Psychological Gesture, Concentration and Meditation on Character Development with Rudolf Steiner and Michael Chekhov

Abstract

At the beginning of the twentieth century two masters, Rudolf Steiner and Michael Chekhov, dedicated themselves to the actor’s pedagogy and to the work on the character, with particular attention to the development of the imagination through meditation and concentration exercises. The recovery of images in the unconscious memory and their elaboration - together with the study of the correspondence between sensations, moods and movements - gave life to the so called Gestures of the soul Steiner’s method and to the Psychological Gesture in the Technique of the actor of Michael Chekhov: two methods hinged upon on the functioning of the cognitive system for creative work on the character. The essay illustrates the fundamental principles on which the actor’s creative work is based and how some of these are relevant to the anthroposophical vision of Rudolf Steiner.