Michael Chekhov

I was still struggling to understand my character and adopt his physicalities, so I begun to use exercises created my theatre practitioners, to try and gain more understanding.

Michael Chekhov

(Background of Chekhov)

-Nephew of Anton Chekhov

-Born 28 years after Stanislavky

-Naturalism

-He got caught up in Russian revolution

-Stalin didn't like him, so he had to emigrate to Europe, then ended up in America.

-He emphasises imagination and movement

-His dominant themes were atmosphere, actors creativity and the physicalisation of an inner experience

He diffred from Stanislavsky on a key point: Stanislavsky said you have to use yourself (memory) however Michael Chekhov said you can imagine, I felt that for this role imagination would be key.

Me (Jonah)- I'm quite a horizontal person I am always looking about to see what is going on, I try to take in new information when im in large groups of people.

Character - I think Wisehammer is also quite horizontal, he moves around wanting to take in as much information as possible, so he would also be looking around a lot, and have a certain sharpness to him because he is timid and isn't very confident for a majority of the play.

What is the point of my character?

He is Jewish and in this era it means he is struggling against the Catholics (the dominant religion in the play), he is used to represent the minorities, he is used to compete for Mary Brenham's love (love triangle), and to introduce some intellectualism to the play.

How did this help?

It added to my understanding of the character movements, it also allowed me to understand his journey in confidence throughout the play, at first he is scared, but he begins to open up to other convicts and this allows him to place trust in others.  It gave me the idea to allow his posture to grow with his confidence throughout the course of the play.  Which I feel breathed life into my character for the first time in the rehearsal process.