Konstantin Stanislavsky

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Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky (Russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский; January 5, 1863 – August 7, 1938) was a Russian theatre and acting innovator.

[edit] Biography

Born Konstantin Sergeyevich Alekseyev in Moscow to a wealthy family, he made his first acting appearance at the age of "two or three," according to his memoir, "My Life in Art". He took the stage name Stanislavsky early in his career at the age of 25, possibly to preserve the reputation of his family. (His surname is sometimes transliterated "Stanislavski".)

In 1888, Stanislavsky established the Society of Art and Literature at the Maly Theatre, where he gained experience of aesthetics and stagecraft.

In 1897 he co-founded the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT) with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. One of the company's first productions was Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. It was at MKhAT that Stanislavsky began developing, based on the realist tradition of Aleksandr Pushkin, his famous "System" (similar to the "Method" adapted later by american fans). "The System" would later be adapted by Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Robert Lewis, Sanford Meisner, and many others in the United States. Stanislavsky's System focused on the development of realistic characters and stage worlds. Actors were instructed to use their "Affective Memory" in order to naturally portray a character's emotions. In order to do this actors were required to think of a moment in their own lives when they had felt the desired emotion and then replay the emotion in role in order to achieve a more genuine performance.

[edit] The system

The Stanislavsky System, also known as the Method of Physical Actions, is a systematic approach to training actors to work from the inside outward. This system is at some point different than but not a rejection of what he states earlier in "Affective Memory". At the beginning, Stanislavsky proposed that actors study and experience subjective emotions and feelings and to manifest them to audiences by physical and vocal means, also known as Theatre language.

Stanislavsky survived the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the Russian Revolution of 1917, with Lenin apparently intervening to protect him. In 1918, Stanislavsky established the First Studio as a school for young actors and wrote several works: those available in English translation include: An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, Creating a Role, and the autobiography My Life in Art.

Stanislavsky always thought of his system as if it were a table of contents for a large book which dealt with all aspects of acting. His final work, now known as The Method of Physical Actions (see Stanislavsky System) , is in no way a rejection of his early interest in sense and affective memory. At no time did he ever reject the notion of emotion memory; he simply found other means of accessing emotion, among them the absolute belief in given circumstances; the exercise of the imagination; and the use of physical action.

[edit] Legacy

Stanislavsky had different pupils during each of the phases of discovering and experimenting with a Universal System of acting. One such student, Ryszard Bolesławski, founded the American Laboratory Theatre in 1925. It had a tremendous impact on American acting, when one of Boleslawski's students, Lee Strasberg, went on to co-found The Group Theater (1931-1940) with Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the first American acting company to put Stanislavsky's first discoveries into theatrical practice. Boleslawski had been in Stanislavsky's class when experimenting with Affective Memory. Stanislavsky's theory later evolved to rely on Physical Action inducing feelings and emotions. Affective Memory is applied in Stanislavsky's System but not as much so as in Lee Strasberg's Method.

Stella Adler, the only American to study with Stanislavsky, was taught the Method of Physical Actions in Paris for five weeks in 1934. With this new knowledge she came to Lee Strasberg and introduced to him the new Method of Physical Actions. Strasberg understood the differences but rejected the Method of Physical Actions. He believed that acting was recollection of emotion. Adler said of Strasberg: "He got it all wrong."

Among the actors who have employed Stanislavsky's System in some form are Jack Nicholson, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Harvey Keitel, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Warren Beatty, Jessica Lange, Geraldine Page, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jane Fonda, Benicio Del Toro, Mark Ruffalo, Johnny Depp, Vincent D'Onofrio, Kate Winslet, and Sean Penn.

Charlie Chaplin said, "Stanislavky's book, An Actor Prepares, helps all people to reach out for big dramatic art. It tells what an actor needs to rouse the inspiration he requires for expressing profound emotions."

Sir John Gielgud said, "This director found time to explain a thousand things that have always troubled actors and fascinated students." Gielgud is also quoted as saying, "Stanislavsky's now famous book is a contribution to the Theatre and its students all over the world."

Stanislavsky's goal was to find a universally applicable approach that could be of service to all actors. Yet he said of his System, "Create your own method. Don't depend slavishly on mine. Make up something that will work for you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you."