How does an actor use Stanislavskis acting principles, in order to fully prepare to play the role of Kipps in The Women in Black?
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How does an actor use Stanislavski’s acting principles, in order to fully prepare to play the role of Kipps in The Women in Black?
The Women in Black
The women in black is a story based on, Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the house’s sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets, which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman dressed all in black at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold. This feeling is deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black – and her terrible purpose.
Years later, as an old man, he recounts his experiences to an actor in a desperate attempt to exorcise the ghosts of the past. The play unfolds around the conversations of these two characters as they act out the solicitor’s experiences on Eel Marsh all those years ago. (The Women In Black Story n.d.)
Kipps’s Analysis
Kipps is realistic. When he first sees the women in black, he tried to find a reasonable clarification: she's just some poor woman who has a terrible disease and has showed up at Mrs. Drablow's funeral to pay her respects. (Kipps Analysis n.d.)
Although he had good experience with the woman in black and he had experiences of his super natural activities, he still wanted to be dwelling a safer life, with Esme he was going through an un-exited part of life by living in a cottage and keeping himself busy with kids or watching football on Sundays .He never wanted to encounter ghosts which he did but he never wanted to repeat this ghost encounter again.
Stanislavski and his system
Stanislavsky system is considered very complex but his basic goal was to portray believable, natural people on stage as against those in contrast of thespians of 19th century Russia, at that time most of the actors have larger than life tone and portrayed themselves in top of the world manner. Stanislavsky was one of the major role players of the time to change this idea of being over toned. Thus he may be considered as the father of todays style of method Acting, which is a process of the actors being hundred percent involved and drowned in the character they are wrapping themselves as much as practicable.
“Stanislavski’s mature activity can only be understood if it is seen as rooted in the conviction that the theatre is a moral instrument whose function is to civilize, to increase sensitivity, to heighten perception and, in terms perhaps now unfashionable to us, to ennoble the mind and uplift the sprit” (Benedetti 2008)
He became an international success story as a great actor in the 1900 as a playwright. Chekov was well and inspired beloved of him as a storyteller and he achieved still higher position in the world of acting. According to him the best performance are ...
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“Stanislavski’s mature activity can only be understood if it is seen as rooted in the conviction that the theatre is a moral instrument whose function is to civilize, to increase sensitivity, to heighten perception and, in terms perhaps now unfashionable to us, to ennoble the mind and uplift the sprit” (Benedetti 2008)
He became an international success story as a great actor in the 1900 as a playwright. Chekov was well and inspired beloved of him as a storyteller and he achieved still higher position in the world of acting. According to him the best performance are those, which are more simplistic realistic and natural ones his idea therefore developed itself into a way to revolutionize the whole acting technique throughout Russia, Europe and the world as a whole. (Bradford n.d.)
“Our demands are simple, normal, and therefore they are difficult to satisfy. All we ask is that an actor on the stage live in accordance with natural laws.” (Stanislavski n.d.)
For more, refer to appendix
Stanislavski’s Methods
Stanislavski has created methods such as:
* 1. Discovering the units of action: Start with reading the text and then finding different dynamics, rhythm, tempo, change from one unit of action to another, space, time, thinking, imagining and building information. (Oysten n.d.)
* 2. The "Magic If": It is an easy technique that is to question yourself "What would I do if I was in this situation." This is a worthy way to get a natural response to the actions in the story. However, Stanislavsky also realized that these types of "what if" questions do not always lead to the best characterization. "What would I do?" might be a very different question than "What would Hamlet do?" Still, it's a good place to begin. (Bradford n.d.)
4. Motivation: It's become a cliché actor's question -- What is my motivation? Yet, that is precisely what Stanislavsky expected his actors to consider. Why does the character say this? Why does the character move to this part of the stage? Why does she turn on the lamp light? Why does he take a gun out of the drawer? Some actions are obvious and easy to explain. Others can be mysterious. Maybe the playwright doesn't even know. (Or maybe the playwright was just lazy and needed someone to move a chair across the stage for the sake of convenience.) The actor must study the text thoroughly to determine the motivation behind a character's words and actions. (Bradford n.d.)
5. Emotional Memory: Stanislavsky didn't want his actors to simply create a duplicate of an emotion. He wanted his actors to actually feel the emotion. So, if a scene called for extreme grief, actors needed to put themselves in the mindset of the character's situation so that they genuinely experience the feelings of intense sadness. (The same goes for all the other emotions.) Sometimes, of course, the scene is so dramatic, the character so human, that these intense emotions come naturally to the actor. However, for actors not able to connect with the character's emotional state, Stanislavsky advised performers to reach into their personal memories and draw upon a comparable life experience. (Bradford n.d.) (Emotional memory n.d.)
6.Objectives and super-objectives: Is what an actor wants and internally desires of that character, by releasing feelings and emotions. Objectives are most useful to the actor when they can be expressed in the form of a single, active intention or desire. This is usually a simple sentence - for instance, “I want my students to do all the hard work for me”. Stanislavski suggests that objectives should be framed in such a way that they stimulate and excite the actor within the character development process, Super-objectives the process of textual analysis is not completed through the establishment of a character’s objectives within a scene, however. Stanislavski suggests that without guiding principles, which govern the direction of the play as a whole, a role’s units and objectives have no purpose. The research process, shared by all the actors, builds a collective understanding of the play’s meaning.
*
7.Physical actions, this method helps get the actor into character as it aids their actions. After reading the script the actor, acts out the actions he does while he describes every action and vocalizes each movement and make them very specific. The actor needs to add speed and rhythm to each action. Speaking without mumbling builds confidence in the actor and develops characterization. The Women in black is a horror themed play, fast actions and movements and then suddenly stop are very useful for this play, as it creates intensity by the characters use of tempo in actions which also will lead to development of characters
For more, refer to appendix
Applying Stanislavski’s acting principles:
In order for the actor to prepare for kipps’s role it has to understand the character and the learn the Stanislavski’s method to apply it, which is going to help him prepare for his role, such as the methods:
Units of action: This method is going to help the actor to get into character deeper depending on that unit of action which is based on different dynamics, rhythm, tempo, change from one unit of action to another, space, time, thinking, imagining and building information. This could be used as when Kipps first sees the women in black. Pages 18-23 could be called a glance of the women. Naming the unit could help Kipps relate to how the character should act in this unit depending on what is going to happen.
The magic “IF”: Stanislavski believed that all acting should be as realistic as possible to convey the audience. The magic “IF” is a powerful method he created. Kipp’s actor should be asked what this happened in real life, how would the actor’s response be. That’s how the actor should respond within the character for e.g. when Kipps starts finding out more about Miss Drablow, the actor should ask itself “What if I was in the same position as my character?” the reaction he has, should be the same reaction he acts out to help convey realism.
Motivation: The motivation method is a helpful way for the actor to predict the character’s next move, depending on what motivated it.
As in example, the monologue between kipps and actor on page 18, this monologue was motivated by the creepy reputation of Miss Drablow.
Emotional Memory: This play is based on an emotional memory and the actor should use that. E.g. page 40 when Kipps is in the room with the dog spider, and its scary and the torch is missing. In this part the actor should link a memory of them, when they were a children in a dark room to what happened in this scene. This could help to have the terrifying emotion linked to this scene which could help the actor to shiver while acting to show that its scared.
Objectives and super-objectives: Is what an actor wants and internally desires of that character, by releasing feelings and emotions.
Kipps’s super-objective in this play is to relive what the “actor” experienced. That’s by reliving the whole experience. Objectives for the actor to prepare this role could be trying to remove spider (the dog) from the moving sand. This method helps releasing the actor’s internal goal.
Physical actions: The actor gets into character as he vocalizes each movement he does depending on pace, for e.g. the first part of the play when Kipps is part of the audience its action should be as realistic as possible, the actor could sit with his hand on its chin to look concentrated and part of the audience.
Bibliography
Books:
Benedetti, Jean. Stanislavski . 4th Edition. Reading, Great Britian : Methuen | Drama, 2008.
Bradford, Wade. The Stanislavsky Method.
Websites:
http://plays.about.com/od/actingessentials/a/The-Stanislavsky-Method.htm (accessed April 14, 2014).
Emotional memory . http://homepage.smc.edu/sawoski_perviz/Stanislavski.pdf (accessed April 14, 2014).
Kipps Analysis. http://www.shmoop.com/woman-in-black/arthur-kipps.html (accessed April 14, 2014).
Objectives and Super-Objectives. http://working-with-actors.blogspot.com/2008/09/stanislavski-doc-units-objectives-and.html (accessed April 14, 2014).
Stanislavski, Constantin. Stanislavski's Quote. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/constantin_stanislavski.html (accessed April 14, 2014).
The Women In Black Story. http://www.thewomaninblack.com/the-woman-in-black-story/ (accessed April 11, 2014).
Film
How to use the Stanislavski . Directed by Peter Oysten.
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razanjabryhotmailcom (student)
