Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 14:42:54 -0500 To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org From: mjm <mmoynihan-AT-wi.rr.com> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] The Two Types of Puppeteers... etc 1. What is the actor's function? To turn the dramatic character developed by the playwright into a living breathing human being. Acting is "impersonating a character in a dramatic presentation before an audience." (Wilson and Goldfarb, page 90) 2. What is the difference between the actor and the character he is creating? The actor is the artist, the character is the work of art. The problem is that they inhabit the same body. According to Jeremy Kareken, a member of the Theatre Discussion List, acting is "infusing a play's character with the life of the actor; it's offering up the soul of personality." 3. What is the mechanical external approach to acting, and how does it differ from the psychological internal approach? In the external approach, the actor re-creates (without becoming emotionally involved) the external signs of the character's emotions. In the internal approach, the character grows from within the actor.The actor is personally involved with the character. 4. What was the Delsarte System? Delsarte Exercises French actor, opera singer, and teacher, Fran=E7ois Delsarte (1811-1871) believed that a character's emotional state could be projected to the audience through a formal set of gestures, postures, and physical attitudes. This was the foundation of the Delsarte System of Expression published in 1885 by Genevieve Stebbins. This system was used during the last fifteen years of the 19th century in the actor training programs at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Emerson's School of Oratory. Although the this approach was replaced by the Stanislavski method in the 20th centry, the influence of Delsarte can still be seen in American Modern Dance. The Delsarte Exercises to the left from Pastimes at Home and School: A Practical Manual of Delsarte Exercises and Elocution (1897) illustrate a posture for discovery, mourning, and supplication. This formal, conventional approach to acting can be seen in silent films such as DW Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925) starring Lon Chaney. Links are to the film's entry in the Internet Movie Database. 5. Who was Constantin Stanislavski? Stanislavski (1863-1938) was a Russian actor and director who developed a "method" to train his fellow actors at the Moscow Art Theatre. He wanted his actors to discover, and project, the "inner truth" of the character, so the performance would be real to the audience. With which approach is he associated? Psychological internal. As Norman B. Schwartz has posted to the Theatre Discussion List KS [Stanislavski] felt that when an actor truly experienced what the character was living under imaginary circumstances, the many layers of meaning in the play would be revealed in a way that would rid it of clichés. He contended that his method of acting was more effective than illustration or indication of emotion by calculated poses and tricks of voice and gesture. If the actor believed in the imaginary circumstances, revealing the subtleties of the text by truthful action rather than rhetoric, the audience would see things in the play that had been hidden previously by poor or lazy acting. KS insisted upon more [from] the actor, and particularly [from] an ensemble of actors, than many directors who preceded him. =A9 2000 by Norman B. Schwartz to read more on the internets (as GWB sez): www.northern.edu/wild/th100/CHAPT4.HTM - m in MKE, WI, USA on "THE GOOGLE" (as GWB of the USA sez) to search for The Delsartre. (no relation to the John-Paul Sartre? Hmm... "The artist, a traveller on this earth, leaves behind imperishable traces of his being." - Franciose Delsartre, Delsarte System of Oratory "One of the chief motives of artistic creation is certainly the need of feeling that we are essential in relationship to the world." - Jean-Paul Sartre) oh, and this too: www.delsarteproject.com _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org Admin interface: http://lists.driftline.org/listinfo.cgi/puptcrit-driftline.org Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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