QUIZ TIME

I have eight depictions of period actors, each showing one of the Ten Major Emotions actors trained to express. Can you identify them?



























1. The pose in question is that of the woman on the right. From Box and Cox.




2. Again, look at the woman's pose, from unidentified play and actors.


















3. Both these pictures of Dame Ellen Terry show the same emotion.



4. Edwin Booth as Iago bristles with a particular mood.



5. Edmund Kean, here as Othello; is he communicating his feeling clearly?



6. Julia Marlowe is overcome by her mood as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing.



7. Mary Anderson; the play is unknown, but her emotion should be obvious.




8. How do you respond to this attitude by Marie Wilkins in Two Orphans?

An earlier post of The Ten Major Emotions has a drawing and verbal description for each, included under the link "stage gestures."

ELOCUTION -- USE OF THE LIMBS

A page from an elocution manual, c. 1855, showing placement of the limbs and head, with sample lines.

It was as important to use the space above the shoulders as to use the middle space (by the torso) or lower. The feet and legs are in a modified fourth position, with weight on back leg; also, the head turns according to meaning of sentence (generally, to face the dominant hand, but averting the face is appropriate for shame, hatred, etc.).

GESTURE STUDY IN AUSTRALIA

STUDYING THE STROKE
A Secret Weapon for Singers and Actors
By Helga M. Hill (Melbourne)

After generations of neglect, the return to the stage, concert hall and opera house of the Art of Gesture may yet be acclaimed as the most significant development in theatre over the past half-century. Perhaps surprisingly for some, gesture’s current energetic international revival has been initiated by a handful of Australian researchers, teachers and practitioners.

The Art of Gesture was first discerned from nature by the ancient Greeks, and formalised by Roman scribes and orators. Cicero and Quintilian were foremost among the early writers who recorded the rules of the art for posterity. Additionally, there were the Greek and Roman sculptors who, in their quest for beauty, inadvertently immortalised gesture in stone.

The purpose of gesture is to empower chosen words so that an audience can more clearly comprehend the scenes and passions these words are meant to convey.

At the heart of gesture is the “stroke” – the precise movement of the hand on the accented syllable of a word chosen for gesture. The late Dene Barnett, the founder of the modern-day gesture movement, often spoke of the need for “Ciceronian precision” when executing a stroke. This, he maintained, was the “very essence of the art”. Any meaningless waving of arms or hands is tiresome for onlookers and destroys the timing that makes gesture such an empowering weapon for performers.

Gesture comes in infinite variety – large gestures for dramatic moments, smaller for the intimate ones; gestures at various levels and in various directions. Gesture can involve one hand or both in prone, supine or vertical positions. The whole body is involved – placement of feet, the curve of the body, positioning of arms, hands and fingers, a turn of the head or eyes are all part of gesture, as is a moment of stillness.

Such are the techniques of gesture. But what has to be clearly understood is that gesture is the outward expression of what is in the mind, the heart and the soul of the performer. The Art of Gesture enables the audience to join in the experiences of the performer.

In all of this, the use of facial expressions to show passions, such as grief, anger, joy or fear, demands vigorous study and constant practice. Classical paintings depicting such passions are a major source of inspiration for singers and actors alike.

Some songs or spoken pieces may demand very little gesture and, certainly, too much gesture can detract from, rather than enhance, the impact of words. Despite the necessary rules of gesture there is plenty of room for an “artistic-intuitive” approach in putting those rules into effect.

Prior to his death in 1997, Dene Barnett taught philosophy at Flinders University south of Adelaide. In the course of his prolific readings he encountered gesture in the writings of Cicero and Quintilian. Renaissance scholars were following a similar path when they stumbled upon this treasury from the past. Thanks to their efforts gesture entered its second golden age – this time in the courts, religious houses, educational institutions and theatres of 17th and 18th Century Europe.

A steady stream of books on the subject was written well into the 19th Century. These included Gilbert Austin’s “Chironomia”, published in England in 1806, in


which he presented a method of notating gesture. Of importance, too, was the 1827 Amsterdam publication “Gesticulatie en Mimiek” by J. Jelgerhuis with its many expert drawings of gesture and depictions of passions.

Such publications and many contemporary letters show that the art of gesture was understood, appreciated and demanded in Europe throughout this period. Without appropriate gesture, an actor would be publicly derided, a priest would lose his congregation and a courtier would be banished to the lower ranks.

Among surviving anecdotes is the story of Elizabeth I’s request for a copy of a sermon that had pleased her in chapel. On reading it she exclaimed: “That’s the best sermon I ever saw, but the worst I ever read”!

From the 1850’s the study, teaching and use of gesture declined until, by the early 20th Century, it was caught up in a misty area of the subject known as elocution, with some flow-on to silent films. It had disappeared by the time Dene Barnett, like the Renaissance scholars, re-discovered it in the writings of the ancients.

His research over some twenty years, mainly in Europe and sometimes behind the then Iron Curtain, eventually gave rise to his magnum opus: “The Art of Gesture – the Principles and Practices of 18th Century Acting”, which was published in Germany in 1987. This monumental work is, in effect, an overview of the art which will underpin its future international development.

But even if the book is something of a foundation stone for the new gesture movement, reading it does not – in itself – produce a skilled practitioner. Much more than reading is required because today’s gesture student is not supported by a society in which the art is in daily use as it was, for example, in the upper classes of Roman and Renaissance times. Only constant study, mastery of the rules and notation of gesture, and daily practice in front of a mirror will produce long-term results. Working in a team with other practitioners is also an invaluable aid.

In Melbourne the task of reviving the all-but-lost art is well underway. Each year six students are admitted to a ten-week (20-hour) introductory course presented at the Early Music Studio of the University of Melbourne. A library of publications on gesture has been established, including books from Dene Barnett’s collection. And Melbourne audiences, who have the opportunity to see gesture in performances, are appreciating that the art has something special to offer.

The fully-gestured staging of Eccles’ Judgment of Paris (1701) by the University of
Melbourne Faculty of Music in July, 2006, marked a high point for the art in Melbourne. The intimate link between music, words and gesture was noted by many.

The Early Arts Guild of Victoria contributes to these developments through its Gesture Library, the planning of classes and gestured performances and by raising funds for research. Dene Barnett’s brother, Gordon Barnett, who lives in Canberra, has also provided valuable support.

The study of gesture is as demanding as it is rewarding. Once the nuances of the art are mastered, actors and singers develop a powerful new way of influencing audiences. A new not-so-secret weapon is at hand.



Email helgamhill@bigpond.com

SONG PANTOMIME

The photo here is from a 1906 book for school assemblies -- directions for poses and movements to twenty-six of "our favourite songs". Judging by the pencil marks, the number one favourite was The Battle Hymn of the Republic. I couldn't bear to share with you songs like Old Black Joe, Swannee River, or Massa's in the Cold Ground. (These were to be done by children in blackface.) But here is Annie Laurie:

Maxwelton's braes are bonnie,
Hands extended obliquely to the front, somewhat higher than the waist line.*

Where early fa's the dew,
On "where" raise the hands till on level with top of head, then on "falls" bring them slowly down till they are out straight from the sides of the body, then drop to sides.

And 'twas there that Annie Laurie
Right hand out obliquely to the front, eyes looking into distance.

Gave me her promise true,
Right hand is brought up to center of breast, left hand is down and out at left side.

Gave me her promise true,
Right hand raised, arm's length, obliquely to the front, the left hand down and out from left side, eyes raised and looking into space with tender light (italics mine).

Which ne'er forgot will be,
Left hand raised and extended out at left side on level with the waist line; right hand raised, arm curved gracefully until thumb and first finger touch right temple, head drooped and tilted to the right.

And for bonnie Annie Laurie,
Hands thrown out obliquely in front of body, step forward with the right foot, body inclined forward.

I'd lay me down and dee.
Right foot brought back, head bowed sadly, hands out in front of body, down at arms' length, palms down.


*"oblique" arms are palm up, at 45 degree angle from body, fingers toward the ground.

HANDS UP

ELOCUTION POSES

Animation of selected poses from elocution and acting manual of early 19th century.
Notice that legs and feet change positions; some stances are on balls of the feet; arms move from shoulder, with minimum flexing of wrist and elbow; and weight is placed on one leg or the other.

CECILIA LOFTUS

Here is a very sinister pose by actress Cecilia Loftus.

GESTURAL EXERCISES

I have copied out some textbook exercises for actors' hand gestures, paired with period illustrations.
Hand Index - pointing index, usually with a relaxed hand, not a fist
Hand Supine - palm down
Hand Prone - palm up
Hand Reflex - palm to chest; sometimes with clenched hand to show agitation
Hands Clasped - gripping each other palm to palm
Hand Averse - palm away from body
Hand(s)Clenched - rolled tightly into a fist

Hand Index
Look here upon this picture, and on this. –Shakespeare
You, sir, what trade are you! –Shakespeare
Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel? –Shakespeare








Hand Supine
What is your tidings? –Shakespeare
Welcome, Icilius! –Welcome, friends! –Knowles
O ye gods, Render me worthy of this noble wife. –Shakespeare





Hand Prone
No! thou shalt remain with me. –Halm
He draws his lines round the doomed garrison. He cuts off all supplies. –Prentiss
Hold, hold! that is to danger—see you not? –Halm






Hand Reflex
Hold, hold, my heart; And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up. —Shakespeare
And for that name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself. –Shakespeare
O, I have loved thee long; So much the more ecstatic my delight, to find thee mine at length! —Knowles







Hands Clasped
O, spare my child, my joy, my pride! –MacKay
Give your children food, O Father! Give us food, or we must perish!—Longfellow
O, bless you, bless you! My father! my dear father! Art thou not my father? –Knowles














Hand Averse
Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee! –Shakespeare
Go, go, thou selfish and ungrateful child! –Halm
He hates his fellow-men, and glares upon them with the longing of a cannibal.
–Prentiss










Hand Clenched
I will not yield, To kiss the ground beneath young Malcolm’s feet. –Shakespeare
Woe to the hands that shed this costly blood. –Shakespeare
The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. –Webster

THE TEN MAJOR EMOTIONS FOR ACTORS

One of the first things a 19th-century actor would learn was the expression of the "ten major emotions": Joy, Grief, Fear, Anger, Pity, Scorn, Hatred, Jealousy, Wonder, Love. These covered most dramatic situations. Contemporary theories of psychology, physiology, and elocution held that internal emotions were expressed externally on the body, the body's external positions could create internal emotions, and attitudes of emotion would communicate and sometimes instill themselves in the viewer. In dimly lit and noisy theatres, the taking of commonly understood positions helped viewers follow a story, of course.

Ten Major Emotions for Actors (1756) by Aaron Hill, was published in Britain and was still running through many successive editions in Jacksonian America. I've listed below the emotions in the order Hill did -- words in brackets are Hill's explanations of the emotion. The descriptions of physical expression are from another very popular book, Lessons in Elocution by William Scott (the 1814 edition). This was another 18th-century title, a standard text for study well into Victorian America. Abraham Lincoln pored over his copy to learn proper modes of declamation and oratory. Copies of Scott's Elocution show up regularly on eBay, generally for about $10 a copy, its ubiquity a testimony to how many copies were printed and kept in early America.

1. JOY [PRIDE possessed of TRIUMPH] when sudden and violent, expresses itself by clapping of hands, and exultation or leaping. The eyes are opened wide; perhaps filled with tears; often raised to heaven, especially by devout persons. The countenance is smiling, not composedly, but with features aggravated. The voice rises, from time to time, to very high notes.

2. MELANCHOLY OR FIXED GRIEF [DISAPPOINTMENT void of HOPE] is gloomy, sedentary, motionless. The lower jaw falls: the lips pale, the eyes are cast down, half shut, eyelids swelled and red, or livid, tears trickling silent, and unwiped; with a total inattention to every thing that passes. Words, if any, few, and those dragged out, rather than spoken; the accents weak, and interrupted, sighs breaking into the middle of sentences and words.

3. FEAR [GRIEF discerning and avoiding danger], violent and sudden, opens very wide the eyes and mouth; shortens the nose, draws down the eyebrows; gives the countenance an air of wildness: covers it with a deadly paleness; draws back the elbows parallel with the sides; lifts up the open hands, the fingers together, to the height of the breast, so that the palms face the dreadful object, as shields opposed against it. One foot is drawn back behind the other, so that the body seems shrinking from the danger and putting itself in a posture for flight. The heart beats violently; the breath is fetched quick and short: the whole body is thrown into a general tremor. The voice is weak and trembling…

4. ANGER [PRIDE provoked beyond reach or regard of Caution] expresses itself with rapidity, interruption, noise, harshness and trepidation. The neck stretched out, the head forward, after nodding and shaking in a menacing manner, against the object of the passion. The eyes red, inflamed, staring, rolling and sparkling; the eyebrows drawn over them; and the forehead wrinkled into clouds. The nostrils stretched wide, every vein swelled; every muscle strained, the breast heaving and the breath fetched hard. The mouth open, and drawn on each side towards the ears, shewing the teeth in a gnashing posture. The face bloated, pale, red or sometimes almost black. The feet stamping, the right arm often thrown out, and menacing with the clenched fist shaken, and in a general and violent agitation of the whole body.


5. PITY [active GRIEF for another’s affliction], mixed love and grief, looks down upon distress with lifted hands; eyebrows drawn down; mouth open, and features drawn together.

6. SCORN [negligent ANGER] - [contempt unconnected with anger…gained…by a seeming unsinewy slackness of muscles, associated with a look of placid indifference. When, however, the passion rises into nervous and exclamatory violence, the laxity of the muscles, added to their given disposition, will require a look that flames with anger and insult, a big and bursting expansion of the body, and a voice of grand and lofty loudness.] …sets the jaws or gnashes with the teeth; sends blasting flashes from the eyes; draws the mouth towards the ears, clenches both fists, and bends the elbows in a straining manner. The tone of voice and expression are all much the same with that of anger; but the pitch not so loud.

7. HATRED (AVERSION) [restrained, yet lasting ANGER] …drawing back, as avoiding the approach of what he hates; the hands, at the same time, thrown out spread, as if to keep it off. The face turned away from that side…the eyes looking angrily and asquint the same way the hands are directed, the eyebrows drawn downwards, the upper lip disdainfully drawn up; but the teeth set. The pitch of the voice loud, the tone chiding, unequal, surly, vehement.

8. JEALOUSY [doubtful ANGER, struggling against LOVE and PITY] shows itself by restlessness, peevishness, thoughtfulness, anxiety, absence of mind. Sometimes it bursts out in piteous complaint, and weeping, then a gleam of hope lights up the countenance…. Immediately the face clouded with a general gloom shews the mind overcast again with horrid suspicion…the arms are folded upon the breast; the fists violently clenched; the rolling, bloody eyes dart fury.


9. WONDER [inquisitive FEAR] opens the eyes, and makes them appear very prominent: sometimes raises them to the skies; but oftener fixes them on the object. If the cause…be a present and visible object, with the look all except the wildness, of fear. If the hands hold anything…they immediately let it drop…the mouth open; the hands held up open, nearly in the attitude of fear.

10. LOVE [DESIRE kept temperate by REVERENCE] lights up [the face with] smiles. The forehead is smoothed, and enlarged, the eyebrows are arched, the mouth a little open and smiling; the eyes languishing and half shut, doat upon the beloved object. The countenance assumes the eager and wishful look of desire; but missed with an air of satisfaction and repose. The accents are soft, and winning; the tone of voice persuasive, flattering, pathetic, various, musical, rapturous, as in Joy.

ELOCUTION AND GESTURES

The figures here are from an elocution exercise in an 1851 schoolbook. The 19th-century world was one of performance and presentation, a large portion of which was oratory. Preachers, politicans, actors, and lecturers spoke in tones and gestures discrete from everyday conversation. As you can see, even young children were trained to decipher and employ the gestural codes. Notice that one did not only extend the arms, but shift weight, turn the body and head, and change position of the feet. Each numbered figure corresponds to a word in red in the below lines:


KNOW YE THIS, MY FRIENDS, THAT HE WHO REIGNETH IN HEAVEN,

WHOSE FOOTSTOOL IS THE SOLID GLOBE,

WHO AT A GLANCE TAKETH IN ALL THINGS,

WHOSE ESSENCE FILLETH ALL SPACE,

THE IMMENSITY OF THE UNIVERSE,

REGARDETH US, THE CREATURES OF HIS CREATION, HIS BOUNTY,

NOT AS OBJECTS TO BE CAST AWAY

OR REPELLED FROM HIS PRESENCE,

BUT AS BEINGS TO WHOM HIS HEART IS EVER OPEN,

HIS HAND EVER EXTENDED.

HE WILL TAKE US TO HIS ARMS, AS A MOTHER TAKETH HER CHILD.


To get a sample of past oratorical style, click the link "historical speeches" on the left.
This is a streaming of early historical speeches and recordings by Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, Ernest Shackleton, Sarah Bernhardt, William Howard Taft and others, created from early cylinder recordings at the University of California, Santa Barbara. (The rest of the site is worth browsing, with early home recordings, music, and one set of early vaudeville recordings.)

BASIC MELODRAMATIC STAGE CONVENTIONS

[The attached pictures are from an early 19th-century acting manual and demonstrate gestures for "terror," "joy," and "anger." Notice weight is on one leg or the other -- not in "neutral stance". Arms are moved from the shoulder, not the elbow and the head is held at an angle.]

1. Actors trained through apprenticeship: joining a company and starting with walk-ons and non-speaking parts, watching more experienced and famous actors. They would develop a “line of business” (stock character), e.g.: hero, villain, low comic, light comic, walking gentleman or lady
2. Most actors had had training from a dancing master, as did most of the public (Dickens showed these even in the poorer neighbourhoods) in dancing as well as: polite carriage, entering and leaving a room, proper bows and courtesies, forms of introduction, etc. Many more had elocutionary training.
3. Delivery of speech and motion was vigorous, spirited, “exaggerated.” The whole body displayed feeling through foot stamping, sudden starts, eye rolling, “windmill” arms, etc.
4. Actors articulated musically and emphatically; they employed large gestures and positioning of body and worked for “points” (traditional places of emphasis in speeches, highly emotional phrases, where actors aimed to elicit applause). As a rule, they did not talk while moving across stage.
5. Entrances and exits were meant to attract attention: actor primarily an ACTOR, not character. An actor entered confidently, directed self towards footlight focal point, and planted oneself firmly before beginning to speak.
6. If an actor received loud or continued applause (including foot-stomping, whistles, shouting, or throwing of wreaths of flowers on stage), speech might be encored 3 or 4 times back to back.
7. Gestures somewhat categorized: serious/comic, male/female, hero/villain, upper class/lower class. The pace slowed for serious moments, sped up for comic ones. Serious or good characters showed more curve, grace and beauty; comics and villains were more angular and sharp.
8. All the tradition and plot similarity allowed “gagging” – that is, being able to play a part without thoroughly memorizing it. Standard company would be performing one play, rehearsing another, and memorizing a third in the same week; changing performances every week.


SOME NOTES:
Neutral stance: Modified fourth position, weight on balls of feet
Chest out, chin in, shoulders down
Back straight and arms curved, elbows slightly out
“THE ARMS ARE NOT STICKS”*

FORWARD: Objective (towards an object) – moments of description, love,
revenge, authority – any emotions directed out
NEUTRAL: Doubt, reservation, neutrality
BACKWARD: Subjective (introspective) – thought, meditation, fear, experience

GESTURES: “BE FREE IN MOVEMENT, VIGOROUS IN ACTION”
Ascending: Appeal to heaven, indication of something above, acclamation (the ideal)
Middle: Indication, description, sincerity or deep feeling (e.g., Aversion)
Descending: Indication, contempt, affirmation, denial

*Quotations are from contemporary acting manuals.