Stanislavski makes clear with in his book ‘An Actor Prepares’ the significance of the link between the magic ‘if’ and the given circumstances. He says that “one cannot exist with out the other”. The magic ‘if’ works as the initial stimulus, from which the given circumstances can be developed. And vice versa, whilst the magic ‘if’ stimulates the imagination of the actor, once developed, the given circumstances can then act as the foundations on which an actor’s response to the magic ‘if’ can then be based. Stanislavski believed that by being sufficiently familiar with the given circumstances of a role, an actor will be able to create truthful and sincere reactions and emotions to the magic ‘if’: “Imagine in your own way the “given circumstances” offered by the play…become so accustomed to it that you feel yourself close to it. If you are successful in this, you will find that “sincere emotions”, or “feelings that seem true” will spontaneously grow in you.”
Consideration of the magic ‘if’ and the given circumstances of a role may be very useful for an actor whilst developing a performance. The actor can take a script or look at a section of a devised performance, and make a list of all of the given circumstances that are relevant to that particular moment, such as, the events that have already occurred and what the character may feel as a result of these events, when it is set, their relationship to other characters on stage…etc. It is also important that the actor includes technical/aesthetic elements such as lighting or costume in his consideration of given circumstances. An actor must be aware that technical elements are also extremely important in the overall presentation of a performance, and make a considerable contribution to making a performance seem as truthful and realistic as possible to an audience. They must know, for example, the areas of the stage that are going to be lit, or at what point a sound effect is going to be used etc. All of the given circumstances must be faithful to the script, and be based on evidence found with in the text. Otherwise the actor would not be able to give an informed response or a truthful portrayal of the character, if, for example, the given circumstances were as a result of extreme interpretation that is not based on evidence found within the text itself.
The actor can then ask themselves the question, ‘How would I act if these given circumstances were true?’ Hopefully this would establish a link between themselves and their character, allowing them to effectively ‘step into their shoes’, in order to create sincere and justified thought and emotions. The magic ‘if’ can then be used even further by the actor with in the development of a role, as a way of adding in another idea of how to approach a script, as long as it is consistent with the actual text, in order to find the way to approach a character that is most appropriate. However, they must have their foundations within the given circumstances, working with appropriate suppositions that would be conceivably possible based on these. By doing this, the actor is able to explore the role, looking at a variety of ways in which it could be approached, allowing them to finally decide upon a way to perform the piece which is most appropriate. Examples of elements of acting which would be affected by the actor/director using magic ‘if’ to explore a role would include for example, tone of voice, gesture, or use of physical or eye contact with other characters on stage.
An example of using the given circumstances and magic ‘if’ to develop a role in a class activity would be when we looked at a section of the play ‘Yerma’ by Federico Garcia Lorca. We were concentrating on the entrance of Victor at the end of scene one, looking particularly at the relationship between Victor and Yerma. First of all, as a class, we compiled a list of all of the given circumstances and possible magic ‘ifs’. The given circumstances were found by looking at evidence in the text as well as our knowledge of what had previously happened in the play, and what he have learnt about the character of Yerma up to that point. Some of the given circumstances included in our list were as follows: Juan has left for work, Yerma is cutting fabric for diapers, Yerma is childless and Married, Victor enters unbidden asking where Juan is, and Victor is unmarried. From here, we considered a number of different ‘exciting suppositions’, and came up with magic ‘ifs’ for the characters of Yerma and Victor. For Yerma, examples of magic ‘ifs’ for that particular section included ‘If Yerma is in love with Victor but cant admit it to herself because she is married’ and ‘If Yerma dreams that one day Victor will tell her that he loves her.’ For Victor, examples of magic ‘ifs’ for that particular section of script included ‘If Victor is in love with Yerma but respects fact that she is married’ and ‘If Victor was coming to tell Yerma that he loves her’. We were then given the task of getting into pairs, each taking on the role of either Yerma or Victor, and to each chose one of the Magic ‘ifs’ and apply it to our performance of that scene. I paired up with Chris, who played Juan, whilst I played Yerma. We decided that we would both choose magic ‘ifs’ that were similar, and showed a different approach to the scene than we would usually have considered. Yerma’s magic ‘if’ was ‘If Yerma sees Victor as a fellow worker of her husband only’, and Victor’s magic ‘if’ was ‘If Victor sees Yerma as the wife of a fellow worker only’. Whilst playing this scene, I decided that when Victor enters I would get up from my sewing, acting as the polite host. I would be friendly, answering Victors questions, however would not make much eye contact, or any physical contact at all due to the fact that if I simply saw him as a colleague of my husband, although I would have spoken to him before, I would not know him that well and so probably would not make gestures that would suggest close friendship or intimacy for example, moving very close towards him. Victor’s action towards me was similar, remaining friendly and polite, showing interest in what I was doing, as if making general conversation, however, remaining at a comfortable and appropriate distance. After experimenting with these magic ‘ifs’ we decided that the ones that we had chosen were not completely appropriate and did not really work that well for this particular section. This is because in this section there are a few more intimate lines which would suggest a friendship, such as “And as for the other-dig deeper.” There are also a number of stage directions given to Yerma such as “trembling” and “almost choking” which I feel would show more emotion than she would show in front of someone she does not really know very well. We are also aware that, having read the play, later on Yerma describes an intimate moment between herself and Victor whilst talking to the Pagan Old woman which would suggest that Yerma does in fact have some feelings for Victor which are stronger than the feelings she would simply have for her husband’s colleague. Based on this given circumstance, these magic ‘ifs’ were inappropriate for use in an actual performance, however, despite this, I feel that it was important that we as actors were able to explore a number of different ways approaching a text by gaining a clear knowledge of the given circumstances and the use of the magic ‘if’, so that we are able to gain a better understanding of the characters themselves, and so give a more thoughtful and truthful presentation of the character later on.
Another example of work that we have done using given circumstances and magic ‘if’ was when a two members of the class (Chris and Sarah) were told that their given circumstances were that they were at a rehearsal for ‘Yerma’ in which they were both involved (Chris playing Victor, and Sarah playing Yerma), and had just been called to the stage by the director to begin their scene, which will be watched by the rest of the ‘cast’. Chris was told that his particular given circumstance was that when he was called to stage he had to rush because he was in the toilet, and his magic ‘if’ was ‘If he had forgotten to do up his flies’. Sarah was told that her given circumstance was that she was waiting on the stage, ready to perform, and he magic ‘if’ was ‘If she notices that Chris’ flies are undone, but carries on acting’. Chris approached this by coming on stage in a quite rushed and flustered way as if he had just run from the toilets. As he enters, Sarah looks up, and straight away notices that his flies are undone, almost doing a small double take, and quickly lowering her eyes to her script as if slightly embarrassed, and then smiles, almost as if she is biting her cheek to stop herself from laughing. During the course of the scene, Chris became aware that something is wrong, and then eventually notices that his flies are undone. He begin to speak in lower, more rushed tone, as if she does not want to draw to much attention to himself, has lost all confidence because of the embarrassment and wants to finish the scene as quickly as possible. He was positioned stage right, and as the scene progresses he tries to subtly bring his right leg forward so that he is angled slightly towards that back of the stage, covering up the problem. His performance is very static, as if he is worried to move just in case any more people notice. Sarah keeps her eyes on her script the whole time, looking as if she is suppressing laughter and does not want to look up in case she bursts into laugher and ruins the scene. She also rushes her words, speaking in a fairly low tone. Neither of them act as if they are in character, and are obviously simply trying to get the scene over and done with as quickly as possible, showing no consideration to the actual meanings of the words they are saying, and absolutely no feeling or emotion. This scene produced a lot of comedy, and it was interesting to consider the variety of different ways you could alter a performance completely by the use of the magic ‘if’.
By carrying out these various class exercises I have learnt that when creating a role for performance, in order to identify with a character to achieve a sense of inner truth, it can be very useful to get a good grasp at all the given circumstances that effect the role, and then, with the use of Stanislavski’s magic ‘if’, explore the role by trying out a number of possible approaches to a scene or play. The magic ‘if’ works as an important link between the actor and the character they are playing by making the aim of the character the aim of the actor as well, meaning that, with this sense of purpose, and actor can give a more realistic and psychologically truthful performance.
