The Rudolf Steiner Archive

More about the Course “Speech Formation and Dramatic Art” at the Goetheanum: Stage Design and the Art of Directing

[ 1 ] The explanations given here so far—in the last two issues—from the “Course in Speech Formation and Dramatic Art” were intended to show how the art of acting finds its way to style from the perspective of language.

[ 2 ] In order to bring poetry to life on stage, the art of directing requires an immersion in the world of color. This applies to the costumes of the characters as well as to the decorative elements of the stage. For the audience, what they hear as words and see as gestures must be woven into a whole with the actors' costumes and the sculptural and painterly stage design.

[ 3 ] This depends on the ability to develop style in color tones. Therefore, stage design and painting must understand the transition from seeing (perceiving) color in the things and processes of the outside world to experiencing the inner essence of color.

[ 4 ] A tragic mood is impossible in a reddish or yellowish stage design. The same applies to a cheerful state of mind against a blue or dark purple background.

[ 5 ] In color, feeling comes alive in a spatial way. Just as the sight of red triggers a cheerful mood in the soul, blue a serious one, and violet a solemn one, so the loving and devoted behavior of one person toward another demands spatial embodiment in the reddish tones of the decorative environment. The reverent and devout experience of a person calls for a bluish hue for both.

[ 6 ] The same applies to the temporal sequence of the dramatic action. If this shifts from the general interest in the characters and plot at the beginning to tragic catastrophes, this corresponds to a transition in tone from light yellowish-red and yellowish-green colors to greenish-blue and blue-violet. The progression in mood towards a cheerful and satisfying comedy ending requires a transition in color tone from greenish to yellowish-red or reddish.

[ 7 ] However, this is only one point of view. Another is that the juxtaposition of characters reveals their color tones.

[ 8 ] An angry person will not be dressed in blue, but in a lighter color if the overall mood is tragic. However, if the plot requires it, an angry person can also be dressed in serious, solemn blue. This will give them a humorous effect.

[ 9 ] A joyfully excited person against a blue background and a sad person against a yellow background appear as if they are not in the right place in their surroundings; one smiles at the former and feels sorry for the latter.

[10] These subtle effects play out between the stage and the audience. Your artistic and imaginative insight is part of what makes up the art of directing.

[ 11 ] In the light and color tones of what appears on stage at the same time, combined and harmonized with those that refer to what is happening in time, the entire progression of the dramatic action will be revealed from one side.

[ 12 ] If one understands the matter correctly, one will not accuse the director of improperly mixing the arts. For in the practical execution of the matter, one will find that the director needs a completely different familiarity with color than the painter. This is because the painter lets his creations emerge from the color, while the art of directing lets character and action shine through the brightly colored stage design. A painter who does the latter becomes decorative in the negative sense; a director who indulges in the former kills the life on stage.

[ 13 ] In an outdoor performance, where one cannot count on the radiance of color, one will need a much more colorful language and costumes that more clearly correspond to the inner experience of the characters than in an artificially created closed stage setting. However, this does not apply when it comes to the representation of the great outdoors in a closed stage setting. In this case, what has been said here about color tones certainly applies.

[ 14 ] Thus, one will strive for stylization of light and color in the stage design. In contrast, the stylization of lines, forms, and plasticity will appear mannered. A stylized forest or stylized architecture are somewhat caricature-like. Here, the transition to realistic representation will be necessary. What stands out from nature in the drama will continue into it.

[ 15 ] When the right language is revealed through the right gesture within the right stage design, then the spirit that lives in the drama will manifest itself as the soul from the stage. And in such a manifestation, only the artistic is possible.

[ 16 ] Naturalism arises only from powerlessness in the face of artistic creation. It occurs when style has lost its spirit and degenerated into mannerism; but it is also rediscovered with the spirit.

Further guiding principles issued by the Goetheanum for the Anthroposophical Society.

[ 17 ] 97. A cruder representation might say: thinking, feeling, and willing live in the human soul. A more refined description must say: thinking always contains an undercurrent of feeling and willing, feeling contains an undercurrent of thinking and willing, and willing contains an undercurrent of thinking and feeling. In the life of thought, only thinking predominates over the other contents of the soul; in the life of feeling, only feeling predominates; and in the life of will, only willing predominates.

[ 18 ] 98. The feeling and willing of the life of thought contain the karmic result of previous earthly lives. The thinking and willing of the life of feeling determine character in a karmic way. The thinking and feeling of the life of will tear the present earthly life out of its karmic context.

[ 19 ] 99. In the feeling and willing of thinking, man lives out his karma of the past; in the thinking and feeling of willing, he prepares the karma of the future.

(Continued in the next issue.)