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A Genealogy of Acting

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A Genealogy of Acting Notes on history of acting and actor training in ‘Western’ theatre (ie, Europe, Great Britain, United States of America, Australia etc) 500BCE (Before the Common Era): Ancient Greece First documented theatre productions of scripted plays. • Sophocles (tragedies): Antigone (442BCE), Oedipus the King (429BCE) • Euripides (tragedies): Medea (431BCE), The Trojan Women (415BCE) • Aristophanes (comedies): Lysistrata (411BCE) The playwright directed the actors. All actors were male. Boys played women’s roles. All actors wore masks. 1590 – 1613: William Shakespeare in England Comedies, histories, tragedies and romance plays. All actors were male. Boys played women’s roles. Shakespeare was an actor, playwright and possibly directed his plays. • Comedy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595) • History: King Richard III (1601) • Tragedies: Romeo and Juliet (1594), Macbeth (1611) • Romance: The Tempest (1611) 1658 – 1673: Molière in France Molière was an actor, playwright and director. Women played female roles (England allowed women on stage from 1660). After his death, his company became known as the Comédie Française. As well as producing plays, it became a training school for actors, teaching the highly stylised form of acting required to perform comedies by Molière and tragedies by Racine. 19th Century Great Britain and USA: era of the great actor-managers Henry Irving in England; Edwin Booth in America. They were famous for productions of melodramas and Shakespeare’s tragedies (Irving in Hamlet, Booth in Othello). A melodramatic style of acting reflected in early silent films. 1865 onwards: psychological realism Playwrights began exploring psychological motivations of characters as the basis for interpersonal conflict (as opposed to popular plot-driven melodramas). This required a “naturalistic” acting style. • Henrik Ibsen (Norway): A Doll’s House (1879), Hedda Gabler (1890). • Anton Chekhov (Russia): The Seagull (1896), The Cherry Orchard (1904) 1898 Stanislavski Actor–director Constantin Stanislavski (Russia / Soviet Union) established the Moscow Art Theatre, a company with an ensemble of actors who trained together, producing naturalistic dramas, beginning with The Seagull by Chekhov. In 1936 he published An Actor Prepares, documenting his system of actor-training. 1900 onwards: the rise of the specialist theatre director Stanislavsky and Meyerhold in Russia / Soviet Union; Max Reinhardt in Austria, Germany and USA; Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht in Germany and USA; Harold Clurman and Elia Kazan in USA. 1926 Stanislavsky in the USA Former Stanislavski students Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslavski emigrate to USA and establish the American Laboratory Theatre, teaching Stanislavski’s system of actor training to American theatre and film actors. Murdoch University EGL226/526 Acting & Production 1 Jeremy Rice 2 1931 Lee Strasberg and ‘the Method’ Strasberg studied with Ouspenskaya and Boleslavski at the American Laboratory Theatre. He co- founded the Group Theatre in 1931 which focussed on developing American realism. Other members included director Elia Kazan and actress Stella Adler. Strasberg took over the Actors Studio in New York in 1951 and trained a new breed of actors including James Dean, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and many more. Strasberg developed Stanislavski’s system into ‘The Method’, based on “Emotional Memory.” 1949 Stella Adler Studio American actress Stella Adler trained with Stanislavski in Russia. In 1949 she established her acting school in New York to teach Stanislavski’s system. Students included Marlon Brando, Robert de Niro, Melanie Griffith and many more. She had been involved in the Group Theatre with Strasberg but disagreed with him over “Emotional Memory”. She focussed on characterization through script analysis, research and physical and vocal technique. American naturalist playwrights: Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller. Elia Kazan (Group Theatre, Actors Studio) directed the first theatre production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. He also directed the film version. Compare Marlon Brando (“method actor”) in the role of Stanley and Vivien Leigh (English stage actress) in the role of Blanche du Bois. Actor Training in Australia: • Hayes Gordon and the Ensemble Acting Studios (1950 – 2009, Sydney, NSW): an American actor and director who brought Stanislavsky‘s system to Australia. • National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) founded 1958. Graduates include Cate Blanchet, Mel Gibson, Sam Worthington. • School of Drama at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) established in 1975. • Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts (WAAPA) established in 1980. Graduates include Hugh Jackman, Frances O’Connor. • The Actors Centre (Sydney, NSW): a private acting school founded in 1987 by acting teacher Dean Carey. Carey is the author of The Actor’s Audition Manual and was head of acting at NIDA in 1989 and WAAPA 1990-93. Untrained: successful Australian actors who didn’t attend full-time acting school: Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger, Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts. Other approaches to acting and performance: • Vsevelod Meyehold (Russia / Soviet Union): Biomechanics • Erwin Piscator / Bertolt Brecht (Germany – USA – East Germany): Epic Theatre; also Brecht’s technique of Verfremdungseffekt (“alienation” or “distancing effect”). • Antonin Artaud (France): Theatre of Cruelty • Jerzy Grotowski (Poland): Poor Theatre • Joan Littlewood (UK) & Peter Brook (UK/France) & Charles Marowitz (USA): Theatre of Cruelty • Robert Wilson (USA) / Heiner Müller (East Germany / Germany): Post Modern and/or Post Dramatic Theatre • Augusto Boal (Brazil): Theatre of the Oppressed; Forum Theatre • Anne Bogart (USA): Viewpoints Murdoch University EGL226/526 Acting & Production 1 Jeremy Rice .
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