ABSTRACT
Chapter 6, ‘Constructing the character’, describes some of the techniques actors deploy when constructing an imaginary body: work on objects, animals, and improvisations with neutral and character masks. The legacy of Jacques Copeau and Michel Saint-Denis is examined and the work of the British director and teacher John Wright highlighted. The chapter further describes Michael Chekhov’s concept of the Psychological Gesture and the way in which these approaches lead to the establishment of an overall character ‘kinetic melody’ (Luria) or tempo-rhythm (Stanislavski). The chapter looks in detail at two approaches based on modern dance: Rudolf Laban’s analysis of movement patterns and Viewpoints (Overlie/Bogart). The ways in which body-based techniques of characterisation are put into practice are illustrated through descriptions in Antony Sher’s rehearsal diary for Richard III and an account of Simon Callow’s work through dialectal changes in Xavier Kreuz’s Between the Leaves. The chapter describes the principles of expressive movement established by Etienne Decroux: design, intensity and rhythm, and adds the concept of ‘dynamic stereotype’ promoted by the Russian school of movement. Finally, the chapter opens the discussion on the psychology of transformative acting, which occupies the remainder of the book, by looking at the concept of ‘proprioception’.
