ABSTRACT
Well over a hundred of Michael Chekhov's exercises have been published, but the technique isn't exhausted by these. Chekhov was inventing new exercises until his death, and the basic principles of the technique will allow as many variations and creations as there are creative individualities. Chekhov developed an exercise called 'Crossing the Threshold' in order to mark the actor's transition from the world of the everyday into the creative space of the theatre. At its simplest, Crossing the Threshold involves the actor entering the workspace and leaving outside the cares and worries of daily life in order to be ready to work. Chekhov commented that we were afraid of ourselves and of each other, and that this wasn't a good basis on which to develop our creative potential or to make theatre. Chekhov thought that whatever the actor did onstage had to be done with a feeling of confidence and a sense of it being 'well done'.
