Stanislavski Naturalism Introduction | £10 Note Exercise

Before reading the script for Look Back in Anger, the class had a workshop which introduced Stanislavski's style of theatre. Naturalism- Something that we (and particularly drama students) would assume we are most comfortable and familiar with, both watching and performing. Being directed to ‘act naturally’ can seem the simplest way to perform for a drama student; creating a household scene of real life that they probably can relate to and or have gone through. For some it’s viewed as a style that requires the least application of effort and ‘comes natural’ but after this workshop I realised it is almost the complete opposite. The exercise involved in the workshop simply directed Beth to hide a £10 note, then exit and re-enter the room improvising a short scene of them looking for it, eventually finding it- in a naturalistic style. Subconsciously, we seemed to think that gestures like a confused frown or a subtle head scratch is the key to portraying what is happening in a situation, and we soon learnt that Naturalism is not about shrinking these gestures so much that it becomes a depiction of ‘real-life’. Stanilsavski reffers to this idea as 'mechanical acting' and over-acting' in his 'An Actor Prepares. I noticed and discussed with the group though how naturally in life, we do mimic things. It is interesting to notice how elements of Brechtian and slapstick gestures are something that we do. We were then introduced to the ‘threshold’ in which may have helped our performance with this exercise. A second time, Beth was then directed to exit the room again, but this time the note will be hidden for her resulting in her having to genuinely search for the note which would evoke genuine reaction. Having being told that she could only keep her borrowed money unless she found it in the short time frame, the conscious decision to perform this routine were gone and after watching this, the difference in what we think naturalism is and what it actually aims to be became clear. I decided in order to apply this to my own performance, I would maybe have to reproach my actions and the delivery of each line and really question whether that is genuinely how I would act in that situation.