Captain Jack Sparrow as an ideal consumer. Creative interaction between director and actor Phonochristomathia. Listening to an actor's reading

Actors or even sales managers, and sometimes beggars, swindlers and artists need to convey one character or another. In order to fully integrate into the image and accurately convey the character’s character, you need to do a lot of work. The influence of character on the result is enormous, so understanding the role should be given special importance.
If we are talking about theater or cinema, then the character of the actor should not be reflected in the character of the character. However, in reality it happens somewhat differently. When a famous literary work, or more often a biographical work, is filmed or staged, then the actor’s self must recede into the background. If it is necessary to get used to the role of a hero still unknown to the public, then each actor or actress tries to add their own charm to the image, to introduce some individual traits. Each performer brings his own understanding and presentation to the image. So, sometimes serial killers become touching and tender, and housewives become greedy and cruel.

Literary hero and cover. Nature of the work

To convey the image of a literary hero, it is not enough to simply read the work. You can read a novel to its core, but the image and character of your character will remain incomprehensible. It’s worth trying to study reviews of the work, and perhaps turn to film adaptations. If such methods do not help, then it is advisable to get used to his role as much as possible. When we look at the lost Robinson, we want a theater or film actor to try and live at least a day or an hour in such conditions. Then his understanding of the role will become completely different. But not all roles allow such experimentation; otherwise, the number of murderers, thieves and swindlers, as well as lovers and heroes, has steadily increased as new films or theatrical productions have been released.

What if the image of the character has not only never been found in literature, but is an absolute innovation of the screenwriter and requires special acting talent to be embodied? Then it’s worth looking closely at the character of the work, because the plot and the plot carry a lot of information about the character, her perception, and actions. The image may be quite stereotypical, but details, insignificant for many actions, will become decisive for the final character. It should not be surprising that many brilliant actors and all kinds of characters were the result of funny improvisations and force majeure, which led to the appearance of various details or lines. However, it is important to read the script as much as possible, try to replay all the events in your thoughts, and look at your character as if from the outside. Only in this way, through careful analysis, can a high-quality and subtle conveyance of the character’s character be achieved.

The series of films about Pirates of the Caribbean has become perhaps the most successful of Disney projects in recent times. It is a phenomenal success, both in the West and here in Russia, and the main character, the charismatic pirate Jack Sparrow, has become one of the most popular movie characters.

The image of the hero offered to us is quite curious and it did not appear by chance. It’s all the more interesting to take a closer look at it. Jack Sparrow is a pirate, a man without a home, without a homeland, without roots. He is a sea robber. Not Robin Hood, robbing the rich to help the poor. He is only interested in his own enrichment, he does not care about everyone else. Jack dreams of finding a ship on which he could sail beyond the distant seas, “a ship to call at port once every ten years; to the port, where there will be rum and dissolute girls.” He is a classic individualist. In one of the episodes, the pirates turn to Jack for help: “The pirates are going to fight Becket, and you are a pirate... if we don’t unite, they will kill us all except you,” his friends or enemies turn to him. “Sounds interesting,” Jack replies. He does not need friends, he craves absolute freedom from any obligations.

This desire for freedom makes the image of Jack very attractive - especially for teenagers. It is clearly addressed to a greater extent to them, to their desire to break away from their parents and become independent. Interestingly, Hollywood films often exploit some aspects of adolescence while ignoring others. After all, along with the desire to break old connections, teenagers also have a desire to form new ones. They are very willing to unite in various groups and movements. Teenagers make the most dedicated people. They passionately search for meaning like no other. All kinds of fan youth movements are proof of this. This means that along with “freedom from” there is “freedom for”, and the latter is no less attractive. So why aren't Hollywood movie makers turning to it?

“Freedom from” itself, which involves breaking all ties with the world, is destructive. The history of Europe and America since the end of the Middle Ages is the history of the gradual liberation of man, his acquisition of ever greater rights and freedoms. But few people talk about the negative factors accompanying this liberation. Erich Fromm, a prominent German philosopher and social psychologist who studied the influence of political and economic development of society on the human psyche, wrote: “The individual is freed from economic and political shackles. He also gains positive freedom - along with the active and independent role that he has to play in the new system - but at the same time he is freed from the ties that gave him a sense of confidence and belonging to some community. He can no longer live his whole life in a small little world, the center of which was himself; the world has become limitless and threatening. Having lost his specific place in this world, a person also lost the answer to the question about the meaning of his life, and doubts fell upon him: who is he, what is he, why does he live? He is threatened by powerful forces that stand above the individual - capital and the market. His relations with his brothers, in each of whom he sees a possible competitor, have acquired the character of alienation and hostility; he is free - that means he is lonely, isolated, threatened from all sides.”

Along with freedom, a person acquires the powerlessness and uncertainty of an isolated individual who has freed himself from all the bonds that once gave life meaning and stability.

This sense of instability is very evident in the character of Jack himself. He is a pirate - a man literally without ground under his feet. He walks somehow strangely: on his toes and as if swaying. The appearance of such an individualistic hero, breaking ties with the world, running away from obligations, a person who trusts no one and loves no one, a person without goals, attachments and interests is natural. Jack Sparrow is the end product of the modern evolution of social consciousness, a “free man,” so to speak.

To be fair, it should be said that Jack Sparrow does have one goal. He really wants to become immortal. The appearance of such a desire is also quite natural, since an intense fear of death is an experience very typical of people like the charming, cheerful Jack. For it - the fear of death, inherent in everyone - tends to intensify many times over when a person lives his life meaninglessly, in vain. It is the fear of death that drives Jack in search of the source of eternal youth.

Denial of death is a characteristic feature of modern Western pop culture. Endlessly replicated images of skeletons and skulls and crossbones are nothing more than an attempt to make death something close, funny, an attempt to make friendly friends with it, to escape from the awareness of the tragic experience of the finitude of life. “Our era simply denies death, and with it one of the fundamental aspects of life. Instead of turning the awareness of death and suffering into one of the strongest stimuli of life - the basis of human solidarity, the catalyst without which joy and enthusiasm lose intensity and depth - the individual is forced to suppress this awareness,” says Fromm. Jack does not have the courage to realize the inevitability of death, he hides from it.

So, Jack Sparrow's “freedom” turns him into a frightened, lonely man who treats the world with distrust and aloofness. This alienation and mistrust prevent him from resorting to traditional sources of consolation and protection: religion, family values, deep emotional attachment to people, service to an idea. All this is consistently devalued in modern Western culture. “Manifestations of selfishness in a capitalist society become the rule, and manifestations of solidarity become the exception,” says Fromm.

Why does Hollywood so diligently reproduce countless clones of the “maverick hero” model? Why does it replicate the image of a selfish, distrustful person deprived of consolation? According to Fromm, a person deprived of consolation is an ideal consumer. Consumption tends to reduce anxiety and restlessness. Deprived of spiritual sources of consolation, a person rushes to material sources that can only offer temporary peace, a surrogate. Stimulating consumption is one of the main tasks of a market economy. And it doesn’t matter that the joy of an acquisition can drown out anxiety for a very short time, that pleasure is replaced by true happiness.

In order to make the goods-pleasure bond stronger, a person’s basest qualities are disinhibited, thereby destroying the soul. Consequently, any idea that professes the priority of spiritual values ​​and disdain for material values ​​must be discredited. Christianity and communism, with their ideas about humanism and dreams of the spiritual ascent of man, are especially fiercely attacked. This is why priests in Hollywood films are often portrayed as either funny and weak or harsh, suppressive individuals, and people of faith as crazy fanatics. Business is not interested in the spiritual growth of a person; it needs a consumer who, in vague anxiety, is forced to wander through hypermarkets in search of peace of mind, just as Captain Jack Sparrow forever wanders the world without purpose or meaning.

Literature lesson

« The image of a man in F. Schiller’s ballad “The Glove”

(translated by V. A. Zhukovsky)"

(6th grade).

Lesson type: learning new material.

View: teacher's story, conversation.

Lesson objectives:

Educational: develop the ability to determine the theme and idea of ​​a work; characterize the characters, briefly retell the episodes; repeat knowledge of literary theory.

Educational: develop students’ mental activity, the ability to analyze, find key episodes and words in the text; draw conclusions, compare, generalize; improve students’ oral speech, contribute to the formation of artistic taste.

Educational: enrich the moral experience of students ; to create a need to discuss such moral problems as the problem of human dignity, the value of life and true feelings.

Aesthetic: to develop the ability to see the skill of a writer.

Technologies:student-centered learning, problem-based learning.

During the classes:

1. Organizational moment.

2. Updating knowledge (survey on the material covered):

1) What do you know about the ballad as a literary genre?

2) What types of ballads are there based on the theme?

3) What artistic features of a ballad can you name?

3. Teacher reading F. Schiller’s ballad “The Glove.”

4. Theoretical question: prove that this is a ballad (there is a plot, because it can be retold; an extraordinary incident; the intense nature of the narrative; dialogue between characters; the time of action is knightly times).

5. Working with the content of the ballad.

What kind of battle do King Francis and his retinue expect, sitting on a high balcony? (Battle of the animals.)

What animals should take part in this battle? (A shaggy lion, a brave tiger, two leopards.)

How do we usually imagine these animals? (Predatory, ferocious, cruel.)

Problematic question № 1: How does the author show them? (Lazy, calm, if not friendly.)Why?

We come to a contrast between the images of predators and people. The image of a beauty who drops her glove into the arena. The author's methods and techniques for creating an image (epithets, opposition (love is a glove, its desire is the behavior of animals), the character's speech).

We come to the conclusion that the heartlessness and pride of the beauty (the lady of the heart of the knight Delorge) is worse than the bloodthirsty cruelty of wild animals.

6. The image of the main character of the ballad - knight Delorge.

Are animals really that harmless? (Prove from the text. The author conveys the mortal danger that Delorge is exposed to indirectly: through the reaction of the audience (“Knights and ladies with such audacity, their hearts were clouded with fear...”)

How is the knight shown in this episode? The author's ways and techniques of creating an image (vocabulary (knight), epithets, contrast (his courage - the reaction of the audience)).

Problematic question: What did we expect at the end of the poem? Probably, like in Hollywood films, a happy ending: the beauty understands what a wonderful person loves her, repents of her cruelty and pride, and... they lived happily ever after...

Problematic question No. 2: For us, readers, the last three lines are completely unexpected (“But, coldly accepting the greeting of her eyes, He threw his glove in her face and said: “I don’t demand a reward.”) Explain the behavior of the knight Delorge. To do this, you need to try to put yourself in his place. .

We come to understand the knight’s act: he refuses love from a heartless beauty who does not value him, his life, and therefore does not love him.

7. Question about the meaning of the title. What does glove mean?

Possible answers:
- the pride of a beauty, a symbol of the pettiness of her soul;
- devotion and love of a knight;
- an occasion to talk about something very important for every person: self-esteem, the value of human life, true love.

So what is this ballad about?
This work is about the price of human life. Medieval knights risked and died for the sake of their king, the church or the Beautiful Lady. They died in crusades and bloody wars. Human life was inexpensive in those days. Schiller tells the legend about the knight Delorge and his lady so that the reader understands: you cannot play with death, pay someone else's life for the sake of personal whim. Love for a person is, first of all, the desire to see him alive, healthy and happy.

8. Conclusion: You must always think about how your behavior will affect another person. Doesn't it threaten the life of your friend, neighbor? We must take care of each other’s lives, then the world around us will be safe for everyone. Life is the greatest value on earth!

a) Profession - actor

The art of an actor is the art of creating stage images. When performing a certain role in one of the types of stage art (drama, opera, ballet, variety, etc.), the actor, as it were, likens himself to the person on whose behalf he acts in the play, variety act, etc.

The material for creating this “face” (character) is the actor’s own natural data: along with speech, body, movements, plasticity, rhythm, etc. such as emotionality, imagination, memory, etc.

One of the main features of the actor’s art is that “the process of acting in its final stage is always completed in front of the audience at the time of the play, concert, performance.”

The art of an actor involves creating the image of a character (actor). A stage image, at its core, is a fusion of the internal qualities of this character (actor), i.e. what we call “character”, with external qualities - “characteristicness”.

By creating a stage image of his hero, the actor, on the one hand, reveals his spiritual world, expressing this through actions, words, thoughts and experiences, and on the other hand, conveys with varying degrees of reliability (or theatrical convention) his behavior and appearance .

A person who has devoted himself to the acting profession must have certain natural abilities: contagiousness, temperament, fantasy, imagination, observation, memory, faith; expressive: voice and diction, appearance; stage charm and, naturally, high performing technique.

In recent years, the concept of artistry includes not only and not so much external data, the ability to change “appearance” (that is, what is called and understood literally - “acting”), but also the ability to think on stage, to express a personal attitude in a role to life.

When we talk about acting creativity, we mean that it is nourished by two sources that are in inextricable unity: life - with its richness and diversity, and - the inner world of the artist, his personality.

Life experience, sharpened emotional memory (if the actor knows how to use them) are his main wealth when creating works of art. It is experience that influences a person’s actions, his perception of the life around him, and shapes his worldview. At the same time, experience teaches us to see and penetrates into the essence of phenomena. Whether the viewer will receive aesthetic pleasure from the actor’s performance depends on how deep this penetration is and how clearly it (the phenomenon) is revealed. After all, the desire to bring joy to people with one’s creativity is the very core of the acting profession. Naturally, this largely depends on whether the actor has the gift of observing life and people’s behavior. (Remember, for example, someone else’s manner of speech, gestures, gait and much more). Observation helps to capture the essence of a person’s character, record in one’s memory and collect in the “storeroom” of one’s consciousness living intonations, turns of speech, bright appearance, etc., so that later, at the time of work, searching and creating a stage image, subconsciously draw from this pantry the character traits and characteristics he (the actor) needs.

But, of course, “immersion in life”, its disclosure requires from the artist not only talent and a bright individuality, but also filigree, honed skill.

True talent and true mastery imply expressiveness of speech, richness of intonation, facial expressions, a laconic, logically justified gesture, a trained body, and mastery of the art of spoken words, singing, movement, and rhythm.

The most important (main) expressive means of an actor is action in character, action, which in essence is (should be) an organic alloy of his psychophysical and verbal actions.

The actor is called upon to embody on stage the synthesis of the author's and director's plans; identify the artistic meaning of a dramatic work, enriching it with your own interpretation, based on your life experience, your observations, your reflections and, finally, your own creative individuality.

The individuality of an actor is a very complex concept. Here is the world of conscious and subconscious interests that accumulate in his emotional memory; this is the nature of his temperament (open, explosive or hidden, restrained); this and his data and much more. While preserving the richness of creative individuality and diversity in the choice of visual means, the actor subordinates his creativity to the main task - through the stage image he created, to reveal the ideological and artistic essence of the dramatic work.

b) The nature of acting

For at least two centuries, two opposing views on the nature of the art of acting have been fighting among themselves. In one period one point of view wins, in another - another point of view. But the vanquished side never gives up completely, and sometimes what was rejected by the majority of the stage yesterday again becomes the dominant view today.

The struggle between these two trends invariably focuses on the question of whether the nature of theatrical art requires that the actor live on stage the real feelings of the character, or whether stage acting is based on the ability of the actor to reproduce the external form of human experiences, the external side of behavior, using technical techniques alone. “The art of experiencing” and “the art of representation” - this is what K.S. called. Stanislavsky, these currents fighting among themselves.

The actor of the “art of experiencing,” according to Stanislavsky, strives to experience the role, i.e. experience the feelings of the person being performed, every time, with every act of creativity; the actor of the “art of performance” strives to experience the role only once, at home or at rehearsal, in order to first learn the external form of the natural manifestation of feelings, and then learn to reproduce it mechanically.

It is not difficult to see that the differences in the views of opposite directions boil down to a different resolution of the issue of the material of acting art.

But what causes these inevitable theoretical contradictions in the mouths of stage practitioners?

The fact is that the very nature of acting is contradictory. That is why it cannot lie down on the Procrustean bed of a one-sided theory. Every actor learns the complex nature of this art with all its contradictions for himself. It very often happens that an actor, once on stage, throws aside all theoretical views and creates not only without any agreement with them, but even contrary to them, but in full accordance with the laws objectively inherent in the art of acting.

That is why supporters of both directions are unable to maintain an uncompromising, completely consistent affirmation of the views of their school. Living practice inevitably pushes them from the pinnacle of impeccable, but one-sided adherence to principles, and they begin to introduce various reservations and amendments into their theories.

c) The unity of physical and mental, objective and subjective in acting

An actor, as we know, expresses the image he creates through his behavior and his actions on stage. The actor’s reproduction of human behavior (human actions) in order to create a holistic image is the essence of stage acting.

Human behavior has two sides: physical and mental. Moreover, one can never be separated from the other and one cannot be reduced to the other. Every act of human behavior is a single, integral psychophysical act. Therefore, it is impossible to understand a person’s behavior and actions without understanding his thoughts and feelings. But it is also impossible to understand his feelings and thoughts without understanding his objective connections and relationships with the environment.

The “school of experience,” of course, is absolutely right in demanding that the actor reproduce on stage not only the external form of human feelings, but also the corresponding internal experiences. When mechanically reproducing only the external form of human behavior, the actor takes out a very important link from the integral act of this behavior - the experiences of the character, his thoughts and feelings. The actor's performance in this case inevitably becomes mechanized. As a result, the actor cannot reproduce the external form of behavior with exhaustive completeness and convincingness.

In fact, can a person, without experiencing, for example, a shadow of anger, accurately and convincingly reproduce the external form of manifestation of this feeling? Suppose he saw and knows from his own experience that a person in a state of anger clenches his fists and knits his eyebrows. And what are his eyes, mouth, shoulders, legs, torso doing at this time? After all, every muscle is involved in every emotion. An actor can truthfully and truly (in accordance with the requirements of nature) hit the table with his fist and with this action express a feeling of anger only if at this moment even the soles of his feet live correctly. If the actor’s legs “lie,” the viewer no longer believes his hand.

But is it possible to remember and mechanically reproduce on stage the entire endless complex system of large and small movements of all organs that expresses this or that emotion? Of course not. In order to truthfully reproduce this system of movements, it is necessary to capture this reaction in all its psychophysical integrity, i.e. in the unity and completeness of internal and external, mental and physical, subjective and objective, it is necessary to reproduce it not mechanically, but organically.

It is wrong if the process of experiencing becomes the end in itself of the theater and the actor sees the whole meaning and purpose of art in experiencing the feelings of his hero. And such a danger threatens the actor of psychological theater if he underestimates the importance of the objective side of human behavior and the ideological and social tasks of art. There are still many in the acting community who like (especially amateurs) to “suffer” on stage: to die of love and jealousy, to blush with anger, to turn pale with despair, to tremble with passion, to cry real tears of grief - how many actors and actresses see in This is not only a powerful means, but also the very goal of your art! To live in front of a crowd of thousands the feelings of the person being portrayed - for this they go on stage, in this they see the highest creative pleasure. For them, a role is an occasion to show their emotionality and infect the viewer with their feelings (they always talk about feelings and almost never about thoughts). This is their creative task, their professional pride, their acting success. Of all types of human actions, such actors most value impulsive actions and of all types of manifestations of human feelings - affects.

It is easy to see that with this approach to one’s creative task, the subjective in the role becomes the main subject of the image. The objective connections and relationships of the hero with his environment (and along with this the external form of experiences) fade into the background.

Meanwhile, every advanced, truly realistic theater, conscious of its ideological and social tasks, always sought to evaluate those phenomena of life that it showed from the stage, over which it pronounced its social, moral and political verdict. The actors of such a theater inevitably had to not only think with the thoughts of the image and feel with its feelings, but also think and feel about the thoughts and feelings of the image, think about the image; They saw the meaning of their art not only in living out the feelings of their role in front of the public, but, above all, in creating an artistic image that carries a certain idea that would reveal an objective truth that is important to people.

The actor’s body belongs not only to the actor-image, but also to the actor-creator, for each movement of the body not only expresses one or another moment in the life of the image, but is also subject to a number of requirements in terms of stagecraft: each movement of the body must be plastic, clear, rhythmic, scenic, extremely expressive - all these requirements are fulfilled not by the body of the image, but by the body of the master actor.

The psyche of the actor, as we have found out, also belongs not only to the actor-creator, but also to the actor-image: it, like the body, serves as the material from which the actor creates his role.

Consequently, the actor’s psyche and his body, in their unity, simultaneously constitute both the carrier of creativity and its material.

d) Basic principles of training an actor

The basis for the professional (stage) education of an actor is, as is known, the system of K.S. Stanislavsky, however, you must be able to use this system. Disciplinary, dogmatic use of it can bring irreparable harm instead of benefit.

The first and main principle of Stanislavsky's system is the basic principle of all realistic art - the truth of life. Everything in Stanislavsky’s system is permeated with the demand for truth in life.

To insure yourself against mistakes, you need to develop the habit of constantly comparing the completion of any creative task (even the most basic exercise) with the very truth of life.

However, if nothing should be allowed on stage that would contradict the truth of life, this does not mean at all that you can drag everything from life that catches your eye onto the stage. Selection is necessary. But what is the selection criterion?

This is where the second most important principle of the K.S. school comes to the rescue. Stanislavsky - his doctrine of the super task. The ultimate goal is what the artist wants to introduce his idea into people’s consciousness, what the artist ultimately strives for. The ultimate task is the artist’s most cherished, dearest, most essential desire; it is an expression of his spiritual activity, his determination, his passion in the struggle for the affirmation of ideals and truths that are infinitely dear to him.

Thus, Stanislavsky’s teaching about the super task is not only a requirement from an actor of high ideological creativity, but also a requirement of ideological activity.

Remembering the ultimate task, using it as a compass, the artist will not make mistakes either in the selection of material or in the choice of technical techniques and means of expression.

But what did Stanislavsky consider expressive material in acting? This question is answered by the third principle of Stanislavsky’s system - the principle of activity and action, which says that one cannot play images and passions, but must act in roles in images and passions.

This principle, this method of working on a role is the screw on which the entire practical part of the system turns. Anyone who does not understand the principle does not understand the entire system.

It is not difficult to establish that all the methodological and technological instructions of Stanislavsky hit one goal - to awaken the natural human nature of the actor for organic creativity in accordance with the super task. The value of any technical technique is considered by Stanislavsky precisely from this point of view. There should be nothing artificial, nothing mechanical in an actor’s work; everything in it should obey the requirement of organicity - this is the fourth principle of Stanislavsky’s system.

The final stage of the creative process in the art of acting, from Stanislavsky’s point of view, is the creation of a stage image through the organic creative transformation of the actor into this image. The principle of reincarnation is the fifth and decisive principle of the system.

So, we have counted five basic principles of the Stanislavsky system, on which the professional (stage) education of an actor is based. Stanislavski did not invent the laws of acting - he discovered them. This is his great historical merit.

The system is the only reliable foundation on which it is only possible to build a solid building of a modern performance; its goal is to bring to life an organic, natural process of independent and free creativity.

e) Internal and external technology. The unity of the sense of truth and the sense of form

Speaking about the professional education of an actor, it is necessary to emphasize that no theater school can and should not set itself the task of giving recipes for creativity, recipes for stage acting. To teach an actor to create the conditions necessary for his creativity, to eliminate internal and external obstacles that lie on the path to organic creativity, to clear the way for such creativity - these are the most important tasks of professional training. The student must move along the cleared path himself.

Artistic creativity is an organic process. It is impossible to learn to create by mastering technical techniques. But if we create favorable conditions for the creative development of the student’s constantly enriched personality, we can ultimately achieve a magnificent flowering of the talent inherent in him.

What are the conditions favorable for creativity?

We know that the actor in his psychophysical unity is an instrument for himself. The material of his art is his actions. Therefore, wanting to create favorable conditions for his creativity, we must first of all bring the instrument of his acting art - his own body - into proper condition. It is necessary to make this instrument pliable to the creative impulse, i.e. ready to take the necessary action at any moment. To do this, it is necessary to improve both the internal (mental) and external (physical) sides of it. The first task is carried out with the help of internal technology, the second - with the help of the development of external technology.

The actor's internal technique consists in the ability to create the necessary internal (mental) conditions for the natural and organic emergence of actions. Arming an actor with internal technique is associated with nurturing in him the ability to induce in himself the correct feeling of well-being - that internal state, in the absence of which creativity turns out to be impossible.

The creative state consists of a number of interconnected elements, or links. Such elements are: active concentration (stage attention), a body free from excessive tension (stage freedom), a correct assessment of the proposed circumstances (stage faith) and the readiness and desire to act arising on this basis. These moments need to be cultivated in an actor in order to develop in him the ability to bring himself to the correct state of well-being on stage.

It is necessary that the actor control his attention, his body (muscles) and be able to take stage fiction seriously as the true truth of life.

The education of an actor in the field of external technology is aimed at making the actor’s physical apparatus (his body) pliable to internal impulse.

“It is impossible with an unprepared body,” says Stanislavsky, “to convey the unconscious creativity of nature, as accurately as it is impossible to play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on out-of-tune instruments.”

It happens like this: the internal conditions for creativity seem to be present, and the desire to act naturally arises in the actor; it seems to him that he has understood and felt this role and is ready to express this in his physical behavior. But then he starts to act, and... nothing happens. His voice and body do not obey him and do not at all what he foresaw as an already found solution to the creative problem: in the actor’s ears there just sounded an intonation magnificent in the richness of its content, which was about to be born, but instead from his larynx Some rough, unpleasant and inexpressive sounds burst out of their own accord, having absolutely nothing in common with what was asking to come out from the very depths of his excited soul.

Or another example. The actor is about to be born with an excellent gesture that absolutely accurately expresses what he is currently living internally, but instead of this meaningful and beautiful gesture some kind of absurd movement involuntarily arises.

The internal impulse itself, in both cases, was correct, it was rich in content and correctly directed the muscles, it demanded a certain intonation and a certain gesture and, as it were, called on the corresponding muscles to carry them out - but the muscles did not obey, did not They obeyed his inner voice, because they were not trained enough for this.

This always happens when the actor’s external material turns out to be too rough, uncouth to obey the subtlest requirements of the artistic concept. That is why it is so important that in the process of internal education of an actor, internal technique is complemented by external one. The education of internal and external technology cannot be carried out separately, for these are two sides of the same process (and the leading principle in this unity is internal technology).

It is impossible to recognize as correct a pedagogical practice in which the acting teacher abdicates all responsibility for equipping students with external techniques, believing that it falls entirely within the competence of teachers of auxiliary training disciplines (such as speech technique, gymnastics, acrobatics, fencing, rhythm, dance, etc.). The task of special auxiliary training disciplines is to develop a number of skills and abilities in students. However, these skills and abilities in themselves are not yet external technology. They become external technology when they connect with internal technology. And this connection can only be made by an acting teacher.

By cultivating internal technique, we develop in the student a special ability, which Stanislavsky called “a sense of truth.” A sense of truth is the basis of acting technique, its strong and reliable foundation. Without this feeling, the actor cannot fully create, because in his own creativity he is not able to distinguish the fake from the truth, the gross falsehood of pretense and cliche from the truth of genuine action and real experience. The sense of truth is a compass, guided by which an actor will never go astray from the right path.

But the nature of art requires from the actor another ability, which can be called a “sense of form.” This special professional sense of the actor gives him the opportunity to freely dispose of all means of expression in order to have a certain impact on the viewer. The development of external technology ultimately comes down to the development of this ability.

An actor must have two of his most important professional abilities in constant interaction and interpenetration - a sense of truth and a sense of form.

Interacting and interpenetrating, they give birth to something third - the stage expressiveness of acting. This is exactly what the acting teacher strives for, combining internal and external techniques. This is one of the most important tasks in the professional education of an actor.

Sometimes they think that any stage color, if it is born from the living, sincere feeling of the actor, will turn out to be expressive for this alone. This is not true. It often happens that an actor lives sincerely and reveals himself truthfully, but the viewer remains cold because the actor’s experiences do not reach him.

External technique should impart expressiveness, brightness, and intelligibility to the acting.

What qualities make expressive acting? Purity and clarity of the external design in movements and speech, simplicity and clarity of the form of expression, the accuracy of every stage color, every gesture and intonation, as well as their artistic completeness.

But all these are qualities that determine the expressiveness of acting in every role and every performance. And there are also special means of expression, which are always dictated by the uniqueness of the stage form of a given performance. This originality is associated primarily with the ideological and artistic features of the dramatic material. One play requires a monumental and strict form of stage execution, another requires lightness and mobility, a third requires jewelry finishing of an unusually fine acting drawing, a fourth requires the brightness of thick and rich everyday colors...

The ability of an actor to subordinate his performance, in addition to the general requirements of stage expressiveness, to the special requirements of the form of a given performance, designed to accurately and vividly express its content, is one of the most important signs of high acting skill. This ability is born as a result of the combination of internal and external technology.

f) Specifics of the work of a pop actor

One of the main features of the stage is the cult of the actor. He (the actor) is not only the main, but, at times, the only figure in pop art. No artist - no number. On the stage, an artist, no matter what he is, good or bad, when he goes on stage, remains face to face with the audience. He is not helped by any accessories (props, props, decoration, etc.), that is, everything that is successfully used in the theater. One can rightfully say about a pop artist: “a naked man on bare ground.” Actually, this definition may be the key to revealing the so-called specificity of a pop artist’s work.

That is why the individuality of the performer is of great importance. She is not only the living soul of what happens on the stage, but also, as a rule, determines the genre in which the artist performs. “Variety is an art where the performer’s talent crystallizes and his name becomes the name of a unique genre...” Very often, a truly talented artist becomes the founder of one thing or another. Remember the actors we talked about.

Of course, the specificity of the stage, its performing art, requires that the artist be not just a bright individuality, but that this individuality itself is humanly interesting for the audience.

Each variety act carries a portrait of its creator. He is either psychologically subtle and precise, smart, sprinkled with mischief, wit, graceful, inventive; or dry, boring, ordinary, like his creator. And the last name, unfortunately, is legion.

The main goal of a pop artist is to create a number, during the performance of which, he, revealing his creative capabilities, embodies his theme in his own image and appearance.

Sincerity, in a way, “confession” with which the actor presents his art, his thoughts, his feelings to the viewer’s judgment, with “an intolerant desire to tell him something that he has not seen, heard, or will see in his entire life and won’t hear,” is one of the specific signs of acting on the stage. Only the depth and sincerity of the performance, and not self-display, captivates the viewer. It is then that he is remembered by the public for a long time.

Leading pop artists have always understood and understand how great the tasks facing him are. Every time, going on stage, a pop artist requires the utmost mobilization of all spiritual and physical strength to create a performance. After all, an artist on the stage usually acts, so to speak, according to the laws of public theater, when the main thing for him becomes the message, as a result of maximum concentration, since the personal experiences, emotional and spiritual world of the artist are of great importance to the public.

No less important for a pop artist is his ability to improvise, to improvise a performing manner. On the stage, where the actor communicates with the audience “on an equal footing”, where the distance between him and the audience, listeners is extremely insignificant, improvisation is initially set in the conditions of the game.

Any variety act should give the public the impression that it was created and performed right now. “Otherwise, it immediately loses the condition of its intelligibility and persuasiveness - it ceases to be pop,” emphasized the peculiarity of the performance of a pop number, one of the best authors and experts in this type of art, Vladimir Zakharovich Mass.

An artist who appears on the stage must appear before the audience not as a performer of a pre-written text, but as a person who “here and now” invents and pronounces his own words. Nothing engages the audience in active participation like acting improvisation.

Naturally, freedom of improvisation comes to an actor with professionalism. And high professionalism presupposes enormous internal mobility, when the logic of the character’s behavior easily becomes the logic of the performer’s behavior, and the character’s thinking character captivates him (the performer) with its characteristics. Then fantasy quickly picks up all this and tries it on itself.

Naturally, even the most capable of improvisation actors, who are naturally predisposed to communication, go through a very difficult and sometimes quite painful path of mastering the skill that allows them to actually pronounce the author’s text as their own.

Of course, in many ways the impression of improvisation is created by the performer’s ability to seem to search for a word and put together a phrase in front of the listeners. The occurrence of pauses and backlash in speech, rhythmic accelerations or, conversely, decelerations, expression, etc. helps here. At the same time, we must not forget that the nature and manner of improvisation are directly dependent on the conditions of the genre and the director’s decision.

There is one more feature of a pop artist - he looks at his heroes, evaluates them as if together with the viewer. While performing his act, he actually conducts a dialogue with the audience, owning their thoughts and feelings. “If in this union of artist and spectator all the links are fused, if harmony is achieved between artists and listeners, then minutes and hours of mutual trust begin and great art begins to live.”

If the artist, in the desire to win audience success, builds his calculations on the laughter reprise moments contained in a pop work, acting on the principle: the more of them, then, as it seems to him, the artist is “funnier,” then the further he moves away from the genuine art, from the genuine stage.

A pop artist should be characterized by: relaxed feelings, thoughts, fantasies; infectious temperament, sense of proportion, taste; ability to stay on stage and quickly establish contact with the audience; speed of reaction, readiness for immediate action, the ability to respond with improvisation to any changes in the proposed circumstances; transformation, lightness and ease of execution.

No less important is the presence of charm, charm, artistry, grace of form and, of course, mischief, courage, and infectious gaiety in a pop artist.

You ask: “Can one artist have all these qualities?”

Maybe! If not all at once, then the majority! Here's what he writes about M.V. Mironova, famous theater critic and writer Yu. Yuzovsky: “It contains the flesh and blood of the stage, the lightness of this genre and the seriousness of this genre, and the grace and dashing of this genre, and the lyricism of this genre, the pathos of this genre, and the “damn me” of this genre..."

Every pop artist is a kind of theater. If only for the fact that he (the variety artist), using his specific techniques, needs to solve the same problems as the drama artist, but in the three to five minutes of stage life allotted for this. After all, all the laws of mastery of a dramatic (or operatic) artist are mandatory for the stage.

Mastery of the art of speech, movement, and plastic arts is a prerequisite for the mastery of a variety actor and his profession. “Without an external form, both the innermost character and the soul of the image will not reach the public. External specificity explains, illustrates and thus conveys to the viewer the invisible inner spiritual flow of the role.”*

But, of course, in the art of a pop artist, as well as any actor, in addition to the mastery of movement, rhythm, in addition to stage charm, personal talent, artistic merits and the qualities of a literary or musical work play a huge role. Even though on the stage the author (as well as the director) “die” in the performing actor, this does not diminish their importance. On the contrary, they become even more significant, since it is with their help that the individuality of the pop artist is revealed.

But, unfortunately, for some reason, even today every actor who performs on the concert stage can be considered a pop artist, although his repertoire and performance have nothing in common with the stage. To be honest, among the mass of pop artists we can often meet someone who does not know how to reveal, let alone deepen, the essence of the work being performed, or create a stage image. Such a performer finds himself entirely at the mercy of the repertoire: he is looking for a work that will in itself cause laughter and applause. He takes any thing, even rude, vulgar, just to have success with the audience. Such an artist, sometimes disregarding the meaning of the act, rushes from reprise to reprise, blurts out part of the text, shifts the emphasis, which ultimately leads not only to verbal, but also semantic absurdity. True, it should be noted that from such a performer even a good literary or musical work can acquire a shade of vulgarity and facelessness.

The artistic images created by a pop artist, no matter what genre they belong to (spoken, musical, original), because of their recognition, can seem easily accessible to the performer. But it is precisely in this accessibility and apparent simplicity that the main difficulties of a pop artist lie.

Creating a stage image on the stage has its own fundamental features, determined by the “conditions of the game” of the stage, as a type of stage art, and the “conditions of the game” of one or another genre.

In the stage there is no temporal extension of the character's fate, there is no gradual increase in the conflict and its smooth completion. There is no detailed plot development. A pop actor needs to live the complex, psychologically diverse life of his character in a matter of minutes. “... Over the course of some twenty minutes, I must quickly master myself, to put it vulgarly, change my skin and fit from one skin into another.”* At the same time, the viewer must immediately understand where, when and why the action of the act is taking place.

The art of a pop artist, the life of a performer on the stage, is largely built on those laws of acting creativity discovered by K.S. Stanislavsky, E.B. Vakhtangov, M.A. Chekhov and many other outstanding theater directors and actors. Unfortunately, when talking about the stage, they prefer to remain silent about this, and if they talk about it, it is very rarely and, at times, disdainfully. Although the entire creative life of Raikin, Mirov, Mironova, Rina Zelenaya and many others, whose pop flamboyance was combined with the ability to live the lives of their characters, confirms their commitment to the Stanislavsky system and the acting schools of Vakhtangov and Chekhov.

True, and this must be emphasized, the so-called directions of “experience” and “performance” that have developed in the dramatic theater lose their characteristics on the stage and have no fundamental significance. The pop artist, as it were, “puts on” the mask of his character, while remaining himself. Moreover, while transforming, he is in direct contact with the viewer. He (the actor) suddenly changes his hairstyle before our eyes (he somehow ruffled his hair), or does something with his jacket (buttoned it on the wrong button), begins to speak in the voice of his hero, and... “the portrait is ready.” That is, in two or three strokes he created the image of his character.

A peculiar form of reincarnation on the stage is transformation. Not the trickery of a circus performance, but a genuine means of expression, a technique that can carry a significant semantic load. “When I first started doing transformation,” said A.I. Raikin, many said that this was trickery, a circus genre. And I went for it consciously, understanding that transformation is one of the components of miniature theater.”

The need to reveal a lively and complex character in a short period of time forces the artist to pay special attention to the external design of the role, achieving a certain hyperbolization of even the grotesqueness of the character, not only in appearance, but also in his behavior.

When creating an artistic image on the stage, the actor selects the most typical character traits and characteristics of his character. This is exactly how a grotesque, a bright stage hyperbole justified by character, temperament, habits, etc., is born. Actually, on the stage, the stage image consists of a combination of the internal and external properties of the character, with the primacy of the external drawing, that is, characterization.

Minimizing theatrical accessories (design, scenery, makeup) makes the performance of the act more intense, enhances the expression of the game, and changes the very nature of the artist’s stage behavior. His playing becomes sharper, sharper, his gestures more precise, his movements more energetic.

For a pop artist, it is not enough to have the technical skills of performing (for example, vocal or speech abilities alone, or body flexibility, etc.), they must be combined with the ability to find contact with the audience.

The ability to build relationships with the audience is one of the most important aspects of the talent and skill of a pop artist. After all, he communicates directly with the public, addresses them. And this is one of the main features of pop art. When any scenes, excerpts from plays, operas, operettas, or circuses are performed on the stage, their performance is adjusted taking into account this feature. Moreover, in the very first seconds of his appearance on stage, an actor who fails to establish a strong contact with the audience can be accurately predicted - he will fail, and his act will not be a success.

If an instrumentalist or vocalist can still win over the audience from piece to piece, then a pop artist performing a monologue, feuilleton, couplets, parodies, etc. - never. Polite observation by the audience of what is happening on the stage is tantamount to failure. Let us remember: free communication with the public, the absence of a “fourth wall”, that is, the viewer is the performer’s partner (one of the main generic characteristics of pop art), also means that the audience becomes an accomplice in the actor’s creativity. In a word, making the public your ally, like-minded person, supporter is one of the main tasks of the performer. This ability speaks volumes about the skill of the actor.

Schiller was born into the family of a regimental doctor. As a child, he was sent to a closed educational institution - the Military Academy, founded by the Duke of Württemberg. The purpose of the Academy was to educate obedient servants to the throne. Schiller spent many years on this “slave plantation.” From here he endured a burning hatred of despotism and a love of freedom. After graduating from the Academy, where he studied medicine, Schiller was forced to accept a position as a doctor in a military garrison, but did not give up his dream of devoting himself to literature.

The play “The Robbers,” written at the Academy, was accepted for production in the then famous Mannheim Theater in 1782. Schiller really wanted to attend the premiere of his play, but he knew in advance that he would be denied leave, and therefore secretly went to Mannheim, which was not subject to the Duke of Württemberg. For violating the garrison service regulations, Schiller served two weeks in prison. Here he made his final decision regarding his future fate. On an autumn night in 1782, he secretly leaves the duchy, never to return there again. From this time on, years of wandering, deprivation, and need begin, but at the same time, years filled with persistent literary work. In the early period of his work, Schiller created works filled with protest against arbitrariness and tyranny.

In the summer of 1799, the writer’s wanderings ended: he moved permanently to Weimar, which became the largest cultural center in Germany. In Weimar, Schiller intensively studied history, philosophy, aesthetics, replenishing the knowledge that he felt he lacked. Over time, Schiller became one of the most educated people of his era and for a long time even taught history at one of the largest German universities.

Schiller left a rich creative heritage. These are lyrical and philosophical poems, and ballads, which were especially highly valued by Pushkin and Lermontov. But, of course, the most important work of his life was drama. The early dramas “The Robbers” and “Cunning and Love” (1784) immediately won the love of the audience. And the historical dramas “Don Carlos” (1787), “Mary Stuart” (1801), “The Maid of Orleans” (1801), “William Tell” (1804) brought him European fame.

Schiller called the ballad “The Glove” a story because it was written not in ballad form, but in the form of a narrative. Zhukovsky included it among the stories; the critic V. G. Belinsky had no doubt that it was a ballad.

“The Glove” was translated by Lermontov in 1829 (published in 1860), by Zhukovsky in 1831.

Glove

Translation by M. Lermontov

The nobles stood in a crowd
And they waited silently for the spectacle;
Sitting between them
The king is majestically on the throne:
All around on the high balcony
The beautiful choir of ladies sparkled.

Here they heed the royal sign.
The creaky door opens,
And the lion comes out of the steppe
Heavy foot.
And suddenly silently
Looks around.
Yawning lazily

Shaking his yellow mane
And, having looked at everyone,
The lion lies down.
And the king waved again,
And the tiger is harsh
With a wild leap
The dangerous one took off,
And, having met a lion,
Howled terribly;
He beats his tail
After
Quietly he goes around the owner,
The bloody eyes do not move...
But a slave is before his master
Grumbles and gets angry in vain

And involuntarily lies down
He's next to him.
Then fall from above
Glove from a beautiful hand
Fate by a random game
Between a hostile couple.

And suddenly turning to his knight,
Cunegonde said, laughing slyly:
“Knight, I love to torture hearts.
If your love is so strong,
As you tell me every hour,
Then lift up my glove!”

And the knight runs from the balcony in a minute
And he boldly enters the circle,
He looks at the glove of me than wild animals
And he raises his bold hand.

_________

And the spectators are around in timid anticipation,
Trembling, they look at the young man in silence.
But now he brings the glove back,
And a gentle, flaming look -
- A pledge of short-term happiness -
He meets the hero with the girl's hand.
But burning with cruel annoyance,
He threw the glove in her face:
“I don’t need your gratitude!” -
And he immediately left the proud one.

Glove

Translation by V. Zhukovsky

In front of your menagerie,
With the barons, with the crown prince,
King Francis was seated;
From a high balcony he looked
In the field, awaiting battle;
Behind the king, enchanting
Blooming beauty look,
There was a magnificent row of court ladies.
The king gave a sign with his hand -
The door opened with a knock:
And a formidable beast
With a huge head
Shaggy lion
It turns out
He rolls his eyes around sullenly;
And so, having looked at everything,
Wrinkled his forehead with a proud posture,
He moved his thick mane,
And he stretched and yawned,
And he lay down. The king waved his hand again -
The shutter of the iron door banged,
And the brave tiger jumped out from behind bars;
But he sees a lion, becomes shy and roars,
He hits himself in the ribs with his tail,

"Glove". Artist B. Dekhterev

And sneaks, glancing sideways,
And licks the face with his tongue.
And, having walked around the lion,
He growls and lies down next to him.
And for the third time the king waved his hand -
Two leopards as a friendly couple
In one leap we found ourselves above the tiger;
But he gave them a blow with a heavy paw,
And the lion stood up roaring...
They resigned themselves
Baring their teeth, they walked away,
And they growled and lay down.

And the guests are waiting for the battle to begin.
Suddenly a woman fell from the balcony
The glove... everyone is watching it...
She fell among the animals.
Then on the knight Delorge with the hypocritical
And he looks with a caustic smile
His beauty says:
"When me, my faithful knight,
You love the way you say
You will return the glove to me."

Delorge, without answering a word,
He goes to the animals
He boldly takes the glove
And returns to the meeting again,
The knights and ladies have such audacity
My heart was clouded with fear;
And the knight is young,
As if nothing happened to him
Calmly ascends to the balcony;
He was greeted with applause;
He is greeted by beautiful glances...
But, having coldly accepted the greetings of her eyes,
A glove in her face
He quit and said: “I don’t demand a reward.”

Thinking about what we read

1. So, before you is Schiller’s ballad “The Glove”. We invite you to read and compare two translations made by V. Zhukovsky and M. Lermontov. Which translation is easier to read? Which of them reveals the characters' characters more clearly?
2. What did the beauty want? Why is the knight so offended by her?
3. As we can see, the genre of this work was defined in different ways. What would you call “The Glove” - a ballad, a story, a short story? Repeat the definitions of these genres in the dictionary of literary terms.

Learning to read expressively

Prepare an expressive reading of the translations of Zhukovsky and Lermontov, try to convey the rhythmic features of each translation when reading.

Phonochristomathy. Listening to an actor's reading

I. F. Schiller. "Glove"
(translation by V. A. Zhukovsky)

1. What events does the musical introduction set you up to perceive?
2. Why does the actor so diligently reproduce the behavior of a shaggy lion, a brave tiger, two leopards?
3. What character traits did the actor convey when reading the heroine’s words addressed to the knight?
4. Prepare an expressive reading of the ballad. In your reading, try to reproduce the picture of the splendor and grandeur of the royal palace, the appearance, character, behavior of wild animals, the characters of the beauty and the knight.