Chekov (Classical Acting)

Today was our final performance of our Chekov scenes.

Chekov is usually something that I do not look forward to. There are always so many words and I personally feel that they are not all useful. However, for the first time, I actually enjoyed this assignment.

Rob and I got assigned to work together--which we have some how managed to avoid working with each other for the 4 years we have been at school together--which I rather enjoyed. We tackled a scene from Uncle Vanya and at first we didn't' really understand it. The first time we performed it, nothing really read and Bugg told us that we weren't playing with high enough stakes and that we weren't really getting the objectives and arch of the scene. He went on to explain to the class that Chekov deal mostly with sub-text. That there is always so much more going on than what is being spoken. Which: subtext is always hard to get to in a scene because you don't have the whole play to build it and add on to it.

So, Rob and I started over and we spent some time really talking about our characters and this awkward "half-love scene" that we had chosen. We came to the conclusion that we both just needed to keep that natural element of the scene but really take risks. For me that meant that I had to be bold and really make strong choices. The first time we performed it I played too quiet and shy and Bugg told me that I needed to be strong and assertive. So I tried that and it unlocked this relationship between our two characters. Suddenly this scene became the scene that would define them for the rest of their lives. This was the moment that they would either profess their love for each other and get carried away into the night, or my character (Sonia) would be denied by Rob's character (Dr. Astroff) and their relationship would dissipate.

When we added those elements, I feel that it read so much better. When we performed, we got lots of great comments from Professor Bugg; including that he felt we had finally tapped into the arch of the scene. So that was great=]

This semester in classical acting has really opened my eyes. I always assumed that I was only good at contemporary musical theatre and that I wouldn't ever do anything other than that. But in both classical acting and Shakespeare II, I have received the comment that I have a good sense of the language and physicality of the pieces I am working. These two classes have really opened up my mind to the possibilities that I could work in other shows besides musicals. Musicals are still my first love, but I have a budding love for classical works now as well.