Rehearsal of 'The Cherry Orchard'

In today's lesson we looked at a Stanislavski approach of acting called 'Outside-In' which works to first find the literal voice and language of a character, and allows the words in that voice to act on the actor, penetrating their psyche, so creating the whole character. We got into pairs and had to say a few sentences about our journey to college and then our partners copied the sentences back to us. I then listened to my partner describing their journey to college and repeated it back to them. This was a helpful exercise, as I had to change my accent and physique to portray my partner and got me out of my own self. It was also helpful listening back to my character repeating my sentences, as I wasn't aware of certain traits I had such as talking softly and using my hands when speaking.

To root ourselves into our character for 'The Cherry Orchard' we used 'creative imagination' to work out what has just happened thirty seconds before coming on stage. By doing this I found my through line which is an invisible thread that binds your story together. I imagined that 'Varya' (my character) had been worrying before coming onto stage and trying to keep her calm about Lopahin not proposing to her. She was listening to Charlotta and Pischik conversating but in deep thought about the cherry orchard and about her non existent love life.

By doing this I was able to go into the scene with more emotion and understanding of the scene. It helped me to get into my characters mind set and deliver my lines with more realism. Having this background information, I clearly knew where I stood in the scene and felt a connection to the lines and the whole scene which felt more holistic.

Varya is a bossy character as she states to Dunyasha the maid: "Dunyasha. Coffee. For Mother." Her assertiveness comes from a place of care as she feels she has to put on a 'strong' front for the rest of the family, however deep down she is lonely and fearful of the world and life without the Cherry Orchard.

Furthermore, Varya is easily wound up during the play and shows this during an argument with Trofimov. She states: " And you're so ambitious? To be a student. All. Your. Life. Is that it?" She has a sarcastic tone and has very high standards for those around her.

If my character was to be described as an animal, I would choose a hedgehog as they are scary and hard on the outside because of their spikes which are prickly and they can hurt you but they only show their spikes as a defence mechanism to hide their vulnerability and keep a strong image to everyone around them. Varya is similar as she wants to keep everyone under control and keep a strong image and that she can manage the cherry orchard and everyone around her, however deep down she is sad and anxious about her life and over whelmed by all the responsibility she has.