ACTING: Onstage and Off
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ACTING: Onstage and Off FIFTH EDITION Robert Barton University of Oregon Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States Acting: Onstage and Off , © 2009, 2006 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning Fifth Edition ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered Robert Barton by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, Publisher: Michael Rosenberg stored or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to Development Editor: photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Megan Garvey Web distribution, information networks, or information Technology Project Manager: storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Jessica Badiner Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Marketing Manager: Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 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For your course and learning solutions, visit academic.cengage.com Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our preferred online store www.ichapters.com Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12 11 10 09 08 To my son Andrew, whose sense of wonder renews my own This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface / xix Acting to Understand / xix Using This Text / xx Adaptations / xxi This New Edition / xxii Acknowledgments / xxiii About the Author / xxv 1 Acting Acknowledged / 1 Already an experienced actor and almost always acting All the World’s a Stage / 2 The Seven Ages / 3 Seven Acts / 8 Observing Yourself Act / 15 Active Ingredients / 16 Actor Guidelines / 19 Alternatives / 21 Charm Tactics / 22 Threat Tactics / 22 Why Study Acting? / 24 A Richer Life / 25 Actors versus Others / 27 Offstage Action / 28 OK, Wait a Minute . ? / 37 Already an Actor / 38 Exercises 1.1 Imitating Ages / 6 1.2 Ages Experienced, Ages Observed / 7 v vi CONTENTS 1.3 Striking/Successful Acting / 12 1.4 My Best Offstage Performance Ever / 13 1.5 Dueling Performances / 13 1.6 Scripting and Improvising / 14 1.7 Shared Pasts / 14 1.8 Playing Objectives / 17 1.9 Real Life / 18 1.10 Objectives on the Clock / 18 1.11 Text versus Subtext / 20 1.12 Get the Dollar / 23 1.13 Changing Tactics / 23 1.14 Observing Alternatives / 23 1.15 Observing and Identifying / 23 1.16 Observing Class / 24 1.17 Observing Offstage Acting / 24 1.18 Observing Onstage Acting / 24 1.19 Offstage Action Acknowledged / 37 2 Relaxed Readiness / 39 Calm enough, yet energized enough to do your best Warming Up / 39 Balancing Opposing States / 40 Mental Warm-Ups / 40 Class Commitment / 42 Stage Fright Substitutes / 43 Accepting the Audience / 43 Group Warm-Ups / 44 Sharing Now / 44 Too Much, Too Soon? / 47 Names / 48 Exercise Adaptations / 48 Physical Warm-Ups / 50 Narrowing Your Circle / 51 Meditation / 51 Tensing/Releasing / 52 Alignment / 53 Shaking / 55 Stretching / 55 Breathing / 59 CONTENTS vii Aerobics / 60 Changing Images / 63 Vocal Warm-Ups / 64 Releasing / 64 Breathing / 65 Rooting Sound / 66 Shaping Sound / 67 Precision / 68 Vocal Progression / 69 When and Where to Warm Up / 70 Offstage Adaptations / 71 Exercises 2.1 Dumping the Demons / 41 2.2 Shared Opinions / 45 2.3 Shared Performances / 46 2.4 Shared Viewing / 48 2.5 Name Trunk / 48 2.6 Partner Greetings / 49 2.7 Group Greetings / 49 2.8 Circle Jumps / 49 2.9 Group Breath and Sound / 50 2.10 Everybody’s Esprit / 50 2.11 Here and Now, Part I / 51 2.12 The Prune / 52 2.13 The Accordion / 54 2.14 The Puppet / 54 2.15 Rag Doll / 55 2.16 Head Rolls / 56 2.17 The Sun / 56 2.18 Lung Vacuum / 59 2.19 The Blender / 60 2.20 The Journey / 62 2.21 Anything Aerobic / 62 2.22 Here and Now, Part II / 63 2.23 Letting Go / 64 2.24 Respirating / 65 2.25 Sounding / 66 2.26 Isolations / 67 2.27 Lip Reading / 68 2.28 Twisters / 69 2.29 Offstage Action: Readiness / 71 2.30 Warm-ups in Real Life / 72 2.31 Nadi Shodhana / 72 viii CONTENTS 3 Individual Inventory / 73 Know enough about yourself to use everything you have Taking Stock / 73 Knowing Your Instrument / 74 Body Awareness / 74 Habits / 75 Adaptations / 75 Cultural Binding / 76 I Am What I Am / 80 Imitation for Double Awareness / 82 Physical Life Project / 83 Imitation Payoffs / 90 Applying Body Awareness / 91 Vocal Awareness / 91 Quality / 92 Tempo/Rhythm / 92 Articulation / 92 Pronunciation / 92 Pitch / 93 Volume / 93 Word Choice / 93 Nonverbals / 93 Infl uences / 93 Vocal Life Project / 100 Applying Vocal Awareness / 101 Personal Awareness / 101 Bringing Yourself Onstage / 104 Acting Journal / 105 Choosing for Yourself / 109 Exercises 3.1 Habits / 76 3.2 Adaptations / 79 3.3 Cultural Binding / 79 3.4 Using the Body List / 81 3.5 Self-Imitation / 83 3.6 Imitation Sequence / 88 3.7 Alternative Imitations / 89 3.8 Celebrity Imitation / 89 3.9 Basic Parts of a Vocal Life / 94 3.10 Using the Vocal Awareness Checklist / 97 CONTENTS ix 3.11 Resonators / 97 3.12 Classic Voices / 97 3.13 Around Town / 98 3.14 Mosts and Leasts / 98 3.15 Do the Teacher / 98 3.16 Famous Voices / 99 3.17 Voiceovers / 99 3.18 Solo Vocal Imitation / 100 3.19 Partner Vocal Imitation / 100 3.20 Your Past / 102 3.21 Your Present / 103 3.22 Your Future / 103 3.23 Keeping a Journal / 105 3.24 Offstage Action: Inventory / 108 4 Stanislavski’s System / 110 A complete process for characterization Myth and Reality / 111 The Method / 111 Who Was Stanislavski? / 112 Basic Ingredients / 113 The Legacy / 113 Most Misunderstood / 115 Empathy / 118 Ten System Steps / 120 Step 1: Given Circumstances / 121 Step 2: The Magic If / 122 Step 3: Super Objective / 123 Step 4: Through-Line of Actions / 124 Step 5: Scoring the Role / 127 Step 6: Endowment / 128 Step 7: Recall / 129 Step 8: Images / 131 Step 9: External Adjustments / 132 Step 10: The Creative Mood / 133 Open Scenes / 134 Closing Scenes / 135 Open Interpretations / 136 Open Scene Presentations / 142 x CONTENTS Exercises 4.1 Comprehending / 118 4.2 Other’s Givens / 121 4.3 Planting / 122 4.4 Class Ifs / 123 4.5 Hierarchies / 124 4.6 Class Objectives / 124 4.7 Tiny Triumphs / 126 4.8 Triumphant Entries / 126 4.9 Adding Consequence / 128 4.10 Bringing it Back / 129 4.11 Release Album / 130 4.12 Total Recall / 130 4.13 Imaging / 132 4.14 Time Games / 133 4.15 Open Dialogue / 134 4.16 Motivation Units / 140 4.17 Open Scene Project / 140 4.18 Upping Objectives / 143 5 Stanislavski Stretched / 146 The system twisted and expanded Beyond Stanislavski / 146 Stanislavski in Russia: Three Artistic “Sons” / 147 Evgeni (Eugene) Vakhtangov (1883–1922) / 147 Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874–1940) / 149 Michael Chekhov (1891–1955) / 152 Stanislavski in the USA: Three American Adapters / 154 Lee Strasberg (1901–1982) / 155 Stella Adler (1901–1992) / 157 Sanford Meisner (1905–1997) / 160 Summary / 163 Postmodern Stanislavski / 164 Playing with Dials / 164 Stanislavski Bozos / 167 Stanislavski Extended / 168 Private Audience / 169 Grouping / 170 Substitution / 171 CONTENTS xi Conditioning Forces / 171 Rehearsed Futures / 173 Suppression / 174 Working with a Partner / 176 Partnering / 176 Exercises 5.1 Outer Before Inner / 148 5.2 The Stick / 150 5.3 Throwing the Ball / 151 5.4 The PG / 153 5.5 The Castle / 153 5.6 Personal Object / 157 5.7 Living with Pain / 159 5.8 Your Own Words / 159 5.9 Repetition / 161 5.10 One-Two-Three / 162 5.11 Naming Members / 169 5.12 Group Bias / 170 5.13 Adding Conditions / 173 5.14 Crazy Car Conditions / 173 5.15 Open Futures / 174 5.16 Playing Against / 175 5.17 Observing the System Plus / 175 5.18 Partner Sharing / 179 5.19 Offstage Action: Stretching / 180 5.20 Pulling it All Together / 180 6 Truth/Technique / 182 Balancing spontaneity with consistency Which Way? / 182 As True as Possible / 183 A Marriage of Necessity / 184 Body Maneuvers / 185 The Acting Space / 185 Acting Areas / 187 Stage Movement / 189 Movement as Technique / 191 Onstage/Offstage Comparisons / 196 Voice Maneuvers / 197 Vocal Directions / 197 Vocal Technique / 199 xii CONTENTS Burning / 202 Coining / 204 Onscreen versus Onstage / 207 Repetition / 208 Size / 209 Scrutiny / 210 Feedback / 211 Control / 212 Cheating / 213 Silver Screen versus Tube / 214 Film Terms / 214 To Study More / 216 Scale / 217 Style of Show / 218 Size of Character / 218 Type of Space / 219 Size of Shot / 220 What Happens? / 222 Adjusting / 223 Reactions / 224 Offstage Scale / 224 Improvisation and Freedom / 228 Improv Ground Rules / 228 Basic