Richard Maxwell Project

Heya people!

Right. I still find Maxwell�s demands on performance style exceptionally difficult and I think it is going to take A LOT of work for me to fully master it. Many of the Blog comments this week seem to talk about how Maxwell�s writing challenges society�s preconceptions about theatre, and I particularly feel that this is not just the case for the audience member, but also for the actor. We are all finding the acting style a real challenge, and I feel that the main reason for this is that we are all taking massive steps back from the way we have been trained - we�re being encouraged to take ourselves away from the Stanislavskian approach, which at the very least, I have been encouraged to use in the majority of the plays I have been in. In the past I have been encouraged to think about the motivation behind my character, to think about WHY I would do this or that, to build a story around the character so that I can present a person who is 3-D and complete. Maxwell wants us to do the opposite - to present the barest of characters, completely stripped of human emotion - at the maximum shouting or crying - I.e. only what is totally necessary. When I was thinking about this before settling down to write the Blog, I decided to look at it from the audiences perspective, particularly how I felt as an audience member (well, vaguely(!)) when I was watching �Caveman�: The characters are so totally stripped that it could be said that Maxwell allows the audience to make their own judgments as to why a character is doing something, as they are not being influenced by the actor�s impression and/or opinion.

Does that make any sense at all?!

I really liked Lotty�s point about linking the British way of reacting to situations to Maxwell�s writing style and how we ourselves could link this to our theme of citizenship. I think it could definitely be something that we develop and explore - particularly how the concept of citizenship can be seen as more than a few set memorised facts an loyalties, but an attitude or mentality towards life.

I�m going to go and ponder on that, see you all bright and early tomorrow!

x x x Naomi x x x