The Journal of Performance and Mindfulness

Available open access at: https://www.performanceandmindfulness.org.uk/

Rudolf Steiner’s Art of Acting: an introduction

Neil Anderson
Sydney University, Australia

KEYWORDS ABSTRACT

Contemplative practices This paper offers an introduction to Rudolf Steiner’s Art of

Steiner Acting. It notes that although Steiner is well known as a
Aesthetic education pedagogue across a wide range of fields and is developing a
Actor-training reputation as an artist in his own right, his indications for acting
have not been fully taken up. This paper will argue that this is
part of an overall pattern in which Steiner has either been
secularized, or framed within a late nineteenth century occult
revival. To redress this contextualizing, it is essential to re-
examine Steiner’s Goethean project. This allows the core
aesthetic aspect of Steiner’s contemplative approach to actor
training to be uncovered. Thereby building a case for Steiner’s
inclusion among modernist thinkers on acting.

One contemplative approach to actor training to be

uncovered. Further, by providing an elaboration
This paper offers an introduction to a little- of aesthetic education, principles can be
known contemplative approach to acting: established to explain Steiner’s intentions with
Rudolf Steiner’s art of acting. This investigation actor training, thereby building a case for the
draws on multiple sources and it notes that inclusion of Steiner, with his individual
although Steiner (1861-1924) is well known as sequence of actor preparation, among
a pedagogue across a wide range of fields and modernist thinkers on acting.
has a developing reputation as an artist in his In recent years there has been
own right, his indications for acting have not something of a renewed interest in Rudolf
been fully taken up. This paper will argue that Steiner (1861 - 1924), not only as a philosopher,
this is part of an overall pattern in which Steiner esotericist, a pioneer in education and organic
has either been secularized or framed within a farming, but also as an artist. In Germany in
late-nineteenth-century occult revival. To 2010-2011, for example, a major exhibition
redress this contextualizing, it is essential to re- entitled ‘Rudolf Steiner and Contemporary Art’
examine Steiner’s Goethean project, allowing examining the relevance of Rudolf Steiner’s
the core aesthetic aspect of Steiner’s ideas, practices and worldview for

NB. Minor typographical edits were made post publication at the request of the editor, 05/20
2

contemporary artists, was presented in interpretations of Steiner’s ideas through

Wolfsburg and Stuttgart (Brüderlin, 2010, p. 9). dramatic techniques inspired by
In Australia in 2007-8, the National Gallery of anthroposophy; their performances of
Goethe’s Faust have led to new interest in
Victoria hosted the blackboard drawings of
Steiner’s work (Rubin, 1994, p. 838).
Steiner and Joseph Beuys under the title
‘Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition’ (Holland, This paper will follow the interest of the
2007). professional theatre: the application of Steiner’s
Perhaps the most palpable legacy of indications for performing major works of world
Steiner’s practice as an artist might be found in theatre.
the innovative architectural, sculptural and
visual aspects of the two Goetheanums in Two
Dornach, Switzerland, designed and built under
Steiner’s guidance to provide a suitable space A person of extraordinary contemplative and
for the theatre events of the Anthroposophical practical activity, Rudolf Steiner produced an
Society, the flagship of the modern spiritual enormous body of work: his complete works
movement founded by Steiner. The first number more than 330 volumes. Like Johann
Goetheanum built in wood was completed in Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 -1832), whom he
1919 and burnt down on New Year’s Eve of admired and whose work he built upon,
1922; it was replaced by the still-active concrete Steiner’s oeuvre straddled art, religion and
version completed in 1928 after Steiner’s death. science. Steiner sought what he conceived of
The theatre events for which Steiner designed as a higher union of each in a worldview which
the venue included his own Mystery Dramas, acknowledged spirituality, a union he framed
written between 1910 and 1913 and great plays under the name of ‘Anthroposophy’. Across his
in the world canon such as Goethe’s Faust writing, Steiner communicates quite a body of
which, in Steiner’s view, had an implicit initiatory knowledge, making innovative contributions to
content. The Mystery Dramas break new many areas of human endeavour from
ground in following the trials and breakthroughs medicine, science, philosophy, to education,
of a group of people drawn to initiation over special education, religion, economics,
various lives. What academic scholarship that agriculture, architecture, the new art of
exists into Steiner’s theatrical impulse has eurythmy and drama.
focused on the former productions Given the detail and complexity of
(Chamberlain 1992; Gordon 1978; Lingan Steiner’s thought, and the tendency of that
2014), while professional theatre has been thought to be considered in terms of the occult,
drawn to the latter. For instance, the theatrical practitioners influenced by him—most
'Switzerland' section of The World Encyclopedia significantly the leading actor and acting
of Contemporary Theatre explains that: teacher, Michael Chekhov (1881-1955)—have
tended to simplify and to secularize Steiner’s
One of the most unusual theatres in the indications in order to reach a wider public.
country is the Goetheanum-Buhne in the city Such a strategy is not dissimilar to that adopted
of Dornach, it was founded by the German by those promoting the twentieth century
theosophist Rudolf Steiner. Professional translation of Buddhist philosophy and practices
actors, eurythmists and teachers of eurythmy into the largely secular movement of
use the premises to express their
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mindfulness (Chamberlain 2003; Cristini 2015; attempt to encompass Steiner’s legacy in

McMahon 2017). In recent years, however, speech and drama in its historical and
there has been a desire within the Chekhov Australian context. Gilmer draws on her
movement by some to integrate Steiner’s experiences at the Steiner Speech and Drama
speech impulse with the Chekhov technique “Harkness Studio”, making the case that
and embrace a less secular worldview. Michael Chekhov’s vision for the actor can only
Significant developments have been the first be fulfilled through a mastery of Steiner’s
publication of the complete edition of Chekhov’s indications for speech. Kimbrough offers a close
To the Actor as On the Technique of Acting by analysis of Steiner’s key 1924 lecture series on
Mala Powers in which Chekhov’s debt to Steiner Speech and Drama. Unfortunately, Kimbrough
is more evident (Chekhov 1991) and the fact appears to lack direct contact with Steiner
that theatre-makers and teachers trained in speech and drama graduates apart from Robert
Steiner’s speech and drama techniques, such Taylor, a former student of the Bridgmonts, and
as Sarah Kane, Graham Dixon, Geoffrey Norris, shows no knowledge of other core texts such as
Jane Gilmer, John McManus and Dawn Creative Speech (from 1926) or the 1920
Langman, are now either teaching in Chekhov lectures on Recitation and Declamation (Steiner
training and/or contributing to such training with and Steiner-von Sivers, 1978; Steiner & Steiner
their literature (Ashperger 2008; Gilmer 2013; -von Sivers, 1981). Langman provides the most
Langman 2014, 2014). The Chekhov stream comprehensive account to date of Steiner’s
has also become more aware of Michael speech and drama impulse building upon her
Chekhov’s Goethean aspects, thus pushing mainstream training in speech and drama with
back the ‘fear’ of being tainted by the occult first her Anthroposophical Speech training
(Ashperger 2008; Pitches 2006). On the other under Maisie Jones and later her mastery and
hand, academic scholarship into Steiner’s integration of the Chekhov technique.
theatrical opus has stressed its occult
character, its links to other contemporary and Still, with respect to Steiner Speech and
past esoteric traditions, and situates Steiner as Drama graduates, at least in the English-
part of a late nineteen century Occult Revival speaking world, some of the most interesting
(Chamberlain 1992, 2003, 2004; Lingan 2006, work has occurred where people trained in this
2010, 2014). Both approaches—secularization way have also had a history in and/or future
on one hand, and a focus on the occult on the contact with mainstream professional theatre.
other—have the effect of overlooking the For instance, Peter and Barbara Bridgmont
prescience of Steiner’s philosophical thought were both well regarded professional actors
and its contemporary significance. before they undertook the Anthroposophical
Furthermore, there is little academic speech training in England in the 1970s
literature in English on how Steiner’s speech (Bridgmont, 1992); Michael Chekhov employed
and drama impulse has been carried within the Alice Crowther, a trained eurythmist and
Anthroposophical Movement with their four- anthroposophic speaker, as part of the Michael
year, Goetheanum-accredited Speech Chekhov Studio in Dartington Hall
trainings, with only four scholarly publications (Chamberlain, 2004); and Mechthild Harkness,
taking up this aspect of the practice (Anderson, who went on to become a leading exponent of
2011; Gilmer, 2013; Kimbrough, 2009; Steiner’s Speech and Drama work, benefited
Langman, 2014). My 2011 article was an from early close artistic collaboration with her
4

husband Alan Harkness, one of the leading develop the drama work into the future in
teachers of the Chekhov technique and connection with the ‘Word’ which obviously
previously a pioneer of experimental theatre in includes eurythmy’ (Andersdotter, 2019;
Australia before his untimely early death Vanderbyl, 2013).
(Harkness, 2016; Mitchell, 2014). Dawn
Langman, who began in theatre education and Three
the professional theatre, was a major figure in
However, rather than explore these different
adult Steiner education before returning to
streams, this paper will argue that in the light of
professional theatre with her solo performances
recent interest in contemplative/mindfulness
and work with Rosalba Clemente in Adelaide,
practices in acting, an introduction to Steiner’s
Australia, as an actor and speech teacher
approach to contemplative actor training itself is
(Langman 2014).
a priority. Such an introduction needs to
proceed by bracketing out both his modern
Steiner’s influence in the field of theatre
interpreters, Peter Bridgmont and Dawn
is multifaceted, for although not all
Langman, and his earlier interpreter, Michael
Anthroposophical speech trainings teach
Chekhov, simply because there is much more in
acting, those that do, frequently do not use the
Steiner’s vision than is generally recognized. It
Chekhov technique. The notable exceptions
is difficult to evaluate the creative contributions
being Dawn Langman and Sarah Kane. For
offered by these interpreters unless we are a
generally Anthroposophical trainings are less
very clear grasp of Steiner’s indications in
encumbered by public opinion or changing
themselves, and the very modernity of his
public tastes and so are not drawn to secularize
thinking.
Steiner’s indications, but strive to work out of a
There is no better way to assess the
conscious knowledge of Steiner’s
modernity of Steiner’s thinking than to reflect
Anthroposophy in their art. For instance, Peter
upon his theory of knowledge. Steiner proposed
and Barbara Bridgmont, who ran Chrysalis
an ecology of knowing—of knowledge as
Acting School in London from 1975 until the
fundamentally relational—rejecting both idealist
1990s, developed their own technique
and materialist epistemologies, and, indeed, the
(Bridgmont, 1992, 2019). Hans Pusch (1902-
false antimony that frames these perspectives
1976), in San Francisco and later in Santa
as exhaustive and mutually exclusive. For
Barbara, America, where he ran a speech
Steiner, knowledge was a human problem
school and later a repertory theatre from 1949
requiring human solutions for in what other
onwards, drew on 13 years of playing principal
regard can we have any certainty? Those who
roles on the Goetheanum stage, 1926 to 1939,
look to technological solutions in education
(Barnes 2005, p. 268); Mechthild Harkness
would do well to reflect on this.
(1923-1986) who ran the Harkness Studio in
Steiner acknowledged the suffering of modern
Sydney from 1973 to 1986 and the teachers
experience of separation—humanity’s
who worked under her, Annika Andersdotter,
estrangement from nature and confrontation
Linden McCall, and Riana Vanderbyl, who still
with nothingness—but saw in it the potential of
teach, see Steiner’s speech and drama impulse
human freedom. Steiner’s idea of knowledge as
as ‘a seed or inspiration or a point of departure
relationship starts with making friends with the
to evolve the Drama work out of the ‘Logos’, to
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world, recognizing things in their own right as crucial. For instance, with respect to the theory
having intrinsic value, giving them the of colour, Goethe held that Newtonians, by
opportunity to reveal themselves. Materialism, refusing to allow the see-er into the experience
Steiner explained, is a denial of such a of colour, were led to speculative ideas to
relationship, taking the world instead as an explain the phenomenon rather than directly
object to be mastered (Steiner, 1968, 1979b). finding meaning in the phenomena themselves
Hence Steiner, like Goethe, is at odds (Welburn, 2004, p. 90-1). This means
with a ‘value free objective’ science and its perception is not mere recognition but is
ascension of the quantitative over the capable of ‘potentially infinite extensions of
qualitative (Pitches 2006; Steiner 1968). The meaning’ by an artist or thinker. This
act of knowing for him then has moral highlighting of ‘interpretation’ in knowing also
significance as it changes the relationship brings together science and art since it regards
between the knower and world. It is also pivotal neither as having a monopoly on truth. In
to human freedom, as it is only by gathering following Goethe’s suggestion that the scientist
understanding, real ‘self’ knowledge, that we need not be only a collector of facts but direct
can begin to act freely (Steiner, 1979a). on the world ‘a perceptive power of thought’
Like the phenomenologists Steiner (Welburn, 2004, p. 90), we find parallels in the
sought no metaphysical grounding for practice of art such as Picasso’s range of
knowledge, but trusted human thinking to thoughts and perceptions in his blue period.
provide cognitive stability, conditional on the A Goethean approach by maintaining a
realization that knowledge is a human problem human involvement in seeking knowledge,
or gift: in us, the world, which Steiner regarded avoids a conscious cognition leading to dry
as a singular totality, is broken up. Knowledge formulations. Steiner saw no need for art to
then, is the ‘understanding’ coming together of source itself from the realm of the irrational or
what has been separated in us into perception unconscious. On the contrary, Steiner
and thinking (Steiner, 1979b; Welburn, 2004). advocated consciousness in artistic practice,
Welburn argues that Steiner’s but a consciousness distinguished from the
epistemology, in shifting attention away from ‘rational’ intellect:
the architecture metaphor, of building the
edifice of knowledge and in not seeking to Illuminating with consciousness – that is what
provide foundations of knowledge, instead we have to strive for. Entering with
emphasizes human participation and consciousness into the instruments of speech
does not mean feeling them intensely in a
perspective in knowing, anticipating not only
physical sense, it means freeing the sounds
theories like quantum mechanics and from the physical by penetrating them with
‘anthropic’ science in physics but also highlights consciousness and laying them into the
the need for a re-evaluation of Goethe’s stream of the breath. Consciousness takes
scientific research and methodology in the hold of the essential nature of a thing and is
study of the natural world (Welburn, 2004, pp. carried along by it while the intellect can by-
57-84). This combined with the foregrounding of pass it in a very strange way. (The) intellect
reflects, photographs, and thereby so easily
human freedom in Steiner’s thought, makes him
acquires a mechanical and abstract
one of our most contemporary thinkers. character, becoming ever so more tenuous
For Goethe, recognition of the role of the (Steiner and Steiner-von Sivers, 1981, pp. v-
interpreter in the making of knowledge was vi).
6

Techniques to enhance the actor’s predominance of the prosaic (Heller, 1975,

consciousness or the use of contemplative pp. xiv-xv).
practices are of course not new in actor training.
While (purportedly) ‘scientific’ approaches to This is precisely Steiner’s main endeavour with
acting were developed early in the period of regard to the performing arts - a quest to restore
modernity, many innovators were not poetry to performance in an age of prose.
exclusively scientific in their worldview or their Steiner saw science, art and religion as distinct
practice. Edward Gordon Craig, Jacques pathways to bridge the sundered world in us
Copeau, Constantin Stanislavski, Bertolt 5 and valued all three. However, of the three, art
Brecht, Antonin Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski all plays an especially important role. Steiner
drew explicitly upon various ‘others’—generally describes the singular pursuit of ‘truth’ through
eastern and/or mystical traditions—to address science as making us more and more humble,
what they understood as the limits of ‘traditional’ eventually leading to nothingness or
Western thinking. Innovations such as dehumanization. Art, by showing us how to
Stanislavski’s circles of concentration have respond to the world, restores us to ourselves:
become part of the actor’s tool kit (Stanislavsky,
1964) but often without the awareness of It is true that for Steiner the many-sidedness
of the poet and artist was to be the new ideal
Stanislavski's debt to yoga and Buddhism
for the philosopher too, but art, or man’s
(Chamberlain, 2014, pp. 3-4). Steiner’s faculty of ‘aesthetic judgement’ was never to
contribution to the introduction of contemplative lose its central position or claim to be—as the
practices into actor training, however, as Romantics of England and Germany had
Jonathan Pitches argues, has been largely argued with alternative reason and intuition—
overlooked, perhaps because he did not draw the highest and most perfect form of
upon ‘exotic’ Eastern practices, but precisely knowledge, because the most human. The
apprehension of beauty, as Steiner once put
because he strove to build upon the heterodox
it, ‘comprises truth, that is selflessness; but it
European tradition of Goethean science is at the same time an assertion of self -
(Pitches, 2006, p. 130). supremacy in the soul life, giving us back to
Like the other theatrical innovators, ourselves as a spontaneous gift (Andrew
Steiner was responding to his context. The Welburn cited in Steiner and Steiner-von
challenge to the arts of instrumental reason or Sivers 1981, pp. v-vi).
the Enlightenment is well documented. German
cultural critic Erich Heller has written well on The philosopher Georg Kühlewind (1924-2006)
this, noting the end of the Middle Ages as the usefully extends Steiner’s indications for artist
beginning of a significant change in practice. A professor of chemistry, Kühlewind
consciousness, when the symbol became was a longtime contemplative who worked with
‘merely symbolic’: the spiritual disciplines of Anthroposophy as
developed by Rudolf Steiner and who built up
If Thomas Aquinas saw the link between an independent body of research published in
poets and philosophers in their several books. Particularly relevant is a 1993
preoccupation with the marvellous, their essay titled “Art and Cognition”, in which
modern successors seem united in the Kühlewind addresses the question of the
reverse; either they try systematically to components of an aesthetic education.
strengthen or desperately to ward off, the
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recommended human development in his

(T)he pedagogy of art has two aims: on the teaching of Anthroposophy (Selg, 2010;
one hand to educate the specific feeling Steiner, 1947, 1973, 2004) in his artistic
sensibility which is characteristic for the trainings while providing artists in each
perceptual field of the art-form; on the other
discipline with specific meditations to be
hand, teach the technique of the art-form for
the necessary interaction with its material undertaken privately (Steiner 1998), he
medium (instrument, brush and paint, clay foregrounds the development of aesthetic
and stone, one’s own body etc) so that the judgement. There is, then, a clear distinction
hand – and through the hand the whole body between contemplative practice for human
– can become a speech organ. This standard development in general and contemplative
means that one has to educate an intelligent practice in the specific context of the arts. In the
‘seeing’ will, which finds its aims, goals and
course of ‘general’ human activity, Kühlewind
forms of movement not from thought
representational mental pictures but carries points to the potential of meditation to extend
the ‘what of its will within itself. In essence, that ‘flash of understanding’ we have when we
artistic ‘technique’ means this kind of seeing grasp a new thought. Here the human subject
will in the respective medium (Kühlewind, consciously works backward through the stages
1993, p. 3). of thinking, feeling and willing to approach the
idea-nature. He refers to this process as the
Kühlewind observes that art and ‘ladder of ascent’. Once a suitable theme - such
cognition appear to be easy to distinguish: art as an inspired verse - has been chosen, the
appears in the sense perceptual world, while subject concentrates on it, focusing on the
cognition occurs our inner consciousness. Both, meaning independent of the words. The aim is
however, involve a creative element and thus for the thinking to come into ‘living thinking’,
share a common root. He describes the which has a feeling component. When this is
common source as their logos or idea-nature. achieved, the thinking is renounced, and the
For Kühlewind, the birth of an artistic idea attention shifts to holding the feeling. If this is
involves two equally important first stages: will achieved, the feeling can then also be
and feeling. New ideas emerge from a ‘will’ to renounced and then the focus changes from
come into being; a ‘feeling’ emerges from the feeling to willing attention. The aspiration at this
will. This then in turn brings forth a ‘living stream point is to experience directly the idea-nature of
of thoughts’, more distinct, but still without the initial theme. Then the subject attempts to
language. However, in time this “coagulates” ‘bring down’ the insights gained, by taking the
into more or less consistent thoughts and focus back to feeling, then living thinking and
crystallizes into words. For art, Kühlewind finally everyday consciousness.
places particular emphasis on the stage of 6 Kühlewind argues the ladder of ascent is
feeling: “Once the cloud of feeling has formed, identical for one in search for artistic inspiration
”Kühlewind explains, “the artistic phenomenon but divides on the descending path at the stage
is immediately produced: living thinking and the of cognitive feeling. For, at this point, in
level of thought are avoided” (Kühlewind, 1993, Kühlewind’s words “the feeling meditation
p. 2). should not descend any further into the flow of
Although Steiner writes thinking, but seize and steer the artistic
comprehensively on meditation in general, intelligent will” (Kühlewind, 1993, p. 7). The
framing it as a core component of
8

artist needs to train to allow the artistic will to (T)he central purpose of his teaching is to
obey the inspiration. There are various aspects encourage the actor’s respect for his or her
to this: Kühlewind describes that each art has imagination and the freedom to create from it.
It opens up the possibility of a relationship
its own specific feeling or sensitivity “which is
with the audience, who once again can be
characteristic for the perceptual field of the introduced to the idea that actors provide
artform” (Kühlewind 1993, p. 3) towards which them not with photographic facsimiles of life,
the intending practitioner needs to be educated. but with works of art in which the actor’s
Additionally, the techniques of the art form need voices, their bodies and their souls are the
to be well and truly practiced so that they afford medium for the production of unforgettable,
transparency to the inspiration: heightened creations (Callow, 2002, p. xxi).

How are we to achieve these works of

Knowledge of the artistic medium means to
unite the sense-organism - especially the art? Steiner’s main response is found in the
sense of movement- with the tool or the 1924 Speech and Drama lectures, originally
instrument (in many arts the instrument is intended only for professional actors, but due
one’s own body). This growing- together to public demand opened to a wider public at
means the sense of touch and the sense of the Goetheanum (Steiner 1959). The lectures
movement are extended into the instrument divide into three sections: ‘the forming of
through feeling: a “feeling” of the piano’s
speech’, ‘the art of production and the art of
entire mechanism, the brush, the paint, the
friction of the violin bow, etc. The instrument acting’, and ‘the stage and the rest of
itself becomes a sense-organ, an organ of mankind’. Steiner’s principal focus, as
movement. The activity is entirely permeated pointed out earlier, is to restore poetry to
with feeling, feeling which integrates the performance in an age of prose. Students
instrument: this guarantees that the activity is need to be awakened to aesthetic judgement
artistic, i.e. that it speaks (Kühlewind, 1993,
through immersion in poetry and poetic
p. 8)
dramas, and to develop an instinctive ‘body’
Four intelligence through practicing the Greek
gymnastics. Words need to be restored to
In his introduction to a 2002 edition of their sounds, weight, rhythm and physicality.
Chekhov’s opus magnus To the Actor on the The requisite sensibility is not unlike that
Technique of Acting, the highly regarded actor evoked by Pablo Neruda:
Simon Callow, diagnoses what he sees as a
fashion for merely ‘recognizable’ truth—that is, You can say anything you want, yessir, but
it’s the words that sing, they soar and
a verisimilitude of a local, contingent reality—as
descend…I bow to them..I love them, I cling
the root of a crisis or decline in twentieth-century to them, I run them down, I bite into them, I
theatre acting. While Callow values the melt them down…I love words so much
contribution Stanislavski has made to modern …The unexpected ones…The ones I wait for
theatre practice, he argues that Michael greedily or stalk until suddenly they
Chekhov’s approach addresses precisely this drop….Vowels I love….They glitter like
coloured stones, they leap like silver fish,
problem:
they are foam, thread, metal, dew…I run after
certain words….They are so beautiful that I
want to fit them all into my poem…I catch
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them in mid-flight as they buzz past, I trap within it. The thread running through all this is
them, clean them, peel them, I set myself in ‘sound’, in terms of vowels and consonants.
front of the dish, they have a crystalline ‘Forming the speech’ presupposes that
texture to me, vibrant, ivory, vegetable, oily,
the actor is a Steiner-trained speaker and is
like fruit, like algae, like agates, like
olives…And then I stir them, I shake them, I able therefore to embody a wide range of
drink them, I gulp them down, I mash them, I techniques to differentiate their speaking in an
garnish them, I let them go…I leave them in engaging manner for the audience. Such
my poem like stalactites, like slivers of techniques include speech gestures, lyric, epic
polished word, like coals, pickings from a and dramatic styles of speaking, word gesture,
shipwreck, gifts from the waves….Everything sentence gestures, vowel moods, working with
exists in the word. (Neruda, 1977, pp. 53-4).
rhythms and metres as well as having a feeling
for grammar. Against the late twentieth-century
Given that one of Steiner key concerns
deskilling of the actor with body microphones,
was assisting human being to develop toward
but in common with the nineteenth-century
‘freedom’, he generally only offered fresh
French actor, Constant Coquelin, Steiner was
insights when prompted by a question or
not interested in natural, everyday speech on
inquiry. With respect to the course in Speech
the stage but a trained voice which can fill a
and Drama in 1924, professional actor/director
theatre and handle poetic texts.
Gottfried Haass-Berkow was the chief
What, then, were Steiner’s speech
instigator. He had already established a
indications? He wished for the actor to have the
reputation as the principal figure in the revival of
equivalent artistry of the concert pianist (Steiner
dramatic performance in the German Youth
and Steiner-von Sivers, 1978, p. 100). To this
movement by touring Germany with his own
end he provided a series of speech exercises
company working out of Steiner’s indications.
addressing breath, fluency, articulation, and
So, later in 1993, when Rudolf Steiner Press
vowel placement (Steiner and Steiner-von
wanted to publish a book of firsthand accounts
Sivers, 1978). The recommendation was to
of Steiner’s influence across a whole range of
practice each exercise one hundred times a
activities, for acting they chose Haass-Berkow’s
fortnight. In terms of Kühlewind’s model,
article (Haass- Berkow, 1993). I will draw
proficiency in these exercises provides the
significantly upon this in summarizing the key
conditions for the transparency of the artistic
features for Steiner in preparing for
will.
performance. Steiner identifies four key aspects
in preparing for a role. First, ‘moving from whole
Reciting makes the same demands as
to part’; second, ‘forming of the speech’; third,
playing the piano. To begin with you must
‘choreography of the part’; and finally, the know the rules, then they must become
‘imagination of the role’. second nature so the listener does not notice
For acting to be an art, Steiner that rules are being applied. By applying the
explained, we have to go beyond a feeling for rules, by introducing as much variation as
‘ideas’ and operate from a feeling for ‘sound’ possible, you give the impression of being
and the ‘word’ (Steiner, 1959, pp. 120-44). In natural. This is the case in every art (Steiner
and Steiner-von Sivers, 1981, p. 100).
referring to ‘from the whole to the part’, Steiner
not only means moving from the experience of
This is not to be learnt out of book or at
the complete play to the individual scenes, but
a remove; Steiner recommended that the
from the atmosphere of the scene to the acting
10

beginner find a trained teacher and begin by from 1912 to 1924 (the year of Steiner’s death)
imitation: “repeating and learning to hear… the notes that yes, observation of life is of
sound in the air around you” (Steiner and paramount importance for the actor but if we
Steiner-von Sivers 1978, p. 34). A master stay with the external form we are led to
teacher in this approach continually is modelling naturalism. On the other hand, “imitation of a
an artistic interpretation of the spoken word. form that is beheld in the imagination leads to
In terms of preparing for performance, style” (Haass-Berkow, 1993, p. 38) and
the idea was that the ‘speech’ should get to the Steiner’s indications were to develop style, and
point of being so shaped that the actor can to that end, Haass-Berkow recalls, he gave the
stand outside it and allow his feelings to following advice:
respond to it as an independent creation:
Try to build up a clear picture of some
letting it arouse in him joy and admiration, or monologue or short scene. See the picture
again sorrow and distress.… He must feel it before you. You will need to hold it there for
as something he has created and formed; five minutes, no more. Next morning try to
and yet at the same time he himself must be see it all backwards, to see it as a continuous
there in his own form, standing beside the series of pictures in the reverse order. This is
form he has created (Steiner, 1959, pp. 332- a very good exercise, for it will mean you are
3). no longer bound to the thread of the
thought…Liberated from yourself, you begin
The physical aspects of Steiner’s to have positive joy in playing your role.
Practice in this exercise takes one right away
indications characterize the third aspect of
from any expression of self in the part…and
preparing for a role, the choreography of the teaches one to present the part objectively.
part. Here the body is conceived as an (Steiner cited in Haass-Berkow, 1993, p. 38).
instrument: the actor, Steiner explains, should
know their body as well as a violinist knows his Indeed, Haas-Berkow claimed, for
violin (Haass-Berkow, 1993, p. 37). In order that Steiner, imagination was the most important
the actor could be wholly conscious of their aspect of creative activity on the stage. Here, in
choreography in a scene, Steiner 1921, Steiner offered Shakespeare as an
recommended, some scene rehearsal with a example, noting Shakespeare had “a
reciter who spoke all the parts, allowing the remarkable faculty of beholding the characters
actor to concentrate exclusively on their of his plays”, seeing them “before him in
physical movements (Steiner, 1959, p. 224). To imagination as objective pictures” which
develop the instinctive ‘limb’ intelligence of the enabled “him to creep inside them and know
actor, Steiner recommended exercises from the them from within” (Haass-Berkow, 1993, p. 36).
canon of Greek gymnastics - spear throwing to This Steiner advocated actors develop in their
help with releasing the speech, and discus training.
throwing to help with play of countenance To explain this further, Haass-Berkow
(Steiner, 1959, pp. 5; 41-2; 175-97; 223). recalled that Steiner cited the well-known
In terms of the fourth aspect, Viennese character-actor, Josef Lewinski, to
imagination, Steiner recommended specific explain how to approach the part:
contemplative exercises. Gottfried Haass-
Berkow, who was under Steiner’s guidance
 11

I would of course simply not be able to play were released within the actor and within the
at all if I were to depend upon the little audience by the consonants and vowels
hunchback figure standing there on the themselves (Callow 2002, p. xix).
stage, with his croaking voice and frightfully
ugly face; he would never do anything! On the Eurythmy is a new art of movement
stage I am composed of three persons. The developed by Steiner, which he noted would be
first is the little hunchback. The second is
particularly useful to the actor (Steiner 1959, p.
completely outside this hunchback figure,
and leads a purely ideal existence; but then I 24). Pitches explains that to develop Eurythmy,
must have him there before me all the time. Steiner looked to Goethe, who had sought “to
Finally I myself creep out of both of these and discern the Whole in the tiniest individual thing”:
am the third, who plays with the second upon the archetypal form or Urorgan (Pitches, 2006,
the first—upon the hunchbacked Lewinski p.135). For Steiner, for example, “the larynx—
(Haass-Berkow, 1993, p. 37). responsible for the creation of sound in
humans—is the Urorgan of the musical body as
Not dissimilar to Michael Chekhov,
a whole” (Pitches, 2006, p. 140). Steiner’s claim
Haass-Berkow analysed this thus: an
was that Eurythmy makes visible, with and
“artistically creative ego (No. 3) plays, with the
through the whole body, what is occurring in the
imagined figure of his part (No. 2) upon the
larynx. Indeed, there has been some empirical
instrument of his body (No. 1)” (1993, p. 37).
research to support this claim: Serge Maintier,
In terms of the contemplative aspects of
trained in Steiner’s art of speech and drama,
preparing for a role, Steiner advises the actor to
completed a recent doctorate on the
be attentive to his dreams and to the difference
aerodynamics and morphodynamics of speech
between those experiences and those of being
sounds in the breathing process and was able
in the thick of everyday life. What then is the
to demonstrate experimentally “that
final preparation? A weaving together of the
segmentation of speech signals correlates with
‘formed speech’, which, like a musician, the
speech air-flow figures, and hence it could be
actor should be able to do in their sleep, and a
represented, as Steiner does in an ‘art of
practiced dreaming though the role in the play,
movement’” (Maintier, 2016, p. ix).
such that the actor is able to tear themselves
Steiner’s claim of the link between the
free of the dreaming to produce and reproduce
‘life world’ and world of consonants and vowels
the speaking with ease and freedom (Steiner,
is that the world of life works from periphery to
1959, p. 337)
centre, drawing “the living from the womb of the
This whole approach is grounded on
lifeless” (Steiner, 1973, p. 15) in contrast to
Steiner’s intuition of a fundamental connection
gravitational forces which diminish the further
between the spoken word and the ‘life world’.
they are from their centre of mass. The
Simon Callow, quoted above, draws attention to
Eurythmist’s task, then, is to make visible
this demonstrating Michael Chekhov’s debt to
through movement this world of life. In this they
Steiner, for as far as the text was concerned,
are assisted by the correspondences that exist
Callow writes,
between the human being and the cosmos.
Here Steiner is taking up and extending the
Chekhov had an almost mystical relationship
ancient notion of the interrelationship of the
to language, crystallised by his exposure to
Steiner’s Eurythmy. He insisted on the vital microcosm and the macrocosm. In Speech
importance of sound, of the vibrations which Eurythmy, Steiner identifies the macrocosmic
12

gestures of the consonants from the Zodiac and Steiner’s indications on acting, he also identified
macrocosmic gestures vowels from the planets the significance of the interconnection of
(Spock, 1980, pp. 72-99). The music of the speech and gesture. He describes that in
spheres’ is not an inappropriate metaphor. rehearsal, were he to shut his eyes, he could
In developing Eurythmy, Steiner created hear from the way the actors were speaking
a new way for music and poetry to be expressed what movements they were making. Miriam
in artful movement. The former, the expression Margolyes describes a similar connection in
of music in movement, he termed ‘Tone finding her way into a character: “I first try to find
Eurythmy’ and the latter, the expression of the voice and am told I change physically even
poetry in movement, ‘Speech Eurythmy’. as I speak, though I am not aware of it.”
However, what is not sufficiently appreciated is (Luckhurst and Veltman, 2001, p. 74)
the crucial role played by the speaker for Steiner used this correspondence
eurythmy: he or she must provide life and between speech and gesture as a way to bring
movement in the speaking, the ‘world of life’ of more gesture into speech. He indicated six
the poem, so that eurythmist can move it. The underlying possible gestures for speech:
speaker and the eurythmist are two sides of the effective, thoughtful, feeling forward against
one coin: one totally in the speech and other hindrances, antipathy, sympathy and drawing
totally in the movement. The actor, in Steiner’s back on one’s own ground (Steiner, 1959, pp.
indications, works from the same ‘life world’ but 53-4). There is not space in this current essay
never reaches these polarities, neither wholly in to detail these gestures, but I will explain how
the speech, nor wholly in the movement, they are introduced by taking the first one as an
although there are definite relationships example. The methodology is as follows: first,
between the partial speech and partial practicing the gesture solely with the body, in
movement of the actor as the same underlying this case ‘pointing’ in various ways, and then
gesture speaks through both (Haass- Berkow, bringing this gesture of ‘indicating’ into the
1993, p. 39). spoken word by practicing it together with the
In addition to the pivotal role of physical gesture and finally having it just in the
Eurythmy, we can also identify what, for Haass- speech with no physical gesture.
Berkow, were the key two themes to illustrate Indeed, Chamberlain argues that
Steiner’s approach to acting: creative activity on psychological gesture—that which is often
the stage, and the interconnection of speech regarded as the principal aspect of the Chekhov
and gesture. Steiner had noted of a 1921 technique (Chamberlain, 2004, p. 73) stems
meeting with the actors in the Goetheanum that from Steiner’s insight into the interrelationship
many felt having a conscious art would rob the of speech and gesture (Chamberlain, 1992, pp.
artists of their naivety and instincts. He 78-9). Although, for Steiner himself, vowels and
reassured them that there was no need to fear consonants are the primary means to shape the
that with the approach he was indicating; character. For instance, Steiner wrote of the
indeed, he explained conscious creative activity character of Danton in Hamerling’s Danton and
on the stage was a necessity (Haass-Berkow, Robespierre:
1993, p. 36).
While, as noted before, Haass-Berkow We shall find, if we have understood the play
singled out the importance of imagination in aright, that Danton will express his own soul
 13

best if we connect with him the sound- In a Steiner approach to acting, the
feelings: ä (ay in say), i (ee); ä i. education of artistic sensibility and mastery of
Danton: ä i the technique is achieved by undertaking a four-
To act the part with this sound-feeling
year training under qualified teachers, who
will bring the jovial side of nature to
expression; there will be something large and model the aesthetics, and teach a conscious
generous about his manner as he comes on mastery of the techniques. Actors using this
the stage, then, if you come to a really deep approach work with the breath as the life
understanding of him, you will instinctively be element and artistically shape the sounds,
tempted to let him walk like this: knees held consonants and vowels, to bring out the colour
rather stiff, and feet firmly planted on the and sculptural elements of a poem, character,
ground. You will even feel that his arms too
scene or play, much as musician will interpret a
should be a little stiff at the elbow; he will
move them as though he could not bend them composer’s score. A modern sample of
right up, but only at a rather obtuse angle. Steiner’s drama work is 2017 production of
Yes, you could very well have the impression Faust at the Goetheanum which can be seen on
that Danton is a man who would never be YouTube (Goetheanum 2017).
able to sing either a major or minor third!
If this is the feeling you have about his Five
character, then you may be sure the true
Danton will be there on stage, taking his right
place among the other characters. And you To conclude, it is instructive to read Andrei
will be impelled to let him be constantly Belyi’s observations of Steiner as public
making gestures with the mouth that help him speaker and actor. Steiner was fortunate in
to produce the right tone of voice, pressing having such a witness, as Belyi’s novel
the lips forcefully into the corners of the Petersburg was regarded by Vladimir Nabokov
mouth. Danton should, in fact, be spoken with
as one the four greatest novels of the twentieth
lips nearly closed and stretched to their
utmost, but as if at the corners of the mouth century (Jones, 2015). Belyi writes about
they met with some powerful Steiner’s earthy enjoyment and artistic talent in
resistance….And you will further discover, if directing the Nativity plays which had survived
you are prepared to carry your expression of in the peasant populations of Germany. In
the character so far, that Danton will have to general, Belyi’s impression of Steiner as a
speak every j (y as in ‘yacht’) and every l (and lecturer reminds him in gesture and mimicry of
whatever sounds that resemble them) in a
his friend, the great Russian actor Michael
manner that is all his own. So we have for
Danton: ä I j l Chekhov playing Hamlet, with something also of
(Steiner ,1959, pp. 293-5) the Hungarian composer, Arthur Nikish. He also
describes his experience of witnessing the
Haass-Berkow describes how such moment when Steiner stepped in to
exercises take acting away from naturalism, demonstrate to the cast how to perform a part:
and allow it to become, instead, ‘objective’: first as a shepherd in one of the Christmas plays
(here he compares Steiner to the famous
When formed on the stage in this objective Russian actor Pavel Motschalov) and later as
manner, even a cruel scene will win applause Mephisto in Faust. In both cases Steiner totally
from the audience for its art, whereas the very commits to the part, afterwards it seems
same scene performed naturalistically and requiring a moment to return to himself:
subjectively will arouse only abhorrence and
disgust (Haass-Berkow, 1993, p. 39)
14

“Not, not like that, that is not a Mephisto!” he Ashperger, C., (2008), The Rhythm of Space
exclaimed. He sprang up onto the stage with and the Sound of Time, Rodopi, New York.
one nimble leap, almost impatiently took the
script-book from the startled actor, and began Barnes, H., (2005), Into the Heart's Land,
to read the part of Mephisto with enthusiasm, SteinerBooks, Great Barrington.
then to play it, and finally confronted the
eurythmist-angels as the very incarnation of Belyi, A 1978, 'The Man, Rudolf Steiner As
Mephisto. A loathsome, hoary old man stood Stage-Director and Actor', Journal for
there on the stage. He was particularly Anthroposophy, vol. No 27, Spring, pp. 27-38.
repulsive and uncanny at the moment
Mephisto is bombarded with roses by the Bridgmont, P., (1992), Liberation of the Actor,
angels and becomes enamored by Steiner Books, London.
them. Right in front of the angels, the devil is
transformed into an old man, a doddering old Bridgmont, P., (2019), Liberation of Acting
man who whispers dirty and pitiful <http://liberationofacting.com/> viewed
declarations of love to the angels. This was 30/3/2019.
not the Doctor anymore; this was the Devil.
At the conclusion of the monologue, he Callow, S., (2002), 'Foreword', in To the Actor
himself seemed surprised. He remained on the Technique of Acting, Routledge,
standing on the stage and wiped his London.
forehead. “This is how one must act!” – those
were, I believe, his words (Belyi 1978, p. 30). Chamberlain, F., (1992), 'Embodying the Spirit:
Nihilism and Spiritual Renovation in the
The aspiration of this paper has been to European Theatre 1890-1916', Ph.D thesis,
show the contemporary nature of Steiner’s University of East Anglia, Norwich UK, ,
thought and to make a case that Steiner’s <http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.et
significance for actor training extends beyond hos.317568> viewed 30/3/2019.
the Occult Revival of late nineteenth and early
twentieth century and his well-documented Chamberlain, F., (2003), 'Michael Chekhov:
influence on the Michael Chekhov technique. Pedagogy, Spirituality, and the Occult', Toronto
Thus, presenting a case for Steiner’s inclusion Slavic Quarterly, vol. 4.
among modernist thinkers on acting because he Chamberlain, F., (2004), Michael Chekhov,
offers the modern actor a comprehensive and Routledge, London.
systematic aesthetic education of acting based
on a Goethean re-discovery of the ‘life’ and Chamberlain, F. and Middleton, D., (2014),
‘imagination’ inherent in language. 'Buddhist Mindfulness and Psychophysical
Performance.', paper presented to
International Symposium for Contemplative
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