The Michael Chekhov acting technique

The Michael Chekhov acting technique (MCat) is a practical approach to acting that establishes a connection between your body, imagination, emotions, thoughts, and intuition.

It provides tools to comprehend an event, scene, situation, text, or conversation and clarify their underlying intentions, distilling them to their essence. Michael Chekhov refers to these tools as ‘doors of inspiration,’ providing access to inspired action, acting, and playing. This allows you to consciously handle your own role and impact within the ensemble, leading to vibrant and fresh ensemble work.

Chekhov achieves this by making intangible, ‘vague’ information accessible and concrete through movement, atmosphere, sensations, or imagery. It teaches you to understand and use the non-verbal aspects in your performance. The Chekhov technique transforms the intangible into a powerful and tangible result, a clear action. This applies to actors on stage and to ‘actors’ in everyday life, work, or private settings.

Every individual is unique, including how you learn, gain insights, tap into your imagination, and express your ‘creative individuality.’ The various tools are essentially exercises that allow you to playfully and simply engage with different aspects. All tools support and reinforce each other. They function as gates, making it easy for you to enter your imagination and create from there. Each gate activates creativity in a different way and contributes to the whole. The gates can be trained independently.

When the performer embraces ‘the whole’ and opens the door to transformation through their style of play, it also opens that door in the spectator. The spectator, in a way, transforms along. And that, in our opinion, is the purpose of the performing arts.