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Stanislavski's Legacy
Out of the large body of materials -- articles, speeches, notes and memoirs -- left behind by Stanislavski at the time of his death in 1938, Elizabeth Hapgood, his friend and translator, chose items which concentrate on the essence of his work. The result is a volume which supplements the other books he wrote, and re-emphasizes, sometimes in condensed and particulary vivid form, his views about acting, the theatre and life.
- GenresTheatre
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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About the author
Constantin Stanislavski
109 books351 followersConstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski (russian:Константин Сергеевич Станиславский) was a Russian actor and theatre director.
Stanislavski's innovative contribution to modern European and American realistic acting has remained at the core of mainstream western performance training for much of the last century. Building on the directorially-unified aesthetic and ensemble playing of the Meiningen company and the naturalistic staging of Antoine and the independent theatre movement, Stanislavski organized his realistic techniques into a coherent and usable 'system'. Thanks to its promotion and development by acting teachers who were former students and the many translations of his theoretical writings, Stanislavski's system acquired an unprecedented ability to cross cultural boundaries and developed an international reach, dominating debates about acting in the West. That many of the precepts of his 'system' seem to be common sense and self-evident testifies to its hegemonic success. Actors frequently employ his basic concepts without knowing they do so.
Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity, and the work of the actor as an artistic undertaking. Throughout his life, he subjected his own acting to a process of rigorous artistic self-analysis and reflection. His 'system' resulted from a persistent struggle to remove the blocks he encountered. His development of a theorized praxis—in which practice is used as a mode of inquiry and theory as a catalyst for creative development—identifies him as the first great theatre practitioner. Stanislavski believed that after seeing young actors at Aquinas College in Moscow he could see why theatre needed to change to a more disciplined endeavour.
Stanislavski's work was as important to the development of socialist realism in the USSR as it was to that of psychological realism in the United States. Many actors routinely identify his 'system' with the American Method, although the latter's exclusively psychological techniques contrast sharply with Stanislavski's multivariant, holistic and psychophysical approach, which explores character and action both from the 'inside out' and the 'outside in'. Stanislavski's work draws on a wide range of influences and ideas, including his study of the modernist and avant-garde developments of his time (naturalism, symbolism and Meyerhold's constructivism), Russian formalism, Yoga, Pavlovian behaviourist psychology, James-Lange (via Ribot) psychophysiology and the aesthetics of Pushkin, Gogol, and Tolstoy. He described his approach as 'spiritual Realism'.
Associated Names:
Konstantin Stanislavski (Alternative spelling)
Константин Станиславский (Russian)
斯坦尼斯拉夫斯基 (Chinese)
Stanislavski's innovative contribution to modern European and American realistic acting has remained at the core of mainstream western performance training for much of the last century. Building on the directorially-unified aesthetic and ensemble playing of the Meiningen company and the naturalistic staging of Antoine and the independent theatre movement, Stanislavski organized his realistic techniques into a coherent and usable 'system'. Thanks to its promotion and development by acting teachers who were former students and the many translations of his theoretical writings, Stanislavski's system acquired an unprecedented ability to cross cultural boundaries and developed an international reach, dominating debates about acting in the West. That many of the precepts of his 'system' seem to be common sense and self-evident testifies to its hegemonic success. Actors frequently employ his basic concepts without knowing they do so.
Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity, and the work of the actor as an artistic undertaking. Throughout his life, he subjected his own acting to a process of rigorous artistic self-analysis and reflection. His 'system' resulted from a persistent struggle to remove the blocks he encountered. His development of a theorized praxis—in which practice is used as a mode of inquiry and theory as a catalyst for creative development—identifies him as the first great theatre practitioner. Stanislavski believed that after seeing young actors at Aquinas College in Moscow he could see why theatre needed to change to a more disciplined endeavour.
Stanislavski's work was as important to the development of socialist realism in the USSR as it was to that of psychological realism in the United States. Many actors routinely identify his 'system' with the American Method, although the latter's exclusively psychological techniques contrast sharply with Stanislavski's multivariant, holistic and psychophysical approach, which explores character and action both from the 'inside out' and the 'outside in'. Stanislavski's work draws on a wide range of influences and ideas, including his study of the modernist and avant-garde developments of his time (naturalism, symbolism and Meyerhold's constructivism), Russian formalism, Yoga, Pavlovian behaviourist psychology, James-Lange (via Ribot) psychophysiology and the aesthetics of Pushkin, Gogol, and Tolstoy. He described his approach as 'spiritual Realism'.
Associated Names:
Konstantin Stanislavski (Alternative spelling)
Константин Станиславский (Russian)
斯坦尼斯拉夫斯基 (Chinese)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 1, 2018
I don't know how this book was in my shelves, but I decided to read it. Much of it was esoteric and in fact, some chapters were lectures he gave to his students or members of the Moscow Art Theater Company.
However, there were many interesting observations for non theatrical readers. He acted in the
Russian theater around the turn of the century and describes the really primitive accommodations
for the actors back stage. The dressing rooms were unheated with thin walls where their coats would actually freeze to the wall.
He also tells of the terror he, and other performers sometimes feel upon going onstage, the fear of forgetting one's lines or not getting into the part.
I found in interesting that prior to the communist takeover, the theaters were still subject to strict
censorship and at the performance one new play, the audience was full of secret police. Although Stanislavski lived from 1863 til 1937, this book makes no mention of the Russian revolution or WWI.
Stanislavski was a proponent of "the method" acting where the actor was to feel what the person he was playing would feel or react to his surroundings.
Stanislavski was a friend with Anton Chekov and performed many of his plays as soon as they
were written.
However, there were many interesting observations for non theatrical readers. He acted in the
Russian theater around the turn of the century and describes the really primitive accommodations
for the actors back stage. The dressing rooms were unheated with thin walls where their coats would actually freeze to the wall.
He also tells of the terror he, and other performers sometimes feel upon going onstage, the fear of forgetting one's lines or not getting into the part.
I found in interesting that prior to the communist takeover, the theaters were still subject to strict
censorship and at the performance one new play, the audience was full of secret police. Although Stanislavski lived from 1863 til 1937, this book makes no mention of the Russian revolution or WWI.
Stanislavski was a proponent of "the method" acting where the actor was to feel what the person he was playing would feel or react to his surroundings.
Stanislavski was a friend with Anton Chekov and performed many of his plays as soon as they
were written.
May 28, 2023
kind of dramatic but he had some things to say
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews