THE WHOLE THING
COMPOSITION AND FORM
DECLAN DROHAN AND MAX HAFLER
AUGUST 7-9
UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY
10-5 EACH DAY
Cost 180/120 concessions
“ALL ART ASPIRES TO THE CONDITION OF MUSIC” WALTER PATER
When we as actors start work on a play, we need to consider our role within that world and the atmosphere of the entire piece of work. We need to have a “hunch” as Peter Brook called it, as to where it is going and what feelings or sensations we want it to carry. We need to have a sense of The Whole Thing.
If you imagine a play as a vessel then the plays thoughts, sensations , characters and feelings and story pour into that cup. How many times have you seen an actor, allow their ego to get the better of them and go against the play, their scene partners or the production? When all is harmony , we, the audience , come out with something powerful, joyous, whatever the target of the whole thing might be. In each moment of the action, the actor must be clear where the next unit is going. To understand that the play is one quilt , not merely disparate patches. To have an eye to the ending as the beginning of the play unfolds. In terms of architecture, which floor of the building are we on? And where are we to go next?
Michael Chekhov’s work on form and composition , from the form an actor’s body makes, to the form of an exchange or speech or a scene, to the whole form of the vessel of the play itself , requires a strange mixture of freedom and discipline. Characters go on a journey and productions go on a journey…
Led by Max and Declan , this three day workshop in Galway Ireland will help develop your ability to see these structures and forms without them being restrictive to your Creative Individuality.
Email chekhovtpi@gmail.com to book your place.
A word from Declan on The Whole Thing / Feeling of the Whole
There is, for many, a feeling of being overwhelmed at the beginning of a rehearsal period. The immensity of the task ahead, the towering heights and complexities of the play – its summits and hidden valleys. Particularly if it is canonical or has ‘classic’ status. The ‘whole’ can seem terrifying, mysterious, out of reach and intangible.
There are many strategies in the Michael Chekhov approach for enabling and supporting these first steps. First Chekhov’s playful suggestion that we perhaps we don’t have to start at the beginning at all, but look at one emblematic sequence or exchange as a means of glimpsing (playfully) the ‘whole’ – the secret language, pulse and rhythm of the play -revealed to us by embodiment , movement and inspired ensemble interaction.
We may consider style – in the archetypal sense. Is this a comedy? Or a tragedy? Melodrama or some other defined form. As we are aware – this was a matter of sharp and robust contention between Anton Chekhov and Konstantin Stanislavski for those first productions. Understanding the operational style or genre gives us valuable information as to the creative frame of the project, and our behaviour within it.
The question of atmosphere ( the soul of the performance – M.Chekhov) is central to these plays, it seems to me. The tension between atmospheres, the dominant atmosphere, changing atmospheres…Gloom, despondency, ambition – the draining of resolve – stretched to comedic purpose. Polarity – so sad and self-indulgent it becomes comedic, because we observe a truth about behaviour, a moment of recognition in the interactions of the characters . And the game is afoot! We see life and energy in the contrast of completely selfish impulses. My heart is breaking , but you’re not listening! ‘Why do you always wear black? - ‘ I’m in mourning for my life, I’m unhappy!...’
We can observe the shape, the architecture of the play as a whole – a totality , which we may explore and map. A balance must be struck between the truth and essential elements of each isolated scene and its place in the arc, the larger edifice of the entire play. The feeling of the whole may guide our pilgrims progress through this landscape.
We may consider the play as music, an orchestral whole, a score where all the components of theatre ( the lifeforce and outer form of the actors in motion, setting, lights, scenic elements, the manner and form of transition) are all in play, with the director as organising principle or conductor. The rehearsal period is a research lab and our findings, our collective research, is what we share with the audience as ‘performance’.
Returning to atmosphere , its possible to consider the Seagull as a ‘score of atmospheres’ – each component having its own colour, mood , weight. The atmosphere will tell us HOW to play the scene – HOW being the actors core question as Michael Chekhov asserts. These are objective atmospheres, which all participating characters must move through and be shaped by. The question of transitioning from one to the next can be negotiated throughout the rehearsal process.
There are also personal atmospheres to consider – the particular colouration , temperature, mood of each character in this shared landscape – trapped in their subjective bubbles. Sometimes, a character manages to expand their bubble to alter the objective experience of all others in the scene – or allow their bubble to be flooded by the strength or radiation of other characters experience. This balance between selfish, personal experience and the life of the community of characters on stage is a very rich area of potential exploration, guided by the external eye of the director and creative team.
The archetype of the Artist ( with a big A) looms mightily in the Seagull – yearning to be an artist, disappointment with the life of the artist, fantasies about the role of the artist in the world…..the attempt to embody or engage with this towering ideal throws up a rich , contrasting diversity of these characters attempting to engage and traffic with this quicksilver source.
In the rehearsal period the actors will inevitably become lost in the selfish,personal narrative of these characters and their drives and will need to re-attach periodically to the ‘feeling of the whole’ in order to understand their function in the wider world of the play.
This feeling of the whole gives form and outline to the work which could otherwise be small, personal and trapped in the ‘ I want’ of a particular scene or situation.
In our upcoming workshop, we will explore these and other strategies and approaches in order to establish the grounds of our exploration within specific points of the technique…..
See you there !