TTRP Masters Series 2007

Workshop for Actors: ImageWork Training & Chekhov Technique by David Zinder

Creativity in the theatre involves the external expression in physical form of the actor’s imagination. At the same time it is based on fundamental techniques relating to the actor’s instruments of expression: the body and the voice in space. In order to turn all of these into art radiated out to the audience, technique is required which was the starting point of the workshop. Both ImageWork – David Zinder’s method of actor training – and the Michael Chekhov Technique are based on the understanding that there exists a profound symbiosis in the performance space between the body and the imagination.

Participants were required to prepare for the 2nd session, on the Michael Chekhov Technique, by reading a classical play, choosing one of the characters and learning a brief monologue (a minute to a minute and a half). As long as the play was well-known (e.g. the Greeks, Shakespeare, Racine, Corneille, Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter) and with translations,  this was done in each actor’s own language.