Page 242 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

“It’s about people with the very best intentions feeling they need to protect a way of
training and a repertoire, a classical repertoire, which is seen as being the best way
to train actors,” Frankcom says. “I’m not anti-classic, but for me it’s about the lenses.
It’s clear any drama training has to address the fact that a lot of people do not see
themselves represented in the texts that are seen as being central to drama training.

“If being a vandal is about ensuring equity and equality of experience, then I am
happy to be called that. I believe that art thrives in places where things are
questioned, evaluated and reviewed. And reflected on. Just because something has
been a certain way for a long time doesn’t make it immune from being questioned. In
fact, it makes the need to be questioned more urgent.”

Price doesn’t dispute the need to question. But he does argue: “[Stanislavski] is a
belief in process and one that believes the creativity of the actor is at the core of the
theatre, and that acting is not just an impersonation or replication. At its core is a
deep concern at what it means to act well. Why would anyone want to do away with
that?”

He argues: “When we think of Dr Chekhov, we tend to think of him as Astrov. But he
was as much Lopakhin. He was the son of a serf. His plays are simply the most
useful way to explore what it means when a character’s intention is concealed within
the scene or concealed by language. His plays function as a kind of textbook for
acting and dramaturgy.”

Expanding the curriculum

They do, but some argue there are other texts that may do that as well if we look
hard enough for them. At Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, head of acting Paul
Chesterton has discovered that the plays of Debbie Tucker Green serve as well when
teaching students about rhythm and poetry as some of the great ancient Greek
plays.

“I teach Chekhov,” says ArtsEd’s Spencer, “but I also teach a hybrid of African and
Asian training and look for new texts. Nothing is lost in doing this and instead of
feeling that it is, why not look at the changes as a way of gaining something?”