TOPIC+Acting+Styles



**Butoh ** Butoh is a dance of improvisation, in which there are no recognizable forms, as in modern dance. This does not mean that anything at all may be improvised; every choice a performer makes must pass through the rigor of the body. Butoh involves five years of precise bodily training, achieved by specific exercises for balance, strength, and flexibility. As one Butoh dancer put it, "Butoh is the dance of the soul, of immanence, and of deep existence, and if the body fails to translate it, it remains incomplete.”

Butoh is often difficult for Western students to digest because of the trouble accepting a course in which the next goal cannot be foreseen. In fact, for the first three years it is possible live in a place of no intellectual understanding. Kazuo Ohno tells his students, "You must accept, then you must begin little by little to feel." It is not uncommon for students to quit in the middle of the rigorous 5-year training program.

While Butoh was born and arguably only exists authentically in Japan, Butoh classes and performance troupes have begun cropping up all over the world since the 1980s. Even still, it exists only on the margins of Western consciousness and understanding. Unlike Stanislavsky's "System," turned "Method," Butoh has not become an easily consumable phenomenon; it has maintained its history of the dignity of never quite knowing the answer--commodifying the search for the link between life and death is not an easy task.


 * __Co-Founder Hijikata Tatsumi__ **

Hijikata Tatsumi moved to Tokyo in 1952, the year in which the American Occupation of the defeated Japan ended. Initially, he survived as a petty criminal through acts of burglary and robbery. He then established a dance studio, the Asbestos Hall, in the Meguro district of Tokyo, which would be the base for his choreographic work for the rest of his life He undertook his first **Ankoku Butoh** performance, **Kinjiki**, in 1959, using a novel by Yukio Mishima as the raw input material for an abrupt, sexually-inflected act of choreographic violence which stunned its audience.

Hijikata conceived of **Ankoku Butoh** from its origins as an outlaw form of dance-art, and as constituting the negation of all existing forms of Japanese dance. Inspired by the criminality of the French novelist Jean Genet, Hijikata wrote manifestoes of his emergent dance form with such as titles as 'To Prison' (see excerpt below).

His dance would be one of corporeal extremity and transmutation, driven by an obsession with death, and imbued with an implicit repudiation of contemporary society and media power. Many of his early works were inspired by figures of European literature such as the Marquis de Sade and the Comte de Lautréamont, as well as by the French Surrealist movement, which had exerted an immense influence on Japanese art and literature, and had led to the creation of an autonomous and influential Japanese variant of Surrealism, whose most prominent figure was the poet Shuzo Takiguchii, who perceived **Ankoku Butoh** as a distinctively 'Surrealist' dance-art form.

Throughout the period in which he had performed in public, Hijikata's work had been perceived as scandalous and the object of revulsion, part of a 'dirty avant-garde' which refused to assimilate itself to Japanese traditional art, power or society. However, Hijikata himself perceived his work as existing beyond the parameters of the era's avant-garde movements, and commented: 'I've never thought of myself as avant-garde. If you run around a race-track and are a full circuit behind everyone else, then you are alone and appear to be first. Maybe that is what happened to me...'.



__**Interview with Co-founder Kazuo Ohno**__ One instance of international Butoh performance was a revue directed by Carolyn Carlson which was performed at the Teatro Goldoni in Italy from September 28 until October 30, 1999. The revue was entitled "Solo donna" ("Only Woman") and performers from around the world were invited. All the performers were women except for Kazuo Ohno, the 93-year old master of Butoh who presented an anthology of his most celebrated female creations, as always //en travesti//, on the 1st and 2nd of October. Interview with Ohno after his winning of the "Michelangelo Antonioni Prize for the Arts" **// (Robert Balmas, interviewer )//**
 * //You are considered the founder of Butoh. What do you think has changed in this dance since its origins up until today? What has remained unchanged ? //**

I spent two years in New Guinea and seven in China and when the war ended and it was time to return to Japan, there was the state of happiness, the joy of return, but the sufferings and the pain of the soldiers and of the persons who, during the voyage of reentry to the fatherland, died and were taken into the sea. They so struck me then that I thought back on all those vanished people and created the Ankoku Butoh. I wanted, with this dance, to express the pain of relatives over the disappearance of their dear ones, who in fact died -- there is the pain -- but who at the same time are alive, there being something that continues, death not being an end but a beginning. I cannot find the words for this, but when death is spoken of it has a negative image, whereas for me life and death are both part of man: and life and death, this alternation, are the beginning of something, not the end. In practicing my dance I do not address the problem of Butoh today, but that of man´s relationship with life and death, this is the fundamental theme of my dance.


 * //What do you think that Butoh can tell or teach future generations and what is the message of Butoh ? //**

The recovery of emotional memory, of the roots, this is surely the legacy for future generations, but the phrase occurs to me, "in the corolla of a flower is the universe," this is the teaching offered us by Antonioni, on which all of us are called to reflect; in this "blooming" of something and in the rapport between life and death the universe is disclosed.


 * //Leaving, I am so profoundly moved and shaken that, not by accident, there occur to me certain of his words read earlier: « only when you are able to break the conventions that society has imposed on your body and mind, only when you have abandoned individuality and rigid thinking, only then will you be finally free to let flow out the pure expression of your soul. You are happy because you are free. Smile and a flower blooms in your mouth ». Words profoundly touching, and in whose simplicity we rediscover the essence of life. //**

__** Examples of Butoh Performances: **__

In Japan (Kazuo Ohno performing): media type="youtube" key="i3hAJSoF3lo" height="339" width="452"

In Poland: media type="youtube" key="E4JiXt3Eq7g" height="310" width="429" align="center"

In Paris: media type="youtube" key="SAO_OxIgffE" height="341" width="439" align="center"

= KONSTANTIN STANISLAVKSY =

Konstantin Slanislavsky was born Konstantin Sergeyevich Alexeyev on January 18th, 1863 in Moscow, Russia. Within the strict class system that existed in Russia at the time, his family were belonged to the affluent merchant class. His father, Vladimir Vladimirovich, descended from a line of peasants who had moved to the city for employment in the metal-working industry. His mother was the duaghter of a rich Russian merchant and his French actress mistress. He adopted the name Stanislavsky years later when he became established in the theatre. Stanislavsky is best known throughout the world for the 'system' of acting he developed during his work around the turn of the twentieth century. This 'system' is often confused with Method Acting, which, though inspired by and drawing heavily on Stanislavsky's ideas, was not his approach. He is also one of the premiere reformers of Russian theatre.

1. Early Influences i. Lvov ii. The Meiningen Ensamble 2. The Alexeyev Circle 3. An Amatuer Actor

EARLY INFLUENCES

Stanislavsky took part in his first theatrical performance at the age of six. His governess, Miss Snopov, ("Papusha" to Konstantin his siblings) had the children perfrom a tableau of the four seasons for their mother on her birthday. He recalled putting a stick into a fire when he told merely to pretend to do so becuase he felt it would not be natural to pretend since the fire was right there.

Russian theatre at the time was in transition. The Empress Yelisaveta had established the Maly (little) Theatre in Petersburg in 1756 and had solidified its monopoly over theatrical performances in the city. But by the 1850s there was a movement to make theatre a more private matter. Amateur “circle” began to sprout up, including the Alexeyev Circle, the Artistic Circle, and even a Shakespeare Circle. Acting was, by Stanislavsky’s view, stilted and stiff. Very much engrained in the traditions of the French Neo-Classical movement, there was nothing in it that remotely resembled real life. It was little more than a set of codified gestures that were to be memorized to “act” certain emotions. This was the problem that Stanislavsky and many others set out to solve. In his younger days, Stanislavsky's greatest influence was his tutor, Lovov, who had started an amateur theatre with some friends. Lvov taught him at the Fourth Classical Secondary School in Moscow, where he was educated in manners, dancing, and received a theatrical education by attending a great many operas, ballets, and plays in the city. This inspired him to stage short operas and scenes on a small puppet theatre he had built with some of his friends. Stanislavsky's family also hosted the staging of many theatrical performances at their home, some of them starring the young Konstantin and his siblings. He penned his first notes on acting after one of these performances. The acting that he did was copied directly from famous actors he observed, learning the only way he knew how. However, he also at this time he had the distinct feeling that doing this was wrong. He also discovered that there was a difference between the actor's state of mind and the impression the audience got from them. After appearing in //The Old Mathematician//, Konstantin spoke to Lvov about his perfromance who criticized him for acting by inspiration only. He acted the way he felt in the moment, speaking, though he wasn't aware of it, very quickly and very quietly. He found that the ability to assess one's own performance was invaluable to an actor.
 * Lvov

The Meiningen Ensamble was the court theatre of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen created in 1874. It became renown throughout Europe for touring. The company was heavily influenced by the english director Charles Kean, who emphasized "authenticity" in the plays of Shakespeare. The Ensamble toured Moscow in 1885 with //Julius Caesar//, which Stanislavsky saw, and again five years later. His observations of their process instilled in him the concept of the producer-centered production.
 * The Meiningen Ensamble

THE ALEXEYEV CIRCLE

His small group of actors, the Alexeyev Circle, gave its first real performance in the first play that Stanislavsky had produced alone: //The Love Potion.// It was through the process of producing a number of plays with this group that he began to refine his personal ideas about theatre and acting. During the rehearsals for //The Practical Gentleman//, he noticed the actors, who were older that he was, "living" as their characters when they off the stage. In his mind, this was particularly effective in bringing characters to life when they were on the stage. He also began to notice that these same actors were developing the "inner life" of each character by focusing their attentions and energies on exteranl charactersitics: stance, posture, voice, movement, and so on. Stanislavsky turned his focus to musical comedies, constantly attempting to better his knowledge. For his own parts, he starteda routine of of practicing his gestures and facial expressions in front of a mirror each day to evoke the desired effect. He similarly rehearsed his line delivery to enhance his diction. Lvov had taught him how important it was to really one's body. The last production of the Alexeyev Cricle was the French musical comedy //Lili// in 1888.

AN AMATEUR ACTOR

A great love of the opera and the dream of one day becoming an opera singer himself propelled Stanislavsky to seek music lesson. He began a tutorship with the highly influential singing master Theodore Kommisarzhevsky. Though in time he learned that his was voice was simply not strong enough for the opera, he had absorbed a great deal, including the need to find a physical rhythm for the body. With this he moved his attentions back to theater. He worked with an actress from the Maly Theatre at a charity performance in Moscow. She imparted to him the concept of discipline. Actors of this company were required to arrive at least half an hour before each rehearsal. Inspiration could not be waited for -there was never enough time to just wait for it to hit you. He took part in a tour with the company where he discovered the meaning of exhaustion by having to perform show after show for days on end. "Communication" was key to these actors. They stressed looking at the other actor's face and responding by truly listening. It was after this tour that Stanislavsky become considered an true amatuer actor. He appeared in many plays in Moscow, meeting many members of the Moscow Arts Theatre which would play a huge part in his education.

=//**THE PARADOX OF ACTING**//=

//The Paradox of Acting// was written by Diderot in France and published in 1883. This was the same period of time in which the young Stanislavsky was making his concerted foray into theatre to refine his ideas. Posed as the dialogue between two individuals, Diderot debates the question that also preoccupies Stanislavsky: which is better for an actor, sensibility or judgment? Sensibility was playing a part by the emotions of the actor himself. He based his moods entirely on his own passions and inspirations. Judgment involved making meticulous observations of real people in daily life to effectively re-create their feelings without having to feel them. The paradox is, as Diderot states, “nothing happens on the stage exactly as it happens in Nature.” Thus the question: how best should natural emotions be portrayed on stage? In the author’s argument, sensibility is superior because it is consistent. Actors who rely on inspiration (as Stanislavsky first did when he was young) find themselves used up very quickly. They are never the same night to night. Passion, argues Diderot, needs a definite course.”

Brine, Adrian and York, Michael. A Shakespearean Actor Prepares. New Hampshire, Smith and Kraus, Inc.: 2000.

Diderot, Denis. The Paradox of Acting. London, Chatto & Windus: 1883.

Margarshack, David. Stanislavsky: A Life. London, Faber and Faber: 1950.

**VIEWPOINTS  With Anne Bogart ** When beginning to study Viewpoints, it is important to note that Bogart is not the sole creator. As noted in the video “Staging the Classics” which is linked below, Bogart likes to describe herself as a “scavenger” where she picks and pulls from sources and embodies them to forms other creations. The inventor of Viewpoints is choreographer and professor at NYU Mary Overlie whom Anne Bogart met while working there herself. Mary Overlie created the “Six Viewpoints” of Space, Shape, Movement, Time, Emotion, and Story (Bogart, and Landau 5). Bogart was fascinated by Overlie’s discoveries of the “Six Viewpoints”. She took these established Viewpoints from Overlie and created a total of nine Viewpoints in relation to performance and theatre. Some of these Viewpoints are the same as what Overlie uses as a choreographer and some of them are in addition to. The overall concept of Viewpoints remains constant among both. This overall concept is that “Performance is made up of time and space (Staging the Classics).” After further work and discoveries made when working with Viewpoints, Bogart has expanded her examination to include Vocal Viewpoints into the mix. Here, we will only be dealing with the nine physical based Viewpoints for these are what needs to be fundamentally understood before further exploration and awareness can be obtained.

Viewpoints is not really what one would deem an “acting style” but rather it is a composition of concepts that increases an individuals understanding and use of improvisation and awareness.

“//Viewpoints are points of awareness that a// //<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">performer or creator has while working.” // //<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9px; letter-spacing: 1pt; text-align: center;">(Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal;">Smith 20) // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Before work with Viewpoints can begin, there are key concepts and ideas that must be first understood. One of these is the use of “soft focus.” Soft Focus is when one relaxes their eyes so that they are not looking directly or sharply at one thing, but rather so that there is an awareness of everything around them. This allows the individual to take more information in and become conscious of their surroundings.

//<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">“Always when working with Viewpoints, // //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">the choices are made intuitively and based // //<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">on surrounding events.” // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">(Bogart, and Landau <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px;">66) // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Another vocabulary that one should be introduced to first is “feedforward” and “feedback”. Feedforward can be compared to being present on stage. By definition, “feedforward is an outgoing energy that anticipates the necessity for action” (Bogart, and Landau 34). Feedback is the reception of feedforward. It is the information and sensation that one receives as the result of an action” (Bogart, and Landau 91).

Having gained understanding of these concepts in which Viewpoints is practiced with, the individual Viewpoints can be introduced <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">.

As mentioned above, there are nine Viewpoints. Each of these nine fall under either the understanding of Space or Time. The first four individual Viewpoints fall under Time while the following five fall under the category of Space.

Note: greater understanding Viewpoints is gained through exploration with them.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Tempo **
 * “The rate of speed at which a movement occurs; how fast or slow something happens on stage.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 20)

The Viewpoint of Tempo can be applied to anything that has a clear beginning and end. In keeping with the physical/ movement Viewpoints, Tempo is described in relation to an action. It is focus on the speed at which an action is performed. Take for instance the action of say sitting down in a chair. When at first executed, without tempo in mind, the action is usually done in a medium tempo, nothing really interesting about it. However, when exploration of tempo is put into play the action can revile a message of its own and the action suddenly becomes interesting and telling. (Bogart, and Landau 36-40)


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Duration **
 * “How long a movement or sequence of movements continues.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 21)
 * “How long you stay in that action and/or tempo.” (Bogart, and Landau 40)

The Viewpoint of Duration is applied to a selection of movement or actions that is specific. The focus is on how long the sequence or idea remains. An example of Duration would be if you were to walk in a certain direction, how long would you wait or not wait to change the direction. Similarly with Tempo, we tend to exist in the medium zone with Duration. Awareness and exploration of Duration opens up a whole new world of possibilities and meaning that can be created physically. (Bogart, and Landau 40-41)


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Kinesthetic Response **
 * “A spontaneous reaction to motion which occurs outside you…. The impulsive movement which occurs from a stimulation of the senses.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 21)

The Viewpoint of Kinesthetic Response is the moment in which choice is relinquished. Instead of mentally deciding when to make action, let your surroundings guide you. It is a spontaneous, uncensored, and immediate response to what is occurring around you. Use everything. (Bogart, and Landau 42-43)


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Repetition **
 * “The repeating of something on stage.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 21)

The previous three Viewpoints of Tempo, Duration, and Kinesthetic Response should be determined by the Viewpoint of Repetition (Bogart, and Landau 43). Repetition can be further explained when split in two with Internal Repetition and External Repetition. Internal Repetition is “the repeating of a movement within your own body” while External Repetition is “the repeating the shape, tempo, gesture, ect. of something outside your own body” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 21)


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Spatial Relationship **
 * “The distance between things on stage, especially one body to another, one body to a group of bodies, or the body to the playing space.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 23)

Just as Tempo and Duration had a clear middle ground in which most responses existed, so does Spatial Relationship between bodies. The common distance is two to five feet in distance. This is a “safe zone” a “cushion of protection” in which relationship is unclear. Exploration of Spatial Relationship (from very far away or very close) can create dynamic meaning and relationships. (Bogart, and Landau 44)


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Topography **
 * “The landscape, the floor pattern, or the design we create through movement in the space.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 23)

The Viewpoint of Topography is an awareness of the space that you are creating. An exploration of Topography can be done by recognizing what patterns are you making with your movements through the space. The exploration of Topography should not only be a 2 dimensional experience but 3 dimensional; explore height and depth through space. (Bogart, and Landau 45)


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Shape **
 * “The contour or outline the body (or bodies) make in space.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 21)

The Viewpoint of Shape is an awareness and exploration with the types of shapes you can create with your body. Shape is divided into three types of exploration: lines, curves and finally lines and curves. Through the process movement is to be kept as fluid as possible so that is it a process of evolving into different shapes.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Gesture **
 * “A movement involving a part or parts of the body.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 21)

The Viewpoint of Gesture is divided into to separate categories: Behavioral and Expressive. Behavioral gestures are gestures that can be viewed and observed in our everyday lives. An example of these would be coughing, wrinkling your forehead, scratching your arm. Expressive gestures are one that you would not see in a supermarket. They “ express an inner state or emotion” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 22).


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Architecture **
 * “The physical environment in which you are working and how awareness of it affects movement.” (Dewey, Bowker, Pylodet, Cutter, Weston, Brown, Wessells, Association, Arts, Dixon, and Smith 22)

The Viewpoint of Architecture is becoming aware of the space in which you are working. This can be from broad detail to the very small detail. An example would be the floor. What is it made of? How does it feel on the feet? What is the color? The texture? And there cracks or inconsistencies?

A greater consciousness for everything around you is gained through Viewpoints. It expands your ability to work collaboratively and work honestly. Meaning, relationship, and story can all be enhanced through the knowledge of the Viewpoints. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Ultimately”, Bogart says in “Staging the Classics”, “Viewpoints is about listening.” It is an “ongoing awareness of others in time and space. In Viewpoints training, one learns to listen with the entire body” (Bogart, and Landau 33). Its an improvisational system with you can practice.

Anne Bogart on Viewpoints edited from "Staging The Classics." media type="file" key="Viewpoints.mov" width="300" height="300" **For the Full Video of this Interview:** [|Staging The Classics]

For more great insights into the works and process of Anne Bogart check out [|Directors on Directing] as well as [|Anne Bogart] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Dewey, Melvil, Richard Bowker, L. Pylodet, Charles Cutter, Bertine Weston, Karl Brown, Helen Wessells, American Association, Tisch Arts, Michael Dixon, and Joel Smith. //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Anne Bogart // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">. Smith & Kraus Pub Inc, 1995. Print.

Bogart, Anne, and Tina Landau. //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">The Viewpoints Book // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">. New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group Inc., 2005. Print.

//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Staging the Classics //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">. American Theatre Wing: 2006, Film

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20pt; letter-spacing: 1pt; text-align: center;"> **MORE ON STANISLAVSKY** = = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Reading, talking, studying, and reconstructing the truth of Stanislavski has been an inspiring thing for me in our current class context. Stepping back from it all and thinking about his place in theater history and his influence, I see him as a giant. It’s almost like he were comparable in his influence on disciples to a Gandhi. His core idea, like Gandhi’s, was enormously powerful and truthful. In the world of art, it is hard to think of another person with a single core thought that achieved such influence so quickly and genuinely. For this blog, I tried to assemble different perspectives on Stanislavski, his life, and his vision.

A good, concise, objective summary of the basic facts of his life, career, and legacy can be found at the following link: []

Also good and basic is the following one: []

Stanislavski was born in 1863 to a Russian theatrical family and was a gifted and successful actor. As an actor and director, he came to believe in an approach to acting and theatre known as the Method (more on that later). He became the leader of a famous troupe known as the Moscow Art Theater, which thrived under the Communist regime following the Russian Revolution. His ideas and approach were transmitted to America first through the New York based Group Theater during the 1930’s, and then widely to the point where they are prevalent. As is widely known, one of his disciples was the actor Stella Adler, who went on to teach the Method to many famous actors such as Marlon Brando. Stanislavski died in 1938.

So what is the core idea? One good way of arriving at the best answer would be to go directly to Stanislavski’s own words. In his autobiography, “My Life in Art,” Stanislavski says he had a feel for the approach even before it dawned on him as a fully formed idea in a kind of vision. For example, in playing Othello, he says, “How did I say the famous speech of Othello in the Seanate? In no way. I simply told a story.” Some years later came the vision: “During one performance in which I was repeating a role I had played many times, suddenly, without apparent cause, I perceived the inner meaning of the truth long known to me that creativeness on the stage demands firs of all a special condition, which, for want of a better term, I will call the creative mood. Of course I knew this before, but only intellectually. From that evening on this simple truth entered into all my being, and I grew to perceive it not only with my soul, but with my body also. For an actor, to perceive is to feel. For this reason I can say that it was on that evening that I ‘first perceived a truth long known to me’’.

Let me go on (again not interjecting my “explanation” of the Method yet, or for that manner anyone else’s)… Following is a quote from an essay by Stanislavski included in “Acting, A Handbook of the Stanislavski Method” compiled by Toby Cole: “Without your being aware of it, the director transports you from the world of the audience to that of the stage where you become a participant in the life being depicted in the play. Something has happened to you. You no longer feel like one of the audience. When the curtain goes up you immediately say: ‘I know that room. Here comes Ivan Ivanovich, and now Marie Petrovna. That man is a friend of mine… Yes, I know all this. But what will happen next?’”

He wanted the theater and acting to be real, and true, reflecting real experience, a true to life conversation involving all concerned. The famous “how” of achieving this was pretty well described in the PBS website blurb: “Over forty years he created an approach that forefronted the psychological and emotional aspects of acting. The Stanislavski System, or "the method," as it has become known, held that an actor’s main responsibility was to be believed (rather than recognized or understood). To reach this "believable truth", Stanislavski first employed methods such as "emotional memory." To prepare for a role that involves fear, the actor must remember something frightening, and attempt to act the part in the emotional space of that fear they once felt. Stanislavski believed that an actor needed to take his or her own personality onto the stage when they began to play a character. This was a clear break from previous modes of acting that held that the actor's job was to become the character and leave their own emotions behind. Later Stanislavski concerned himself with the creation of physical entries into these emotional states, believing that the repetition of certain acts and exercises could bridge the gap between life on and off the stage.”

But one of the interesting things to me is how the people who met him and worked with him directly talked about the core inspiration behind the technique. Stella Adler met him in Paris and quickly bonded. Here is part of what she said about their meetings inter in her book, “The Art of Acting:” “Stanislavski and I soon achieved the greatest closeness of director and actress, and very soon it was just actor and actress! We worked together for many, many weeks. In those periods, there were certain things he asked me to do. Particularly, he made clear that an actor must have an enormous imagination, uninhibited by self-consciousness. I understood he was very much an actor fed by the imagination. He explained the enormous importance of the imagination on stage.” Like many giants with many disciples, Stanislavski thought has been interpreted and extrapolated in many different directions. On my bookshelf I have a collection of essays called “Method Acting Reconsidered” in which one essay, entitled “The Paradox of the Method Actor,” talks about very different schools of thought calling themselves derivations of Stanislavski. Regardless of these differences, however, the author, Dennis Beck, points out the Stanislavski legacy that “Actors no longer dutifully render the playwright’s character but cocreate it, coauthor it.” Another derivation, a kind of dead end, is the stereotype situation of the kid in “A Chorus Line” told to discover how an ice cream felt…. And she felt nothing.

Personally, I agree with the quote from John Elsom shown on the website below: “The real lesson that Stanislavski taught does not lie in any of the theories and training methods that bear his name. He knew there were no shortcuts to truthfulness. After the actor has assembled all the external facts about a character and used his imagination to feel what it is like to live within those boundaries, there still remains the difficult task of using these insights to better understand the human condition. The rules are irrelevant. The process is all.” []