THE ACTOR IN THE SPACE: THE INFLUENCE OF SPACE ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND CREATION OF THE ROLE OF MACBETH A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts David M. Obney December, 2007 THE ACTOR IN THE SPACE: THE INFLUENCE OF SPACE ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND CREATION OF THE ROLE OF MACBETH David M. Obney Thesis Approved: Accepted: _________________________________ _________________________________ School Director Dean of the College Mr. Neil Sapienza Dr. James Lynn _________________________________ _________________________________ Advisor Dean of the Graduate School Mr. James Slowiak Dr. George R. Newkome _________________________________ _________________________________ Committee Member Date Mr. Chris Hariasz ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................1 II. RULES OF SPACE: REHEARSAL BEHAVIOR AND THE ACTOR’S TOOLS.......5 Thinking about Space ..............................................................................................5 Connection: Using the Senses..................................................................................6 Rules are Necessary ...............................................................................................10 Meeting the Stage Space........................................................................................14 Controlling the Space.............................................................................................15 Attaining Freedom .................................................................................................19 Discovering Linear and Curved Movement...........................................................23 Limiting Choices is Important ...............................................................................25 Fully Engaging the Body and Mind.......................................................................29 Using the Hands in Relation to the Space..............................................................30 Landmarks as Tools ...............................................................................................35 III. RELATING TO THE EXTERNAL SPACE...............................................................38 The Actor’s Body in Relation to the Set................................................................39 Beyond the Set .......................................................................................................41 iii Literal Action.........................................................................................................45 Using Auditorium Space........................................................................................46 The Eyes in Action.................................................................................................51 Using the Apron.....................................................................................................54 Lights as Guides.....................................................................................................55 IV. THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL SPACE..........................................................60 Eliminating Distractions ........................................................................................61 Meeting the Body...................................................................................................63 Unifying the Mind, Body, Breath ..........................................................................65 Using the Ready Position in the Opening Scene ...................................................68 Creating the Internal Score ....................................................................................69 Breathing as Part of Inner Action ..........................................................................70 Associations and Images as Part of Inner Score ....................................................77 V. THE SPACE BETWEEN .............................................................................................85 The Space between Stimulus and Action...............................................................89 Exits and Entrances................................................................................................90 Disconnection is Crucial........................................................................................94 Space between Stage Areas ...................................................................................96 The Textual Space..................................................................................................98 Scansion Unlocks Possibilities ............................................................................100 VI. CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................105 Questions .............................................................................................................107 Further Research..................................................................................................108 iv WORKS CITED .........................................................................................................110 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2.1 Wearing the red gloves ..........................................................................................32 2.2 Relating actions to the space..................................................................................36 3.1 The elements onstage.............................................................................................40 3.2 Center stage of the apron .......................................................................................48 3.3 Following the body’s natural response ..................................................................51 3.4 Disoriented onstage................................................................................................53 3.5 Using lighting.........................................................................................................56 4.1 Using associations in action...................................................................................74 4.2 Incorporating physical sensations..........................................................................79 5.1 Using stimuli to energize actions...........................................................................88 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION At various points in life, I have felt the presence of space and its ability to mold my mindset. There are times I need to leave the house because when I am inside for too many days, I feel glum. When visiting people in hospital, I grow irritable after being in the small rooms for too long. In fact, even now while writing, I move from one room to another in my house, knowing that a change of scenery increases productivity. When I stroll through the zoo with my two sons and wife on a pleasantly warm day, I feel serene. At the end of a particularly long day at the high school where I teach, I feel an instant lightness in body and mind when I open the door and step into the fresh air. I am easily distracted in cluttered space. The presence of hardwood, rough-hewn stone, brick, and soft lighting elevates my mood. If the arrangement of objects within a room in my home does not feel right, I rearrange them until they do. When I was a child, I excitedly placed sheets over a dining room table and weighted them with books to keep the linens in place. I remember sitting in my homemade dining room table tent with a flashlight, allowing my imagination to run rampant. Suddenly, I was not in a dull dining room on a rainy day—I was in a spaceship, underwater, or hiding in a forest at night. Simply by changing my perception of the 1 space, strong images stimulated my body and mind. Altering the space changed my reality. I first encountered the importance of space for the actor while taking Adel Migid’s scene design course at The University of Akron as part of my graduate training in theatre. Through reading the textbook, The Scenographic Imagination by Darwin Reid-Payne, listening to Mr. Migid’s lectures, analyzing various scene designs, and creating my own designs, I began to understand how space functions in the art of theatre. Mr. Migid’s teaching confirmed my own thoughts about artistic composition. Theatre artists do not randomly throw objects into a space hoping it might all come together. A theatre artist must pay close attention to every detail of the craft. Space is the essential tool of theatre art for the director and scenic designer. During a second course with Mr. Migid, a question came to mind: If space is so important to a scenic designer and director, how does space inspire the actor? Looking at photographs of Mr. Migid’s past scene designs, I yearned to be onstage in the environments he created. A classmate asked why a particular scene design we were studying appealed to me in this way, but the question’s answer seemed so obvious I was surprised she had asked. The design inspired me to the extent that I wanted to be inside it. I easily imagined playing on the various platforms, moving about the stage, exploring the scenography’s potential for stimulating movement. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall states that a human’s perception of space