My movements
and my speech
are true to
myself, to my
psychology …
~Chekhov
 He studied under Stanislavski at the Moscow
Art Theatre, where he was noted to be
Stanislavski’s best student.
 He moved away from Stanislavski’s system
later in life and led the company under the
name the Second Moscow Art Theatre.
 His father was brother to the famous
playwright Anton Chekhov.
 An outward gesture that represents
the character’s inner psychology
 Later in rehearsal and character
development, the gesture is
suppressed.
 The final result is internalized by the
actor.
“… the tendency to produce
such a gesture
undoubtedly exists in our
own mind. And this
tendency is the same
which stimulates us to
produce physical
“breaking,” “drawing,” or
“grasping” gestures, if such
seem necessary.
“Hamlet …, when the curtain is
raised, can sit motionless in the
throne room. This is your
imagination. But Hamlet’s
psychological gesture may be a
large, slow, heavy movement
with both arms and hands…for
Hamlet’s dark, depressed
mood… And this gesture is what
you must do in reality … Then try
to act and speak like Hamlet,
having now the psychological
gesture only in the back of your
mind.”
• Pick a “speech” from a Shakespeare play
that you are not completely familiar with.
• Execute the gesture without words, then with
words, and finally, only the words without the
gesture.
• Choose several gestures for each transitional
moment (beat change) of the speech, and
follow the step above for each, transitioning
between each gesture.
•
Find two contrasting psychological
moments in your speech.
•
“Allow your soul to make a free and
unbroken transition from one pole to the
other.”
•
Repeat the transition several times,
extending the duration of it each time.