Mastering Michael Chekhov’s Psychological Gesture: A Guide to Character Development

If you’re an actor or a theatre enthusiast, you may have heard of the Michael Chekhov technique, particularly his concept of the Psychological Gesture.

This acting technique was developed by the renowned Chekhov actor and director Michael Chekhov, who believed that an actor should not only embody their character physically but also emotionally and mentally.

The psychological gesture, or gesture in drama, is a physical movement that expresses a character’s inner state, emotion, or intention.

Through the use of this gesture, an actor can tap into their subconscious connection and connect with their character on a deeper level.

The gesture should be simple yet powerful, and it should be related to the character objective or desire in the scene.

By embodying the gesture, an actor can access their character’s emotional truth and convey it to the audience in a more authentic and compelling way.

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Here is my guide for how you can use Michael Chekhov’s Psychological Gesture to develop your character’s physicality and psychological truth, enhancing your artistic expression and creating an authentic performance.

Info

The first step to creating your psychological gesture is to mine the text for character information through script analysis. This way, you will be able to build your physicality and character off the information the playwright has provided you with. Go through the text and write three lists:

1. Facts about your character in the script (age, job, class etc.)
2. What the character says about themselves
3. What others say about the character

Put it on the wall

Get yourself a piece of paper and a pencil. Draw an outline of a person on the paper – a silhouette like a gingerbread man. This is your character’s Imaginary Body.

Around the outside of your Imaginary Body, write down all the information about your character that you’ve found in the first part of the process.

Locate attributes

Now we are going to assign attributes to certain areas of the character’s Imaginary Body. Think of 6 things:

1. Three adjectives to describe your character. For example, brave, thoughtful, ambitious etc.
2. Finish the sentence “I fear I am…”
3. Finish the sentence “I wish to be…”
4. Finish the sentence “I still believe in…”

Write these last three from the perspective of your character. Your character’s fears, wishes, and beliefs.

As you write them, think about how you might or might not be able to relate to these things, or how you may be able to connect to them.

Now think about where these things might exist in the character’s Imaginary Body. Perhaps their bravery lived in their chest or their stomach. Perhaps their fear lives in their shoulders. Use your imagination – it is entirely up to you!

Make sure to choose a different location for each separate attribute.

Physical exploration

Now take each of these attributes and explore them physically. It is a great idea to use a movement system here. For example, you could use Laban’s Efforts, or elements.

This is where the Michael Chekhov technique truly shines, as it emphasizes the importance of physical exercises and movement exercises in character development.

If you want to read more about these movement systems then check out my post on creating character physicality here.

Then use this element to see how this attribute feels in that spot in your Imaginary Body. For instance, if you have decided courage lives in your shoulders, isolate your shoulders and explore courage through them, moving through each of the different elements or efforts and seeing what kind of movement it produces.

This process enhances your sensory awareness and helps in embodying emotions. Hopefully, through exploration, you should be able to find a repeating movement that captures the essence of that quality.

Finding a journey

Once you’ve explored all these movements, find a pathway to link each of these movements up. Discover how energy travels through your Imaginary Body to each of these separate movements you’ve created and join them all together.

For instance, courage in your shoulder could flow into thoughtfulness in the hands, etc. Explore different ways you can travel from one movement to the next.

This process of radiating energy through your Imaginary Body is a key aspect of the Michael Chekhov technique. Hopefully, you should end up with a sequence of movements that all flow into one another.

Create a sequence

Now, turn this into an intentional movement routine. It doesn’t have to be big and dancey, but make them into clear and specific movements that you can move fluidly through as a routine or sequence.

Practice this until you can repeat it easily and naturally. This sequence becomes a form of intentional radiating, allowing you to express your character’s dynamic qualities.

Find your gesture

Focus in on parts of the sequence that make sense to you in terms of the character. Work with the movements and link them together until they join and flow to make one single gesture.

How can you encapsulate the entire sense of that sequence in a single fluid movement? It should be simple and specific.

Some elements will be more obvious than others depending on how it feels to you and the connection you make to them and the character.

For instance, the turn of a head could be small, whereas the movement in the hands or hips could be more observable. It entirely depends on your imagination and interpretation of the sequence.

Play around until you find something that feels right. Try to capture the essence of the character you have found.

Gesture and text

Explore how you can use this gesture to explore the text. Take a line or a passage your character speaks from the text you’re working on.

Use your gesture before you speak and see what it brings out, and how it connects you to the line. Maybe adjust your gesture slightly – make it bigger, smaller, change the shape of it a little.

See how this affects your connection to the line. This process helps in achieving emotional authenticity and a deeper subconscious connection with your character.

Learn More About Psychological Gesture

If you want to learn more about the theory behind Michael Chekhov psychological gesture, then make sure to check out this great video.

Conclusion

You have now created your psychological gesture using the Michael Chekhov technique. There are many ways you can incorporate this into your performance.

You can use your gesture to help you create a physicality for your character through movement, posture, or naturalistic gesture. You can also use it before you go on stage to help you psychologically connect to your character and their essence.

Beyond that, you can even use different parts of the sequence on stage as gestures or movements in order to connect with those specific elements of your character.

This psycho-physical approach, or nonrational approach as some call it, helps establish a strong mind-body connection, enhancing your overall artistic expression. The feeling of ease that comes with mastering this technique allows for greater transformation and even improvisation in your performances.

You now have the tool of Michael Chekhov’s Psychological Gesture in your toolbox! Feel free to explore it and see what you find in it. Make sure to be curious and play around – the most important thing when approaching any new acting tool.

I hope you find this a useful skill and that it helps you build compelling characters and create authentic performances.

If you want to read more about Michael Chekhov and his work, go and read his book “To The Actor: On The Technique Of Acting” here.

Thank you so much for reading and please feel free to message me if you have any questions!