Realism and theorists

When approaching devising, directing and the solo theatre piece, the question about who your theorist will be in a huge conundrum. For many students out there I know you are familiar with realism, love and and maybe want to focus on it for your chosen theorist. Also when working on the collaborative project you may feel you want to take a directorial stand that focus on realism. To widen the net a little, this blog will focus on some people and sites to consider for research and launching off points.

When I was looking at some method acting ideas the other day, I came across this amazing resource that provides an outline of each aspect of the theory and also provides helpful exercises that focus on each aspect. You may want to give it a go in group of solo work.

Here is the link to activities from the Actors Studio.

A director and theorist that you may not have come across is Michel Saint Denis. He worked at the Old Vic and ran the London Theatre Studio (1936-38) and the RSC Studio (1962-65). For more information on Saint Denis and his work, you can read two theses, the links to these can be found below:

The English theatre studios of Michael Chekhov and Michel Saint-Denis, 1935-65

and

The French Ensemble Tradition: Jacques Copeau, Michel Saint-Denis and Jacques Lecoq

To see a little of Michel Saint-Denis’ directing, see this section of ‘The Cherry Orchard’ (1962) starring Judi Dench: