Stanislavski
The date was January 17th, 1863. The place was Moscow, Russia. The event was the birth of Constantin Alekseyev Stanislavski, the well-known theatre practitioner whose theories behind acting became a major turning point in the history of theatre. Born into a wealthy family, Stanislavski's natural talent and sincere love for the theatre was well accounted for financially, which made his amateur theatre endeavors very easy to accomplish. In the late 1890's Stanislavski met with a playwright named Vladimir Nemitovich-Danchenko, both of whom decided that the acting style of their time was in need of improvement. They formed the Moscow Arts Theatre in hope of finding new truths and total realism in theatre. It was during this time and followed in the many years to come that Stanislavski formed his system of acting that he is so well known for. In 1913 Stanislavski set up an experimental theatre called "First Studio", where his primary goal was to experiment with his theory an!d to perfect it in every shape and form using psychological approaches through trial and error. Stanislavski's method was to have the actor psychologically transform himself into his character. The actor would actually have to believe everything he was a
Stanislavski, C. (1937). An Actor Prepares. Great Britain: Redwood Burn Limited cting was real, in some ways not even to be acting any more but experiencing, for the first time, everything around him. Every emotion, every action, every event, every thought would be real - not imaginary. He once said, "It [his system] is not a hand-me-down suit that you can put on and walk off in; or a cook book where all you need to find is the page and there is your recipe. No, it is a whole way of life." For Stanislavski acting was no longer pretend. This actor has also accomplished Stanislavski's goal. In order to achieve such a state of mind the actor has to prepare himself using Stanislavski's method of preparation. Firstly the actor has to become aware of the character he has to portray. An example would be Othello written by William Shakespeare. If an actor were to portray Othello, the main character, he would have to ask himself many questions about his character that will help him to understand Othello as a person and further understand the character's given circumstances. For example it would firstly be noted that Othello, known as 'the Moor', bore a skin coloration that made him differ greatly to those in his community. Also that Othello was in the Army...that he married the beautiful and coveted Desdemona...that he was held in high esteem...and so on. From then on the actor m
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