Monday, March 3, 2008
"Observation" part one
The slide show above is what I "observe" when my daughter has too much sugar . . . : )
p.97-106
So, we're moving forward and starting Ch. 5 on "observation". This is a fun skill to talk about. Basically, you are surrounded by real "characters" everywhere you go! This chapter talks about exercising your mind to be a little more observant of yourself and your surroundings so we can create more convincing characters on the stage. We are constantly trying to find new ways to express the same things. We are continually striving to create original moments on the stage that are unexpected but make sense. Observation is a great tool for this.
In the book, the student and Boleslavsky meet the student's aunt for tea. The aunt has some pretty strong feelings about drama and her neice's talent. To prove his point, Richie leads her in a game of observation, and she feels a little befuddled and tricked. Her neice models the excellence of observation as she re-enacts her aunts movements and mannerisms to a "tea" (pun intended).
What struck you about this scene?
What actions have you observed in others this week that surprised you but made sense?
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1 comment:
I guess its obvious but the attention to detail struck me the most. Re-enactment took to the extreme. Recreation of movements and expressions in exact detail, not just larger movements but even small "unimportant" movements all recreated EXACTLY.
Trying to tie at least one other lesson from this book into "Observation" leads me to the chapter on emotion from a couple of months ago. I think we can see that if we immerse ourselves so deep into a characters' thoughts and feelings we will be better at naturally recreating a life like experience on stage by doing the big things and the small things that our character would do. They would just happen naturally as an extension of what we become. That includes not only words and gestures but expressions, posture, mannerisms when we aren't speaking, etc.
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