Solo Project
What is the Solo Project?
Students at HL research a theatre theorist they have not previously studied, identify an aspect (or aspects)
of their theory, create and present a solo theatre piece (4–8 minutes) based on an aspect(s) of this theory.
This task develops, builds on and extends the skills and understandings developed in the other areas of the
syllabus. It requires students to create a fully produced piece of theatre based on theatre theory.
Students submit a report (maximum 3,000 words) which includes their research into and understandings of the
theorist, the theory and the context of the theorist’s work. It also records their practical explorations of the
selected aspect(s) of theory, the development of the solo theatre piece and analysis and evaluation of the
theatre piece.
Each student submits for assessment (click to view a sample):
- A report (3000 words maximum)
- A continuous unedited video recording of the whole solo theatre piece
- A list of all primary and secondary sources
What is the aim of the task?
You are required to explore the practical implications of theatre theory? How does your chosen theorist impact your creative process and the work of others?
You must also demonstrate your ability to be able to put theory into practice by creating and presenting a solo piece of theatre based on theatre theory.
For your solo theatre piece, you may choose to use or adapt existing text, create new text or not use any text, as appropriate to the selected theorist and nature of the theory being explored. If using a play text, this does not necessarily need to be from a play written specifically to put that theatre theorist's theories into practice. For example, a student would not need to choose a play by Bertolt Brecht in order to explore an aspect of Epic Theatre, they could perhaps, choose to adapt a Naturalistic play text instead.
It is fundamentally a task which asks students to consider:
• How to make a piece of theatre based on an aspect(s) of theory
• The most appropriate theatre form and performance material required to contain these theoretical
considerations
• How to communicate and present this aspect(s) of theory practically and through their body
• The most appropriate scenic and technical design elements needed to support the presentation of this theory.
This task does not assess performance skills, but rather the extent to which students can learn, embody and communicate understanding through action.
Using your Process Journal in preparation for the task.
You should use your theatre journal to specifically document your research (carefully recording all sources used), practical explorations, the process of creating your solo performance, directing and design ideas and feedback from your mentors and the teacher and the action you have taken in response to this. You will select, adapt and present what you have recorded in your journal as the basis and material for the report.
Solo Project Mock
The Theorist, The Theory & The Context
The theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski is the theorist whom I have selected as a basis for my solo theatre piece The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. After a series of in-class theatre workshops early in 2014 surrounding Stanislavski practice and theatre style, I was exposed to the ideology of what is referred to as “The System” or “Method Acting”. It was though this discovery that I felt it would benefit my division process and performances in the future as it provided me with a clear approach to not only structuring my performances, but creating and embodying future characters. Due to this, I have chosen to explore the work of Stanislavski and his System in greater depth and apply it to this project.
Having chosen my theorist basis, the next phase in my process was to begin research into both my chosen practitioner and their corresponding theory. Born in 1863, Constantin Stanislavski was a Russian theatre practitioner who is responsible for the theory of “Method Acting.” soon after dropping out of theatre school in 1883, Stanislavski begun his initial development of this theory. What prompted Stanislavski into brainstorming such a theory was his belief that theatre during the 1880’s in Russia was highly overdramatic, and unrealistically portraying Russian society at the time. It was with this thought in mind that he cooperated with various other practitioners at the time, including Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and Anton Chekhov who would later become partners with Stanislavski in founding the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. It was through the experimentation and employment of theatre techniques presented by Chekhov that Stanislavski was able to brainstorm the initial basis of the system of “Method Acting.” This particular theatre technique, that was later evolved between the years 1911 and 1916, was intended for an actor’s performance to become more realistic as opposed the the unrelatable and unrealistic acting during this period. This beginning stage of this theory was based on the concept of “emotional memory.” Emotion memory, otherwise known as “Affective Memory”, is one of the initial stages within the theory of Method Acting and considered to be the central overall concept of Method Acting. This concept requires for an actor to focus on the memories possibly associated with a similar situation happening to those of their characters, or a situation where the actor experienced a similar string of emotions. Stanislavski impression was that actors needed to take this personal emotion to the stage and incorporate it upon embodying a character. Further along in time, between the years 1934 and 1938, Stanislavski developed this technique into a method of physical actions. Within these actions, according emotions were produced. Ultimately this evolved technique required actors devise actions and attach corresponding emotions. These emotions will then be evoked each time an actor performs a specific action, resulting in the performance coming across as more natural and free flowing. This particular theory of Method Acting and idea of incorporating realism into my solo performance made embodying the character of Amanda Wingfield significantly more easy. Given that my performance is based around Amanda confronting her daughter for having not been attending her schooling, by incorporating the technique of emotion memory I was able to convey a more heartbroken and disappointed series of emotions, and attach actions that would correspond. I recalled a memory in which I was disappointed and angry at an individual, and envisaged what actions I had done with my arms/hands. The simple gesture of waving my hands about seemed to fit nicely with the idea of my character being distressed and at a loss for what to think, say or do. Bearing this in mind, every time my character would speak at a more distressed tone - I now naturally had the impulse to wave my arms/hands. This made my character’s emotions seem more realistic and believable. But how was I able to decipher the corresponding emotions my character felt clearly? This is where the use of “Units” and “Objectives” came into play. In addition to emotion memory, these two techniques were also evolved to fit within Stanislavski’s theory of Method Acting. Units are used to help aid actors by determining main 'objective' or the role. Specifically, a unit is a section of action in a play-text that is marked/highlighted by a relatively obvious change in the scene or character's emotion or current action. This change could occur when a character on stage is changing their objective and the emotion they are portraying, or even when a character exits or enters the stage. Units are helpful in terms of establishing an actor’s change in emotion and objective. Moreover, objectives within a performance are what an actor creates or takes from the play-text for their given character to want to achieve. You could say that objectives are the 'goals' of characters. Most objectives start with, "I want..." and are used to help remind and clearly motivate actors as to what their character wants to achieve at that given moment. As slightly mentioned before, units, objectives and actions can be used in conjunction as part of an actor's characterisation process as when an actor begins to annotate a play-text, they can create units. These units will highlight the evident changes in emotions, character objectives and actions. From this, the actor can then add objectives for their character within each unit. This will help keep the actor focused on what the characters current desire is, and will make it easier to convey. Following this, once the objectives have been established, the actor can go onto inserting actions that are associated with the emotions felt and the objectives the character has. Actions will become more fluid and natural and come more indicatively leaving the actor more time to focus on the character’s objective and emotional state. Ultimately, these three steps will help make it easier for an actor to incorporate their given circumstances and go through the process of characterisation. Within my solo performance, I will utilise Stanislavski’s techniques of Units and Objectives when annotating my play script as it will aid me in establishing a change in character emotions, moods and desires at the time. This will result in it becoming easier to apply the core of Method Acting, emotion memory, to my characterisation leading to realistic and believable performance.
Practical Explorations & Development of the Solo Theatre Piece
In order to devise and my piece within the implication of Method Acting by Constantin Stanislavski, I began to explore experiment with this theory in greater depth. Going into this process of discovery, I went in with the aim of producing a final piece that was realistic in terms of the series of emotional changes, and motive shifts.
In order to initiate this exploration, my peers and myself did a number of in-class exercises centred around emotion memory. One of these exercises included listening to several different songs and soundtracks, and recording the emotions that were felt throughout as well as the images and potential memories it triggered. What I discovered to be highly intriguing about this particular exercise was that each of my peers had differing emotional outlooks and connections towards the songs that were played. Directly relating this exercise to my piece was slightly challenging, as my piece is based on a monologue from The Glass Menagerie as opposed to a song. However, I was able to take the method of analysing and reading aloud the script and considering the emotional impact the scene had on me. From this, I was able to generate the overall emotional impact of disappointment and heartbreak. Considering this, it became clearer that my character - Amanda Wingfield - could possibly experiencing such emotions. This automatically evolved the way I perceived the atmosphere of the scene, and altered the tone of which my lines were delivered in. Following Stanislavski’s “core” theory of Method Acting, I was able to convey more realistic on-stage emotions, leading the performance to become more believable and relatable to audience members. In addition to this, another in-class exercise that was explored with the second and third stages of Stanislavski’s theory; units and objectives. In order to section off and further establish the current emotional state(s) of Amanda, I took to revising and annotating my script. Using a pencil, I annotated sections between the possible different emotions present throughout the script. This helped in outlining where I should develop and change the emotions being conveyed on stage. Furthermore, not only did this help establish the change in emotions being conveyed on stage, but it also aided me in considering the change in character objectives. This gave more support and reason for my character to change her moods, given that a change in motive and drive at the time would impact the overall moods throughout the piece. On the whole the process of implementing units and objectives, provided a more free flowing performance - where the change in emotions depicted on stage would come across as more natural and realistic in conjunction to a significantly easier decision process in terms of establishing character emotions and motives. This proves that Stanislavski’s theory of Method Acting greatly assists in creating an overall more 3D and realistic performance, with the connecting of my personal emotions and experiences to the situation occurring within the piece.
Analysis & Evaluation of the Solo Theatre Piece
Through my final performance of my piece, The Glass Menagerie I have learnt to appreciate Stanislavski's system. Without the knowledge of such a system, me being able to embody my character of Amanda Wingfield, and constructing emotional tension and a heightened atmosphere would have been significantly more challenging. Within my division processes, the implementation of Stanislavski’s theory of emotion memory helped me build connections between past emotions I have experienced and my characters emotions, which had been highlighted through the use of units and objectives.In establishing these multiple units and objectives within the scene, I was able to clearly pinpoint sections within my monologue of which a specific action will follow which allowed me to convey a more realistic and believeable string of emotions on stage, causing the audience to have more reason to empathise with Amanda and her current situation and emotional state. In addition, having already predetermined actions to follow specific dialogue, my movement flow felt more natural and I found myself having to focus less on my actions on stage, and rather focusing more on my line delivery. I believe this overall gave me the chance to add more “strength” and build up more of an emotional drive behind my lines, once again adding to the fluidity of lines and movement as well as building up the atmosphere and potential emotional connection/response audience members may have. However, at the beginning of the performance, implementing my knowledge and skills of the System was relatively challenging. This was because I went into my performance thinking too hard, and focusing more than I ought to on trying to incorporate the system to perfection. Midway of the performance, I came to realise that I needed to relax and let things happen more naturally - as Stanislavski had aimed for his actors to do. It was after this realisation that I began to relax and focus more on my line delivery as opposed to the actions I made; which came naturally in the end.
Given the feedback received from audience members, overall my performance had a positive impact on them. Comments such as effective use of sharp movements and use of props and costume, as well as an effective transition in volume and projection were made. A common agreement that appeared to had been made by my audience was that particularly through my use of volume, I was able to convey the change in tension within the scene, aiding me in achieving my artistic intention of creating a more 3D character, of whom the audience can (possibly) relate to. However, some feedback received from audience members was to increase my volume in the beginning of the scene. It was said that some of the dialogue was lost due to how quiet I had delivered it - but it was made up for as the performance progressed, and so did my volume. Bearing this in mind, I know for future reference to maintain my volume without the scene so as not to take away from audience impact.
References
Affective memory. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affective_memory
Stanislavski & The Moscow Art Theater: A Timeline. (2012, February 12). Retrieved May 19, 2015, from https://uttaps.wordpress.com/actor-prepares/stanislavski-the-moscow-art-theater-a-timeline/
Stanislavski's System. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislavski's_system
Stanislavski, C., & Hapgood, E. (2014). Constantin Stanislavski. Bloomsbury Academic.
Stanislavsky Method Acting. (2013). Retrieved May 18, 2015, from http://www.acting-world.com/method.html