Department of Drama

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Browsing Department of Drama by Subject "Actors -- Training of"

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    Towards an integrated theory of actor training : conjunctio oppositorum and the importance of dual consciousness
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Swart, Rufus; Kruger, Marie; Allain, Paul; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The proliferation of Western actor training methods in the past century had mainly been derived from the groundbreaking research undertaken by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and Constantin Stanislavski at the Moscow Art Theatre, as well as their students Michael Chekhov, Vsevolod Meyerhold and Evgeny Vakhtangov. Poor translations of their original Russian texts have however meant that many of the principles they discovered were compromised due to misinterpretations. Yet, the ‘system’ of Stanislavski, a veritable repository of these theories, served as a template for acting teachers ranging from former American Group Theatre members such as Stella Adler, Morris Carnovsky, Robert Lewis, Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg, and the Polish director Jerzy Grotowski, to formulate their own distinctive techniques. The result has been a challenge to traditional notions of actors as impersonators to a more holistic view of actor-performers; versatile, multi-skilled artists willing to reveal themselves through sincere disclosures to an audience, as the theatre poet Antonin Artaud advocated they should. Although this interrogation of the essential nature of the 2,600 year old art of Thespis was necessary, there is a danger that its core tenets may have been marginalised in the process, a setback which might further delay the formulation of its own science. This research was undertaken to identify the core principles of the actor’s art that distinguish it from the other performing arts, as well as to determine how these might best be conveyed to student actors in a contemporary context. Employing the ‘system’ as a guide, in particular its ‘work on oneself’ process, which refers to an actor’s personal training, as opposed to ‘work on a role’, which relates to characterisation and performance, the theories of the abovementioned practitioners were examined and compared to Stanislavski’s to ascertain if they contributed to the further evolution of the art. Once an integrated theory of training emerged it was then tested in praxis, working with different groups of students during a three year period. This thesis documents the findings of both the literary research, based on an analysis of texts related to actor training, and those derived from ‘real-world’ applications of these theories in an Higher Education environment. A key aim of the study was thus to determine whether a ‘work on oneself’ form of training could be offered in the formal education sector, despite its psychological implications, and how this might be approached in a ‘healthy’ manner. A selection of audio-video recordings done during the empirical investigation accompanies the thesis in order to substantiate its theory.