STYLE IN

DRAMA

Style: The distinguishing characteristics of a play that reflect

conventional practice.
- what are the conventions (agreements) and how are they treated?
(Marsh Cassady, in Theatre: An Introduction [Lincolnwood, Il.: NTC
Publishing, 1997], p. 28, calls "conventions" "devices the actors, the
playwright, the designers, or the director use to expedite the
production. An audience willingly accepts and expects such devices
as a type of shorthand.")
Styles are usually associated with a period or with an "-ism."

SOME EXAMPLES:

Classicism
Neo-classicism
Elizabethan
Restoration
Romanticism
Realism
Naturalism

Not only is Genre studies concerned with

the type / form of the play, but also with the
Style OF THE PLAY (W/G discuss STYLE
of production, not of the drama).
Will the play be realistic:heightened
realism, selective realism, "super-realism,"

naturalistic -- a slice of life,

expressionistic,
constructivistic,
absurdist,
classical,
neoclassical?
Will the play include a lot of symbolism, allegory?
Will the play be representational (or "realistic") or
presentational (stylized)?

ELEM ENTS OF ACTING:

Thespis -- considered to be
the first actor -- thus the term
thespian -- 554 BC.

ELEM ENTS OF ACTING:

Acting was not really widely a "profession" till the 16th century.
It involves sophisticated role-playing and make-believe,
pretending, conveyed through doing -- enacting on the stage a vision
of life.
An impersonation -- usually at the service of a script; though not
always a script.
Acting can be considered as a "pure art": the artist and the
instrument are the same

A C T I N G C ON SI S T S OF:

1. a series of tasks, usually in

a situation or context;
2. done usually as someone
else; and
3. imaginary -- at least part of
it.

A C T I N G C ON SI S T S OF:
The actor must discover the essence of character and project that
essence to the audience.
The Essence of the character has been perceived differently,
however, at different times, periods, styles, and cultures, and by
different personalities of actors.
"The Paradox of the actor" --an essay written by Denis Diderot
(1713-1784) -- begins to approach part of the actor's challenge:
to appear real, the actor must be artificial. (Wilson, p. 108, tells us
that Diderot endorsed more realistic prose dialog rather than verse.)
Before this, there was not much of a specifically acknowledged
approach to acting.

A C T I N G C ON SI S T S OF:
Francois Delsarte (1811-1871) -- devised system of expression that
reduced emotions to a series of fixed poses and attitudes, achieved
through body and voice -- became methodistic and unworkable, but
Wilson notes that the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, founded
in 1894 (which your instructor graduated from) was founded on
Delsarte principles.
The American Mime Theatre, which held some classes at The
American Academy, approaches acting in a similar, though certainly
not exact, manner.
Modern "realistic" acting based much on Stanislavsky (18631938).

3 BASIC INGREDIENTS OF THE ACTOR:

1. native ability (talent)

2. training (including general
education)
3. practice

TRAINING AND MEANS:

Relaxation, Concentration, Imagination,

Observation
A. voice and body -- must learn control
voice and body to express to audience.
1. understand
2. practice
3. discipline

TRAINING AND MEANS:

Tensions and blocks must be overcome usually through
exercises, improvisations (enacting characters in a situation without
planned script or blocking), theatre games (animals, stereotypes,
machines, etc.).
Also used to arrive at a "neutral state" ("tabula rasa"--blank
slate). Many artists believe that to create they must first have a
blank slate -- an empty canvas -- on which to place their art. Actors
must find various ways to achieve this... Wilson and Goldfarb use
the term "centering."

TRAINING AND MEANS:

B. Imagination and Observation
Observe and imagine people in various relationships.
The term "affective memory" has often been used to refer to use of the actor's
memory to find things in his/her life that are similar to, or could evoke, the
emotions required by the character on stage.
This would involve emotional memory (remembering feeling from the past),
sense memory (remembering sensations), and substitution (mentally
replacing the thing / person in the play with something / someone in real life).

TRAINING AND MEANS:

C. Control and discipline

Actors must learn how to develop their powers
of concentration.Must be aware at all times of
their current situation (being an actor on stage,
with an audience out front) and the context of the
play (what is the character
doing/feeling/etc.)What am I doing? -- NOT how
am I doing?