About Michael Chekhov

Michael Chekhov was an Academy Award Nominated Russian/American Actor, who was born in Russia. He was also a director, author and theatre practitioner. His acting techniques have been used by Clint Eastwood and Marilyn Monroe. He was nephew to the playwright - Anton Chekhov, whose work includes, "The Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard".

Chekhov worked with Stanislavsky in the Moscow Art Theatre as an actor from 1912, however in 1928, he was forced to leave Russia, as his teachings of theatre were seen as radical and threatening, in their experimental way, by Stalin. He was exiled to Berlin and Europe, where he continued to study Theatre.

His book, "To The Actor" was published in 1953. It was a landmark in actor training, as no one had ever made a handbook for the actor, whereas "An Actor Prepares" by Stanislavsky is more like a fictional story, with a narrative. At the beginning of the book, Chekhov makes it clear that he wants the reader to get up and try the exercises and not just to read the book. He believes that to understand something fully, you must experience it.

Some of the themes of his work include, atmosphere, the actor's creativity and physicalisation of inner experience. He believed that acting was not a system it was a free-er. He believed that actors are creative artists, creating characters distinct from themselves. He believed actors should understand the whole composition of the play, just like the director, rather than immersing themselves in just their role. He believed, creating a character should be Objective, not subjective. So it should not be bias and from your own memories, it should be you seeing things from a bigger picture.

He thought that the actor should use their imagination to create a character by utilizing their "Higher Ego", which is a different self, to the everyday self. It's about finding a different ego/identity.

Simon Callow's foreword in the 2008 re-published edition of "To The Actor" states that, "We must overcome our fear of the theatre theatrical when it comes to acting." - which means that acting takes you to this flamboyant, magical world where there is no truth behind your, there is a fear of being too theatrical. Callow said, "Profound importance of Chekhov's work is that it's aim is to breed such a race of just actor poets, who know the theatrical ways.

Actors should, seek characters in the realm of their imagination and they shouldn't try to intellectualize it, or research it, but they should engage their imaginations. They shouldn't use concrete life stories - actor's dreams and fantasies are much more useful than biographies, images or books.

An actor lets the body and imagination reveal a character in the play. You have to grasp the initial ideas of how different you are on stage to your character. Ask what the difference is, no matter how small or subtle that may be. Go with purely what the text describes.