Michael Chekhov’s reputation as one of the finest actors of his – or any – generation is unassailable. On stage and on screen, Chekhov was acclaimed for his brilliant and original characterizations, improvisational inventiveness, and commanding presence.
His greatest legacy, however, is having researched, refined and articulated an objective creative approach to acting.
Central to the method is an image of the the Ideal Actor who, even as a human being, is a two-fold instrument. As an embodied being, he has corporeality: “I have a body.” As a conscious being with thoughts, feelings, and will impulses, he has an inner self (psyche): “I have an inner life.” In Chekhov’s vocabulary, the term “psycho-physical” is shorthand to indicate the actor’s whole instrument, which by its primary parts is both physical and psychological. Understandably then, the first goal of the method is for the two component parts of the actor’s whole to develop together in the direction of their highest potential.
Practical, elegant and artistic, the method is founded on creative principles, techniques, and exercises that respect and unleash the actor’s highest nature. With its recognition of the true nature of the actor-human being, It is easily distinguished from other methods of acting: the approach is at the same time necessarily physical and psychological. Hand in hand with the development of the actor’s whole instrument, the method facilitates the student’s acquisition of a comprehensive professional craft.
Chekhov training and practice awakens and elaborates the actor’s artistic imagination, strengthens the capacity for intense inner action, and loosens habitual restrictions to expressive emotion. Professional application of the method satisfies the actor’s longing for transformation.
“Chekhovian” acting is evident in the totality of dramatic qualities including exceptional originality, boldness, daring, physical and emotional expressivity, radiant presence, and truthful characterization. The Chekhovian actor is the harbinger and seed of the Theatre of the Future.
