first lesson we initially discussed the general themes that surround the play in order to get a refresher and brainstorm various elements of the play. We discovered several themes such as wealth, love, hardship, moving on, memory, status and class. We developed it further by explaining why these themes were so vital and obvious. I enjoyed discussing the theme of hardship, as all characters experience it but Chekhov displays how people deal with hardship, as Lopakhin uses his serf ancestry to motivate him to escape his previous slavery and role reversal of Ranevsky. However, Ranevsky avoids her hardship travelling to and fro in order to escape the horrific economic reality that she is faced with.

Then our teacher asked us to stand in a neutral position, whilst closing your eyes and mentally paint a picture of your Cherry Orchard and how you view it, using Stanislavsky's technique. Deciding whether or not the trees were rugged, whether the roots were protruding, whether the orchard was ordered and neat, what were the smells, tastes and sounds. This aided our imagination and helped develop our own personal connection with the Cherry Orchard, creating a past and imagining specific details immerses yourself into the scene and performance. As an actor I started to base the Orchard around memories that I had had already, so I would merge different forests that I had previously visited and create my own image of the Orchard myself. 

We were then asked to individually imagine our own "most beautiful place in the world", so that we could relate to Ranevsky's perspective on the Cherry Orchard whilst also further exploring the theme "memory", and how specific people may recall information differently, whether it be positive or negative. Selecting a Brazilian beach as my most beautiful place, I "painted" the image with my hands whilst my eyes remained closed recalling all the information I possibly could and additionally sketching in tastes and smells so that I felt completely within that place and although my memory blurred I still felt an immense connection and wanted to avoid the thought that I couldn't recall some information, this caused me to feel empathy towards Lubov as I could understand why she wouldn't want to let go of the physical aspect of the orchard, as it may negatively affect the memories of the estate. 

Archetypes, Naturalism, Realism

2nd September 2014

Today we discussed the previous idea of archetypes that occurred in the 1800's, the idea that there is a predetermined set of characters that all appear in theatre. These characters, have specific traits and most actors would perform as the same roles due to their own genetic characteristics and physiques. The hero would always prevail, the damsel would be frail and feeble, the villain possibly deformed to represent the evil of the unknown, the henchman possibly slightly less intelligent than the rest. Overall theatre became the main source of predictable entertainment as the audience would come recognising the characters and their apparent endings. 

Walking around in the space and being asked to physically embody an archetype caused us to ramp up our acting, making us multiply how extreme our characters were. The "Hero" archetype may clench his fists, representing his fighting ability, his chest would puff out exposing his sturdiness and strength, his eyes gazed upward displaying his almost glorious and gracious mindset and actions. Damsels may have their hands on their heart presenting their almost obvious vulnerability for a love interest or affair, or possibly an undecided quality to whom they shall "give their heart to", their legs would be soft and bent highlighting their weakness or need to be swept off of their feet, their mouth may slightly depart to cause them to be ditsy and seductive as lips parted oozes stereotypical femininity. 

We also deliberated the genre of melodrama, and reached a conclusion that melodrama is a form of acting that is exaggerated and over performed, usually resulting in extreme circumstances such as life or death, leaving very little to the imagination and offering up no room for the audience to question, ponder or interpret. We also developed our own short melodramatic stories involving every archetype character mentioned. We discovered that melodramatic performances left nothing for the audience decide, the fourth wall was constantly broken, not allowing the reality of the dramatic piece to remain on stage. Melodramatic performances spoon fed the audience, only providing entertainment rather than the educational or thought provoking performances you can witness today. You are almost able to understand why audiences enjoyed this form of theatre as becoming the character or exploring the thoughts and feelings was previously unheard of, they enjoyed it because they believed that was as good as performances could possibly get, as it just appeared to be light-hearted and easy to follow entertainment. 

Stanislavsky grew aggravated with this form of acting and wanted to get down to an authentic form of acting that incorporated honesty, rather than playing a character you would become the character, you would realise motives and explore characters mindset and objectives, recalling similar feelings that the character had through emotional memory as well as cutting ninety per cent. Our teachers then incorporated the polar opposite of melodrama which is Naturalism into our lesson, which we became to understand as pure and truthful acting, we had to devise a basic and short scene that involved this style of acting. We decided to use the natural situation of boarding a lift, we all decided an order but your physical decisions were open to your own personal thoughts and feelings. I decided that I would fix my hair at some point and started to grow an idea of what others may do in a lift. Our simplistic acting style and scene led to us feeling the need to over compensate as we started to complicate what could happen in the search for a dramatic climate, that in retrospect wasn't needed. We decided to stick to our own initial interpretation of the brief. Additionally we had to perform as if it was in real time, so I would stand in the lift for as long as a usual lift would usually last for, with the expectation of appearing as naturalistic as possible. 

Our teacher then asked us to meet in the middle and cut out some of the unnecessary aspects of your scene to make it as succinct as possible, this style of acting became known as Realism, which kept the natural elements whilst still producing a stimulating form of theatre. We kept the main plot, cutting out the excess, such as too much time spent waiting in the lift, for example. We left it poignant and succinct and whilst we shortened it, I lost the previous mentality of  "what others would do in a lift" and instead explored my own experience of riding in a lift, how I usually act, I created a mindset and as a group we fully envisaged the lift in full Stanislavskian style in order to believe and become the character, creating a realistic experience for not only the audience but for myself personally as well. 

Character Profile: Ranyevskaya

Ranyevskaya

This is a song that I believe echos her character:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqJoVlnmdFQ

Who am I:

I am a compassionate, frivolous 50 year old woman. I perceive myself as a sinner that begs God not to continuously punish me, I spend money mindlessly but I just can't stop, its all I have ever known. I have a mixture of self loathing and arrogance within myself, that I just can't shift. I have been brought up into an extremely wealthy family, money has never concerned me, up until now but I still quickly forget and give to those who need it, when actually I am incredibly in need of it. Many experiences have caused me to live in my childhood, everything seemed so perfect then, but what if what I'm remembering isn't as perfect as it seems, and that I'm just viewing it with rose-tinted glasses... No, I still believe that there was a time that was greater than this, a time when I didn't have to worry about money or pray for the deceased, a time when there was plenty of money to spare and a time when I had a son to call my own. I had a great education and a great family, now everyone around me is ageing and developing whereas I seem to be the only person going downward, Lopakhin has more money than me! He can't even string together a few measly coherent sentences...But I do enjoy his company all the same, he was here before everything went wrong and he needs to be there now.  

Where Am I: I am in the motherland; Russia, that is where I have wanted to be for some time now. However, to be more precise I am sat by a hollow tree in the orchard. The beautiful cherry trees are blossoming and decorating the clear canvas sky with swirls of peachy petals and the outreaching arms of the branches. The old breeze surrounding me wafts history and intoxicates me with memories, I can't let this place go, Russia wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't be the same. This small patch of earth brings me sanity, it feeds me the love of the past. The undergrowth is firmly planted, never moving always present. It is the only thing I am certain of. 

When Is It:

It is spring time as of present, and it is around midday, everyone is running their errands, and I just need to escape from it all, especially the her-ranging of Lopakhin. 

Where have I come from: 

I have just returned from Paris, escaping someone who I thought loved me, but only cheated me for my money the trip back was absolutely horrendous but I'm just glad to be back.

What do I need:

I need to be loved, money isn't a concern at the moment, what's more important is to love and be loved. 

Laban, Characters, Super Objectives

16th September 2014

My Scene's Plot:

• Lopakhin demands to be heard and answered regarding the leasing of the orchard.
• Ranyevskaya and Gayev happily distract themselves through idle chatter, surrounding things other than the selling of the orchard, ignoring Lopakhin due to his origin and in ability to communicate.
• Ranyevskaya admits her inability to stop "mindlessly spending" but doesn't want to spend too much time thinking about it as she then drops her money.
• Yasha and Gayev have tension between each other and Yasha is asked to leave (and does so) because Gayev can't stand to be near him. 
• Noone listens to Lopakhin and only when there is a direct threat to her estate Ranyevskaya asks uncomfortably and I believe in a concerned upper class manner "Where did you here that?"
• Gayev and Ranyevskaya believe that the summer cottage idea is rather "squalid". Lopakhin gets increasingly angry and begins to leave.
• Ranyevskaya can't dare to think that he might leave as she wants to surround herself with people that provoke memories and laughter, and so begs him to stay.
• Lopakhin stays as Ranyevskaya admits she has "sinned and sinned greatly"
• Ranyevskaya goes into a monologue explaining her life story, admitting her inability to be money conscious, and the horrific terror brought on by her sons death, she explains that she runs away from her problems, as well as the fact that trouble follows her everywhere and she believes she is being punished for her sins. She displays anger towards the man in Paris by ripping up the telegram he sent her. 
• Soon after she decides she wants to bring in the Jewish orchestra to have an evening of music, deliberately mirroring her inability to be smart about money. 
• She tells Lopakhin that there isn't anything funny in the world, and that people should look at themselves more often, contradicting herself as she is unable to do as she says. 
• Lopakhin goes on about his peasant background and immediately Ranyevskaya sees this as a way to sneak in the idea that he should marry her daughter Varya, Lopakhin agrees but there is no infatuation or love present, he is viewing it as a business agreement. 

SUPER-OBJECTIVE:

As a group of collective Ranyevskaya's we decided that our super objective was to "Love and be Loved". Whether that be surrounding the cherry orchard or her lovers or just her family and the people she is surrounded by, being loved means that she feels safe and she yearns for safety as you see her trawling around journeying from one place to another running away from her insecurity and problems. 

What does she say about herself?:

"I somehow go on mindlessly spending"

"laugh at me, I'm such a fool"

Ranyevskaya seems content at calling herself a fool and someone that isn't able to spend wisely, however she fails to act on it. She runs away with her problems and fakes the fact that she thinks she is dealing with it by putting herself down, she only admits her problems which is half the problem as she isn't able to fully deal with them. 

What do others say?:

"You're an old woman"

"frivolous" 

"strange" 

"unbusiness-like"

Others in the play, especially Lopakhin, directly proclaim and point out her faults, this may be partly the reason why she isn't changing because she sees him as below her and therefore doesn't concern herself with his opinion.

What she says of others?

"Why have you lost your looks"

"I don't entirely understand you" (To Lopakhin)

"God rest her soul"(To Nanna)

Ranyevskaya seems to be thoroughly concerned about Trofimov's transformation, she believes he shouldn't look as he does and that displays her as quite a superficial person, concerned about being loved and believes no one can be loved if they aren't appealing enough. She doesn't seem to want to understand Lopakhin, she doesn't try or more importantly want to because of his low status and obviously small education. Ranyevskaya thinks of those who have passed and is religiously concerned, wanting to love others even if they have passed on, shown through her Nanna and her son.  

Opening

We created a short opening wherein all the characters walked into the space with others who are playing the same and display their unity as one through a motif, as Ranyevskaya's we all walked into the space adoringly looking at our Orchard and then all exposed our unity through touching our head in despair. In order to improve we should use the space more liberally and really think about why we have entered the space, giving ourselves an objective.

Blocking has helped to develop my character as we have become increasingly aware of where the conflict is coming from and also what each of us want in the scene. I have been able to create a train of thought and why my character is thinking of certain things and why she is reacting in that way so that even when I'm not speaking I'm still active on stage. 

  

Yoga, Truth, Actioning

09.09.2014


We kicked off our lesson with a discussion about yoga, and why it is a key component in the Stanislavsky system. We contributed and came to the conclusion that it is important because of the relaxation that it allows us to have, helping us, as actors to access emotions easily due to how calm we are afterwards, as well as the fact that it helps us to focus in on our body and utilizing our physicality to become characters easily. The calmness and focus that yoga brings helps us as actors to bring our emotions from our inner being and to effortlessly project the outward to produce a truthful performance.

We then discussed what creates a truthful performance, we decided that when actors allow themselves to be vulnerable onstage assists a truthful performance as it means that they have disconnected themselves from trying to portray, or acting like themselves but rather be engrossed in what's happening and honestly become another person. Also when actors seem concerned more with the audience or just generally other things, it can cause an audience to believe that what's occurring on stage isn't truthful or honest as they see the disconnection with the actor and his or her character. Another key component of truthful performances is when the actor responds to others in the moment and lives the performance openly and instinctively allowing different things to occur within the play and to respond to what others are saying rather than just repeating lines robotically.

We then participated in a game called "I don't believe you" wherein an actor is given a scenario and is asked to step out and enter when they believe they are ready, stepping inside in character, allowing the audience to say out loud whether or not they believe the performance as they declare "I don't believe you". As one of those actors who were subject to the audiences opinion, this exercise displayed personally to me how stepping into the room as a character helped me become that character and allowed me the time to mull over my scenario, objectives and relate it to myself and how I would feel, working myself up into a state that I felt made me ready to enter the room, creating a potentially truthful performance. This game displayed, after feedback, that a truthful performance is subject to audiences interpretation, as a truthful performance means that we must relate and therefore anything we believe that we wouldn't do isn't truthful, because it doesn't directly display us or our actions, and therefore causes disbelief.

We were then asked to lay down and position ourselves into semi supine, and rethink our journey to school, recalling people we encountered on our journey. I remembered an elderly woman that acted superior to everyone around her and was dismissive of everyone else. We had to find the characters physically and we all felt tempted to change ourselves overly and almost melodramatically, we then were asked to find the natural physical nuances and habits as we discovered we couldn't change our height, but we could find the weight in their walk, and what they through forward as they walked. This helped us to escape our own mindset and delve into the other characters mindset as we became more concerned with why they may walk, what they are worried about and how they were in public. Our teacher then introduced some "What Ifs" into the exercise, such as "What if the character found a £20 note on the ground?" or "What if the character stepped in dog poo?" This additional exercise helped us to understand and explore the mindset of the role, as we questioned how the person may perform when faced with moral situations. Moreover it helped us to learn to just accept and say yes to scenarios, as becoming more open and believing the scenario didn't block or restrict your character and leads to a truthful performance.

Then we paired up with another character and were asked to create a scene using 4 lines each, within a scenario wherein both our characters interact. We decided his sluggish and slightly dopey character would encounter my pushy and arrogant one whilst serving me in a coffee shop. We played out the scene and were asked to develop it further by adding on the "when where and who". We had already realized the "who" and and "where" but we added detail, narrowing down which area and adding in that this was taking place at midday. This helped us enter the scene and relate it to a place we had previously been, assisting us in imagining atmosphere and location that our moment would've occurred in.

Next we were asked to involve the "Want" "Do" and "Feel". The "want" assists us in noticing the objective of the character, "what does he/she want to do?" it could be simplistic and basic, as we discovered in our scene that it was. However in plays there is a super objective, a want that is unchangeable throughout the play, and there is also many smaller objectives that naturally occur regularly throughout the scenes which adds on to the existing super objective make up of the character. There is also the "do" which is what the characters action is in relation to the objective or what action the character performs. Tension and conflict occurs often when different characters "wants" and "dos" juxtapose each other. We also had to explore how this made me feel, what it did to me emotionally as a result of the action, creating a full circle of direction and knowledge helping you to act easily as more than half of the objective work is complete, it should roll off of your tongue.

Additionally we discussed and identified "actioning", finding verbs that display what we are trying to impose upon the other character through our lines. It can help the actor to decide what he or shes motive is through analyzing what the character is trying to do to he other, often exposing the actors objective. We explored ambiguous texts in order to explicitly witness the idea of having several different options for interpretation. Watching Romy and Will's performance was incredibly eye-opening as we came to terms with how far fetched you can go with texts and how sub text can be displayed through use of "actioning". It showed to us as an audience how scripts can be performed and interpreted in an incredibly diverse manner. It helped me as an actor as it showed that without an objective an actor isn't able to perform effectively, illustrating how sub text can create a thinking script and exposes how vital it is to cut up and break down the script, analyzing the characters objectives and highlighting the importance of "actioning" to display your feelings. Helping me to explore the different paths it could take me down rather than just assuming, but rather exploring possible options, almost excessively.