The Given Circumstances and the Magic If in the Stanislavski System

1884 Words4 Pages

The Given Circumstances and the Magic If in the Stanislavski System

One of the most fundamental principles of the Stanislavski system is

that an actor must always strive to achieve a sense of psychological

and inner truth. They must have a clear understanding of the internal

thoughts and emotions of their character, so that they are able to

think and act as the character would to any given situation. He also

believed that all action on stage should be done with a purpose, and

that an actor must be aware of the motivations of the character and

their overall objective with in a play, in order to make a performance

as truthful and believable as possible: "All action in theatre must

have inner justification, be logical, coherent, and real."

One of Stanislavski's ideas of how to achieve a sense of inner truth

is the use of the Magic 'If'. The magic 'if' introduces an idea or

situation to the actor, allowing them to imagine how they themselves

might act if the situation were actually true: "'If' acts as a lever

to lift us out of the world of actuality into the realm of the

imagination." By stimulating the imagination of an actor by using the

magic 'if' a sense of purpose is obtained, leading to more truthful

response. When an actor tries to reach a sense of inner truth with a

character, the magic 'if' can act as a link between the two by

transforming the aim of the character into the aim of the actor,

therefore giving them the potential to create sincere emotions. Whilst

performing on stage, an actor is obviously aware that everything

around them is false, however, he/she must ask themselves the question

'How would I behave ifeverything a...

... middle of paper ...

...medy,

and it was interesting to consider the variety of different ways you

could alter a performance completely by the use of the magic 'if'.

By carrying out these various class exercises I have learnt that when

creating a role for performance, in order to identify with a character

to achieve a sense of inner truth, it can be very useful to get a good

grasp at all the given circumstances that effect the role, and then,

with the use of Stanislavski's magic 'if', explore the role by trying

out a number of possible approaches to a scene or play. The magic 'if'

works as an important link between the actor and the character they

are playing by making the aim of the character the aim of the actor as

well, meaning that, with this sense of purpose, and actor can give a

more realistic and psychologically truthful performance.

Open Document