Explain and justify how you would direct the performers, in the 1st minute of this production of ‘THE TRIAL’, in order to create a Berkovian style of performance.
Identify the Command words – what do they mean?
What is the focus of the question (the key words or target).
Watch the clip – take notes. [Imagine this is your production – claim the ideas as your own] – watch again.
Identify elements that are Berkovian.
Start from 0:52 to 2:06
Create a paragraph. (about ‘the city came to life’ section.)
Opening statement -what will you focus on? (your directorial aim)
“My directorial aim for ‘the city came to life’ is…”
“One of the main elements of a Berkovian style is…”
“I would direct the ensemble to…”
Explain the idea/ moment / skill
Justify it! [Pearls of Wisdom – relating to your understanding of Berkoff’s ideas, influences, the nature of the material, what you want the audience to understand.]
What / How / Why structure
The Mark Scheme –
Indicative content (what you could focus on)
EXAMPLE (Mr Jones)
My directorial aim for ‘the city came to life’ section would be to use an ensemble of 8 actors to create a moving cityscape of commuters moving via train to work.
The first Berkovian element I would direct would be heightened and precise action mime. Each actor would need to develop the role of a commuter with individualised movements like listening to music through headphones or reading a newspaper. I would direct the actors to create 2-3 clearly mimed actions that are sharp and can be repeated as a motif. Each action would be exaggerated either in size or rhythmically (e.g., sharper, robotic movements for writing on a note pad). In addition, I would have each actor create the sound effects for their mime (the beat of the music) or aspects of the journey like the train noise or screeching breaks or doors hissing open. [Explain]
{Make a list of drama terminology}
Berkoff’s total theatre style showcases the ‘genius of the body’ and is a theatre of ‘the imagination’. Without any need for costumes or set, the ensemble will create the effect of a busy crowd. This will be enhanced by forcing them to perform in a restricted space on stage, shoulder to shoulder, in order to create the effect of a larger crowd. The more robotic moves will have the effect of making this commute seem boringly routine and mindless. {Justificaion}
Justification: Berkoff has talked about the ‘genius of the body’ and his own mime training with Lecoq has informed his highly physical style where the actors need little else to convey characters and setting.
Point: My directorial aim for ‘the city came to life’ section would be to use the ensemble of 8 actors to create a moving cityscape of commuters moving via train to work.
Explain: The first Berkovian element I would direct would be heightened and precise action mime. Each actor would need to develop a role of a commuter with individualised movements like listening to music through headphones or reading a newspaper. I would direct the actors to create 2-3 clearly mimed actions that are sharp and can be repeated as a motif. Each action would be exaggerated either in size or rhythmically (sharper, robotic movements for writing on a note pad). In addition, I would have each actor vocalise the sound of their mime (the beat of the music) or aspects of the journey like the train noise or screeching breaks or doors hissing open.
Justification: Berkoff’s total theatre style is a theatre of ‘the imagination’ where the audience and actors create the effects together. Without any need for costumes or set, the ensemble will be able to create the effect of a busy crowd. This will be enhanced by forcing them to perform in a restricted space on stage, shoulder to shoulder, in order to create the effect of a larger crowd. The more robotic moves will have the effect of making this commute seem boringly routine and mindless.
Where to next>>>
Body as prop (2 actors being the door / the clocks ticking)
Choral movement in unison – (all the commuters lean back as the train comes to an abrupt halt – provide the screech sound of breaks themselves.)
Dynamic changes – the regular mechanic click of clocks in unison followed by the chaos and irregular movement of the commuters – contrast – moving locations without need for set changes.
This Berkoff text study will demonstrate the following aspects of his Acting style:
Expressionistic Mime
Action Mime
Staccato (short, sharp) movements
Vocal dexterity to cope with complex language.
Decadence – an original play by Steven Berkoff
Background: (In brief – you can do your own further research)
A play more about British society than about love and fidelity, Decadence satirically explores the divide between the upper and working classes and the humanity beneath.
Decadence premiered at the New End Theatre, London, in July 1981.
Restaurant scene from ‘Decadence’ – 2 ‘grotesque upper class characters
TASK: Answer the following 4 questions by finding examples in the clip. Do this in your Journal. [Use the sub-headings and question numbers]
Mime
1)Describe an example of action mime. (Use quotes to pin-point the moment – describe the action as if the reader wasn’t there – using appropriate language like quick – slow etc)
2) How would you describe what the woman is doing in this piece?
She plays a MINOR role but she is working just as hard – discuss her mime (action or expressionistic?) Compare and discuss her change in body language and facial expression from the start to the end. What meaning do we, the audience, get from this?)
We will now start developing the vocabulary to describe and analyse Berkoff’s acting style. For this we need to explore the ideas of one of the key practitioners of 20th century movement analysis; Rudolph Laban.
“Rudolph Laban was an Austro-Hungarian dance artist and theorist. He is considered as one of the pioneers of modern dance in Europe and the “Founding Father of the Expressionist Dance” in Germany.[1] His work laid the foundations for Laban Movement Analysis. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of dance.” (Wikipedia)
Laban decided that human movement can be summarized by a combination of the following FOUR categories, (each having two possible elements -in brackets):
Space/ (Direct or Indirect), Time (Quick or Sustained), Weight (Heavy or Light), and Flow (Bound or Free)
*We won’t concern ourselves with the last (sometimes called Energy – sometimes described as Flow)
LABAN’S EIGHT EFFORT ACTIONS Each one has 2 opposite elements:
Weight: Heavy —————-Light
Space: Direct —————Indirect
Time: Quick—————-Slow
By mixing these, you create EIGHT distinct EFFORT ACTIONS which can be applied to movement & characters.
For example: someone who is naturally aggressive might display actions & behaviours which are inspired by the effort action -PUNCH [That is actions that are Quick, Direct & Heavy. This might describe their walk. their mannerisms, actions, gestures – even the way they speak]
These ‘effort actions’ can be applied to how you say words/ lines as well. (but we’ll get onto that in another post/lesson.)
The Table below identifies the elements present in each of the 8 Effort actions and their names.
Watch the video enough times to really understand what the point being made is. Take quotes but put them in inverted commas – ALSO put the ideas into your own words.
“Precision, physicality and power are paramount in Berkoff’s theatre…”
“Style is actor-focused…. The actor is everything on the stage.”
“Working from the outside in” “Psychology comes from the way we feel within the physicality”
[HOW IS THIS RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM NATURALISTIC THEATRE? Working from the inside out]
Have your notes in your Journal OR in whatever form you use in order to be able to access them in class.
‘If I have a trademark style, I suppose it’s about physicality, a simplicity of communication both orally and physically. That’s very important’ – Steven Berkoff.
“Mime isn’t the substitution of words, but the essential body language of theatre” A Lecoq school teacher – taken from film clip #1
Training: As many of your have already discovered, Berkoff trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy in London and then studied movement at the Ecole Internationale de Theatre de Jacques Lecoq [Lecoq International School] in Paris. These two areas (the British drama school – focus on spoken word) and the Continental school – focus on physical) are key to his creative work. He then worked as a mime and physical theatre practitioner at the Webber Douglas Academy in London and experimented with an ensemble of students on an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s book ‘The Trial’ (which became one of his landmark productions showcasing his interest in movement and voice combined (Total Theatre). In 1968, Berkoff formed the London Theatre Group and proceeded to write, direct and perform with his own company.
Task #1 Watch the film below on the work done at the Lecoq International School.
Find out briefly who Jacques Lecoq was.
Remember that in the 1960s in the UK this kind of training was unheard of – that’s why for decades, actors in search of a comprehensive physical training went to Paris to study. (Since then, most UK Drama Schools have incorporated elements of the Lecoq curriculum into their own courses). Ex-students have also spread the ideas/methods/style. Not just Berkoff but companies like Complicite, Trestle Theatre & DV8 all credit some of their style to Lecoq’s training.
Extension: Find out a little about these companies)
look for their work in the Internet)
Look at the other clips on You Tube about the Lecoq School
Review the film:
What kind of theatre school is it? – What’s its FOCUS.
What do you think Berkoff took away from such training?
How does it show in his works/performances.
Task #2
Watch the short compilation video below: (It shows work at the school focused on the idea of the CHORUS)
You should:
1 sentence to define what chorus work is (briefly where it originated from – there’s lots of cross-over with your Greek Theatre studies.)
Make 1-3 sentences of notes/observations using the following headings. Use the clip (with time code of mins/secs 0:00) to identify an EXAMPLE for EACH heading.
EXAMPLE: (0.25) The Chorus freezes behind the central character and strike poses all focused towards the woman in the white dress. They draw the audiences eye to the woman. There is contrast too. They are still, silent and exaggerated whilst the woman is moving, talking and more natural.
Body as Prop
Working in Unison
Slow motion
Use of soundscapes (where the actors provide their own sound effects
Use of focus (where and how do you the audience FOCUS on one character over the rest of the actors on the stage?) – Think of Movement, Costume and style of acting as a way that makes one actor the focus.
It should be recorded in your Journal (Handwritten)
Please have these notes available for next week’s lessons
The following 2 clips show Berkoff himself acting in extracts from 2 solo- plays.
In them you should identify where there is:
Physicality / Action
Voice / Speech
absent or minimal use props/set/ costumes
[Use the above as headings – describe and explain ‘moments’ from either clip to illustrate EACH heading- then evaluate what is effective and your response as an audience member. Eg: “Action mime: Berkoff mimes walking down a spiral staircase in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. There is no hand rail and no stairs. He carefully places one hand on the rail and pulls it towards his body as he takes a few steps. The illusion that he has walked down 2-3 steps is remarkable. The action mime goes on for ages – this adds to the story as it makes the audience imagine that the spiral staircase is very tall and the old man lives on the very top floor. The audience are required to use their imagination to add to and make sense of the mime the actor is using.”
The Actor (The obsessive, demoralizing life of an actor between jobs is displayed forcibly in this swift and savage monologue.) At 3:14 Berkoff steps out of role and describes some of his insightful ideas about how the piece came to life.
The tell-tale heart ( the Narrator has just committed a murder and cuts up the body and hides it beneath the floor boards. There is a knock on the door. It is the police investigating a noise. Totally confident, the man invites the police to sit around the very spot below which the body is buried.)
Read the 7 pages, watch the clips and take the quiz. There are 7 page of website – at the bottom of the last page there is a ‘button’ – “Move onto Test”. Answer the 10 questions (as many times as you need to to get 100%))
2. Go to the Student Sharepoint area and open the document [Steven+Berkoff+Practitoner+Pack]
