Stanislavski and "Gotcha"

Stanislavaski's methods are effective to use in "Gotcha" as the play is written with realistic characters and its plot is built around a actual educational/political issue in 1976. So by using techniques like emotion memory or creating subtext, actors can build a believable and an easy to relate to character.

To learn each idea we did a range of different activities. Firstly, we studied 'subtext'. To do this three members of the class performed a scene from Gotcha in the round an after each line we took it in turns to add our own 'subtext' of what we thought the characters were thinking at the time. This added to our actors performance as they took on board this extra information, if we decided to make them resent the other characters they would replicate this in their body language or facial expression by turning away or sneering. This have us a good understanding of how crucial subtext can supply us with key information when we are deciding on how to play a character.

Next we learnt about 'Circle of Attention' by simply acting out parts of the play and using lights to iluminate different characters circle of attention.

Emotion memory was tricky as some people could not find a memory to directl relate but instead they found a moment in time where they felt very strong emotions. We all sat facing in different directions and relived our memory in our heads. Then as a chorus started to read one on the kid's monologues from Gotcha, using our situation and memories to affect the way in which we delivered the monologue. I chose to deliver the monolouge in a hurt, slow, methodic way. This convered a feeling of resigned depression.