The Cherry Orchard, Blog 3

http://homepage.smc.edu/sawoski_perviz/Stanislavski.pdf - Link too Stanislavski "The System"

This week, in order to improve individually, I used these techniques from Stanislavski "System":

• Motivation
• Imagination

Motivation

This week I used what Stanislavaski quoted about motivation; 

'the actors will should be aroused from either the actors emotions or by the mind' 

Last week I had the problem of not being motivated. 

'I wish I could say something to make all this easier' 

This was just one of the lines I found difficult to have the 'will' to perform. to overcome this, I went through the emotions of which my character would feel. I found that by changing the pace, energy and where I breath/ new thoughts where necessary. By experimenting with this, I went through different emotions like if Alexander was sad, happy or caring when he speaks. I found I felt most motivated when I said it in a caring but excited way as I am about to tell the family my plan of buying the cherry orchard. I feel that this worked and helped me find truth in my characters objectives and make my character more naturalistic and realistic.

Imagination and Subtext

Subtext is the meaning behind the words and one that is interpreted by the actor through imaginative expression of movements and emotions.

“Spectators come to the theatre to hear the subtext. They can read the text at home” (Moore 28).

For example, in scene two where I announce I have bought the cherry orchard, I found the subtext to be that Alexander is feeling empowered and is going to make a lot of money from his investment.

'The estate is mine, Mine!, my friends, the cherry orchard is mine'

To find this subtext I experimented with different levels of energy and eventually I found the most truthful energy that portrayed what I thought was my objective. Therefore I feel that this helped make my character naturalistic also.

Historical Context

I also researched the historical context of the play and my character this week. I found some facts that relate to the play and that I feel helped me develop my character: (http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/cherryorchard/context.html) - Information from this section located here)

• Chekhov's grandfather was a serf
• Serfs were legal property of the landowners who owned the property they resided in
• Serfs were a form of slavery
• His grandfather; Egor, bought freedom for himself and his family for 875 rubles
• Tsar Perter the Great carried out reforms in Russia in the 18th century which lead to the fall of 'old Russia' and the inclination into 'new' Russia
• His intent was to modernise Russia and Westernise
• The name for Alexander's character could have been deprived from Tsar Alexander II who was in power during Chekhov's child hood and was responsible for the waves of reforms

It could be possible that Chekhov created Alexander from the idea of his grandfather being a serf just like  Alexander he has made Alexander the epitomising representation of 'new' Russia who has the same ideas as Tsar Alexander II. By understanding this possibility, I can see how Chekhov hasn't made Alexander the enemy or a bad person, just one that has the idea of this 'new' Russia which; due to the family of landowners epitomising 'old' Russia, clash and create tension in the play. But I feel that Alexander has the caring side from his ideology about the future and the western world. By coming up with these hypotheses' I made up my mind about my characters personality and how I would act for part two;

'I bought it, would you bear with me?'

I feel I knew my character objectives this week and knowing my how Chekhov could have intended my character to be representative of in history has helped me find truth.