Web-Theatre : director: Blog

Tarkovsky for cine101.com

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:18:50 GMT

cine101.com -- 2008 and After for film with anatoly

beta.vtheatre.net

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:25:55 GMT

direct.vtheatre.net [ Spring 2009 ] stagematrix.com

how integrate what I already use?

beta.vtheatre.net -- new generation of pages [Web2.0]?

list of directors on my Directing Theatre webpages :

The Russians
* Meyerhold
* Stanislavsky
* Lubimov
* Tairov
* Vakhtangov

[ special unit for online use? ]

vids = web-video = clips

I have to figure out how to use "social bookmarking" for having links by categoris -- Summer Tasks

web.vtheatre.net & classes [ without anatoly ]

Nothing is done about Caligari'09 !!!

Talking about The Method of Physical Action

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:14:18 GMT

There are some useful blogs/posts/groups I donot know how incorporate ...

Quote

The Method of Physical Action

Below is a summary description of the steps of the 'Method of Physical Action' as introduced by Stanislavski and as it has evolved over the years into modern theatre in my own words using the technical terms. Please note that these ideas pertain to the notion of the 'Realism' style of theatre where the goal is to recreate a performance with similarities to our true behavior patterns as humans. This is not what is commonly referred to as 'Method Acting,' which is commonly confused by being associated with the teaching of Stanislavski. 'Method Acting' is actually the opposite in many ways to the 'Method of Physical Action' and was introduced by a student of Stanislavski’s who wanted to focus on the psychology and emotion of the moment. The 'Method of Physical Action' is what is generally taught today in most academic settings with some small variations from institute to institute.

"The day that I stop having butterflies before I go on is the day I stop doing theatre."

Given Circumstances
Always be able to answer these questions:
-Who is your character? (Character Definition)
-What is your character's objective? (Motivation)
-Why do they want that? (Justification)
-Where are they? (Setting)
-When is this? (Setting)

Relax
If you are not relaxed, you bring yourself onto the stage with you. All of your personal and external factors are with you on stage, your inhibitions and tension. You are not free to be an alternate character in an alternate world. It is impossible to get 'into character' and into the scene without being relaxed. Relaxing is the first step towards acting.

Focus
Focus is what allows you to be in a scene, to concentrate on the action involved. You're focus must be divided between lines, blocking, character, technical details and finally the scene. The previous items should only consume a maximum of 20% of your focus, allowing you to devote at least 80% of your focus to the scene work. Anything less than 80% is dangerous. The more that your lines, blocking and character become second nature, the more you can focus on the scene at hand. A weak focus or poor attention span from external distractions is also dangerous and will affect your performance. The more of your focus you can devote to the scene, the better the performance every time. Try to eliminate distractions and sharpen your focus. Relaxing will help to achieve this as well.

Communicate
It doesn't matter how focused or relaxed you are, how great your actions and character is if this can't be communicated to an audience. Projection, pacing, speech patterns, articulation and even blocking are all technical factors that help communicate a message to an audience.

Character
Character is very important but low on the development steps of creating a good scene and ultimately a good performance and show. A character is defined by both the physical (age, height, race, inabilities, deformities etc.) and psychological (morals, beliefs, attitudes, hopes, fears) factors. General character development includes the walk, the disposition, attitudes and hopes, accents and other generic environmental factors. A character is then further defined by their actions and reactions to stimulus. These types of things need to be mastered early on in the process however, because like lines and blocking, an actor's 'character' is not something that should be thought about during a scene and should not take up any focus, but just done as though it were second nature. Remember that defining a character is defining a set of limiting factors. At the onset, a character trying to get around an obstacle can make any conceivable adjustment in the world at all to achieve their means. As we continue to define our character, we are really defining not 'what my character does', but 'what my character does not do'. "My character can't do 'x', 'y', or 'z', so he generally does 'n'. Developing a great character can only take you so far however in the context of the show.

Justification
No person does something for nothing. 'Because the director told me to' is never a good enough reason to do something on the stage and certainly should not be you're character's response. At every turn a character wants something. Even when they are giving to someone else, they want the satisfaction of being somebody who does good things. At every moment your character is vying for something, trying to get something, to achieve some objective. The golden-objective of every character (beyond the scope of the script) is 'happiness'. The super-objective is the ruling goal the character's trying to achieve throughout the script. Each scene has its own objective which can be broken down further into beats or 'steps towards achieving a scene's objective' that can be described as the character's intention. Each of these larger-to-smaller character 'wants' are considered to be the character's motivation. Intention is the justification of the actions character within a scene.

A beat can only be changed by one of three things: the character 'wins' or obtains their goal; the character has definitely lost their goal; something more important has come along and the current beat is interrupted; each of these results in a beat change. When beat is won it's time for the character to move on to the next step in achieving their larger goal. An example is when the character needs to steal something and they've obtained the item, now they need to use that item. When the beat is lost the character will need adjust the steps in their larger goal to accommodate the loss. An example might be trying to get to a location first to impress some girl. If the character got their second, they will never be able to be first (without altering time and space). The character will need to do something else to impress the girl. When something interrupts the beat, something more important has come along. An example is when trying to steal an item; the character hears a door close down the hall. Suddenly, it's more important that the character hide. At each beat change a character will experience a discovery.

Conflict
As each character within a scene strives towards their own intentions within each beat they will inevitably run into obstacles whether physical (both human and inert) or psychological. The character will then make an adjustment to try to get around the obstacle. For example, in trying to get someone's attention, the first time you might just say their name; if they don't hear you (an obstacle), you might say their name again. If they still don't hear you you'll need to make an adjustment around the fact that they didn't/can't/won't hear you. So, you might say their name a little louder. Then you might start flailing your arms, then banging stuff. Finally, maybe throwing something at them or somehow physically accosting them. This introduces conflict and it is conflict that an audience has come to see and it is conflict that makes good theatre. This is what makes an audience sit on the end of their seat asking the question 'who is going to win' and 'what is going to happen'. Frequently physicalization will come out of this, which adds dynamics and conflict to a scene. Your character will create obstacles to other characters as they make adjustments to achieve their intentions within a beat. The best actors are the ones that create greater obstacles and adjustments. A character should never give up on an intention because of obstacles unless there is a beat change (win, lose, interrupt) rather they should continue making adjustments.

Relationships
Start with the question: What is my relationship to the other character in the scene I am about to do? Facts are never enough....once you know the fact of the relationship, you are ready to explore how you feel about this other character...you must go further, into the realm of emotion. You need to ask questions about your attitude toward the other character. Do you love him? Do you hate him? Do you resent him? How much? Do you want to help him? Do you want to get in his way? What is your history? What do you want from him? What do you want him to give you? These are the most important questions to ask. The answers to them will allow you to function emotionally in the scene. That is your goal.

Trust
You also need to develop a trust between yourself and your counter-parts. A kinetic kind of a relationship where you offer up your trust in each of the actors and let them know that they can trust you. This trust will allow you to take chances with each other and to 'go there' in a scene. Continue to foster the trust and bond between each other as you move forward. It is these actor to actor relationships that can make a production special and life as an actor fulfilling. Finally, an actor must also trust themselves.

Decisions
It is ultimately our choices as actors within a scene that differentiates us as good actors and bad actors. Through experience and training an actor should be able to make better decisions (better adjustments, greater urgency, and better levels) than another. If in a situation choices a,b,c,d,e,f,g all exist, early actors will make the obvious and safe choices perhaps a and b. Some actors will go too far and choose g, and the best actors will choose e or f. No matter what, actors should not make small meek choices that are just enough, half do the decision they do make or be afraid of embarrassment. That is not exciting theatre, it's that 'pulls it off'. If you make a decision for your character you need commit to that decision 100% within the scene regardless of whether or not you think it is the right decision. Do not 'mostly' do it because you are unsure. This is notion of 'going there' and 'going to the extreme' and it should be a driving factor at all times. Small theatre is more embarrassing than making an embarrassing decision.

Urgency
How important is this beat or super-objective in the scene? What are the consequences of failure and achievement? What is the risk and reward of this action? By adding riskier actions and rising the importance of what you are doing, you heighten the drama of a production. This is known as 'raising the stakes'. At all times you want to find an opportunity to raise the stakes. If you do action A in such a way, will you just get caught and that's a little bad or if you do action B in an even more severe way will the risk reward be greater. If so, choose B - assuming we logically and justifiably have built our way there - never do anything out of context or character. Raising the stakes is a more advanced development in an actor's steps toward creating great scene work, where the prior factors must be considered first. An actor's energy is also important in a show because it is the energy that elevates the urgency of the situation and what draws the audience to the end of those seats.

Discoveries
Every scene is filled with discoveries, things that happen for the first time. No matter how many times it has happened in the past, there is something new about this experience, this moment. Acting is a whole series of discoveries from beat to beat. Every discovery is a part of a beat change. Something is learned, something has changed. You will now be able to make a different adjustment or create a new obstacle. Even something as simple as having called his name out a second time and realizing he didn't respond is a discovery and you will need to adjust and perhaps shout. Every single discovery your character has (and there are many of them) is a true and new discovery for that character. It is because of this that you should never anticipate the beat. If the action hasn't happened yet, there has been no discovery and no knew knowledge, so there is nothing to act upon for the character. Just because you the actor knows what about to happen in the scene next, your character has not yet had that discovery. You will only fall out-of-character and do something unjustified.

The Moment Before
Every scene you come in on, your character has come from somewhere else. Some driving factor brought them into this space. You have to know what you're coming from. Were you just in a fight, did you get some good news, have you been chasing someone? You may have to start talking to yourself, have to prep yourself physically (out of breath) but do not walk out onto the stage dry. You should already be performing on the entrance not once you've entered. On the converse, every exit should have a follow through. Never reach the exit point and stop your performance. There should be a complete follow through until you have cleared the entire exit and all site lines.

Humor
Humor is something that is difficult to find and perhaps more difficult to describe. Humor is derived from the absurd, whether physical, ironic or abnormal. Humor is used by man-kind as a way of dealing with the redundant and negative. Humor is not jokes and is not 'being funny'. It is the coin of exchange between human beings that makes it possible for us to get through the day. There is humor in every scene, just as there is humor in every situation in life. Even in our real lives with very serious situations, we use humor when we cannot bear all the heavy weight, to alleviate the burden by humor. One must find the humor in every scene.

In regards to comedy, there is a sense of timing that must be considered. Comedy generally comes in threes for a reason: 1) Introduce 2) Setup 3) Punch. 1 is not enough, 2 starts the trend, and 3 finishes strong. 4 is just too much and is overdone. A lot of comedy cannot be taught, but must be learned through exposure and experience. The timing is just enough for the audience to understand the portion of an idea and then you deliver. Delivery must be done in such a way that we set up an expectation in their minds.

As actors we have to be careful not to stifle an audience when they are enjoying a joke and not to sit and wait and assume laughter is coming when it’s not. An audience is like a beating heart and you must nurture it. The thing I love most about comedy is that so many people who come to see our shows have all the other crap they are dealing with in their own lives. And not only can they relate when they see the humor in many things, but during that instantaneous moment that they respond involuntarily with laughter, no matter how bad things are, they are happy. We give them that. That is truly an important offering in the face of all those that mock comedy as an art.

Events
Understanding the course of events throughout the life of the character is important to being able to create 'the curve': The process of the character's growth throughout the show. A character should learn things along the way and perhaps win something things and lose some other things, but ultimately be a changed person for better or worse. These are the characters polar attitudes. Knowing these events includes knowing the timeline of events that existed before the opening of the show. As an actor, you will also need to know the course of events that exist in the show so that you don't start with a place that is too high and have 'nowhere to go'. This is known as the 'build'. All scenes and monologues should have some series of levels (highs and lows to build to and come down from). These pieces placed together are frequently known as 'coloring' the show. If something is all at the same level we get annoyed and bored as an audience. If there are not highs and lows and ultimately now growth, why do we care about these people and why did we come? A good show will have plenty of color. This is kind of light looking at the forest rather than the trees in terms of a performance.

Emotion
Emotion can be an evil friend and is not actually listed on the series of steps. An early actor will 'play an emotion'. They will be sad, they will 'act' scared or shy, or they will be angry. This is known as indicating and is perhaps the worst form of theatre. They are 'showing' an audience how the character is supposed to feel in that scene. They are not able to respond to stimulus, there is a lack truth; they are not making decisions but just 'acting'. However, a seasoned actor will respond to some action and it will be the urgency and the need of the objective that will drive the character into an actual emotion and you will be living it not doing it. This is known as 'playing an action' which is good and is the basis for the method of physical action. A shy person is not one show sits content being quiet with wide eyes and tentative movements - a shy person is someone who is trying not to be shy. Their character's limiting factors prevents them from being able to say and do the things they want but at all times they are trying not to be shy when involved with any of their actions. Emotion should be the result of actions and their consequences. That is true emotion and is encouraged.

Style
While there should be as much truth in the scenes and character as possible, you will always have a part of yourself on the stage. The purpose of relaxing will eliminate any of your immediate self from the production but your character will still respond to events and make decisions in much the way you would when answering the question "if I were that person, what would I do if..." This is what creates uniqueness from one talented actor to another talented actor. This is known as an actor's style. These things can only be achieved by experience, in both life and theatre. The more experiences we have the greater pool we have to draw from when answering the 'what if' question and guides to making better decisions within a scene. This is a good portion of bringing yourself on stage and is the part to be proud of. All of our experiences both positive and negative have worked to make us better performers. Continue to live and have more experiences.

more from webmaster

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:58:12 GMT

maybe, just maybe, I will figure out what to use, to focus on -- many, too many new tools!

Of course, I do some writing (Russian) ...

"Theatrical" applications of web.

"Web as Theatre" -- a new title to read [ biblio page @ web.vtheatre.net ? ]

-- anatolant.livejournal.com [RU-blog] new

Summer Anatoly : anatolant.vox.com

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:18:38 GMT

Non-instructional and mostly web -- anatolant.vox.com [ virtual theatre ]

In addition to old filmplus.org/vtheatre files and pages I want to collect in one place VT materials in one place.

Treating regular web pages as database?

More on webbing is at Webman's Diary ...

Organizing visual files [ pix & videos ], plus, audio components.

beta.vtheatre.net is my mini-lab for stagematrix.com [ preparing for Spring 2009 and After ].

Caligari Project -- pre-production and post-production

[ see "2008" pages in Virtual Theatre with anatoly anf Film-North ]

Lessons of Acting2

Mon, 05 May 2008 23:19:20 GMT

* 2008 : FOCUS : Character into Role : characteriZation, physicaliZation, visualiZation, vocaliZation [ 3+ levels, including film as "+" ] : dictionary { "4 Zs" -- masterclass? ebook? Total Actor Files? }

Form and Format -- ?

Instructions must go online! [ page to work on ] Where? In Method Acting directory? [ "Method Acting for Directors" ]

Total Actor Files [ "Screen Nostalgia fo Stage" ] ?

Questions, again!

Week before finals

Fri, 02 May 2008 20:32:18 GMT

Updating FINALS pages in acting2 and directing courses:

criteria

theme?

"20th century : dramatic popuri"

Lab Theatre May 9, Fri. 6 pm.

Run-throu day [ raugh cut ]

direct.vtheatre.net/2008

After Stoppard

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:42:48 GMT

Page & Stage [postmodern] -- "play-writer" [not playwright]

Stoppard -- R/G pages:

1. pomo.vtheatre.net/RG

2. pomo.vtheatre.net/stoppard

3. shows.vtheatre.net.stoppard Theatre UAF main stage 2008

4. script.vtheatre.net/stoppard [script analysis]

5. filmplus.org/thr/stoppard

6. filmplus.org/plays/R-G.html [text]

7. filmplus.org/plays/stoppard [ru]

* webshow pages * [director's notebook]

... and how to read "Stoppard Case"?

in http://filmplus.org/2008.html [ theatre page ] : my another attempt to have onoline "show case" [ and Stoppard is a better case to study postmodern than Mamet's Oleanna ].

Beckett was " last modernist" (Kronin).

40 years (half a century) of postmodernism, no wonder that theatre is dead (Beckett : "end of the play and theatre").

I am too old to protest.

AA.

Cao and Goodbye?

Caligari Project

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:13:22 GMT

"Project" -- because there is no script. "Dramatic composition in Six Parts" -- director's application...

http://direct.vtheatre.net/5/caligari.html -- a new page in "directing genres" part of directing class. But mostly http://stagematrix.com

also, http://shows.vtheatre.net/caligari.html

images -- http://picasaweb.google.com/anatoly.antohin/2009

and at photobucket.com

Caligari AK (stage version)?

web-show [ Stage 3 ]

del.icio.us Tags: caligari, shows, directing, theatre. notes, new century, 2008

Tracking the Internet into the 21st Century with Vint Cerf

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:06:23 GMT

Quote

YouTube - Tracking the Internet into the 21st Century with Vint Cerf
new : http://beta.vtheatre.net
virtual theatre with anatoly online?
maybe in 2009, or AFTER.
stagematrix.com

Talking about Theater - MSN Encarta + Directing

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:42:43 GMT

Fri. Directing class -- next : TEST (textbook)

Quote

Theater - MSN Encarta
for dictionary/glossary pages.
R/G are Dead (overview) -- prepare for "200 words" mini-review.
Topic : Presentational Theatre
Directing Genre -- Take Two (first : http://direct.vtheatre.net/1/genre)
Comedy as Tragedy (Postmodern Theatre).
Time of Tech weekend and what does director do?

Caligari Project

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:18:38 GMT

best cure for "end of rehearsals" syndrom -- new (next) show

shows.vtheatre.net/caligari 2008 Fall?

scene work for finals

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:41:36 GMT

Pygmalion, finale

[ same scene and two approaches -- for actors and directors ] Eliza goes out on the balcony to avoid being alone with Higgins. He rises and joins her there. She immediately comes back into the room and makes for the door; but he goes along the balcony quickly and gets his back to the door before she reaches it.

HIGGINS. Well, Eliza, youve had a bit of your own back, as you call it. Have you had enough? and are you going to be reasonable? Or do you want any more?

LIZA. You want me back only to pick up your slippers and put up with your tempers and fetch and carry for you.

HIGGINS. I havnt said I wanted you back at all.

LIZA. Oh, indeed. Then what are we talking about?

HIGGINS. About you, not about me. If you come back I shall treat you just as I have always treated you. I cant change my nature; and I dont intend to change my manners. My manners are exactly the same as Colonel Pickering's.

LIZA. Thats not true. He treats a flower girl as if she was a duchess.

HIGGINS. And I treat a duchess as if she was a flower girl.

LIZA. I see. [She turns away composedly, and sits on the ottoman, facing the window]. The same to everybody.

HIGGINS. Just so.

LIZA. Like father.

HIGGINS [grinning, a little taken down] Without accepting the comparison at all points, Eliza, it's quite true that your father is not a snob, and that he will be quite at home in any station of life to which his eccentric destiny may call him. [Seriously] The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another.

LIZA. Amen. You are a born preacher.

HIGGINS [irritated] The question is not whether I treat you rudely, but whether you ever heard me treat anyone else better.

LIZA [with sudden sincerity] I dont care how you treat me. I dont mind your swearing at me. I dont mind a black eye: Ive had one before this. But [standing up and facing him] I wont be passed over.

HIGGINS. Then get out of my way; for I wont stop for you. You talk about me as if I were a motor bus.

LIZA. So you are a motor bus: all bounce and go, and no consideration for anyone. But I can do without you: dont think I cant.

HIGGINS. I know you can. I told you you could.

LIZA [wounded, getting away from him to the other side of the ottoman with her face to the hearth] I know you did, you brute. You wanted to get rid of me.

HIGGINS. Liar.

LIZA. Thank you. [She sits down with dignity].

HIGGINS. You never asked yourself, I suppose, whether I could do without y o u.

LIZA [earnestly] Dont you try to get round me. Youll h a v e to do without me.

HIGGINS [arrogant] I can do without anybody. I have my own soul: my own spark of divine fire. But [with sudden humility] I shall miss you, Eliza. [He sits down near her on the ottoman]. I have learnt something from your idiotic notions: I confess that humbly and gratefully. And I have grown accustomed to your voice and appearance. I like them, rather.

LIZA. Well, you have both of them on your gramophone and in your book of photographs. When you feel lonely without me, you can turn the machine on. It's got no feelings to hurt.

HIGGINS. I cant turn your soul on. Leave me those feelings; and you can take away the voice and the face. They are not you.

LIZA. Oh, you a r e a devil. You can twist the heart in a girl as easy as some could twist her arms to hurt her. Mrs. Pearce warned me. Time and again she has wanted to leave you; and you always got round her at the last minute. And you dont care a bit for her. And you dont care a bit for me.

HIGGINS. I care for life, for humanity; and you are a part of it that has come my way and been built into my house. What more can you or anyone ask?

LIZA. I wont care for anybody that doesnt care for me.

HIGGINS. Commercial principles, Eliza. Like [reproducing her Covent Garden pronunciation with professional exactness] s'yollin voylets [selling violets], isnt it?

LIZA. Dont sneer at me. It's mean to sneer at me.

HIGGINS. I have never sneered in my life. Sneering doesnt become either the human face or the human soul. I am expressing my righteous contempt for Commercialism. I dont and wont trade in affection. You call me a brute because you couldnt buy a claim on me by fetching my slippers and finding my spectacles. You were a fool: I think a woman fetching a man's slippers is a disgusting sight: did I ever fetch y o u r slippers? I think a good deal more of you for throwing them in my face. No use slaving for me and then saying you want to be cared for: who cares for a slave? If you come back, come back for the sake of good fellowship; for youll get nothing else. Youve had a thousand times as much out of me as I have out of you; and if you dare to set up your little dog's tricks of fetching and carrying slippers against my creation of a Duchess Eliza, I'll slam the door in your silly face.

LIZA. What did you do it for if you didnt care for me?

HIGGINS [heartily] Why, because it was my job.

LIZA. You never thought of the trouble it would make for me.

HIGGINS. Would the world ever have been made if its maker had been afraid of making trouble? Making life means making trouble. Theres only one way of escaping trouble; and thats killing things. Cowards, you notice, are always shrieking to have troublesome people killed.

LIZA. I'm no preacher: I dont notice things like that. I notice that you dont notice me.

HIGGINS [jumping up and walking about intolerantly] Eliza: youre an idiot. I waste the treasures of my Miltonic mind by spreading them before you. Once for all, understand that I go my way and do my work without caring twopence what happens to either of us. I am not intimidated, like your father and your stepmother. So you can come back or go to the devil: which you please.

LIZA. What am I to come back for?

HIGGINS [bouncing up on his knees on the ottoman and leaning over it to her] For the fun of it. Thats why I took you on.

LIZA [with averted face] And you may throw me out tomorrow if I dont do everything you want me to?

HIGGINS. Yes; and you may walk out tomorrow if I dont do everything y o u want me to.

LIZA. And live with my stepmother?

HIGGINS. Yes, or sell flowers.

LIZA. Oh! if I only c o u l d go back to my flower basket! I should be independent of both you and father and all the world! Why did you take my independence from me? Why did I give it up? I'm a slave now, for all my fine clothes.

HIGGINS. Not a bit. I'll adopt you as my daughter and settle money on you if you like. Or would you rather marry Pickering?

LIZA [looking fiercely round at him] I wouldnt marry y o u if you asked me; and youre nearer my age than what he is.

HIGGINS [gently] Than he is: not "than what he is."

LIZA [losing her temper and rising] I'll talk as I like. Youre not my teacher now.

HIGGINS [reflectively] I dont suppose Pickering would, though. Hes as confirmed an old bachelor as I am.

LIZA. Thats not what I want; and dont you think it. Ive always had chaps enough wanting me that way. Freddy Hill writes to me twice and three times a day, sheets and sheets.

HIGGINS [disagreeably surprised] Damn his impudence! [He recoils and finds himself sitting on his heels].

LIZA. He has a right to if he likes, poor lad. And he does love me.

HIGGINS [getting off the ottoman] You have no right to encourage him.

LIZA. Every girl has a right to be loved.

HIGGINS. What! By fools like that?

LIZA. Freddy's not a fool. And if hes weak and poor and wants me, may be hed make me happier than my betters that bully me and dont want me.

HIGGINS. Can he m a k e anything of you? Thats the point.

LIZA. Perhaps I could make something of him. But I never thought of us making anything of one another; and you never think of anything else. I only want to be natural.

HIGGINS. In short, you want me to be as infatuated about you as Freddy? Is that it?

LIZA. No I dont. Thats not the sort of feeling I want from you. And dont you be too sure of yourself or of me. I could have been a bad girl if I'd liked. Ive seen more of some things than you, for all your learning. Girls like me can drag gentlemen down to make love to them easy enough. And they wish each other dead the next minute.

HIGGINS. Of course they do. Then what in thunder are we quarrelling about?

LIZA [much troubled] I want a little kindness. I know I'm a common ignorant girl, and you a book-learned gentleman; but I'm not dirt under your feet. What I done [correcting herself] what I did was not for the dresses and the taxis: I did it because we were pleasant together and I come—came—to care for you; not to want you to make love to me, and not forgetting the difference between us, but more friendly like.

HIGGINS. Well, of course. Thats just how I feel. And how Pickering feels. Eliza: youre a fool.

LIZA. Thats not a proper answer to give me [she sinks on the chair at the writing-table in tears].

HIGGINS. It's all youll get until you stop being a common idiot. If youre going to be a lady, youll have to give up feeling neglected if the men you know dont spend half their time snivelling over you and the other half giving you black eyes. If you cant stand the coldness of my sort of life, and the strain of it, go back to the gutter. Work til you are more a brute than a human being; and then cuddle and squabble and drink til you fall asleep. Oh, it's a fine life, the life of the gutter. It's real: it's warm: it's violent: you can feel it through the thickest skin: you can taste it and smell it without any training or any work. Not like Science and Literature and Classical Music and Philosophy and Art. You find me cold, unfeeling, selfish, dont you? Very well: be off with you to the sort of people you like. Marry some sentimental hog or other with lots of money, and a thick pair of lips to kiss you with and a thick pair of boots to kick you with. If you cant appreciate what youve got, youd better get what you can appreciate.

LIZA [desperate] Oh, you are a cruel tyrant. I cant talk to you: you turn everything against me: I'm always in the wrong. But you know very well all the time that youre nothing but a bully. You know I cant go back to the gutter, as you call it, and that I have no real friends in the world but you and the Colonel. You know well I couldnt bear to live with a low common man after you two; and it's wicked and cruel of you to insult me by pretending I could. You think I must go back to Wimpole Street because I have nowhere else to go but father's. But dont you be too sure that you have me under your feet to be trampled on and talked down. I'll marry Freddy, I will, as soon as hes able to support me.

HIGGINS [sitting down beside her] Rubbish! you shall marry an ambassador. You shall marry the Governor-General of India or the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, or somebody who wants a deputy-queen. I'm not going to have my masterpiece thrown away on Freddy.

LIZA. You think I like you to say that. But I havnt forgot what you said a minute ago; and I wont be coaxed round as if I was a baby or a puppy. If I cant have kindness, I'll have independence.

HIGGINS. Independence? Thats middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.

LIZA [rising determinedly] I'll let you see whether I'm dependent on you. If you can preach, I can teach. I'll go and be a teacher.

HIGGINS. Whatll you teach, in heaven's name?

LIZA. What you taught me. I'll teach phonetics.

HIGGINS. Ha! Ha! Ha!

LIZA. I'll offer myself as an assistant to Professor Nepean.

HIGGINS [rising in a fury] What! That impostor! that humbug! that toadying ignoramus! Teach him my methods! my discoveries! You take one step in his direction and I'll wring your neck. [He lays hands on her]. Do you hear?

LIZA [defiantly non-resistant] Wring away. What do I care? I knew youd strike me some day. [He lets her go, stamping with rage at having forgotten himself, and recoils so hastily that he stumbles back into his seat on the ottoman]. Aha! Now I know how to deal with you. What a fool I was not to think of it before! You cant take away the knowledge you gave me. You said I had a finer ear than you. And I can be civil and kind to people, which is more than you can. Aha! Thats done you, Henry Higgins, it has. Now I dont care that [snapping her fingers] for your bullying and your big talk. I'll advertize it in the papers that your duchess is only a flower girl that you taught, and that she'll teach anybody to be a duchess just the same in six months for a thousand guineas. Oh, when I think of myself crawling under your feet and being trampled on and called names, when all the time I had only to lift up my finger to be as good as you, I could just kick myself.

HIGGINS [wondering at her] You damned impudent slut, you! But it's better than snivelling; better than fetching slippers and finding spectacles, isnt it? [Rising] By George, Eliza, I said I'd make a woman of you; and I have. I like you like this.

LIZA. Yes: you turn round and make up to me now that I'm not afraid of you, and can do without you.

HIGGINS. Of course I do, you little fool. Five minutes ago you were like a millstone round my neck. Now youre a tower of strength: a consort battleship. You and I and Pickering will be three old bachelors together instead of only two men and a silly girl.

Mrs. Higgins returns, dressed for the wedding. Eliza instantly becomes cool and elegant.

MRS. HIGGINS. The carriage is waiting, Eliza. Are you ready?

LIZA. Quite. Is the Professor coming?

MRS. HIGGINS. Certainly not. He cant behave himself in church. He makes remarks out loud all the time on the clergyman's pronunciation.

LIZA. Then I shall not see you again, Professor. Good bye. [She goes to the door].

MRS. HIGGINS [coming to Higgins] Good-bye, dear.

HIGGINS. Good-bye, mother. [He is about to kiss her, when he recollects something]. Oh, by the way, Eliza, order a ham and a Stilton cheese, will you? And buy me a pair of reindeer gloves, number eights, and a tie to match that new suit of mine, at Eale & Binman's. You can choose the color. [His cheerful, careless, vigorous voice shows that he is incorrigible].

LIZA [disdainfully] Buy them yourself. [She sweeps out].

MRS. HIGGINS. I'm afraid youve spoiled that girl, Henry. But never mind, dear: I'll buy you the tie and gloves.

HIGGINS [sunnily] Oh, dont bother. She'll buy em all right enough. Good-bye.

They kiss. Mrs. Higgins runs out. Higgins, left alone, rattles his cash in his pocket; chuckles; and disports himself in a highly self-satisfied manner.

THE END

[from http://act.vtheatre.net/part5.html and http://act.vtheatre.net/rehearse.html ]

http://google.com/group/acting2

Fri. directing class

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:13:16 GMT

Unit Four : Public -- Stage (Space & Chronotope = subjective time and dramatic space).

and new page -- http://direct.vtheatre.net/4/hamlet2.0.html -- analysis in class of my process with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

My Notes to post on directing forum/list.

Next -- Part 7 (textbook) -- The Whole Picture, 305

My last web subdirectory -- Directing for Genre

new page -- Caligari Project [ to work on ]

* test on textbook.

Thoughts not for Production Metting

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:08:24 GMT

The World as Will and Representation. The Apollonian experience bears great similarity to the experience of the world as "representation" in Schopenhauer's sense, and the experience of the Dionysian bears similarities to the identification with the world as "will." Nietzsche's workThe World as Will and Representation. The Apollonian experience bears great similarity to the experience of the world as "representation" in Schopenhauer's sense, and the experience of the Dionysian bears similarities to the identification with the world as "will." Nietzsche's work "Birth of Tragedy" and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Four Figures :

Puppet -- new
Spectator -- Horatio
Player -- Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Shakespeare, Beckett, Stoppard)
Public -- masses, crowd (rational?)

Pragmatism (Americana) and Theatre -- anti-theatrical culture.

In fact, very little of culture and a lot of civilization.

Spengler's conflict between Rome and Athens : New World and Europe?

-- What about the last western country that believes in Christ of different kinds? "In God we Trust"

Made in USA and American Idealism...

http://shows.vtheatre.net/hamlet/webshow/0.html

Director's Thoughts. not Director's Notes?

There is no American Hamlet, but plenty of Rosencrantzs and Guildensterns -- and all of them are dead. Businessmen.

Americans put their feet on the table to rest, but they won't take out their shoes! They are silly because they are relaxing without getting of their three-piese suits.

Even health for them is WORK.

"We were called/send" -- R/G : my boys, this is not a calling! It's just a phone call!

Come and (en)joy [join] us -- First Player.
Player 2 (Castle, Palace, Show) -- watch your future.
Player #3 (Boat, Sea, England) -- Why didn't you jump to pirates with Hamlet?

Electric Chair and Waiting for... Godot? Where is this arm-chair? "LazzyBoy" -- throne of losers. Relax, Ros, rest, Guil -- when Rosencrantz takes off his shoes, and -- socks. Oh, you can walk on water, but barefoot only.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vtheatre

On Stage...

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:45:03 GMT

Images and Stage Pix :

tableaux vivans -- POMO :

From rg08

DeVinci on Euro -- R&G are Dead

Production Meeting, RG Theatre UAF

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:43:27 GMT

Three Chronotopes :

I. Shakespeare (Age of Modernity)

II. Stoppard (Postmodern)

III. Us -- After PoMo

...

Directors' Notes :

... Act One [1. Road & 2. Castle] + Act Two [3. Sea] -- cuts.

... I have to remember that R/G is about me -- lost ("extra"), non-essentual ... and THEATRE, which passed by touching my face with its invisible wing.

What (historical) directions ? What could good directions be, besides stage directions?

Did Hamlet have his way out? Prince Hamlet, formerly known as "Prince" -- what was he doing in Eisinore?

Did he want them to take him back to the university, the two who knew him as Hamlet, not "Prince Hamlet"... And how they address him -- ?

Betrayal -- that was obvious.

... "America 2008" (politics)

R/G and Election Year (filmplus.org/politics/2008)? Personal Free Choice.

Friends? Each is not a friend to himself. And -- to save yourself you must save next to you.

Not being free is a betrayal of self.

* Set design references both to Hamlet & Godot

scenes & NARRATIVES : Thought STORIES in R+G... Shakespeare & Hamlet + Beckett and Godot

... new : See the photos @ Theatre UAF official website! 2008 HAMLET (flickr slideshow) R+G are Dead

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, USA

[ official title? ]

to post to my google calendar.

del.icio.us Tags: shows, theatre UAF, directing, notes, production, 2008

After the Break : Actor's Chronotope

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:05:10 GMT

textbook (Kaplan)

Part IV. The World of the Play [ using R/G are Dead ]

Chapter 9. Comparison
Chapter 10. Rules

-- creating subjective time and space ( the only in forms of PERSONAL chronope the dramatic experience of spectator could exist ).

http://filmplus.org/thr/space.html + http://filmplus.org/thr/time.html

Character's time/space => Role

http://filmplus.org/biomx/chronotope.html

ID -- http://act.vtheatre.net/ID.html : Identification, why "I = Character" (Method) is so important...

Samples -- Modern Drama vs. the classics ("masterpieces" and current drama, film scenes).

Examples?

"How to use your partner" -- "act in pauses" + ...

acting is reacting

[ Book of Spectator : Spectator as Actor ]

http://biomechanics.vtheatre.net/3.html

and subdirectory for part 3 (lessons 9, 10, 11, 12).

Spring Break Backstage Work

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:06:41 GMT

Themes, Motifs, Symbols, Sounds, Light, and etc. for "Rosencantz and Guildenstern are Dead"

Thought STORIES in R+G... Shakespeare & Hamlet + [ http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=beckett&w=faves ] Beckett and Godot

Narratives PAGE : http://shows.vtheatre.net/hamlet/webshow/narratives.html (New Character -- Spectator : Brechtian Touch).

Rosencrantz' STORY -- http://shows.vtheatre.net/hamlet/webshow/ros.html

Guildensretn's Tale --

Pages to work on.

Post to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vtheatre -- for Cast & Crew ("Break Reading")

Plots (costumes, prop, sound, light) -- director's concept(s)

New (subtext) IMAGES -- picasa album rg08 + flickr + photobucket.com

del.icio.us Tags: Stoppard, shows, directing film theatre bergman philosophy poetry cinema notes, 2008, Theatre UAF, antoly antohin

* Production Meetings Minutes ( SM )

Director's Notes -- http://shows.vtheatre.net/hamlet/webshow/notes.html

Webbing : connecting Godot, Hamlet and postmodern pages together.

http://filmplus.org/calendar.html (rehearsals breakdown day-by-day?)

Connections with http://afronord.tripod.com/politics/2008.html -- Free Will, Elections...

My notes in aDiray.

Theatre Biomechanics with Anatoly, Students

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:48:20 GMT

del.icio.us Tags: acting, theatre, stage

Theatre Biomechanics with Anatoly, Students

"Journal" pages at acting one and http://method.vtheatre.net/0.html (Acting3)

Homework (scene work) outside of class == how to moniyor?

http://google.com/group/acting2 -- student (personal) pages -- summaries of progress?

Calendar to use?

Not knowing how to do their homework is the biggest problem in actors' training.

Assignments daily?

youtube.com submissions?

(for monologues, at least).

"Web-Acting" -- something to think about.

Midterm Scene work in class

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:08:15 GMT

Miss Julie, homework -- climatic scene.

In class -- new: finale for analysis.

from Acting 2 webpages :

Q & A :

The conclusion is catastrophic.

The catastrophic conclusion will seem inevitable.

It occurs, ultimately, because of the human limitations of the protagonist.

The protagonist suffers terribly.

The protagonist's suffering often seems disproportionate to his or her culpability.

Yet the suffering is usually redemptive, bringing out the noblest of human capacities for learning.
The suffering is also redemptive in bringing out the capacity for accepting moral responsibility.

... .--Goodbye! [Leaves Kristine]

JEAN. Damned bitch!--And all this for a siskin!--

MISS JULIE [dully]. Oh, never mind the siskin!

--Do you see any way out of this? Any end to it all?

JEAN [ponders]. No!

MISS JULIE. What would you do in my place?

JEAN. In yours? Wait, now.--A woman of noble birth who'd-sunk? I don't know--or yes, maybe I do.

MISS JULIE [takes the razor and makes a gesture]. Like this?

JEAN. Yes.--But I wouldn't do it--mind, for there's a difference between us!

MISS JULIE. Because you're a man and I'm a woman? What difference does that make?

JEAN. Precisely that--the difference between a man and a woman.

MISS JULIE. I want to. But I can't.--My father couldn't either, that time he should have done it.

JEAN. No, he was right not to. He had to be revenged first.

MISS JULIE. And now my mother's taking her revenge again, through me.

JEAN. Have you never loved your father, Miss Julie?

MISS JULIE. Yes, very much. But I've hated him, too. I must have done so without realizing it. It was he who brought me up to feel contempt for my own sex, as a half-woman and half-man. Who's to blame for all this? My father, my mother, myself? Myself? But I have no self of my own? I haven't a thought I didn't get from my father, not an emotion I didn't get from my mother, and this last idea--that everyone's equal--I got from him, my fiancЁ¦--which is why I called him a swine! How can it be my own fault, then? Shift all the blame on to Jesus, as Kristin did?--No, I'm too proud for that, and too intelligent--thanks to my father's teachings--and all that about a rich man not getting into heaven, that's a lie-Kristin's got money in the savings-bank, she won't get in at any rate! Whose fault is it?--What's it matter to us whose fault it is; I'm still the one who'll have to bear the blame, suffer the consequences.

JEAN. Yes, but-- -- --

There are two shrill rings on the bell; MISS JULIE jumps to her feet; JEAN changes his coat.

JEAN. His Lordship's home!--What if Kristin-- -- --

Goes to the speaking tube; knocks and listens.

MISS JULIE. Has he been to his desk yet?

JEAN. This is Jean, sir! [Listens. Note that the audience cannot hear what the COUNT says] Yes, sir! [Listens] Yes, sir! At once! [Listens] At once, sir! [Listens]--Yes, sir, in half an hour!

MISS JULIE [extremely anxious]. What did he say? For God's sake, what did he say?

JEAN. He wants his boots and his coffee in half an hour.

MISS JULIE. In half an hour, then!--Oh, I'm so tired; I can't bring myself to do anything, I can't repent, can't run away, can't stay, can't live--can't die! Help me, now! Order me, and I'll obey like a dog! Do me this last service, save my honour, save his name! You know what I ought to do, but can't, just will me to do it. Order me!

JEAN. I don't know why--but now I can't either--I don't understand--it's just as if this coat made me--I can't order you--and now, since his Lordship spoke to me--then--I can't explain it properly--but--oh, it's this damned lackey sitting on my back!-I believe if his lordship came down now and ordered me to cut my throat, I'd do it on the spot.

MISS JULIE. Then let's pretend you're him, and I'm you!--You acted so well just now, when you went down on your knees-then you were the aristocrat--or--have you never been to the theatre and seen a hypnotist? [Jean gestures assent] He says to his subject, 'Take this broom!', and he takes it; he says, 'Sweep!', and it sweeps*-- -- --

JEAN. But then the subject has to be asleep.

MISS JULIE [ecstatically]. I'm already asleep--it's as if the whole room were full of smoke; you look like an iron stove, dressed all in black with a top hat--your eyes glow like coals in a dying fire--and your face is a white spot, like ashes--[The sunlight has now fallen upon the floor, and is shining on JEAN]--it's so nice and warm-[She rubs her hands as though warming them before a fire]--and so light--and so peaceful!

JEAN [takes the razor and places it in her hand]. Here's the broom! Go now, while it's still fight--out to the barn--and. . . [Whispers in her ear

MISS JULIE [awake]. Thank you. Now I'm going to rest. But just tell me one thing--that the first may also receive the gift of grace. Tell me, even if you don't believe it.

JEAN. The first? No, I can't!--But wait--Miss Julie--now I know!--You're no longer among the first--you're among--the last.

MISS JULIE. That's true--I'm among the very last; I am the last. Oh!--But now I can't go--Tell me to go, just one more time!

JEAN. No, I can't now either. I can't!

MISS JULIE. And the first shall be last.

JEAN. Don't think, don't think! You're taking all my strength away too, and making me a coward--What's that? I thought the bell moved!--No! Shall we stop it with paper?-- --To be so afraid of a bell!--Yes, but it's not just a bell--there's somebody behind it-a hand sets it in motion--and something else sets that hand in motion--but if you stop your ears--just stop your ears! Yes, but then he'll go on ringing even louder--and keep on ringing until someone answers--and then it's too late! Then the police will come--and then. . .

Two loud rings on the bell.

JEAN [cringes, then straightens himself up]. It's horrible! But there is no other way!--Go! [MISS JULIE walks resolutely out through the door]

Curtain.

Acting 2 : Biomechanics

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:19:43 GMT

THR221 -- part 2. Episodic [ Brecht/Meyerhold ] http://biomechanics.vtheatre.net/intro.html
textbook -- David Kaplan Gest vs. Inner Gesture
http://biomechanics.vtheatre.net/episodic.html

Brecht in directing class : http://direct.vtheatre.net/brecht.html

new page(s) @ http://google.com/group/acting2

scenes in class (midterm preparation) : Mikado, Shrew, The Importance of Being Earnest -- http://biomechanics.vtheatre.net/midterm

Actor & Director (self-directing) : http://biomechanics.vtheatre.net/2.html

Homework (google calendar) -- Kate - Petruccio first scene [ 5 Ws, floor plans ]

anatoly.org

2008 web

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:59:38 GMT

"Theatre w/Anatoly"... without Anatoly.

Ten years is more than enough. As "notes for myself" the webpages served me, but not as "writing space"...

Closing old projects [ list ]

Example : http://shows.vtheatre.net/godot/0.html

Godot in class (directing) : I.1 assignment - http://google.com/group/directing

How to make it usable when I am teaching Fundamentals of Directing?

Pages of instructions for students?

Comparing Beckett and Stoppard, Vladimir and Guildenstern, and etc. ?

"Theatre Research" -- http://filmplus.org/thr/0.html [theatre theory]?

...

I do not see it.

I didn't think about "life after me" and web is very PRESENT.

Well, anatolant?