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Unit 3 - Character
Module 4: Performing
Lesson 1 - Acting

Introduction:
There are many different schools of thought on acting - and some who don't believe in schools at all! This lesson is to help your students look at and understand ideas about acting so that they can make informed choices about their own approaches to acting.

Objectives:
- to understand that today's dramatic artists are influenced by various theatre traditions
- to continue to explore various acting styles in their dramatic presentations
- to become competent in group decision-making and problem-solving
- to evaluate the contributions of themselves and others to projects undertaken in groups of all sizes
- to work cooperatively in groups of all sizes

Resources:
Principals of Acting(pdf) ; Acting Techniques(pdf), PowerPoint tutorials and resources

Excellent books on acting are available:

The Complete About Acting,Peter Barkworth, Methuen Drama, 1991
Acting Skills for Life, Ron Cameron, The Dundurn Group, 1999
Character Building, Colborne and Ramsden, ITP Nelson, 1997

There are many on-line resources. Check the links page for acting sites.

CELs:
C, CCT, IL, PSVS

Components:
Creative/Productive, Cultural/Historical

Activities:

Activity 1 - Warming up

Warm Up: Use warm up exercises to loosen body and warm up the voice as learned in Unit 1 (10 min.).

Activity 2 - Saying with Style
Students should choose a familiar script like a nursery rhyme or song lyrics. Then they should try the script in one of the following ways:

  • as if you can't quite remember it
  • as a sermon
  • as simple party chat
  • as if you've got the hiccups
  • as if you are lost and confused, but don't want anyone to know
  • as if talking to someone who is infatuated with you
  • as a commercial
  • as if to an alien
  • as if you are the director selling the pitch to the possible producer
  • as if talking to someone with a bad breath, you are trying to be polite
  • as if you are a tour guide
  • as if it's the end of a long and tiring day at work
  • as if someone just died
  • as if reading a blackmail note
  • as if at your death scene (5 min.)

Talking Circle: What does it mean to be a good actor? After completing the talking circle, come up with a list of acting advice you have learned.
Add to the list after the presentation activity is completed.

Activity 3 - Theories of Acting

There are many schools of acting and theories about how to best get into character and to prepare for a role. Some actors spend many years honing their craft and believe it is a way of living, not just work. There are also some who would discount any "schooled acting" and believe it shouldn't be dissected and analyzed. As Humphrey Bogart once said, "The key to good acting is to remember your lines and don't trip over the furniture." But more often than not, actors are approaching their work seriously and with well practiced skill. It's a very competitive world, after all.

Break the students into 6 groups and assign each group one of the acting technique topics listed below. Give the groups the handout to read, or have them read the material on the student page. Then an Internet search should be conducted (see the acting section of the links page on this site as a starting point). Each group is to give a 3-5 minute presentation highlighting all the important points. (90 min.)

Presentation Ideas: Students may wish to use oral presentations with visual aides such as photographs and posters. Some students may wish to give a Power Point presentation. If students are not familiar with PowerPoint or another type of presentational software, try an on-line tutorial.

 

Acting Technique (pdf version )

A. "Technique"


Technique is sometimes thought of as acting "from the outside in". Actors are aware of the outside environment when they develop their work. The elements to consider are: the script, the stage, the physical personality, the emotional and intellectual personality and the physical movement within the play. The ultimate aim of the actor is to create a believable character which fits the playwrights plan. Actors are great imitators - watch how people walk, move, speak and gesture as they communicate. They must always listen, watch and pay close attention to details.

Sir Laurence Olivier, a renowned Shakespearean actor (known primarily in theatre though has also done film roles), is generally considered a Technical actor.

"Everything an actor does is based on the characters internal NEED. Nothing is divorced from the desire and the objective of the character".

Stanislavski created seven steps to building a character. These are:
Who Am I?
Where Am I?
When Is It?
What Do I Want?
Why Do I Want It?
How Will I Get It?
What Do I Need To Overcome?

This is a process of inquiry for both the character and their motivation for acting is desire driven. These seven aspects recognize the purpose of both your character and its movement.

B. "Method"

Constantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) created "Method Acting" and has had a huge effect upon actors. Stanislavski proposed a new system for acting and has produced many books about preparation and characterization.

C. "Actor's Studio"


Method Acting was brought to The Actor's Studio, the famous New York method-acting studio and the Theater Institute in Hollywood, through the work of Lee Strasberg.
The teaching includes techniques of:
  • Relaxation
  • Concentration
  • Sense Memory
  • Improvisation
  • Cold Reading
  • Affective Memory

Actors learn how to create a life for a character. This includes such specifics as:
1) Breaking down a script
2) Understanding a character's: choices, inner actions, physical actions, script subtext, emotions and perceptions, motivations.

Some well known Method actors are James Dean, Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep and Marilyn Monroe to name a few. Known simply as "method", it has probably had the greatest influence on theatre, film and television.

"If we observed a skilled worker in action we notice the following in his movements; (1) an absence of superfluous, unproductive movements; (2) rhythm; (3) the correct positioning of the body’s center of gravity; (4) stability."
[Meyerhold, 1922]

Actors trained in this system would be part athletes, part acrobats and part animated machine. The actors worked on perfecting a constant awareness of themselves in space, they were to display no emotion. Basically they developed their bodies so that they could carry out any action in neutrality. Individuals could then add to this neutral state a single action or gesture that would epitomize a single emotion or event. Meyerhold looked in great detail at exactly what expression communicated what emotion. Using his actors with their advanced knowledge of themselves, Meyerhold could then compose directly to the stage abstract movement that communicated stories and emotion.

"The actor must train his material [the body] so that he is capable of executing instantaneously those tasks which are dictated externally."
[Meyerhold, 1922)
D. "Biomechanics"


Another teacher, a disciple of Stanislavski, is Meyerhold. He took the "method" further into the physical world. His teaching is something called " Biomechanics" (or referred to as BM). It focusses on the performer's expressive movement (head, shoulders, arms, hands) to communicate emotion or attitude. Biomechanics, is a system of training aimed at making the body carry out a set task in the most efficient way possible. Meyerhold approached the technique as a system for training actors, but it can be used to perfect any movement.
E. Advice from Hamlet to the Players:


"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use it gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipp'd for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod. Pray you avoid it."

See Hamlet Act 3, Scene 2 for the entire speech.

This book examines acting for social change. The purpose is to engage actors and non-actors in issues of social justice and working to make change. Another book is called, "Playing Boal: Theatre, Therapy and Activism". His visionary technique encourages spectators to become spectators; active participants rehearsing strategies for change. The purpose of theatre is changed and the actor is involved on a different level. It is also referred to as Theatre of Oppressed. F. Augusto Boal "Games for Actors and Non-Actors"

Instructional Strategies:
Role play, research project, concept formation, computer assisted instruction

Evaluation:
Evaluate the content of the group presentation out of /20
Evaluate vocal presentation style (volume, pace, expression, enunciation) out of /10
Evaluate power point style (visual clarity, attractiveness, mechanics) out of /10

Alternative On-line Activity:
Let students choose which topic to study in more depth for themselves. They should scan all the related material. Have them create a PowerPoint presentation of the highlights individually . The power point can be sent to the teacher, and the ten marks for verbal skills can be omitted to adjust for the lack of group assistance.
Students can participate in an on-line brainstorm session through a threaded discussion.

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