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What Is The Definition of a "beat"

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Anyway, if you want to understand what a "beat" is, the necklace makes it clear. One action is connected to the next, to the next, to the next and so on. Yes, I’ve heard that version and like the metaphor.

I may have gotten that version from "Stanislavsky in Focus" by Sharon M. Carnicke.  Can’t recall offhand, but I think that is it.  Carnicke is the smartest Stanislavsky person on the planet earth. Ed Hooks

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – What is the definition in theatre of a "beat" .  I have read it used on this group, and also in blocking sessions for a play.  Thanks oversimplified; a pause. but there really should be some thinking going on during  it;) I heard somewhere — I think from improv guru Gary Schwartz — that "beat" is Stanislavski’s pronunciation of "bit," and that that’s all he was talking about.  Anyone else hear this? — Louise

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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Yes, Robert Lewis explains the misunderstanding in "Method or Madness." Stanislavski used the the English  word "bit" to describe a sequence of text …. When Stella Adler of the Group Theatre met with KS in Paris in the mid-30s to absorb the master’s acting theories, she though he was saying "beat." I have an even better story for you.  Stanislavsky spoke about ‘BEADS’ — as in "beads in a necklace".  One bead is connected to the next.  Put them all together, and you have a necklace. His russian accent made it sound like he was saying "BEAT", but he was actually saying "BEAD". Anyway, if you want to understand what a "beat" is, the necklace makes it clear. One action is connected to the next, to the next, to the next and so on.

Yes, I’ve heard that version and like the metaphor. Norman Schwartz in his book "Acting:  A String of Beads," notes that "Stanislavski often used the Russian word ‘kuski’ (literally hors d’oeuvres or ‘tidbits) to devise the various units or episodes into which a could could be divided.  Bits once rendered by Boleslavski metamorphosed into ‘beat’.  When Mme. Ouspenskaya, cigarillo in hand and monocle in eye, spoke of Stanislavski’s depiction of an actor’s role as a ‘long string of beads." what some of her pupils heard instead was ‘a strong of beats’." Food for thought.  <g Break a leg, Bill — THE ACTING STUDIO http://gvtg.com/theactingstudio

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What is the definition in theatre of a "beat" .  I have read it used on this group, and also in blocking sessions for a play.  Thanks

Response:

What is the definition in theatre of a "beat" .  I have read it used on this group, and also in blocking sessions for a play.  Thanks

oversimplified; a pause. but there really should be some thinking going on during  it;) -jon g.

Response:

What is the definition in theatre of a "beat" .  I have read it used on this group, and also in blocking sessions for a play.  Thanks oversimplified; a pause. but there really should be some thinking going on during  it;)

I heard somewhere — I think from improv guru Gary Schwartz — that "beat" is Stanislavski’s pronunciation of "bit," and that that’s all he was talking about.  Anyone else hear this? — Louise

Response:

What is the definition in theatre of a "beat" .  I have read it used on this group, and also in blocking sessions for a play.  Thanks oversimplified; a pause. but there really should be some thinking going on during  it;) I heard somewhere — I think from improv guru Gary Schwartz — that "beat" is Stanislavski’s pronunciation of "bit," and that that’s all he was talking about.  Anyone else hear this? — Louise

Yes, Robert Lewis explains the misunderstanding in "Method or Madness." Stanislavski used the the English  word "bit" to describe a sequence of text and stage director in which a character was employed a single action in pursuit of an intention.  When Stella Adler of the Group Theatre met with KS in Paris in the mid-30s to absorb the master’s acting theories, she though he was saying "beat." Some years later, translators realized the error, but by that time, most of the American teachers of KS’s work had so incorporated "beat" into the acting lexicon, that it remains in common usage.  Lewis once quipped that a "beat" would be a "bit" even if we decided to call it spinach.  (He says something similar when discussing whether an intention and an objective are synonyms or something quite different.) Another poster, jon g. offered this:  A "beat" is "oversimplified; a pause. but there really should be some thinking going on during  it;) No, not from an actor’s point of view, no.  But some a handful of playwrights have taken to using (beat) in place of (pause).  This adds to the confusion;  and it would be far clear if playwrights would just use (pause).  I just read a script by a new playwright who cleverly threw in (Pinterian Pause) to one of his scripts. Break a leg, (by which I mean my definition of "break a leg") Bill — THE ACTING STUDIO http://gvtg.com/theactingstudio

Response:

Yes, Robert Lewis explains the misunderstanding in "Method or Madness." Stanislavski used the the English  word "bit" to describe a sequence of text …. When Stella Adler of the Group Theatre met with KS in Paris in the mid-30s to absorb the master’s acting theories, she though he was saying "beat."

I have an even better story for you.  Stanislavsky spoke about ‘BEADS’ — as in "beads in a necklace".  One bead is connected to the next.  Put them all together, and you have a necklace. His russian accent made it sound like he was saying "BEAT", but he was actually saying "BEAD". Anyway, if you want to understand what a "beat" is, the necklace makes it clear. One action is connected to the next, to the next, to the next and so on. Ed Hooks http://www.edhooks.com

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to clean up: What is the definition in theatre of a "beat" .  I have read it used on this group, and also in blocking sessions for a play.  Thanks

I’ve never learned a technical definition of this, so let me give you my seat-of-the-pants answer here. A beat would be that arc of the script where a character pursues an intention related to his overall objective during that scene (which of course feeds into the objective of the play). For example, suppose my objective within the play is to get Deeq to marry me. Yes, it’s a tragedy. Now, how does my character go about this? Well, things I could do: hold a gun to her head, try to beg her to marry me, try to buy her acceptance, and so on. Each of these is an intention in the script, where I try different methods to obtain my objective. Within each of these, say the gun to the head intention, I might struggle to decide just how far I would push my limit with her. *That* is a beat, where I make a small decision related to a larger decision related to my objective. Note that most intentions have to fail miserably. Tao te Carl

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