ABSTRACT
They are stim u lated even more strongly by the imagin a tion, and that gives the play greater cred ib il ity and substan ti ates the Tasks more fully. That helps the inner drives and Elements better to sense the truth of a role, and to believe that what is happen ing onstage could be possible. All this stim u lates the process of exper i en cing and the need to make commu nic a tion with the other char ac ters, and for that you must have Adaptations. ‘In a word, the inner drives pick up the tones, colours, nuances of the
Elements through which they pass. They take on their emotional content. ‘In their turn the inner drives infuse the ranks not only with their own
energy, force, will, emotion and thought, but also pass on those trans it ory hints of the role and the play, the things which so excited them on first acquaint ance with the script, and which inspired them to creat ive activ ity. They graft these first shoots of the emotional life of the role onto the Elements. ‘The feel ings of the actor/role gradu ally develop from these shoots in the
actor’s mind. In that respect they are like a well-ordered army moving forward under the lead er ship of the inner drives.’ ‘Where are they going?’ the students asked. ‘Somewhere far away . . . to a place where the hints and flashes they get
from their imagin a tion, the Given Circumstances and the magic “ifs” of the play summon them. They are forging ahead to where the creat ive tasks lead them, to where the wishes, inten tions, actions of the role draw them. They are drawn by objects who wish to enter into commu nic a tion with them, i.e. the char ac ters in the play. They reach out towards things which are easy to believe in, both onstage and in the script, i.e. towards artistic truth. Note that all these features are to be found on the stage, on our side of the footlights, and not in the audit or ium. ‘The further the Elements move forwards together, the greater their
unity. This coming together of all the elements creates a state of mind which is extremely import ant for actors, and which in our vocab u lary we call . . .’ Tortsov indic ated the placard hanging in front of us on which was written:
THE ACTOR’S INNER CREATIVE STATE
‘What’s that?!’ exclaimed a terri fied Vanya. ‘Very simple,’ I said. I started to explain to him mostly to convince myself.
