THE WORKSHOP…

In this workshop led by Last Waltz’s very own Clara Voda, explore the depth of Chekhov’s characters and text through Stanislavski’s psychological realism and Michael Chekhov’s imagination and pjysical techniques. Participants will be taken through a series of movement-based exercises to access their emotional and psychological states, and explore short improvisations to embody different character energies. They will then have the opportunity to work on their monologues using both Stanislavski and Michael Chekhov’s approaches. Actors will develop the tools to access the complexity of Chekhov’s works - blending deep emotional connection with physical presence and imagination. In essence, Chekhov’s work challenges actors to bring their fullest silves to the stage, to embrace both vulnerability and strength, to navigate the delicate balance between realism and heightened emotion. This workshop will equip actors with an invaluable understanding of both their craft and themselves, ensuring they can approach any role with authenticity and depth.

WHY CHEKHOV…?

Chekhov is no longer just a classical writer - he is alive in every word, in every silence. His characters are not distance figures from another time - they are us, with all our joy, fear, desperation, hope, loneliness, and silence.They do not perform for us - they exist, breathing onstage, just as we do in life. One of Chekhov’s greatest gifts is his ability to balance laughter and tears, comedy and tragedy, hope and despair, all at once. Life, as he saw it, is never just one thing. His characters talk with the deepest regrets while pouring tea, dream of better futures while tripping over their own feet, they laugh just before breaking down in tears. This delicate balance is what makes his work feel so true to life. We don’t know whether to laugh or cry - and neither do his characters.

This is why studying Chekhov is the best training an actor can have. His characters demand honesty, vulnerability, and deep emotional truth. Their struggles are internal, their conflicts unspoken, their emotions layered with contradiction. Playing Chekhov is not about grand gestures or theatricality - it is about being. Stanislavski build his entire acting method around this idea; teaching actors to inhabit their characters fully, to live in their silences as much as their words. If an actor can master Chekhov, they can master any role, because Chekhov requires presence and truth.

This is why Chekhov remains universal. Theatre has no borders, and neither do human emotions. His stories may be Russian, but they belong to all of us. His writing does not just describe life - it reveals it. The quiet sadness in a smile, the laughter that hides regret, the way time slips through our fingers before we realise it. Chekhov does not feel like the past. He is now. He is not a writer of then. He is a writer of always.

PLEASE BRING…

• Water

• A journal and pen

• A monologue selected from our provided list (available via booking link)
  PLEASE HAVE MONOLOGUE MEMORISED AND READY FOR WORKING