Sunday, 23 December 2012
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Practitioner Profile: Constantin Stanislavski
·
D.O.B:
17th January 1863
·
D.O.D:
7th August 1938 (Aged 75)
·
Role in
theatre: Actor, theatre director, theatre theorist
During his life Stanislavski
dedicated himself to developing a system of acting to better himself as an
actor. He did this by observing himself and other
performers, whilst on and off the stage.
j
j ‘ Stanislavski's
'system' is a systematic approach to training actors. Areas of study include concentration,
voice, physical skills, emotional memory, observation, and dramatic analysis. Stanislavski's goal was to find a universally applicable
approach that could be of service to all actors. Yet he said of his system:
"Create your own method. Don't depend slavishly on mine. Make up something
that will work for you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you."
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.’
Psychophysiology is the scientific study of the relation between the physical
and the psychological/emotional. Stanislavski used the psychophysical approach
to explore and expand upon the general philosophy behind the naturalism popular
in the theatre of his day: in layman’s terms, the idea that man’s life is
defined and shaped by his social and physical environment.
The point of the system for the actor is to help enable them
to expose the ‘hidden aspects of relationships between people
and revealing the repressed elements of everyday life. The ultimate goal
was for each actor to “live” his or her part without falling into the trap of
complete belief in the character being portrayed.’(Jenny Marlowe Love Acting)
Whilst Stanislavski strongly believed that actors should be
able to demonstrate the emotions and physicality of a character, there should
always be a mental and emotional detachment between character and actor.
During rehearsals he and his actors would sit down and read
the text and make notes about the play and break it down into psychological
units:
Objective (also
called the Super-Objective): The final, over-all goal that a
character wants to achieve (this might be worded as, “What do I want?” or “What
is my purpose?”)Obstacles: Things that will prevent or complicate the achievement of a character’s objective.
Tools or Methods (this aspect goes by many names): The means a character will use to overcome obstacles and achieve his objective.
Units and Bits: Smaller objectives and methods which build towards the larger goal. An entire sequence of bits might make up a unit, and there may in turn be several units in service of the final objective.
Actions: Mini-objectives for each line, or sometimes even
each part of a line. These are usually identified in verb form, and can
be extremely specific (for example, to flatter, to cajole, to soothe).
LO 3.2 It is the
above techniques with a combination of Uta Hagen’s questions regarding
character circumstances that I wish to use to rehearse and develop my acting
skills as a whole and for my Character Olga in Three Sisters.
Bibliography
Online article, Marlowe Jenny, http://www.loveacting.com/stanislavski.html
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