Chekhov Collective Open House: Exploring Polarity with Gretchen Egolf

Time: 2-6pm

Location: Weston Studio, LAMDA, 155 Talgarth Rd, Hammersmith, London W14 9DA

We cannot have light appear unless out of darkness.  Darkness cannot fall without there having been light. One of what Chekhov calls “The Four Brothers” is The Feeling of the Whole, or Entirety.    For actors, our characters are full rich beings, with full rich lives.  Whatever is seen of them onstage or screen, they have had a before and after that, and they, like all humans, are full of contradictions.  Accessing those contradictions, finding the polarities within characters, makes our performance far more nuanced and effective.  For the same reasons,  directors and theatre makers have the task of exploring the polarities within the play as a whole.   This workshop uses exercises which explore polarities of both characters and the overall play itself.

“…part of the work of finding ‘the whole’ of the character is, paradoxically, about investigating the contradictions within it.  For Chekhov, ‘the ability to combine things which are sometimes quite far removed and not akin to each other, give originality’ (MC,The Actor is the Theatre) …At all costs, we must avoid sameness, or what Chekhov calls ‘the straight line.’ For him, ‘art requires curves, and spirals.’ (MC,Lessons for the Professional Actor)…Cultivating a dexterity in playing contrasts in the broadest sense will help us grow as actors at large.”  Sinead Rushe, Michael Chekhov’s Acting Technique