Page 99 - Theatre_Arts_Form_5

Theatre Arts for Advanced Secondary Schools

External approaches
While internal approaches by Stanislaviski have seven elements, external
approaches have their own components and characteristics. Applying external
approaches in acting, actors are required to be trained to play characters based on
physical or bodily actions which include movement, facial expressions, words,
FOR ONLINE READING ONLY
mannerisms and voice. External approach deals with physical elements in the
art of acting which makes strong demands on the performer’s body. Stanislavski
considered actors’ body and voice as “instruments” that could be trained and
could help the actor give shape to an action. As the name suggests, this approach
starts from “outside” the character. Performers are supposed to imagine how
the characters they portray play, walk, talk and behave and imitate the imagined
behaviours when portraying the role of a character. External performing is based
on physical materialisation of the character. To act externally, the performer
must be equipped with the elements of external approach which include unit of
objective, super objective, analysis of text through action, sub-text, communion,
adaptation and physical apparatus and tempo-rhythm.

Unit of objective
The unit can be defined as a smaller section of the scene in which the character has
a smaller objective. Unit and objective are points of reference for actors. In this
Stanislavski’s training approach, the play is broken down into portions known
as units. The aim of breaking a play into units is to point out a creative objective
which is supposed to be what the character wants. To achieve this pursuit of
dividing a play into units and objectives, the actor is trained to ask themselves
one question: what is the core of the play or the thing which when removed the
play cannot exist? Unit and objective involve breaking each scene down, looking
at the characters’ speech, intention and movement.

Super objective
In this training approach, actors or performers are trained to identify characters’
objective through line of action. Stanislaviski considered the super objective as
the ‘spine’ and the objective as ‘vertebrae’. In every scene, an actor is required
to identify the main character’s super objective, for example, to win back the
lost trust of the other characters. To achieve this super objective, there should be
successive unit objectives from other characters which will block or support the
achievements of supper objective. These objectives, when woven together, reveal
the super objective through line of action as shown in the figure 4.2.

89 Form Five

28/06/2024 15:05
THEATRE ART F5 fnl.indd 89 28/06/2024 15:05
THEATRE ART F5 fnl.indd 89