Stanislavski

Who is Stanislavski and why is he important? 

Transformations in the world at the end of the nineteenth century influenced changes in the ways people thought about the theatre and acting. The development of the field of Psychology, which is the study of the human mind and personality, influenced a new style of acting called Realism. This style attempts to recreate real life on stage using believable characters and realistic production elements.

Stanislavski is seen as the founder of this performance style. He developed a scientific approach to acting, which taught actors how to use skill, discipline and willpower to achieve inspiration.

The Stanislavski Acting Method

Concentration

To actually become a real, believable person different from yourself and to act as that person in an imaginary situation requires intense concentration. Focused concentration allows an actor to ignore both internal and external distraction. External distraction is a noise or movement outside the performing area. Internal distraction is where the actor's mind wanders, thinking about things other than being your character. Stanislavski used an exercise called 'Circles of Attention' to explain how concentration is maintained in performance. 

WORKSHOP- Work with a partner. Create two characters and set them in a room of your choosing. At the beginning of the improvisation, their circle of attention should encompass the whole of the performance area. The performers utilise the skill of concentration to limit their awareness of the audience and to maintain focus. On a given signal from the teacher, the circle of attention becomes smaller until it is only a small area around the two actors. 

Example: The circle of attention encompasses the whole performance space. Two people are inside an art gallery. The circle of attention reduces. The two visitors examine a glass cabinet of pottery work. The circle of attention reduces even further. The two visitors examine a program of art works, looking for the name of the artist. 

Centre Stage Matthew Clausen 

LOGBOOK - What are the two types of distractions that actors are susceptible to?

Why is it important to remain concentrated throughout a performance piece?

How might proper rehearsal and character research help actors to maintain fully concentrated during a performance?

Relaxation

Remaining relaxed during rehearsals and performance is important to an actor. Approaching roles in a relaxed manner heightens the imagination and helps an actor recall and create feelings, thoughts and sensations. It is extremely important in Magic If and Emotional Memory exercises.

LOGBOOK - Create a list of the ways you relax in your own life. How can you use or modify these to use as an actor?

CHALLENGE - Create a short relaxation ritual that you can use on your way to or when you enter the drama room. Try to use it every lesson for two weeks and reflect on the difference it makes to your focus during workshops. 

Imagination 

We have seen how with role-work, especially role-taking and role-play, it is simple to take on particular behaviours or attitudes just for the sake of our drama without any in-depth planning or concentration. However, if we decide it is important to create a fully developed character for our drama because we are performing the text of a play, we need to really think about that character and imagine ourselves becoming that person.

Stanislavski devised a series of very effective techniques for developing and using our imagination in drama, and the more we use these techniques, the more effective our characterisations will be.

We begin by observing the way other people behave and listening to them talk, to learn how to become like them when we create characters. We can also observe representations of human behaviour on film, television, the stage, in photographs and paintings, and read about people in novels and poems. Then we can use our imagination to create believable characters from a combination of the real and fictional people we have observed, or read about.

"Magic If" 

Stanislavski also believed that truthful characters are created when you can enrich them with your own experiences. 

To make the characters we create from observation more real, we can then use Stanislavski’s ‘Magic If, which requires us to ask ourselves, ‘If I really were this character in this situation, how would I think and feel and behave?” This is a good place to begin in developing a character as it helps you to consider natural reactions to the situation. 

For example, you might want to create the character of an elderly person in a nursing home because you are interested in exploring the experience of old age. You would need to use your observations of elderly people and then try to imagine what it feels like to be old and alone. It would be a real challenge to use the ‘Magic If' to portray someone so different from yourself.

Emotional Memory  

In addition to imagining the 'Magic If' Stanislavski believed that an actor's past emotions, experiences and feelings could further enrich the realism of their character. 

Every human experiences a range of emotions; sadness, joy, love, jealousy, pity, anger. Emotion memory asks the actor to use the feelings that they have experienced to create a character, even if the character is completely different from the actor. For example, an actor could draw on the feelings of loneliness they felt in a past experience in the creation of an elderly woman in a nursing home. Even though the actor may not have had the same experiences as their character, they would most likely have felt the emotions of the character created by the experience. In drawing on real experiences and emotions, an actor is able to give their characters real and genuine feelings. 

The 'Given Circumstances' is the name given to all of the information you have about the character you are playing. As a start, this information is provided within the stage directions and the dialogue of the text. You may need to read your text multiple times to find all of the clues the playwright as given you. 

Once you have extracted this unchangeable information, you can use your imagination to develop the characters further by inventing a whole biography for them. This means imagining a family and friends for them, and to make up all the things that have happened to them before the drama begins. If they survive the drama you should also work out what happens to them in the future. This is known in the film industry as the back story. 

LOGBOOK - Below are a series of questions to ask yourself about the background and story of a character you are creating. This will help you to create a more complete character who has depth outside the scene you are performing. 

1. Copy them into your logbook as a resource you can refer back to.  

2. Answer them from the point of view of your monologue character.

Script Analysis - Units and Beats 

Stanislavski's method of breaking a Script into units and beats helps to achieve a deeper analysis of the character's feeling and motives, which in turn helps to create a more truthful performance of the character on stage.

SUPER OBJECTIVE

A Super Objective focuses on the entire play. It can effect a characters behaviour overall, how they express themselves (physically and verbally), how they relate to others, their situation and their environment. The Super Objective serves as the overall goal that the character hopes to achieve by the end of the script. Think of it like our own life long goals, e.g., a career, a family, wealth etc. Every decision the character makes is to help them achieve this objective.

UNIT/MINOR OBJECTIVE

A larger section of script (may be a paragraph) separated by a new thought or emotion. A new unit should signal a blocking movement (e.g. standing, sitting, walking). Separate units on the page and name them Unit 1, Unit 2 or give them a title relevant to the emotion/thoughts of the character. For each unit, your character should have an objective. Objectives should begin “I want…” and may be things such as “I want to convince/persuade” or “I want to be believed”. An objectives should be written on your script (one for each unit) to help inform your blocking choices (movements on stage), facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice. 

BEAT/ACTIONS TO PLAY

A smaller section within a unit where there is a small, subtle change in thought or emotion. Signify a new beat by placing a  / in between the words. Sometimes, a comma or full stop signals a beat. A beat can also signal a pause.

Below is a list of  actions to play. Though this list is fairly comprehensive but it is not all inclusive. Feel free to search for other resources or you could invent invent your own beats/actions to play.

More Information 

If you are looking for more information on Stanislavski or his acting methods try the following links

• BBC Bitesize - Naturalism and Stanislavski 

• The Stanislavski Century - Introduction 

• Script Analysis -  Given Circumstances