What do you think?
Rate this book
Collection Set: An Actor Prepares / Building a Character / Creating a Role
- GenresTheatre
Paperback
Published June 1, 1989
16 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
About the author
Constantin Stanislavski
104 books341 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)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 19, 2021
You have to have this in your acting library.
April 12, 2023
A pausa lógica serve ao nosso cérebro, a psicológica aos nossos sentimentos
Pensemos num primeiro momento sobre a verdadeira artista: Mãe Natureza, que cria vidas igualmente ricas, complicadas, multifacetadas, complexas e, todas elas, irredutíveis com suas formas sublimes. Na construção do personagem, o Diretor Tórtsov incorporado por Stanislavski, continua explorando com seus alunos o potencial dessa profundidade disponibilizada, exercitando a familiarização dos fundamentos como o talhamento das expressões, os treinamentos expressivos, o tempo-ritmo e as criações deliberadas.
Ao buscar a expressividade do corpo, nos deparamos com a sina do personagem: a plena ciência que seus gestos não são seus. No treinamento físico, o Diretor deixa bem claro que nossos gestos são maneirismos universais e generalizados, amoldados em férrea forma permanente, ou seja, por atores que trocaram a arte pelo negócio. E nesses maneirismos, entende-se que o ator precisa desenvolver toda estrutura muscular necessária e treinar os graus característicos afim de dominá-los para exercer o controle apreciativo.
Por conseguinte, treina-se o desenvolvimento de todas as articulações que contribuem para a produção da magnífica técnica vocal, responsável por transportar a plateia num vislumbre de visões interiores com imagens amoldadas pela própria imaginação criadora do ator. Compreende o Diretor que as letras são apenas símbolos de sons, ou seja, precisa de ressonância, fluência, pausas e a fuga de modos distorcidos coloquiais que podem ser vistos como ofensivos quando utilizados para enunciar versos melodiosos sobre temas elevados.
E para entender às exigências da linguagem falada, o processo é então, entrelaçado com a entonação. Responsável por todas acentuações, pausas lógicas, psicológicas, inflexões e delineações fonéticas, a entonação precisa ser bem delineada para manter o fio central da história, precisa de pausas estratégicas e ser consecutiva para que haja o florescimento de impulsos nos esforços, responsável por incendiar os sentimentos profundos.
Por fim, é preciso se atentar aos tempos-ritmo. Tendo em vista o forte elo entre o ritmo e o sentimento, essa concepção tem o intuito de manter o ritmo interior da vida, a harmonia, a nobreza e a imponência da peça para consolidar os fundamentos da atuação que norteará a principal meta: A criatividade verdadeira que vem de dentro, de emoções humanas, não teatrais.
Link para meus highlights: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10NQ1...
Pensemos num primeiro momento sobre a verdadeira artista: Mãe Natureza, que cria vidas igualmente ricas, complicadas, multifacetadas, complexas e, todas elas, irredutíveis com suas formas sublimes. Na construção do personagem, o Diretor Tórtsov incorporado por Stanislavski, continua explorando com seus alunos o potencial dessa profundidade disponibilizada, exercitando a familiarização dos fundamentos como o talhamento das expressões, os treinamentos expressivos, o tempo-ritmo e as criações deliberadas.
Ao buscar a expressividade do corpo, nos deparamos com a sina do personagem: a plena ciência que seus gestos não são seus. No treinamento físico, o Diretor deixa bem claro que nossos gestos são maneirismos universais e generalizados, amoldados em férrea forma permanente, ou seja, por atores que trocaram a arte pelo negócio. E nesses maneirismos, entende-se que o ator precisa desenvolver toda estrutura muscular necessária e treinar os graus característicos afim de dominá-los para exercer o controle apreciativo.
Por conseguinte, treina-se o desenvolvimento de todas as articulações que contribuem para a produção da magnífica técnica vocal, responsável por transportar a plateia num vislumbre de visões interiores com imagens amoldadas pela própria imaginação criadora do ator. Compreende o Diretor que as letras são apenas símbolos de sons, ou seja, precisa de ressonância, fluência, pausas e a fuga de modos distorcidos coloquiais que podem ser vistos como ofensivos quando utilizados para enunciar versos melodiosos sobre temas elevados.
E para entender às exigências da linguagem falada, o processo é então, entrelaçado com a entonação. Responsável por todas acentuações, pausas lógicas, psicológicas, inflexões e delineações fonéticas, a entonação precisa ser bem delineada para manter o fio central da história, precisa de pausas estratégicas e ser consecutiva para que haja o florescimento de impulsos nos esforços, responsável por incendiar os sentimentos profundos.
Por fim, é preciso se atentar aos tempos-ritmo. Tendo em vista o forte elo entre o ritmo e o sentimento, essa concepção tem o intuito de manter o ritmo interior da vida, a harmonia, a nobreza e a imponência da peça para consolidar os fundamentos da atuação que norteará a principal meta: A criatividade verdadeira que vem de dentro, de emoções humanas, não teatrais.
Link para meus highlights: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10NQ1...
February 4, 2023
Such an eye opener. So much rubbish has been written about 'the method' and Stanislavski is often ridiculed by people who seem not to have read his work. This book is easy to read, engaging and full of advice on how to become a really great actor. Performers who ridicule this book do so at their peril. Now I understand better what differentiates a great performance from a fake one. He has synthesised all his experience and knowledge about acting in this narrativisation of the acting class. Everyone who has anything to do with actors or acting should be obliged to read this book.
May 21, 2015
"The Magic If" and "The Method"...these are the foundations of American realism, although Stanislavski was from Russia. These principles are poked fun at today for being a bit intense, yet I believe they are vital for every actor to know and apply.
March 25, 2015
THE seminal reading material for anyone seeking to develop, craft, nurture and understand the art of acting and working with actors; speaking the actor's language. This book should be on any theater/film student's reading list.
May 3, 2008
The thrill factor isn't very high...geez... I'm such a theatre dork... Stanislavski is the man...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews