ABSTRACT
Today, as Tortsov was ill, the class was held in his apartment. He settled us comfortably in his study.
‘You now know’, he said, ‘that our work begins by introducing the magic “if ” into the play and role, and this lifts the actor out of everyday life into the world of the imagination. The play, the role, are stories, a series of magic and other “ifs”, Given Circumstances which the author has made up. Genuine “facts”, the normal world, do not exist onstage. The normal world is not art. This by its very nature, needs inventiveness. And that, in the first instance, is manifest in the work the author has produced. The actor’s task is to use his creative skills to transform the story of the play into theatrical fact. Our imagination has an enormous role to play here. So we ought to spend a little longer on it and become familiar with its creative function.’
