Circles of attention

Stanislavski created the theory of Circles of attention, whereby actors need to be isolated to produce characterization and avoid unnecessary tension. The actor needs to be able to concentrate on themselves. The first theory Stanisvlaski made was public solitude whereby the actor is able to be in complete isolation and are able to explore their character and have better understanding freely. The second is to be aware of the character they are addressing and the third circle is to include the rest of the production. Stanislavski believed there should b no direct awareness of the audience and it uses great focus and attention.



Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov was a Russian writer, considered a master of the modern short stories and leading playwright. He was born January the 29th 1860, in Taganrog, Russia. Pavel his father, was a grocer with frequent money problems. His mother Yevgeniyia, shared her love of storytelling with Chekhov and his 5 siblings. When Pavel's business failed in 1875 he took his family to moscow, whilst Chekhov stayed to study in Tagnrog until he finished his studies. He was able to join his family in Moscow in 1879 and enrolled at media school. His father was still struggling financially, therefore Chekhov supported the family with his freelance writing, producing hundreds of short comic pieces under a pen name for local magazines. 
During mid 1880s, Chekhov practiced as an physician, publishing serious work of fiction under his own name. He created many great works from 1890s, with short stories such as Ward no.6 and Lady with the dog. Checkhov focuses mainly on mood and characters, showing they can be more important than plots. This reflects our play The three sisters as the characters are continuously dissatisfied and complain about their current situations. When I first read the script I asked "what is the plot?" and the response I got was that it was just them wanting to return to Moscow and complaining throughout the play. Not much happens to their lonely characters, but their inner conflicts take a great significance, by this I mean within the script there are many affairs, people longing to wok etc. There is also very specific paintings of pre-revolutionary Russian society, yet timeless. *find out* In the 1890s he began collaborating with Stanisvlaski and Moscow Arts Theatre, creating work such as The Seagull (1895) and The three sisters (1901).
He married in 1901, to Olga Knipper which coincidentally is the eldest sister within the play. Unfortunately, his long term illness tuberculosis came back during his later life and Checkov died at the age of 44 on the 15th of July.


Stanislavski's System
Stanisvlaski  system is a set of techniques created in the early 1900s. Actors are able portray emotions on stage. Putting themselves in the place of the character creating more believable emotions and actions.

This can be done in 7 steps:

• Who am I?- Natasha
• Where am I?- Russia
• When is it?- 1905
• What do I want?- Objective in act 2 is to make sure the carnival people don't come, to make Bokik have his own room. Super-Objective, is to run the household and have it to my standard.
• How will I get it?- By making Irina move into Olga's room
• What do I need to overcome?- The three sisters and making them have understanding

To help us get a better understanding of our character, there are a few simple steps we can use

• Reading the script carefully to get a good understanding character motivations, needs and desires.
• Work out how the character would behave in that certain situation.
• Learn the character's  objectives, Obstacles and how far they will go to reach that objective.
• learning to break the script down into bits/ beats  so that it can determine how the character will react and so the play is not flat. It gives the character the objective which leads to the actions. It also determine characters motivation for this action.

Given Circumstances
Given circumstances is information about the character that you start with. How old they may be, what situation the actor is in, the relationship with the other characters. They may also have notes and stage directions that may not tell you everything which allows the actor to build character.
For my character Natasha, I  read through my lines to see the given circumstance, Natasha is a local from the area, around her mid twenties. She is also in a relationship with Andrey, therefore the way I direct and approach Andrey should be much different to the way I approach the other characters. This is because I have grown a connection with Andrey, I refer to him as "Andryusha" showing when you know someone so well you may call them by their actual name and not what everyone else refers to him as. I do not have a strong relationship with the three sisters therefore I portray this through my patronizing behaviour and lack of communication when it comes to the house.

Subtext
The script of the play is the text, the subtext is the actual meaning and motivation behind the lines, spoken and actions taken. By this I mean a boyfriend may say to his girlfriend 'I love you', we may think it's a happy ending, however the delivery may be different if she thought he as going walk out on her. Therefore, whilst developing my character I've gone through the script and written in my objectives and actions, to start looking at the meaning of why Natasha says specific things and how I interpret it.

Objective, Super-objective, through line
An objective is a reason for your actions. A super-objective is an over- reaching objective linked to an overall outcome of the play, the essential idea/core. The characters objectives lead to the super-objective. If the journey is perceived as a clear path to the super-objective, then you have a through line. As I'm playing the character Natasha in act 2/4. I believe her super-objective is to take over the household and control what goes on within it. This is evident in act 2 when Natasha says "She can move in with Olga", when it isn't even her house properly yet. Towards the end of act 4, Natasha has reached her super-objective as everyone is leaving she is now demanding things to be moved etc. "The first thing I'm going to do is have that row of old fir trees cut down", expressing she has finally reached her super-objective and is now leading he household.

Emotional Memory
Emotional memory is where actors find a real past experience where they felt similar emotions. The actors must borrow those feelings for the role. One exercise which is useful was in Rob's lesson, he made us sit down with our eyes closed. Rob made us think about our favourite chocolate and made us imagine, the taste and the smell. He also made us think about the emotion behind it, how excited we may be, the taste when it melted in our mouths and how are emotion was at the time. He then made us think about picking up dog poo from the floor, thinking about the smell of it, the feeling whilst we are picking it up and what sort of emotional feelings were linked with that e.g. disgust. This exercise will help me in the role of Natasha as now that I have written in my actions for the script, when she says certain things e.g. "poor little things" and my action was to patronize I can now lock into a certain emotion to show this clearer.


Magic If
Stanislavski said that all actors should answer this question, "what would I do if I was in this situation?". This means the actor must put themselves in the same situation of the character and decide how they would behave /react. This technique encourages the motivation of the actor for this role. For myself whilst playing Natasha I should think about what if I actually had a child, how would I speak about my child, "Hello my Bobbie Wobbie", dramatic and happy whilst saying these lines if this was my son. Also what would I do if I came into a house and wanting to start changing things and if I don't like any of the designs. This will help my character become natural as I am able to use some characteristics of myself to the character however I will still be completely different in other aspects within my character.


Fourth Wall
Fourth wall is an established convention, which is an invisible wall which separates the actors from the audience. The audience can clearly see the actors but the actors act as if they cannot see them. Fourth wall is modern realistic theatre, which has led some artists to draw attention to it for dramatic or comedic effect. The fourth wall is broken, when an actor or character addresses the audience directly, referring to the play as a play or the characters fictionally. The temporary suspension of the convention engages the audience's attention for the rest of the performance. In our production of the three sisters we will be using this theory as this will make our play natural and realistic,I believe breaking the fourth wall in this play will loose he realness behind it and the home setting which is being betrayed.



What Characters say about me throughout the play  
In Act1

• "Some girl"
• "A local girl"
• "See the way she dresses-my God"
• "It's not just unstylish, it's painful"
• "This strange neon skirt with a lacy fringe"
• "Andrey can't be serious not about her"
• "I heard she's marrying Protopopov"
• "Natasha, the belt-what were you thinking?"
• "Natasha already has her eyes on someone"
• Natasha's face has turned pinker than her dress"
• "They love you too..."
• "You're beautiful and sweet"
• "Marry me Natasha"
• "I love you"

Act 2

• "My wife doesn't understand me"
• "Make sure Natasha doesn't find out how much he's loosing" 
• "As if she'd care"

It is important to know what the other characters are saying about you as it allows me to know just a bit more about my own character. Masha comments a lot on my fashion, highlighting that I dress very differently to what they are custom to and therefore frown upon me. They also don't have much respect for me, they refer to Natasha as some girl and that Andrey can't be serious, showing me that whilst I'm around them the kindness I have is not genuine as I have not built a relationship with the sisters or any of the military in fact. Seeing what other characters think of me allows me to determine how I will act with them and speak.




Themes

Dissatisfaction
This play shows that in life you can't always get what you want, the three sisters desperately wish to return to Moscow however must wait a few months until they can do so. Irina wants to fall in love but is not able to. Vershinin states in the play "we're never happy. We can never be happy. We only want to be happy". This reflects all the characters, they all long for something in their life, so simple that Tuzenbach just wants to work but cannot reach it. They are all so unhappy with themselves that they spend most the play only complaining. Olga the eldest sister 28, is a school teacher who hates her job and is continuously tired and feels she is aging. Olga is longing for a marriage however that dream is slowly fading in her eyes. Tuzenbach feels "my life's a drag" , highlighting the constant complaining and lack of appreciation for the things they have.Vershinin also states "All we can do is work, suffer and go on working", conveying that is the only thing their life consists of and are longing for more. Natasha who I am playing is dissatisfied with her relationship with Andrey, she is constantly complaining about the house and how it is not suited to her. To highlight my dissatisfaction I will use my subtext and inner monologue, for example in Act 2 when I ask Andrey if he's "reading?", before I didn't respond with any facial expressions, but now to show that I'm not interested in his books I just roll my eyes. My vocal projection is clear and my tone of voice when speaking is good however, I will now look more closely into my subtext when people are talking to me as I feel I am better than them.

Alienation/Loneliness  
Although the three sisters have been living in Moscow for the past ten years including a house full of visitors, the still feel lonely within the town.  The family are more educated than the people around them, which isolates them intellectually. Vershinin doubts there could be a town "so boring and dismal that it doesn't need intelligent cultivated people ", by this it is clear they do not share the same optimistic views and ability to look to the future. Most of their friends are within the military, therefore they are socially excluded from certain conversations, the military are much older than the sisters therefore, so they may not be able to relate to them age wise. Andrey in particular is quite isolated majority of the time he plays his violin or is reading books, for Irina's birthday he only turned up for a small amount of time and crept off when he had the chance. He feels that no one "my wife doesn't understand me and I'm scared to tell my sisters", showing mentally he feels he does not fit into society. As Natasha I feel she is isolated as she is referred to as "some girl" "Local girl", the family do not accept her bold and diva like ways. Natasha is also isolated in terms of fashion wearing a "Green belt" her clothing can represent she is bold and confident although the sisters do not agree with it at all but refer to it as "painful". Whilst playing Natasha it is evident I do not have the same upbringing as the sisters, therefore I need to make sure I show this during Act 3 when Natasha is shouting at Anfisa. As I scream "Get out, get out of here!" it is evident that I do not respect those around me which is not how the sisters would act. It is also clear I do not fit in when I ask "Why do they always laugh at me?", expressing they make fun of me and mock me.

Relationships
It is clear that there are many relationships in the play however, there is also many affairs and lust for others. This is evident as Olga is longing for marriage which she has not achieved yet, Masha is married to Kuligan a teacher, however Kuligan says "If it wasn't for Masha I would've married you, you're so good Olga" which showed the slight lust that he has for her. Whilst his wife Masha, created a relationship with Vershinin as he says "I love you. I love you" however knows things would soon become complicated and Kuligan continued to convince himself everything would be fine. Tuzenbach also has feelings for Irina more so than Irina have feelings for Tuzenbach. He says "I'll keep showing up night after night to walk you", showing his determination to grow a connection with Irina. Although, it is evident that the military have formed a great relationships with the daughters of their boss. They are able to go the house and are invited for special occasions showing  thier connection, when their father was alive "there were thirty to fourty officers", expressing that although not everyone turns up the few that are left have a great bond now.  As Natasha, she has two relationships going on her public one with Andrey who she is not happy with and her on going fair with his boss protopopov. Natasha doesn't have a good relationship with Andrey as he feels "my wife doesn't understand me" expressing they have a lack of communication. I intend to show this by not paying attention when Andrey is talking, looking in mirrors, moving stuff around and cutting him when I feel he says something irrelevant, showing the lack of interest I have for him.

In yesterday's lesson we focused on the circle of attention, we done this by bringing eight people forward, I was one of them. We had to act as if we are on the tube without speaking, the rest of the class then observed us, Rob came round to us individually and ask the class what they noticed about each of us. I was on the phone moving my head around a lot to show I was in deep conversation the class thought I was in an argument from my facial expressions and suggested people I may have been talking to. Abe was another, he was standing diagonally in front of me, the class suggested that he was in a rush as he continued to look at his watch and tapping his foot which showed his impatience.
We then done another exercise where eight different people went up and were pretending to be in a math exam. One person that stood out to me was Kamal he looked very calm and was flicking through his paper, which suggested to me he was struggling with the paper and waiting to find a page he could answer. Another was Eleanor, she was just sitting there, which suggested to the class she hadn't revised and didn't care.
The point of these exercises was allowing us to start thinking about the circles of our attention, whilst doing those short scenes we would have seen someone in particular because they stood out to us individually e.g. the way they play with their hair, their slight movement or body language. However, it allowed us to start creating stories for these people, why might they be checking their watch? Why are they looking around so frequently? It also, for the people acting, allows us to go into our own circle and no longer concentrate on the other actors around us, but just ourselves which makes us feel more relaxed and act naturalistic.


We then went on to see Malcolm and Jeremy in a coffee shop, they were both given objectives in this scene but we nor the other actor new what this was. They both sat on a small table, Jeremy continuously checked his phone looking around, whilst Malcolm kept on looking at Jeremy we all read Malcolm's inner monologue as to say 'when are you going to leave?' Some of us suggested that Malcolm was irritated that Jeremy was sitting there and that he wanted time alone and that Jeremy was waiting for someone. When we heard their objectives which was Malcolm was waiting for his girlfriend to come and needed Jeremy's seat and Jeremy was waiting for a friend. The point of this exercise was similar to the first, we are creating stories in our minds for the readers and beginning to think about story telling from just someone's body language and facial expressions.

In today's lesson we started off with a trust exercise where one person had their eyes closed and was being directed by the other person. This exercise allowed our class to work as an ensemble by making sure none of our partners bumped into anyone and that we also have trust in the other actors. We then worked on our inner-monologue, one person was acting with no dialogue whilst the other person said their thoughts. We started off with Abdul sitting at the bus stop whilst Jeremy said his thoughts, he


In today's lesson, we started off by doing various physical theatre images e.g. desperation and lust. The last image we had to make was any theme of the play, we decided to do Relationships, this picture reflects the affairs and confusing love within the play. The reason for this exercise was to begin to get in tune with the themes of the play.
We then went onto a breathing exercise, we had to sit down with an upright posture, we then had to breathe in for as long as possible then exhale for as long as possible. When we felt our lungs had no breath left we had to control the ending, then exhaling with an "oooing" sound at the end. This exercise was for us to focus on our posture and breathing, as an actress I must have the correct posture whilst performing to allow me to have better control of my breathing and vocal projection.We then went on to tongue twisters e.g. "A royal warrior will rarely worry why we rule", these tongue twisters help me with articulation and pronouncing my words. Finally, we had to think about the subtext behind the words of our tongue twisters and begin to add meaning into it. Therefore I changed the tone/pitch or my facial expressions, for example "A royal" on the word royal I raised my voice and elongated the word to highlight it was important word to me. We also thought about the given circumstances within the script, how old I am, where I'm from and my relationship with Andrey, I now start developing my character through these given circumstances and how I portray myself with the other characters. I like being center of attention which I show through my dress sense of big bright colours, because of this I make sure to look at myself in the mirror at least three times whilst it is my scene to remind the audience I am vein.

Rob asked us the question "what does it mean for us as actors when we work on all the theories, then our director gives us specific directions?" 
 I believe it is a part of the learning process that us as actors should be able to change directions through the play and adapt to what our director has said. I feel once we have finished blocking everything, it is then important to expand on the ideas and to create something even better. It is important to work on the theories to help us block and then we can begin to expand on those theories.
We were also asked what our challenges were, as I am playing Natasha I didn't really have much challenges as I enjoy playing her and got into the role quickly. However, the only thing I am struggling with is in Act2 where Natasha begins to speak French. I do not understand what she says, therefore I stumble before those lines and break character, I need to work on those lines in my own time as it is easy learning lines in English but French is more challenging. Natasha says, "je vous pris pardonnez moi marie mais vous avez des manieres un peu grossieres" which means "please forgive me, Masha but you have rather rude manners". This will help me develop my method acting in the future.
I have also been developing my character as I've gone through the script I have been writing all my objectives in my scenes. By this I mean an objective is something I am trying to get out of a certain situation. My objective in act 2 is to make sure the carnival people do not enter the house and care for Bobik, furthermore my objective in act 4 is to begin taking over the house for my suiting. I have also written down all my actions for example, "still working, poor things" and the action was to patronize as Natasha does not really care for their well-being. I have also written down my changes for example, change of thought and change of tones. e.g. in act 4 I say "You scared me half to death. (To Irina) *change of subject*You know..." This gives the character a chance to have different tones and levels to the character.
We then had to think about what cake we would best describe ourselves at first I said a Victoria sponge cake but I then realized, that not what describes my character but rather me as I prefer Victoria sponge cake and a lot of people like sponge cakes. However, for my character Natasha I believe she would be a Coconut Cake as you either love it or hate it. The cake also has a sweet side however can be very bitter. I think that reflects Natasha as I don't like Coconut cake and the majority of the class I asked disliked the Cake as well, which is the same with Natasha.This tasks was useful to give me a greater subtext on my character Natasha, I am able to think about objects that reflect my character and how I work with that. Thinking deeper about how I can use this task in my production, the Coconut Cake will show my sweet side when I am talking about my son "Hello my Bobbie Wobbie". However, whilst arguing with Olga in Act three I will bring out the unkind and bitter side of the cake.
To get to know my character even more I went through the script and underlined what each of the characters say about me. This is effective as from the information I get I can then carry on developing my character so certain things I do within the script will reflect how I act. For example in the first act Masha is speaking badly about her appearance, Olga refers to her as "some girl", portraying that she does not have much importance in the family.

In today's lesson we started of with the exercise with our characters in the play we had to choose  an animal that we thought our character represented. I choose a poodle because they are cute and a bit more of a prestige dog which is what Natasha thinks she is, you don't always see poodles on the  streets and there is no one else like Natasha in the play, you either like poodles or you don't which I think represents Natasha. We then had to talk around like  that animal and  portray the rhythm and pace of our animal. I added a little bit of a spring to my step ad moved my hips more so  to give me a bit of a wiggle. This exercise was useful as it sets the pace for our character, it allows us to think more about our character and how we should be acting and moving on set. As the poodle represents Natasha I may start thinking about walking in a more sophisticated manor.

We then sat down and had to think about what our character would be doing six months after the play. I decided that Natasha completely took over the household making it suited for her, She also left Andrey and was now living with propoptov and was happy with her life. Another persons life I enjoyed hearing about was Masha's(Ilonka), she had left her husband Kulygin and she found love and got pregnant unfortunately she had a miscarriage and she moved to Italy with oranges growing in the back. This exercise was effective, letting us think about the through line in the play, it also let me think more about my relationship with each of the characters and how I will show my relationship with Andrey. Therefore in rehearsals I will practice using my facial expressions more often when in conversation with Andrey, I may roll my eyes, frown etc.

We then went on to working in pairs and we had to decide to be either Natasha and Andrey or Masha and Kulygin and one of pairs would be caught cheating. Me and Shamsul decided to do Natasha and Andrey as we both play them in the production. We started off with me looking in the mirror and Andrey puling me over to one side, he then began accusing me and I deny it at first and then I begin to confess. I decided to be as over dramatic as possible, therefore I began crying and blaming him for my mistakes. I also broke the fourth wall as when Andrey forgave me I smiled to the audience and quickly changed back emotional state, as we were walking off I also looked back at the audience and smiled. This was effective as it added a bit of comedy to the scene and showed how devious Natasha really was, this was also more practice on our through lines.

In today's lesson we went over Act 1 and 2, whilst watching Act1 there were many things I observed. The tempo and the rhythm of the act was very slow, actors would finish their lines and then the next actor would speak a beat or a little bit after, which didn't look natural and a normal conversation. There wasn't much energy in the scenes either, everyone was concentrating more on reading the lines than acting. There was much gossip going on in the act but there needed to be more interaction within the characters. For example, at the dinner table everyone is supposed to be having quiet conversations, however only a few people were talking and the rest were silent. Everyone also needed to think about their objectives and why they were on the scene.

In today's lesson I focused on developing my character, In act 3 I was over playing my character shouting at Olga however I tried a different approach. Instead of shouting I was being patronizing, speaking to her in a soft voice and speaking very closely to her, the subtext behind that was I have to be nice for the meanwhile as they are my in-laws however I'm going to take over the household. Also working on the variation of my voice therefore when I say " How dare she provoke me!" and I am shouting, then composing myself in a soft voice "Really Olga" not only adding a comic to my lines but giving layers to my emotions and showing how over dramatic Natasha was. Learning that under playing some dialogue is more effective to the audience than over.

One scene I enjoy watching is Ilonka's and Brad's, I enjoy watching the connection between the two, when Ilonka says "There's more light over here" they both gaze into each others eyes showing the romantic connection they had formed. I liked the way Brad subtly touched Ilonka but it wasn't too forward, showing the genuine interest he has. The gentle play fighting reminded me of the young love she had once experienced. Ilonka's body movement and gestures also showed her flirtatious side and new love, as she gazed into his eyes often sat closely to him and had a slight grin on her face. I believe this scene was rehearsed in detail capturing the new connection between Masha and Vershinin.





Evaluation 
I feel our performance was a big improvement, one thing especially on the first act was being able to remember cues for characters to speak. However, in the performance they were able to speed up cues and not have so many pauses. There was also more energy driven through the acts, whereas before everyone wasn't as intrigued in the play. I enjoyed my characters performances as I feel my character was dramatic and I added more attitude, this was especially noticeable in act three where I used more disgusted facial expressions I made sure to shout at Anfisa louder then I had done in the practice. I also made sure to use my comical lines and really going for it, e.g. "Masha please" and elongating the please. I also changed my body language and movement whereby I was holding my fur coat keeping my posture upright, my chin held high to show that I was arrogant and felt I was better than everyone else. My tutor Rob also gave me positive feedback, explaining I had a good energy I continuously listened and responded to characters in role and focusing playing with the role. I was vocally and physically engaged. Moreover, my tutor gave me targets to work on whereby sustaining all of my positive feedback, reading around with styles and techniques and taking the time to link up with Youth Theatre Groups. Things for the group to work on is still some of the cues were slow, speeding up cues for the future is important to make sure the conversation looks realistic. Also focusing on blocking as at times people were squashed together so making sure to block so that it doesn't look awkward. Overall, the performance made a great improvement since the beginning and I feel with more time and blocking it could've been even better.

Comparing the two pieces

• We broke the fourth wall in the York Realist however, in the Three Sisters breaking the fourth wall would not made it natural.
• During the Three Sisters we had to put ourselves in the lives of our characters, but on the other hand the York Realist we were playing ourselves.
• A lot more energy was shown in The York Realist rehearsals although less was shown during the Three Sisters as not many people were interested in the play.
• I had to learn to feel comfortable in sharing my speech during The York Realist however I felt more confident playing Natasha as it wasn't personal.