On 21 June 2006, Bella Merlin presented a workshop in collaboration with the actor Miles Anderson for the Presence Project.

workshop outline

Coming from a training in the Russian School which combined Stanislavsky, Michael Chekhov and Jerzy Grotowski, Bella's particular emphasis in the exploration of performing presence will be in many ways remarkably simple:what happens between two physical bodies in the performing space?

Her investigation will try and unravel some of the complexities arising out of that simple encounter when actors undertake - in Stanislavsky's words - to 'get each other in each other's grasp'. This process also connects Grotowski's via negativa and how the actor strives to eliminated inner and physical blocks between action and impulse.

Putting the notions of 'radiation' or 'communion' under the metaphorical microscope, Bella will work with actor Miles Anderson, whose extensive experience in theatre, film and television has challenged his own understanding of 'presence; in the moment of performance, whether in front of the camera or in front of a live audience.

Through a series of silent etudes, in which the actors' attendance to the minutiae of each other's facial, physical and (most importantly) energetic changes prompt impulses in the moment of performance, Merlin and Anderson will work towards an analysis of text (taking a scene from THREE SISTERS between Vershinin and Masha and/or a scene from ANNA KARENINA between Anna and Vronsky). This in turn will lead to an investigation of how the spoken word alters the actor's psycho-physical state in the moment of performance: to what extent is 'the present' nudged out of the picture by memory-testing the pre-learnt lines?

more to come

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