Konstantin Stanislavski

Konstantin Stanislavski

Konstantin Stanislavski was a Russian theatre practitioner, actor, director, and producer who used naturalism/realism in his theatre and was widely recognized as an outstanding character actor. He is best known for developing  method acting and ‘The System’, also known as  Stanislavski method which an actor would aspire to complete emotional identification with a part.


NATURLAISM/REALISM 

The System:  An actor training system made up of various different techniques designed to allow actors to create believable characters and help them to really put themselves in the place of a character

Method Acting:  A range of training and rehearsal techniques that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, understanding, and experiencing a character's inner motivation and emotions.

Stanislavski based his acting technique on the 'art of experiencing', where actors use their personal experiences, stories and memories to inform their performances, also known as ‘emotional recall’. At the age of 33, Stanislavski co-founded the Moscow Art Theatre (MAT) and further developed the ideas behind his acting, The System.

To bring an actor's experiences into the role and expanding an actor's imagination

TECHNIQUES


the system

The Stanislavsky method, or The System, developed over 40 long years. He tried various experiments, focusing much of the time on what he considered the most important attribute of an actor's work—bringing an actor's own past emotions into play in a role.

Stanislavsky regarded the theatre as an art of social significance. Theatre was a powerful influence on people, he believed, and the actor must serve as the people’s educator. Stanislavsky concluded that only a permanent theatrical company could ensure a high level of acting skill.

Naturalism refers to theatre that tries to create a perfect illusion of reality by use of a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies. As an actor, Stanislavski saw a lot of bad acting - what he termed as artificial. 

circles of attention

Stanislavski believed that an actor needed a sense of isolation in order to produce a characterisation and avoid unnecessary tension. Beyond this, the actor might, in the 'second circle', be aware of the character he is addressing and in the 'third circle', the rest of the production.