Acting & Actor Training
Acting
Category
Acting is the art of performing in theatre, especially using the actor’s voice and body. It is intentional, social and theatrical, and often aims to be mimetic – to copy a recognisable reality.
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Lisa Mayo of the Kuna and Rappahannock Nations was a founding member of the Native
American women’s feminist theatre group, Spiderwoman Theater. She was a singer,
actor, and playwright who wrote and performed with Spiderwoman Theater for 35
years.
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Peter Hall on Greek theatre and his own mask practice. He discusses his theories of Greek drama, including the use of the Chorus, Phallus, and the nature of tragedy and comedy.
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This film covers basic acrobatics.
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This film covers basic acrobatics using furniture and objects.
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This film covers an interview with Andrei Droznin.
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This film covers locomotion techniques.
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This film covers partner work.
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This film covers preparation and stretches for physical activity.
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A film following the street performance Anabasis in Peru. It was an itinerant performance, based on exploiting the connections between the actors and the spectators who they encounter on their way.
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A modern day metaphor for the journey of the
lonely self to find peace with one's
identity.
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This video is documentation taken from a weekly contact jam session with the
actors in the MFA Actor-Training program at UC Irvine. Contact Improvisation is
a large part of the movement arc in the first year of actor training, and jam
sessions are held weekly, integrating all three years of MFA actors.
Someone happened to video this session, and I give a brief description of
our use of contact as a tool for actor training in the
voice-over.
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This video is documentation of an exercise with 3rd year graduate actors at
the UC Irvine Actor-Training program, speaking a monologue while contacting with
a silent partner. At a moment of heightened activity, the silent
partner is removed, and the resulting delivery of the monologue is focused and
intensely communicated.
The athleticism and sensitivity of the contact created a culture of
expressivity. Tenderness as well as rage and challenge emerged in the contact
session and remained present in the solo monologue. So, the complexities of
emotion that were embodied metaphorically and rhythmically in the extreme lifts
and rolls and balances of the partnering could be seen as an emotional
“rehearsal” for the solo performance. But once the partner was removed, the
speaker had to reach out to us, and address each deeply felt idea to the
audience in the room.
No longer in a contact with the literal “other,” we, the audience, now become
the necessary focus.
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This video features snapshots from two different directing workshops conducted
in October 2017 with two groups of directing students at RESAD (Real Escuela
Superior de Arte Dramático de Madrid) in Madrid, Spain. The workshops
focused on strategies of recontextualization of classical works and of
determining directorial point-of-view.
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This video workshop, which took place in Athens in July 2017, is the
result of a process of working on possible ideas for set design for Henrik Ibsen’s
The Lady from the Sea. Athena Stourna shares her intuitions in front of
a model she built for the purposes of this book, shedding light on fundamental
questions that permeate the director-scenographer
collaboration.
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This video is from a workshop which brought together performer Miranda
Manasiadis and choreographer Malia Johnston. The workshop took place at Footnote
Dance and Deirdre Tarrant Studios.
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This workshop took place at East Hampton, NY, in October 2016, part of an
attempt to address different ways of looking at the character of Blanche du
Bois.
Video
Back to Back Theatre creates new forms of contemporary performance imagined
from the minds and experiences of a unique ensemble of actors with disabilities,
giving voice to social and political issues that speak to all people.
Based in the regional centre of Geelong, the company is one of Australia’s
most globally recognised and respected contemporary theatre companies. Seeking
to make a body of work that exists in repertoire across time, the company tours
extensively locally, nationally, and internationally.
Video
Since 1981, I have been conducting research on black women behind the scenes in the
American theatre. As a black female lighting designer, I am aware of our
invisibility within the larger American theatre and have made an effort to expose
these women to a wider audience. I have interviewed numerous black women who have
made significant contributions to the American theatre. These women include
designers, producers, directors, playwrights, artistic directors, and other
individuals working behind the scenes. This is a rare interview I conducted with
Glenda Dickerson (1945-2012) during a rehearsal of her adaptation of The Trojan
Women, performed with an all-black cast during January 1983. This interview
is very dear to me as Dickerson was a mentor. I followed her career with various
interviews, tapings at conferences, and the publication of one of her plays. Glenda
Dickerson was a director, folklorist, actress, adapter/conceiver, and educator. With
a career of nearly 40 years she was known for her unique adaptations of Greek
classics, African American folktales, the feminist theatre approach, and ensemble
work. She was the second black woman to direct on Broadway with the 1980 musical
Reggae. Her work has also been presented nationally and
internationally. In the commercial arena she was constantly presented with racial
and gender challenges. After working in mainstream theatre for many years, Dickerson
chose to focus her talents on educational and community-oriented theatre. She also
began to concentrate on feminist/womanist theatre. She taught at Howard University,
Spelman, Rutgers, and the University of Michigan. Only in recent years is her work
finally gaining recognition, but as with many other black women, Dickerson’s
contributions are largely unknown.
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Zarrilli’s Psychophysical Acting methodology focuses on the relationship between the actor-as-doer and what the actor does. It (re)examines in practice and theory a psychophysical approach to acting.
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A narrow catwalk between two flanks of spectators: ‘Maran Ata! The Lord is coming! A child is born in Bethlehem. He will destroy Jerusalem. Kyrie Eleison. He has not come to bring peace.’
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The third episode of After My Life in Art, originally broadcast by The Culture Channel, Russia
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The fourth episode of After My Life in Art, originally broadcast by The Culture Channel, Russia
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The fifth episode of After My Life in Art, originally broadcast by The Culture Channel, Russia
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Part of an overall documentary series about Russian Theatre in the 1920s, Meyerhold
Theatre and the Russian Avant-garde uses archive material to demonstrate acting
techniques.
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A film about Michael Chekhov. Part one covers his early years, family, upbringing, drama school and the beginning of his acting career at the Moscow Art Theatre.
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Michael Chekhov's final years living, acting, and writing in the United States.
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The First Studio becomes an independent theatre with Michael Chekhov as its artistic director.
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Chekhov in one of signature roles, Muromsky in The Case.
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Michael Chekhov goes to German and meets with Stanislavsky in Berlin and discussion between their different views on acting techniques.
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The pre-war years and Michael Chekhov moves his studio moved to a similar location in the United States.
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powder is a performance telling the story of
the pain, and pleasure, of dressing, and
undressing, the female body.
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This piece, conceived and directed by Seyferth, is based on Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons: Objects, Food, Rooms.
Video
This video is an introduction to the company of Anthony Neilson’s Royal
Court show Narrative in 2013: Anthony Neilson; Zawe Ashton; Imogen Doel;
Brian Doherty; Christine Entwisle; Barney Power; Olly Rix and Sophie
Ross.
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This video provides a window into other aspects of Neilson’s authorial
propensities via a snapshot of rehearsal room discussion concerning what to name the
characters in the show.
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This video shows how Neilson authors and develops his script in the moment
during rehearsals. This process occurs as actors Barney Power and Zawe Ashton work
on a scene where Power’s character is humiliated while attending an advert audition
conducted by Ashton’s maliciously bored character.
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This video clip shows actor Zawe Ashton employing the Affective Memory
rehearsal technique while running a scene with actor Olly Rix.
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This video features Neilson and actors Zawe Ashton and Christine
Entwisle’s work on developing a newly-written scene in which Ashton’s character
attends an unconventional counselling appointment. It contains excerpts of
discussion, as well as a full-length improvisation where Ashton’s head is masked by
a cardboard box.
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This video is the first time the company run the improvisation concerning
the arbitrary items found in the rehearsal space.
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In this video actors Christine Entwisle and Zawe Ashton discuss the Box
Therapy improvisation.
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In this video Anthony Neilson, Christine Entwisle and Zawe Ashton finalise
the performance of the therapy session during the technical rehearsal in the Jerwood
Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court.
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Anthony Neilson and Brian Doherty talk about Neilson’s use of
improvisation in his rehearsal process in this video.
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In this video the whole company conduct an improvisation run by music and
sound designer Nick Powell. During the improvisation the participants attempt to
create a multi-layered vocal score by splicing together various random sounds
articulated by individual company members.
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Anthony Neilson, Brian Doherty and Christine Entwisle discuss features of
Neilson’s methodology as a director.
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This video shows the similarities between the beginning and the end of
Narrative.
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This video contains rehearsal room footage of the company discussing the
idea of having some kind of audience participation as the ending to
Narrative. Then the video moves to the technical rehearsal in the
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court, where Neilson directs a different way
of concluding the show.
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In this video Anthony Neilson, Imogen Doel and Sophie Ross discuss the
interaction between the actor’s process and Neilson’s directorial/authorial
approach.
Video
In this video the assistant director of Narrative, Ned Bennett,
and actors Brian Doherty, Zawe Ashton, Sophie Ross, Barney Power and Olly Rix,
discuss the effects of being filmed while rehearsing the show. Then the video moves
into the rehearsal room, where Rix is running a scene from the play.
Video
In this video the Narrative company have come to the end of the
rehearsal period. Here Neilson discusses with the cast how the following week-long
technical rehearsal will be conducted and attempts to allay any concerns they may
have about the forthcoming opening and subsequent run of the show.
Video
This video contains footage of the note session before Press Night where
Neilson introduces an entirely new scene to be performed by actors Imogen Doel and
Zawe Ashton that evening. The video then shows the only rehearsal of the scene
before the performance.
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In this video actress Christine Entwisle talks about her experience of
being filmed rehearsing her role in Narrative. The video then shows the
impact Entwisle discusses, during the technical rehearsal in the Jerwood Theatre
Upstairs at the Royal Court.
Video
Anthony Neilson considers how actors can influence the authorship of his
work in this video. Then the video moves to the rehearsal room where the
Narrative company throw various ideas around concerning how one of the
characters being out of sync with reality can be theatrically rendered.
Video
This is a video of the Narrative company’s second discussion and
running of an improvisation using some chance items found in the rehearsal
room.
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In this video the company and music and sound designer, Nick Powell,
continue to explore the ways in which the character being out of sync with reality
can be theatrically rendered. The footage then proceeds to show how this idea is
audio-visually represented for the on-stage performance.
Video
In this video Anthony Neilson, assistant director Ned Bennett and the
actors Imogen Doel, Sophie Ross, Barney Power and Christine Entwisle, reflect on the
tangential properties of Neilson’s authorial process.
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This video shows the authorial input of actor Olly Rix, as he works on a
speech in the rehearsal room and then during the technical rehearsal at the Jerwood
Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court.
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Anthony Neilson and actors Olly Rix, Brian Doherty and Imogen Doel give
their views on the connection between the actor and Neilson’s authorship in this
video.
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Actors Georgia Nicholson, Sabrina Richmond, Rebecca Yeo, and Laura Evelyn
are interviewed about the characters they played in the anthology plays.
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A public domain
theatre show,
part voyeuristic meditation, part urban
thriller, it unfolds amidst the high volume
pedestrian traffic of a public
space.
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Soldier, Child, Tortured Man (1989) was Goat Island’s first performance. It considered the physical and mental conditioning that militarises first the individual and then the social structure.
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This film explores the main themes which led to the founding of The Moscow Art
Theatre and the formation of Stanislavsky’s system of acting.
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Sun, Moon and Feather presents a musical comedy-documentary about three Native American sisters growing up Native in an Italian neighbourhood in Brooklyn during the 1930s and 1940s.
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Zarrilli’s Psychophysical Acting methodology focuses on the relationship between the actor-as-doer and what the actor does. It (re)examines in practice and theory a psychophysical approach to acting.
Video
This film documents the work of Iben Nagel Rasmussen (Odin Teatret) with her
international group The Bridge of Winds during a two-week closed work session held
in December 2011.
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The Lastmaker (2007) was Goat Island’s ninth and final performance, composed by the group with ending in mind. The piece took its inspiration from the historical trajectory of the Hagia Sophia.
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Bella Merlin’s practical presentation uses Stanislavsky’s Six Fundamental Questions to contextualise a demonstration of ‘practice as research’ riffing off his work, as well as Maria Knebel’s.
Commentary
by Suzette Coon
Introduction for Short Plays with Great Roles for Women written by Suzette
Coon.
Commentary
by Gary Cassidy
Looking at how Narrative improvisation is used within rehearsal contexts to achieve a range of aims with a focus on the potential the use of improvisation holds for the purposes
of characterisation.
Commentary
by Annie Loui
Contact improvisation is a form of dance improvisation based on energy and weight
exchange, incorporating elements of aikido, jitterbugging, child’s play, and
tumbling
Commentary
by Maria Shevtsova
Analysis of Dodin's as influenced by Chekhov and growing uncertainty of early 20th century Russian society.
Commentary
by Avra Sidiropoulou
Directions for Directing: Theatre and Method lays out contemporary concepts of directing practice and examines specific techniques of approaching scripts, actors, and the stage. Addressed to both young and experienced directors but also to the broader community of theatre practitioners, scholars, and dedicated theatre goers, the book sheds light on the director’s multiplicity of roles throughout the life of a play — from the moment of its conception to opening night — and explores the director’s processes of inspiration, interpretation, communication, and leadership. From organizing auditions and making casting choices to decoding complex dramaturgical texts and motivating actors, Directions for Directing offers practical advice and features detailed Workbook sections on how to navigate such a fascinating discipline. A companion website explores the work of international practitioners of different backgrounds who operate within various institutions, companies, and budgets, providing readers with a wide range of perspectives and methodologies.
Commentary
by Calvert, Dave
Reflections on Ganesh versus the Third Reich by Dave Calvert discusses the
work created by back to back.
Commentary
by Calvert, Dave
Reflections on small metal objects by back to back.
Commentary
by Maria Shevtsova
An examination of the five complex novels behind Dodin's ‘theatre of prose’.