Neo- Classical training

Página 1

In Neo-classical training

Consider text to be "thought in action".

Neo classical approach lends itself to Shakespeare, so thats the example used in the following sides.

We train the actor to equate thought with speech - to prepare and train the actor to think while in heightened emotional state, so that the language of Shakespeare for example, is not merely articulated but possesed by the actor.

The challenge facing actors today is how to create a clear and simple present.

The actor as a character creates thought through language by coining words,phrases and sentences - as opposed to reciting speeches. Language and thought are not seperate; rather the language of Shakespeare (for example) is the thought of the character.

Página 2

Thought in action

The basic tool of the actor is action. When the actor plays a speific action , the unit of text comes alive.

In Neoclassical training students first work to attain heightened emotional states by using nursery rhymes.

The focus, is on achieving a full emotional life without paying attention to meaning.

Then they can explore how their emotions inform work that is centered in the text rather than on subtext.

Students imaginatively explore their deepest fear and greatest desires.

Actions stem from their imaginations from somewhere within them.

It is important to remember there is no right response. Rather, there are a plethore of responses. Character's in Shakespeare are rarely consistant. Ideally art should be generative; it should produce something new. If acting is an art it therefore must produce a new rendition of a scene each time.

The fascinating thing is that you can't know what you will create; thus Neo-classical training strives for a project to be a blank piece of paper.

REMEMBR: Action MUST serve the text, for goal is to generate the text. If one accepts that words of text are thought, there is no need for a subtextual current underneath the work.

Página 3

ANTITHESIS AND IAMBIC PENTAMETER

To understand Shakespeare, the actor must understand ANTITHESIS and IMABIC PENTAMETER.

Antithesis: rhetorical contrast of ideas by meanas of parallel consturction of words, clauses or setences. It serves as a marker for actors to play contrasting, contradictory and antithetical actions and create taht POV.

Iambic pentameter: A line of verse with five metric feet. The rhythm which Shakespeare wrote verse.

Página 4

VERSE AND PROSE

Prose follows the rules of grammar, while Verse adheres not only to grammar ut also to additional principles that serve to heighten the auditor's attention to the rhythmf the language.

The interplay of words annd metrical stresssis revealed when words are set in patterns against the rhythmic arrangementof five iambic feet.

Shakespeare exploited variation and difference that gives vitality and intest to the iambic line. Once rhythm is established, author and actor work together to reveal the thought processes of the character to the audience.

The rhythm is innate and internal force.

Iambic pentameter is the heartbeat of Shakespeares text -which can be felt , perceived or sensed internally by the audience.

Página 5

POSOTIVE ACTION AND PERFORMATIVE SPEECH

Two concepts are critical to the acting of Shakespeare in the present: posotive action and performative speech. These concepts have supported, refined energized Thought in Action.

Posotive action means that actor/character focuses on the success of the enterprise rather than allowing the fear of failure to enter the mind or consiousness. EVERY CHARACTER PLAYS TO WINAT EVERY MOMENT.

Students should always be engaged in rhetorical conflict, which is fully realized by a commitment to a specific action.

With PA, the affects of not attaining their goasl are psychologically and emotionally damaging, or miraculous, exhilirating. It can be used to understand why the characters monologue - because they need and desire something so intensely.

Performative Speech is from philosopher J.L Austin. It describes language that is active and is involved in the performance of the action - helping the sudents stay in the present.

He developed his own vocabulary for this - using words such as utterance to describe the doing of an action.

The goal is not merely to say something but to do something as a performative act rather than a desriptive narrative.

Página 6