The Stanislavski's System

The Stanislavski's System

Konstantin Sergeivich Stanislavski was born in 1863 and dies in 1938.

He was a Russian actor, director and acting trainer. In 1898 together

with Nemirovich- Danchenko, he founded the Moscow Art Theatre.

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Stanislavski believed that theatre was about working together, he

recognized the need to improve the theatre practice of his time and

saw actors needed methods to help them act well and consistently. To

solve these problems he developed what was later to be called The

System. It was a rational process of techniques and exercises designed

to train and develop the actor's skills. The areas Stanislavski

believed were important to concentrate on included imagination,

observation, creativity, physical and vocal skills and intellectual

analysis. This system was perfected after thirty years of careful

research, analysis and practical application. The main system was

divided into two main areas. The first concerned the physical state of

the actor, Stanislavski thought that the body was the actors

instrument and just like a musicians instrument it needed attention

and 'tuning'. Therefor the believed actors should be in good physical

shape and have many physical skills. The second part was called the

Psycho-technique and was concerned with the actor's mental state.

Stanislavski thought that 'true' creativity occurred when unconscious

memories, impulses and energy were released.

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Stanislavski then broke his system down into ten specific elements.

These were;

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... offstage, too. Furthermore, events that take place offstage during the

play even simply elapses of time must also be taken into account and

drawn into the portrayal of characters. So offstage experiences are

made physically and emotionally apparent to the audience, if

appropriate, and at each entrance/re-entrance onto the stage the actor

brings with them the offstage experience. This led Stanislavski to

encourage his actors to improvise scenes and events that were referred

to in the play or were a crucial part of the development of the text.

These creations around the play aided the creation of this continuous

'life' of a character, which in turn contributes to the subtext of the

whole performance.

By using these 10 techniques Stanislavski intended to introduce an

almost scientific, methodical approach to acting.