Realism...

We discussed Psychological realism and how in naturalistic acting (which came after the period of melodrama) it is important to experience real things from real life to allow your acting to be truthful and sincere. The quote 'Truth is inseparable from belief and belief from truth' links to this as it means that for the audience to believe in what you are performing you have to be truthful to your character and the world of the play, but you also have to believe in what is actually happening in your play for the audience to think it's a truthful performance.  Some of the Stanislavski techniques which we talked about included:


The Magic If - the magic is is when an actor tries to put themselves into their characters shoes and they ask themselves questions like "What if my character saw a woman who had committed suicide" but ask themselves "How would they personally feel if they were in that situation" Therefore making the performance more realistic and authentic. Stanislavski created this method because he thought that actors cannot truly immerse themselves into the world of the play and their characters if the actor themselves didn't believe in the probability of the events. The magic if creates a sense of realism. This technique isn't to make the actor think the situations are real because that would make them seem crazy but instead it's to allow them to explore the reality if it was true.
For my character of Hedda I used the magic if to access the inner thoughts of such a manipulative and complex character.

What if Hedda truly used to be in love with Tesman?
This would mean that Hedda deep down has the ability to love another person. I think the 'honeymoon stage' of their relationship would have been one of great intimacy and romance but the longer it lasted the more Tesman's charm wore off and Hedda got used to it. George's ability to satisfy Hedda's need for material objects and a life of luxury would have really appealed to Hedda and would have made her more attracted to the idea of marrying Tesman and his wealth and so therefore him.

What if Hedda had an affair with Brack before?
Her relationship with Brack is one of passion and flirting. This leads me to believe that they have had an intimate relationship before. He is the only character that Hedda is honest with for example when she tells him about what she did with Aunt Juju's hat. She must be extremley offended then when he blackmails her at the end because she had actually let her guard down with him a little bit.

What if Hedda's mother died when she was young?
The absence of Hedda's mother is extremely important and highlights the relationship she has with her father. If Hedda's mum died when she was young she might find it difficult to connect with people and she may have issues with trusting people and letting them close to her because such a valuable relationship was torn apart in her youth. This would leave Hedda scared and because she knows her and her husbands relationship isn't one of strength and passion she doesnt want to give birth to a child and then ruin their chances of being able to trust people. I think losing her mum when she was younger made her quite sensitive and therefore she has built up a massive wall between her and other people to prevent them seeing her sensitive side. This is perhaps why her only positive relationship to something (inanimate or living) in the play is the pistols because they were her fathers.