Stanislavsky
Constantin Stanislavsky was born with the real name of
Konstantin Sergeyevich Alekseyev, which really shocked me but reading further
into this I realized many actors did this just like performers today as a stage
name. His lifer started in Moscow Russia in 1863 but started getting into
theatre when he came into his teenage years. He then went on to be one of the
most recognized actor and director due to his methods of acting.
I was intrigued when I read that in this time as an actor in
Russia the director did not really have a say in how the show went but it was
more the actors and the director just overlooked the show to make sure it came
together.
The name Stanislavski came about from a ballerina that he had
watched as a young boy. It was no wonder he got into acting as his family were
frequent visitors of the opera and at a young age they converted a room in the
house of the family into a theatre for the kids to perform and them to
entertain guest.
Constantin wanted to know the difference of the character and
the acting and personality acting and how could he be creative on stage with
characters. He was also responsible for founding the Society Of Art and
Literature. He fell for a teacher and as they married she helped pursue the
question he had about acting with her husband. He also opened the Moscow Art
Theatre with the desire to make it different to theatre around the world at the
time. With plays
such as The Petty Bourgeois, An
Enemy of the People and The
Blue Bird. And had prominent roles in several works, including The Cherry Orchard and The Lower Depths. The theatre company went
on to do tours and would later be recognized by the community of acting as a
fresh perspective of acting. Although there was criticism after the 1900s that
he did not perform communist work in the theatre.
The Stanislavski System/ The Method
was brought about in the early years of the Moscow Theatre and trying to teach
actors deep and meaningful acting on stage to give the audience a thrilling
show and for people to believe the story. He believed actors could achieve this
by reaching real emotions on stage that related to the character or were the
same way the character would have been feeling He tried to come up with methods
that actors could train to find the Motivation of the character this would give
the show a depth and an unassuming naturalistic act. It was to show natural
people on stage , to make it so hard for the audience to know the difference
between an act or real life.
Some of his methods were:
The Magic what if method: where an
actor would ask them what would I do if I was in this situation and work on the
difference or similarities between the characters reaction and their own
Re-education: an actor would
re-think or re-educate how they should walk look and sound on stage in front of
an audience.
Observation: This was to people
watch and focus on how others act and try and adapt what they do to your character,
if needed.
Motivation: This was to ask you
self what is my task right now as my character what am I doing on stage at this
point.
Emotional memory : For an actor to
actually feel the same emotion that the character would feel and to perform
this on stage by going into your past and picking out different emotions you
felt at certain times
The book holds much more and
towards the end of the book goes into how to work on these methods and skills
through the use of information for example facts or by demonstration with
pictures and step by step guides. Some of the techniques and thought are amazing
to read and to learn.
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