• Theodoros Terzopoulos’ method as an independent acting school

УДК: 792.075.14

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2022-4-169-189

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Timur F. Akshentsev

postgraduate student of the Plastic Education Department
Russian State Institute of Performing Arts
0000-0003-4324-2088, akshentsev.tima@mail.ru

Theodoros Terzopoulos’ method as an independent acting school

Abstract

The author analyses the basic principles of the theatrical method of the Greek director Theodoros Terzopoulos, founder of the Athenian theatre, “Attis,” within the stage director’s attitude towards thephysicality of an actor, in connection to the relation between body and emotion, and, what is even more important, in the process of actor’s training. Considering the example of Theodoros Terzopoulos’ performances and based on his words about the main ideas of his methodology, the article analyzes the specificity of movement and actor’s existence via this method from the director’s philosophical point of view that includes the epoch, the man, and the issues of theatre and actor. The author makes comparisons between Terzopoulos’s system and other theatre systems (such of E. G. Kreg, A. Arthaud, E. Grotowski). Theodoros Terzopoulos’ method is formed on the border of the predecessor systems – from Meyerhold to Muller, oriental bodily and religious practices, however, at the same time it represents a unique form of theatrical aesthetics and provides an independent direction for the education of an actor. This methodology can be assessed as a self-sufficient acting school. Although his method is not typical in Russian theatre practice, it does not become an obstacle to its incorporation into Russian theatrical practice. Terzopoulos' trainings can help an actor to learn how to create what is called the scale of emotion. The rituality of his theatre teaches the actor to deal with non-normative aesthetics, and a deep study of the human body and its unconscious behavior and instincts can allow the actor to exist convincingly in the most aggravated and extreme stage circumstances.

Keywords

Theodoros Terzopoulos, method, training, actor, theatre.

For citation

Akshentsev T. F. Theodoros Terzopoulos’ method as an independent acting school. Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2022, no. 4, pp. 169–189.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2022-4-169-189

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Received: 02.10.2022

Revised: 11.11.2022

Accepted: 13.11.2022