Information about Michael Chekhov

Michael Chekhov (1891-1955)

He mainly focused on characters' actions and psychological gestures to make them become reliable. 

Basic information: 

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=37a8b622-ce8a-4834-9279-6897ccb71294%40sessionmgr4006&vid=0&hid=4109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=509768064&db=brb

* Nephew of Anton

* An actor and director "the most brilliant actor in all Russia"

* He chanllenged many of his mentor's treasured principles. 

* The only acting-theorist who developed a viable and thoroughly fleshed-out alternative to the Stanislavsky system and the Method that is its offshoot.

* Stuied from: 

                     From Stanislavsky he appropriated the notions of "actions" and "objective,"         "concentration" and "atmosphere"; he decidedly gave them his own twist, but the categories were initially carved out by his mentor."sense of the whole"  & " bipolar characterization" To think of the characters as complex as possible since they do not just have one-sided characteristic.

"Relaxation of muscles" --- "feeling of ease" where Stanislavsky broke off his brilliant observations on 'action' and 'objective,' Chekhov combined them with 'character' in his marvelous intuition of the 'psychological gesture.'"

                     From Vakhtangov, Chekhov inherited a sense of external theatricality, the conscious use of stage imagery to insinuate meaning and convey dramatic insights. 

Michael Chekhov's theory examples:

https://youtu.be/wgn299ZH6DA

Techniques: Acting truthfully 

http://actingtruthfully.jimdo.com/chekhov-technique/

• Characterization (Imaginary Body & Center), Composition (Balance & Form), Psychological Gesture (embodies the psychology and objective of the character).
• Feeling of Style (specific to genre), Feeling for Truth ( to all elements), Feeling of Ease (to sit with a feeling of ease vs. to relax), Feeling of Form (own body & movement through space), Feeling of Beauty (living beauty & harmony in all characters), Feeling of Entirety (aesthetic wholeness).
• Qualities (sensations and feelings; coaxed not commanded; movement creates emotion), Body (psycho-physical exercises), Imagination, Radiating/Receiving, Improvising and “Jewelry” (final stages/uniqueness), Ensemble, Focal Point, Objective, Atmosphere.