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The Art of the Actor by Methuen Publishing Limited: 215 Vaux- Hall Bridge Road London, SW1V 1EJ JEAN BENEDETTI The essential history of acting, from classical times to the present day ArTHE t ActoOF THE r by the same author Dear Writer . Dear Actress . (The Love letters of Olga Knipper and Anton Chekhov) The Moscow Art Theatre Letters Stanislavski: His Life and Art Stanislavski and the Actor Stanislavski: An Introduction ArTHE t OF THE Actor The essential history of acting, from classical times to the present day JEAN BENEDETTI Routledge Taylor & Francis Group New York Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Life of Galileo © 1940 by Arvid Englind Teaterforlag, a.b. renewed June 1967 by Stefan S. Brecht; copyright © by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main. Translation copyright © 1980 by Stefan S. Brecht. Published by Arcade Publishing, New York, New York. The Caucasian Chalk Circle © 1955 by Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin. Translation copyright © 1976 by Stefan S. Brecht. Pub­ lished by Arcade Publishing, New York, New York” First published in Great Britain in 2005 under the title The Art of the Actor by Methuen Publishing Limited: 215 Vaux- hall Bridge Road London, SW1V 1EJ. Jean Benedetti has asserted his moral rights in accordance with The Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Routledge Routledge Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group 711 Third Avenue 2 Park Square New York, NY 10017 Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2007 by Jean Benedetti Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business International Standard Book Number-10: 0-87830-204-2 (Softcover) 0-87830-203-4 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-87830-204-8 (Softcover) 978-0-87830-203-1 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any informa­ tion storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the Routledge Web site at http://www.routledge-ny.com Contents Foreword vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1 Classical Rhetoric 7 2 Shakespeare and His Contemporaries 31 3 Declamation 37 4 Acting 47 5 Diderot 79 6 Coquelin 93 7 Realism 99 8 Stanislavski and the 'System' 109 9 Michael Chekhov 149 10 The New Actor in France 157 11 Meyerhold 173 12 Brecht 183 13 The 'Ritual' Actor 221 Conclusion 233 Select Bibliography 235 Index 239 Foreword This book is not a formal, narrative history of acting or of individual actors' performances. It is an attempt to trace the evolution of the theories of the actor's art from classical times to the present day, and also to demonstrate the persistence of certain key ideas over a period of 2,500 years. The book is in broad sections to make clear the changing patterns of thought. It moves from a discussion of the relationship of acting to rhetoric, then to acting seen as declamation, and thence to acting in the modern sense and so to realism and finally to the notion of the ritual, 'holy' actor. It does not proceed in strict chronological order. Sections are arranged so that readers can follow the discussions and debates on major issues and see how key figures relate to each other in their theory and practice. The Art of the Actor is intended as a working tool and a sourcebook for all those studying the theatre at whatever level. There is a large margin on each page so that readers can make notes and comments. Through my teaching both at undergraduate and postgraduate level, I have become aware of the difficulties students experience when key texts are difficult to obtain, out of print or have not been translated. Much of the material presented here is, therefore, not accessible elsewhere. Major extracts can either be read separately or after the main body of the commentary or consulted as the need arises. All translations, unless otherwise stated, are my own. They do not claim to be scholarly or academic. My intention has been to produce clear, modern translations of sometimes difficult texts so that readers may become aware of the recurrence of certain ideas, of quotes and allusions and thus of the continuity of a tradition of concerns. The extracts from Brecht's plays are taken from the Methuen editions. vii THE ART OF THE ACTOR Once again, my grateful thanks are due to John Collis and Elinor Skedgell of the Rose Bruford College library for their generous and unfailing help in obtaining source material. Jean Benedetti, 2005 viii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Suhrkamp Verlag for permission to translate texts by Brecht, Hans Bunge, Kaethe Ruelicke and Angelika Hurwicz. I would also like to thank the editorial board of the Societe d'Histoire du Théâtre for permission to translate extracts from the classes given by Louis Jouvet at the Conservatoire in Paris. IX Introduction Acting is a normal human activity. Everybody acts in one way or another almost every day. Children play and learn. Adults act and learn. Acting is a way of showing our understanding of the world and passing it on to other people. When they are telling a story, people start to 'act' bits of it, imitating voices, actions, gestures, giving out signs. They do so spontaneously and nobody is surprised. Indeed, they respond sym­ pathetically. The 'acting' is part of a shared experience. It is only when attempting to be impartial, objective, such as when conveying factual information, that people attempt to drain all the personal elements out of what they are saying. In professional acting there is a crucial leap. The basic impulse is there: the desire to communicate an experience of something that has happened, or might have happened, but it is done by pretending to be someone we are not. The ancient Greek word for actor is 'hypocrite'. The difference between acting in life and professional acting proper is that the latter is planned, artistically shaped. The signs are selected. The art of the professional actor needs to be considered under two main headings: • the inner creative process • the conventions and codes, the performance spaces which shape the outward expression of that inner process What is a professional actor? The professional actor in the Western tradition is defined in two ways: • anyone who earns a living by being employed to perform in plays • anyone who has achieved a level of technical skill which enables him to guarantee a certain quality of performance, no matter what the play or frequency of presentation 1 THE ART OF THE ACTOR But within that profession there are a variety of artists. There is also the question not of how actors perceive themselves but how they are seen by their audiences. From a contemporary point of view, what is an actor? • Is an actor one kind of person? • Or several kinds? • What do they have in common? • What are the differences between them? • Is there an unconscious hierarchy of values? • What is the difference between an actor and a star? • Who is more admirable, the classical actor who can play Hamlet or Cleopatra, or someone who appears only in soap operas? And why? • Is the actor who can play the great tragic and dramatic roles superior to the actor in comedy? • Are theatre actors necessarily superior to actors who appear only in movies or on TV? • Has sexual magnetism any role to play? In one form or other, actors have always been classified as to range and type, usually according to the genre or characters in which they specialise. In studying the nature of the actor's art four main areas need to be examined: • the permanent elements inherent in the creative process itself • the changing social factors which condition it • the conflict between the actor's creative aspirations and the codes of conduct and morality of his period • the performing space Theatre is the most public, the most obviously social, of all the arts. Acting takes place in a specific area, a space that has been agreed by audience and actor alike as being set apart, in which actions are 2 INTRODUCTION performed and observed from the outside. A theatre is a place where things are seen. It can be anywhere – a room, a street, a pub, the National Theatre – provided there is an agreement by a group that it is an area set aside for acting, a designated space* A drama (from the Greek verb dron, to do) is something that is done. There is an essential division of function between an actor (someone who does) and a spectator (someone who sees). Once a performer moves into the designated space, his performance is governed by certain basic rules: he must be seen, heard, his actions must be clear and readable, allowing an audience to understand the reasons for his conduct, the coherence of his behaviour. We cannot, therefore, consider the actor in isolation from his audience or the space in which he works. But what the performer does in the designated space, what he is expected to do, or allowed to do, what is recognised as good or bad acting change from period to period, as society and taste change. Modern actors are accustomed to taking off their clothes. That would have been unthinkable (as well as illegal) before the 1960s. The actor is part of the community. He shares a common culture with his fellow citizens, a set of values.
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