Professional Practice Katherine Hurley
Sunday 11 May 2014
Sunday 16 March 2014
Full Literature Review
Emotion on demand – An actor’s workbook for mastering emotional triggers
Author: Michael Woolson
Published
by: Drama Publishers an imprint of Quite Specific Media Group LTD Hollywood . Written 2007
updated and expanded 2010.
The target audience for this book is professional or training actors.
Emotion on demand resonated with me right from the introduction. Woolson begins
by referencing an event in his own career where he was unable to access emotion
on set after a sudden script change. Originally his character, (when being
informed of the sudden death of his farther) was to show no reaction, as if in
shock. But the new stage direction called for him to burst into tears. (Stage
directions such as these are what inspired me to study emotional access in the
first place as they ignite such terror within me as an actor) He talks about the busy environment of the
film set putting him off, ‘it was almost
as if they were trying to distract
me’ and what this confidence crushing experience made him realise, ‘I had to learn how to bring up emotion on
demand no matter what the circumstances’. It was this event, along with
conversations with actors who faced the same anxiety, which compelled him to
write this workbook. Woolson goes on to discuss his work as an acting coach and
says he found it surprising how many
of his students felt emotionally blocked. He believes all that’s needed is very
simply technique and practice ‘If you are
committed, your find yourself going places you never thought possible’. The
book offers a range of techniques explained in full, along with exercises to
help you access them. The way it’s structured invites the reader to pick and
chose which bits they want to work on. It’s also a workbook and there are many
sections where the reader is required to answer questions and make notes.
Woolson’s theories on accessing emotion consist mainly of internal
character work from the Stanislavski school of thought. He uses 3 main
techniques: Real life (emotional recall), 50/50 (very similar to the Magic if –
taking parts from your real life and manipulating it in imaginary
circumstances) and Imagination (Throwing yourself fully into your given
circumstances). Michael also introduces a way to action your work by breaking
it down into core events and core emotions. A core event being what has
happened in a specific moment to trigger a core emotion, e.g. Failure: being
fired, failing a test, blowing an audition. Core emotion being the emotion
required by an actor at the specific moment for example guilt, sadness, peace,
anger etc…
This piece of literature was an integral part of my inquiry. Firstly it
outlined some of my own thoughts and fears around emotion access therefore
giving me encouragement of my cause. It also introduced me to a new approach of
actioning text which I was then able to discuss with my focus group
participants.
True and False – Heresy and common sense for the actor
Author: David Mamet
Published by: Random House Inc New York 2007
Quoting the blub the booked is aimed at ‘Anyone who cares in the slightest about actors and acting’. Mamet’s
intensions are to show the reader another way, (in his opinion the correct way)
to approach acting work. He believes a lot of the notions that have become
commonplace in drama schools are nonsense theories informed by academics. He
feels too much emphasis is placed on techniques that don’t develop a skill and
describes Stanislavski’s method as a ‘cult’.
Mamet says ‘The organic demands made on
the actor are much more compelling and the potential accomplishments of the
actor more important’.
Mamet refers to emotion memory as ‘mugging’
and concludes ‘it’s the audience’s right
to exercise emotion at the theatre not the actors’. “Emotion memory and sense
memory are paint-by-numbers.” Just say the words to accomplish a goal. He feels acting is a skill and
an art, not “the ability to self-induce a
delusional state.” He doesn’t believe actors should conceal there
insecurities with technique but instead should ‘Act in spite of it’ and just be truthful. Mamet assumes that by
using such techniques to access extreme emotion the actor can only be thinking
one of two things, they are; ‘I’m
getting there, I’m getting there, I’m getting there’ or ‘I’m there, I’m there,
I’m there’ neither of which are what the character (played truthfully) should
be thinking/feeling at the time. An actor, (who when producing tears) is
thinking to themselves ‘Yes I did it’, is totally contradicting the emotional
state of the character they are playing. The writing style is very passionate
and informed by some really thought provoking examples to back up his points. I
found the short heated chapters accessible and refreshing. It brought an interesting
perspective to my inquiry, by having such conflicting ideas to other texts I’ve
read.
An Actor Prepares
Author:
Constantin Stanislavski
Translated
by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood
Published by: Geoffrey Bles Ltd 1937
An actor prepares is aimed at actors, directors, teachers and
practitioners.
Stanislavski wrote this book in order to introduce the acting world to
his ‘system’ of approaching text and
character. He believes that in order to explore a role fully you must undergo
inward preparation. Concepts launched in this book such as emotion memory and
the magic if are now world renowned rehearsal tools.
Emotional Memory requires an actor recreate
an event from the past in order to regenerate the feelings they experienced at
that time. These memories could be fuelled by sensations such as taste and smell
etc…‘Just as your visual memory can reconstruct
an inner image of some forgotten thing, place or person, your emotion memory
can bring back feelings you have already experienced’ Stanislavski not
only suggested using emotions
experienced but those generated by events witnessed or read about. The author
assumes thee actor tends to approach emotional access in the wrong way, ‘To repeat a feeling that occurred
accidentally, don’t start with the results — look for the original stimulus and
use that.’ He uses powerfully examples and quotations to grab the reader’s
interest and invites us to look at the small intricate details when recalling a
memory as they are often the key to accessing emotion. ‘Never allow yourself externally to
portray anything that you have not inwardly experienced’. This autobiographical book is the diary of a fictional
student. It’s a detailed descriptive journey which at times can be challenging
for the reader as it goes off on tangents. However there are some incredibly
insightful quotes along the way which keep you going. It’s the type or book
where your find something new every time you read it.
This text contributed to my inquiry by giving me a more
developed knowledge of emotion memory and how it was intended to be used.
Respect for acting
Author:
Uta Hagan with Haskel Frankel
Published
by: Wiley Publishing Inc 1973
This is a booked aimed at actors and audience members
who are interested in the creative process. Hagan’s intension is for the reader
to find reality within themselves whilst exploring in detail specific dramatic
techniques. ‘We have an image of who we think we are, but we are more than
this — we can be childish, stupid, angry, arrogant, etc. An actor must develop
a full sense of his own identity’ Hagan suggests that emotional memory can be unreliable or
ineffective, ‘Sometimes the direct
substitution is not suggestible enough to bring out the desired result’ while
also recognising the damage it can have on an actors wellbeing and suggesting
actors only use memories they have previously dealt with. Hagan introduces the reader to her own
interpretation of emotional recall, where, instead of placing the focus on an
emotion, finding a ‘release’ object –
an item, smell, sound, associated with the original emotional experience ‘which releases the censor’. Hagan
assumes that reliability with any technique may cause anxiety for the actor and
so offers a list of reasons lists why an emotion might be losing its freshness.‘1) You are stopping to demand that you
feel, because you have not made your object synonymous with the one on stage.2)
You are anticipating how or at what second the
emotion should manifest itself.3) You have dwelt on the emotion for its own
sake, rather than for furthering your stage action. 4) You are weighing the
degree of intensity of previous use of the emotional experience.5) You are
fearful that the emotion will elude you, etc. etc’
I found the book very
nurturing and inspiring. It was full of anecdotes and examples from Hagan’s own
experience making her relatable to the reader. It works tremendously well as
one piece of literature but can also be picked up at any chapter and still
makes sense.
Hagan’s book reinforced something I was particularly
interested in when launching this study which is reliability and effectiveness.
Her advice will be very useful when creating my artefact.
Trusting the actor Author: Brian Astbury Copyright 2011 by Brian Astbury – All rights reserved
This book as been written for
the purpose of acting students, directors and practitioners. It’s a theoretical
study of acting techniques made up of two parts. The first part consists of
anecdotes and stories, including how Astbury’s techniques evolved; the second
is the actual exercises themselves described in detail. Astbury’s aim when writing
this book was to dispel acting myths and share his solutions to issues surrounding
the subject of acting and directing.The Author defines emotion as ‘A physical force - an energy field – which
is communicated, transmitted through the air’ He believes these
transmissions can be recreated by a good actor. ‘The pain, the joy, the anger, the sorrows flow through them – from the
character and into the audience.’ Astbury assumes the practice of accessing
emotion can have a negative effect on
the actor. By focusing too much on the effect they are having on the audience
the actor can become vain. He urges the reader to have ‘pure intensions’ and not to abuse emotion for ‘selfish ends’.
‘Trusting the actor’ is
honest and at times moving. It’s accessible to acting novices whilst still
connecting with a more experienced audience. Although it’s broken into
chapters, I feel it needs to be read from the beginning (at least once) to get
a real insight into Asbury’s journey. This
literature contributed to my inquiry by encouraging me to look at the negative
connotations thee act of forced emotion can have, on both the actor and the
audience. It also stimulated me to look at actor’s opinions on using personal
emotions for professional gain.
The Stanislavski System
– Growth and Methodology
Author: Perviz Sawoski
Viewed 24th
February 2014 http://homepage.smc.edu/sawoski_perviz/Stanislavski.pdf
Sawoski’s
paper comes from her position as a teacher of actors. Research carried out on
this subject will inform her own practice whilst allowing her to pass on her
knowledge to students.
The
paper infers that two much impetus is placed on Stanislavski’s earlier findings
rather than the more developed ‘Method of
Physical actions’ in which Stanislavski proposed ‘That a series of physical actions arranged in sequential order will
trigger the necessary emotions in an actors performance’ The reader is
given an in-depth break down of how to approach the system followed by opinions on why Stanislavski’s earlier work
proved questionable to some. The formal language is captivating without
alienating a non academic audience. The papers format allows the audience to
obtain specific information without having to search for it. Reading this paper
inspired me find out more about the physical actions technique. It also brought
up an interesting discussion topic within my focus group as we looked at actors
approaches to emotional access and if they preferred to work from the outside
in or inside out.
How to cry – An actors guide to
crying and tears
Author: Wade Bradford
Viewed 2nd
Feb http://plays.about.com/od/basics/ht/How-To-Cry-An-Actors-Guide-To-Crying-And-Tears.htm
Aimed
at aspiring actors and theatre lovers this blog features hints and tips to aid
the process of crying on cue. The article outlines various techniques,
summarised in a short and simplified manner. These include tricks of the trade
such as a tear stick. Bradford, who works as a playwright, professor and acting
coach, uses the blog as a forum to share practice, initiate discussion and
advertise his services. The author hooks the reader by opening with the
sentence ‘If I asked you to produce tears
within the next sixty seconds, could you do it? (Give it a try before you
continue to read.)’. His theories are labelled clearly and well defined
however not explored in any great detail. The article forced me to question the
need
of the actor to feel real emotion if there are ways to demonstrate it without
the use of technique. This then highlighted a thought I had in my draft which was,
does it really matter if the actor feels it? It’s not about the actor it’s
about the audience, so as long as the audience believes it who cares??
How to cry for a play or other
performance
Author:
Various
Viewed 3rd
Jan http://www.wikihow.com/Cry-for-a-Play-or-Other-Performance
This article is listed under the Arts and
entertainment section of the WikiHow website It’s been produced and edited by
various readers and offers a quick fix to crying on cue. The introduction
refers to other methods as being ‘cumbersome’
and ‘taking to long’ whilst
techniques in the article are described as ‘quite
manageable’. The approaches offered by thee authors are more what I would
describe as tricks than acting tools. They include, using spicy food, rubbing
your eyes, making convincing sounds and using vapour rub. Pictures make up the
main bulk of the article with short descriptive captions below. The various
authors make me question the reliability of this source. I feel the format suggests
it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. I’m not sure how much of a contribution it
made to my inquiry; however it did make me think about how seriously we take
ourselves as actors sometimes and really Joe Bloggs isn’t interested in our
process, people just want to be entertained.
The Actor's Arena - Terry Kiser explains Strasberg's lesson on crying on command in performance. Viewed 3rd March http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpzO-k3UDrI
In this clip (aimed at aspiring actors) Kiser
demonstrates crying on command whilst informing the audience of his process.
The purpose of the film is to share the teachings of Lee Strasberg with another
generation and help actors find away to emotionally connect. Kiser obviously
finds this method works, relying heavily on the recall of senses to transport
him back into a moment. He is very clear that you should only work with
memories over 6 years old because they are ‘part
of you’. This clip is inspiring for the viewer as you’re actually seeing
the technique in action and being successful. However it maybe would be more
effective if Kiser was guiding a student through the process rather than doing
it himself, as it can come across quite self indulgent in places which takes
away from the teaching.
I feel this
video contributed to my inquiry by dispelling the mystery around emotional
access and taking it back to basics. It also made me think a lot more about the
effect the breath and relaxation can have on the performer and how open you
need to be to allow yourself to be affected by your given circumstances.
Sunday 9 March 2014
Actors discuss Part 1: Stanislavski's method of physical actions
Interesting film outlining the comparisons between emotion recall and the method physical actions.
Progress so far.....
Hello all. I keep forgetting to blog with this module so I thought I'd update you on my journey so far.
Well, as I'm sure most of you are, I'm starting to feel the pressure now. At the beginning I thought '12 weeks, loads of time' but after reading through the handbook and discovering we basically need to have the whole thing drafted by the end of the month in order to get feedback, I started to panic slightly.
Feb went by in the blink of an eye, I spent the majority of this time researching my inquiry topic. Books were being delivered on a every other day basis, I had to organise and promote a focus group session whilst trying to get hold of every actor I no in order to complete my field journal.
Yesterday I managed to send off my first lit review draft which has a word count the size of the entire evaluation section, so I'm sure that's going to need some serious condensing, and today I'm meant to be getting to work on the analysis but its so sunny, I don't want to do work :(
My social life no longer exists and I'm already wondering/dreaming about what on earth I'm going to do with myself when this is over?! I might actually have time to paint my nails,or go to the gym, or see my friends.....!!!!
That being said I've really enjoyed the research part of my journey. My focus group was a great success and I met some really nice people in the process. I've made some interesting discoveries about my craft and been totally inspired by the dedication and hard work that some actors put into creating a believable character. Being out of training for so long, its almost been like a refresher course. I can't wait for my next audition so I'm able to put everything I've learnt into practice.
Onwards and upwards then this analysis isn't going to write itself....
Also any other Londoners fancy a Sunday session next week let me no... sometimes its nice to sit and do work with other people.
Keep going.....
Katie :)
Well, as I'm sure most of you are, I'm starting to feel the pressure now. At the beginning I thought '12 weeks, loads of time' but after reading through the handbook and discovering we basically need to have the whole thing drafted by the end of the month in order to get feedback, I started to panic slightly.
Feb went by in the blink of an eye, I spent the majority of this time researching my inquiry topic. Books were being delivered on a every other day basis, I had to organise and promote a focus group session whilst trying to get hold of every actor I no in order to complete my field journal.
Yesterday I managed to send off my first lit review draft which has a word count the size of the entire evaluation section, so I'm sure that's going to need some serious condensing, and today I'm meant to be getting to work on the analysis but its so sunny, I don't want to do work :(
My social life no longer exists and I'm already wondering/dreaming about what on earth I'm going to do with myself when this is over?! I might actually have time to paint my nails,or go to the gym, or see my friends.....!!!!
That being said I've really enjoyed the research part of my journey. My focus group was a great success and I met some really nice people in the process. I've made some interesting discoveries about my craft and been totally inspired by the dedication and hard work that some actors put into creating a believable character. Being out of training for so long, its almost been like a refresher course. I can't wait for my next audition so I'm able to put everything I've learnt into practice.
Onwards and upwards then this analysis isn't going to write itself....
Also any other Londoners fancy a Sunday session next week let me no... sometimes its nice to sit and do work with other people.
Keep going.....
Katie :)
Focus Group at RADA STUDIOS - 1st March |
Sunday 23 February 2014
Focus group invite
Dear Actors,
Do you feel a surge of dread when you see the stage direction 'he/she breaks down into tears'?
Have you ever struggled to connect emotionally with a piece or been in a position when you feel connected, but the tears just won't come?
These are things I think most actors have been effected by at some point in their careers, I certainly have. Which is why for my dissertation I'm launching an inquiry into what professional actors say about accessing extreme emotion stage Vs screen.
I'm interested in your experiences in accessing extreme emotion, techniques you use and how you feel (if at all) environment effects your performance across the genres.
I'm hoping to have at least 10 actors in total from all different walks of life. I think it will be a really informative couple of hours and a great way to share practice.
The focus group will be held on Saturday 1st of March 2:30pm-4:30pm at RADA 18-22 Chenies Street, WC1E 7PA.
If you are free and interested in attending please reply to this email and I'll send you more details.
I really look forward to hearing from you!
Katie Alexandra Hurley
kt_hurley@yahoo.com
07703345420
Do you feel a surge of dread when you see the stage direction 'he/she breaks down into tears'?
Have you ever struggled to connect emotionally with a piece or been in a position when you feel connected, but the tears just won't come?
These are things I think most actors have been effected by at some point in their careers, I certainly have. Which is why for my dissertation I'm launching an inquiry into what professional actors say about accessing extreme emotion stage Vs screen.
I'm interested in your experiences in accessing extreme emotion, techniques you use and how you feel (if at all) environment effects your performance across the genres.
I'm hoping to have at least 10 actors in total from all different walks of life. I think it will be a really informative couple of hours and a great way to share practice.
The focus group will be held on Saturday 1st of March 2:30pm-4:30pm at RADA 18-22 Chenies Street, WC1E 7PA.
If you are free and interested in attending please reply to this email and I'll send you more details.
I really look forward to hearing from you!
Katie Alexandra Hurley
kt_hurley@yahoo.com
07703345420
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