The birth of the Moscow Art Theatre

In 1897 two prominent figures in Russian theatre, Constantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Dachenko, came together with the common aspiration of propagating a more “naturalistic” style of theater in the face of the melodrama popular at the time.

In June 1897 Stanislavski received two letters from Vladimir Nemi­rovich-Danchenko suggesting a meeting. He replied by telegram: “Will be glad to meet you June 22 at 2 o'clock at Slavyanski Bazaar”. The discussion lasted eighteen hours ending at Stanislavski’s villa at eight the next morning. This meeting resulted in the birth of the Moscow Art Theater, a revolutionary repertory company that still exists today.

Nemirovich shared Stanislavski’s dissatis­faction with the state of Russian theatre. The two men had reached the conclusion on the reforms that were necessary. It was logical that they should meet.

Nemirovich left a much more detailed account of the eighteen-hour meeting than Stanislavski himself. In it he describes not only the decisions they took but the abuses against which they were reacting. Nemirovich speaks of his pleasure in discovering that they shared a common working method - detailed discussions and reading followed by slow meticulous re­hearsal, section by section.

Moscow Art Theatre was more than the culmination of two men’s aspirations; it was the embodiment of the reforms which Pushkin, Gogol, Ostrovski and Shchepkin had advocated over three quarters of a century. Finally it broke with the tired routine and the outworn cliches which stifled any creative impulse.

The first concern was to create a genuine ensemble, with no star players – “Today Hamlet, tomorrow an extra”. Self-centred, false, histrionic actors were rigorously excluded. All productions were to be created from scratch, with their own sets and costumes. Working conditions were to be decent and comfortable. Discipline was to be strict, both for the cast - no talking in the corridors during a performance - and for the audience. No one was to be allowed back-stage during the performance and spectators were to be encouraged to take their seats before the curtain went up. The late-comers had to wait until the interval before being admitted. The orchestra, which was a regular feature in most theatres, was abolished as an unnecessary distraction.

Nemirovich had too many unpleasant memories of the bureaucracy of the imperial theatres, so when the original theatre was built, everything, including the administration, was subordinated to the process of creation. It was agreed that responsibility for artistic policy should be divided between the two men. Stanislavski was to have the last word in all matters concerning the production, Nemirovich in all matters concerning repertoire and scripts.

Finally they had to decide what kind of public they wanted to attract. Both wanted a popular theatre which could fulfil its mission to enlighten and educate the people. Originally they planned to call their new theatre The Moscow Art Theatre Open to All. But their dreams of presenting free per­formances to working-class audiences soon came to grief. There was a special censor for all plays presented to workers. And Nemirovich was warned that if he persisted in his idea of presenting special workers' performances he would be arrested. The plan was abandoned and the name shortened simply to the Moscow Art Theatre.

The importance of the new theatre’s policy lay not in the origin­ality of any of its elements, but in its organic unity. The Meiningen company from Germany had shown what ensemble playing could achieve.

In France Andre Antoine had created his Theatre Libre where a more natural style of acting was encouraged. Strindberg had published his views on intimate theatre. Carefully researched sets and costumes were not unknown in western Europe.

The achievement of MXAT was to bring them all together and to create a style of acting in which the dominant element was human truth.

DAVID GARRICK (1717-79).

From the moment in 1741 when he stepped onto a London stage until his retirement in 1775, David Garrick reigned over the English theater. The 5-foot-4-inch actor played both comic and tragic roles with great success. After his burial among England’s notables in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey, Edmund Burke wrote of him: “He raised the character of his profession to the rank of a liberal art”.

Garrick changed the style of English acting. When he first came to the stage, actors delivered their lines as formal declamations. Garrick flamboyantly delivered his in the spirit of the character and the words. His style of acting would be called hammy today, but then it was considered naturalistic.

Garrick was born on February 19, 1717, in Hereford, where his father was on duty as an English army officer. The family home was in Lichfield. Young Garrick’s vivacious charm made him a great favorite at the officers’ mess. Lifted to the table, he would recite parts heard from strolling players.

He attended the Lichfield grammar school with Samuel Johnson, who was seven years older. Later, when Johnson opened his own school, David and a younger brother were pupils. Johnson’s school was not a success. He and Garrick journeyed to London together, Johnson to find work at translating and Garrick to study law. Garrick’s father died soon after, however, and he and an older brother started a wine business, with David the London representative.

The wine business did not do well, perhaps because Garrick's interest in the stage took much of his time. In the summer of 1741 he played with a traveling troupe at Ipswich. Although he knew his family would object, he determined to be an actor. He returned to London and played his first London professional engagement as Shakespeare’s Richard III in a small theater in Goodman’s Fields.

His success was immediate. During his first year he played some 19 roles, almost all of which were greeted with acclaim. Johnson said of his success: “More pains have been taken to spoil that fellow than if he had been heir apparent to the empire of India”. Although Johnson often jibed at Garrick himself, he would permit no other to do it in his presence.

Over the next few years Garrick played in London’s famed Covent Garden and Drury Lane theaters and in Dublin. In 1747 he became a partner in the Drury Lane. (The fourth theater of the name now stands on the site.) As actor-manager, Garrick continued on the stage, except for two years’ travel on the European continent, until his retirement. He played more than 90 roles and wrote some 80 prologues and epilogues and innumerable verses and songs. He either wrote or adapted 35 plays; many were adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, a common practice of the time. Some of his plays were very successful, but none of his writings shows great literary merit.

Garrick formed an early attachment for Margaret (Peg) Woffington, a famous actress, but they never married. He did marry Eva Maria Veigel, a Viennese dancer who was the protegee of Lord and Lady Burlington, in 1749. They had no children. Garrick died in London on January 21, 1779. On a monument in the cathedral at Lichfield is Johnson’s reaction: “I am disappointed by that stroke of death that has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasur”.

BERTOLT BRECHT (1898-1956).

A playwright, poet, and director who became the major German dramatist of the 20th century, Bertolt Brecht developed what became known as epic, or nondramatic, theater. In Brecht’s view drama should not imitate reality, or seek to convince audiences that what they are watching is actually occurring, but should mimic the epic poet’s art and simply present an account of past events. His theory is expounded in A Little Organum for the Theater (1948). A Marxist after the late 1920s, Brecht viewed mankind as victims of capitalist greed, but his skill as a playwright produced characters of unusual depth and dimension.

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was born in Augsburg, Germany, on February 10, 1898. Brecht entered the University of Munich as a medical student in 1917, but he had more interest in literature and drama than in medicine. Called into the German army, he served in a military hospital during the last year of World War I and became a pacifist. His first play, Baal, was completed in 1918. His second play, Spartakus (renamed Drums in the Night), brought Brecht immediate recognition when it was first performed in 1922, and he was awarded the Kleist prize as the most promising young playwright of the year. In Berlin in the mid-1920s, Brecht worked briefly under Max Reinhardt at the German Theater. Works of this period were the play A Man's a Man (1926) and several operas with music by Kurt Weill - including The Threepenny Opera (1928), perhaps Brecht’s best-known work, and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930).

Fleeing Nazi Germany in 1933, Brecht lived in exile in Denmark for six years, Sweden and Finland briefly, and the United States from 1941 to 1947. Among the best-known plays from this period were Mother Courage and Her Children (1941), The Life of Galileo (1943), The Good Woman of Setzuan (1943), and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948).

In 1949 Brecht moved to East Berlin, where he and his second wife, actress Helene Weigel, founded a theatrical company. (He had divorced actress Marianne Zoff in 1927.) Under his talented direction the Berliner Ensemble won worldwide acclaim. Brecht died in East Berlin on August 14, 1956.

LEE STRASBERG (1901-82).

Theater director, actor, and acting coach Lee Strasberg was the chief U.S. teacher of method acting, or the Stanislavski method. This method, pioneered by Russian actor and producer Konstantin Stanislavski, encourages actors to use their emotional experiences and memories in preparing to “live” a role.

Strasberg was born on November 17, 1901, in Budzanow, Poland (now Budanov, Ukraine). His family emigrated to the United States when Lee was 7 years old. By the age of 15 he had begun acting in plays at the Christie Street Settlement House. He later took lessons at the American Laboratory Theatre, whose instructors, Richard Boleslavski and Maria Ouspenskaya, had studied in Moscow under Stanislavsky. Strasberg began his professional career, as actor and stage manager, in the 1920s with the Theatre Guild. In 1931 he joined with Harold Ciurman and Cheryl Crawford to form the Group Theatre, which for ten years staged a number of brilliant experimental plays, including the Pulitzer prizewinning Men in White (1934).

From 1941 to 1948 Strasberg was in Hollywood for what he later called “an unfruitful but nevertheless educational experience”. In 1948 he was back in Manhattan, having joined the Actors Studio, Inc., which had been founded the previous year by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, and Robert Lewis, all former associates of the Group Theatre. Strasberg was artistic director of the Actors Studio from 1948 until his death, over the years counseling in “the method” such students as Julie Harris, Geraldine Page, Marlon Brando, Anne Bancroft, Rod Steiger, Eli Wallach, Patricia Neal, Sidney Poitier, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert DeNiro and developing such noted plays as A Hatful of Rain, Any Wednesday, and The Night of the Iguana.

In later years, Strasberg appeared in several Hollywood movies, including The Godfather,Part II (1974), The Cassandra Crossing (1977), And Justice for All (1979), Boardwalk (1979), and Going in Style (1979). He died on February 17, 1982, in New York City.

TRAINING

Many actors that have had great success in the business continue to work with acting coaches on a regular basis. Whether it is for suggestions about a character or help perfecting a certain accent, acting coaches often have the insight that actors, who are switching from one job to another, do not. When accepting her Academy Award for Best Actress in the film As Good As it Gets, Helen Hunt made sure to thank her acting coach for all that she had learned throughout the making of the film.

Cherie Franklin (Actress, Acting Coach) has stated that “the value of working with an acting coach on an ongoing basis is this: they can offer a safe environment that can allow you to reveal your fears and bring your work to a place where you can face your truths. This work state will invite you to trust in yourself, creating confidence and steering you clear of self-sabotage throughout your journey as an actor”.

Many people entering the business feel that acting is easy, that anyone can do it with or without proper training. Although there are those who enter the business with little or no previous training, most at one point or another in their career will end up working extensively with a teacher or coach.

“Whether you are one of the three tenors, a member of the Bolshoi Ballet, an iron man in baseball, an Olympic swimmer, or a waiter at Denny’s, you have a coach and a trainer who warms you up, guides you and prepares you for the physical and emotional struggle that lies ahead that day.

For an actor it is important to be in a class so that your instrument stays flexible and focused. Unlike a violinist who plays an instrument, you the actor are the instrument you play. It is as wrong to mistreat your body with alcohol and smoke as it is to deny this same instrument the opportunity to be nurtured by exposure to good writing, risk taking and the emotional communion that happens with other artists in a safe landscape.

Class offers you the opportunity to share your losses and gains with others who will understand. Compliments or criticism from fellow artist you trust is the highest form of support

and sharing” stated Terrance Hines, acting coach and personal manager.

 

WORKING AS AN EXTRA

All actors should do at least several days of extra work at the beginning of their careers. New actors have no idea what it is like to be on an actual film set. No person or book can explain what it is like to be on location or on a sound stage. While working as an extra, there is the possibility of obtaining your SAG card. Through this work you may be given SAG vouchers, and once you obtain three of these you are eligible to join SAG. A voucher is your pay record; a three-page, multicolored form. As a SAG extra, an actor is paid a minimum of $596, plus any residuals that

Come from the film in the future.

Many of today’s well-known actors started their careers as extras. Brad Pitt’s first acting role was as an extra in the film Cutting Class. Bruce Willis was an extra in the film The Verdict, along with being a photo-double and extra in Frank Sinatra’s film First Deadly Sin. Other actors such as Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Sharon Stone, Bette Midler, Dustin Hoffman and Nicholas Cage all worked as extras at the beginning of their careers. Being an extra is the first step towards an acting career. In this position, you are able to gain knowledge, insight and experience into the film making process that is not obtainable through just sitting in a classroom or reading a book.

CASTING

Like the best directors and producers, successful actors must choose from among the many projects available to them. As with the other collaborators, it all begins with the script.

Actor Peter Strauss ( Rich Man, Poor Man ) explains his approach to script reading, “I always try to approach the script with great excitement. I go and find a quiet corner and open up a screenplay with three anticipations. First is the truth. I don’t care if the script is funny, sad, black, yellow, about politics, love, death. I want to find the truth… I want the writer to be daring. The next thing I want to find is magic. I want to be transported by the screenplay. Finally, I need to

know that every day coming to work will be a challenge”.

John Lithgow ( Terms of Endearment, The World According to Garp), like many other actors, looks for a script with a story that grabs him and takes the character through a journey. “The action of the story affects the character and the changes, going from one point to another as the story unfolds. Also, the character has to have something new about him that surprises me. It might be the way he uses language or a different look or accent - some surprising behavior that I will want to try and pull off”. “Don’t judge the character”, explains actor Kevin Spacey, “Allow them to exist and be fully dimensional, flaws and all, so that you let the audience make that

judgment and they will”.

Casting directors are usually the people that bring you, the actor, in to meet with producers and directors of different projects. These directors generally read a script and break down the characters in the script to what they specifically want or need. They then submit this information to Breakdown Services, whom in turn send the information to agents. Clair Sinnett, an independent casting director and actress, has stated that to make it in an acting career, people need to be reminded that “it’s show business, not show-art. Actors should realize that they are promoting and marketing themselves just as they would in any other business”.
There is perhaps nowhere in which directors differ more than in the way they interact with actors. This begins from the very moment a part for a picture is cast. “One of the blessings is to cast well, to cast carefully. I have a terrific associate in this. We tend to cast for good actors people who have emotional availability, who have technique and skills. I’m under the assumption that once we cast the person, they are that character. After all, a character on a page is really only a dozen lines of dialogue. Once you assign those to a whole person, he or she becomes that person”, said Arthur Penn, director of such films as Bonnie and Clyde and Night Moves.

To cast a specific role effectively, the director must of course have a firm idea of the character. Each role, no matter how big or small, is extremely important to the final outcome of the picture. It has been reiterated numerous times that a film is only as good as its worst performer. Likewise, it is often said that almost any director can evoke an excellent performance from an experienced, talented actor but that good direction is most evident in the quality of the smaller roles.
There are at least three major factors that should be taken under consideration when a director is casting a role. These factors are the audience, the character or role, and the physical appearance of the actor. It is crucial to take audience expectations into consideration when casting a role. Because audiences tend to type-cast certain actors in certain types of roles, placing an actor known for big muscle action films (a perfect example being Arnold Schwarzenegger) in a role such as Dustin Hoffman played in Tootsie would no doubt deter audiences.
The personality projected by the actor must match audience expectations for the role. Actors have to remember that directors want the actor to be successful. They want you to do a good job. Lori Cobe-Ross (independent casting director) explains, “We really, really are on your side. We want you to be great. We love to call and say 'he/she got the job!”

 

PREPARING FOR A ROLE

Besides general research, there are a number of other preparations that actors make before beginning the filming of a picture. These include learning accents, being prepared for physical stamina and using personal memory to portray different emotions.

Talk with any actors about the challenges they face as they prepare for a role, and sooner or later the subject of language and accents comes up. Sometimes this consists of adding a southern drawl, like Gina Davis did in the film Thelma and Louise. Other times it may consist of learning an accent from another country, for example Gwyneth Palthrow’s English accent in the movie Shakespeare in Love.

There are also times when an actor is required to learn a whole new language. A perfect example of this is seen in the movie Dances with Wolves, in which actor Graham Greene had to learn the language of Lakota (a Native American dialect).

During shooting, it is not unusual for an actor to spend twenty hours a day on the set. Due to this, physical stamina is critical. A typical day may consist of rising at four in the morning, sitting through several hours of make-up, and then sitting around waiting for filming to begin.

Once the director says action, the actor must be in full form, showing no signs of fatigue. After several hours of filming have concluded for the day, the actor may find they only have a couple of hours to sleep, eat and learn the lines for the next day’s shoot.

When a role calls for even more physical demands, such as a disability (Tom Cruise as a paraplegic in Born on the Fourth of July) or a special skill (Harrison Ford’s use of a bullwhip in the Indiana Jones trilogy), an actor may find the need for physical stamina is even more crucial.

Finally, using personal memories to convey suitable emotions for a particular scene is an essential tool for actors. Some of the most recognized actors today have achieved fame through their abilities to portray emotions so well. Actor Michael Clarke Duncan was recently an Academy Award nominee for portraying the character John Coffey in the film The Green Mile. Duncan had audiences in tears through his ability to portray a giant man, so humble and honest that even the cold-hearted were touched and awed.

Another actor, Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), was able to portray a character so realistically that he was nominated for an Academy Award at the age of 10. In any case, actors who have the ability to get in touch with their emotions and portray them on screen so believably are exceptional; they can take a personal experience and let it radiate.

REHEARSALS

Once the major roles for a film have been cast, directors can begin preliminary run-throughs (rehearsals) to help actors develop their specific characters. The amount of rehearsal time afforded depends greatly on what the director wants, the availability of the actor, and the overall time constraints on the film. Generally rehearsals last two or three weeks before the actual shooting process begins.

Rehearsals can be very helpful in establishing relationships between actors and directors, along with determining if a specific scene plays out as believable or not. It is a time when the actors can give input, ask questions and collaborate with the director on whether a scene will relay well to the audience. If not, this is the time to make changes.

Different directors have differing points of view as to whether rehearsal is important to the overall production of the film or not. On one side there are those such as Paul Williams, “I am very actor oriented, and am very concerned with performance. I don’t know how to do it without rehearsals.”. Next there are directors such as Bernardo Bertolicci, “I don't rehearse too much. I try, if I can”.

Then there are directors such as Robert Altman, “I don't have any real rehearsal period. I’m embarrassed to rehearse because I don’t know what to do.” Finally, there are directors like Michael Winner, who don’t believe in rehearsal for a film.

For the actor, rehearsals are not just about nailing a part or figuring it out, but also discovering if there will be chemistry between the actors. Actress Mary McDonnell ( Passion Fish, Dances With Wolves) contends that the best actors are the ones who aren’t afraid to make mistakes. Invariably, actors discover something about themselves as they move through rehearsal.