Stanislavski Essay

The methodology of a style is crucial for a piece of drama to succeed. All actors and actresses must know this methodology and apply this in their piece whether it is on a sage or on a film set. Physical action leading from the facial expression of a character or a distinct movement like the tapping of a foot are two expressions that are put together the facial expression would be the internal experience showing through the physical expression in the face. Stanislavski took this into consideration and created a technique called ‘the method of physical actions’. This method eliminated the possibility of spontaneous reactions. Stanislavski composed this technique to help actors and actresses create the desired emotive responses.   This is done by composing a physical movement to trigger the emotive emotion which would cause for instance crying. These responses do not come straight away it takes actors or actress’s weeks to months to master their personal physical actions that work for them that then trigger a psychological response. Stanislavski used a trick here by reversing the natural responses of a human being. Usually it would be an emotion which determines the action although in this case the action determines the emotion.

The character in my monologue is played as a Russian woman during the 1860. It is said that this woman Katerina Kabanova has found herself caught in an adulterous affair. In this scene where she performs her monologue she walks slowly in a state of distress not being able to say goodbye to her lover after her husband had found out. This is when Stanislavski’s method comes in handy. The way my character walks, could trigger various emotions within myself as the actress performing it. The very simple action of placing two hands before my eyes could create and trigger an emotion of my past which could cause me to cry.  These are very key things that could and should be combined into a realism monologue like such in order to create a worthy performance.  The audience whom are watching this performance should feel engaged with the emotive side of the character which is combined with the physical movement. If this aspect of the performance is missing it will not run smoothly causing the audience to be bored and detached with the entire performance.

Stanislavski developed various different techniques in order to accomplish his idea of realism theatre. There are many steps the actor or actresses have to follow before having a truthful realistic performance. Analyzing a character is the most crucial part of his system. The actor has to understand and know the character in and out. When analyzing the character the actor has to answer three questions, ‘What do I (the character) do?’‘Why do I (the character) do it?’ and ‘How do I (the character) do it?’This analyzing helps the actor find the physical and physiological behavior of the character. In Stanislavskian technique, Stanislavski made clear to his actors and actresses that the truth that is within a play is not the same as the truth of real life. This is a very important key for the actors. If an actor were to truthfully believe they were the character they might be in need of psychiatric care. To solve this problem Stanislavski came up with the solution of the ‘Magic if’. This ‘magic if’ created a question for the actor in which they have to answer, ‘if I were in my characters position what would I do?’ Through the word ‘if’ the actor could create strong physical action which would seem to an audience as real. There are three more important points of technique that is needed for this system, concentration, motivation and imagination. The actor must have the imagination to go into depth with what is asked of the script. Also adding to imagination is motivation if the actor has the will power to imagine their performance could be successful. Though without the last step which is concentration the entire hard work of the actor may fall through. The actor must concentrate on who they are and the things they will be doing in character.

Analyzing a character is a very wise technique as you as an actor or performer goes into depth, knowing every emotion of the character and what they would do. Without this the performance would be filled with the actor’s personal body language, speech etc. The actor would not be in character and would just be repeating lines. This in itself would detach the audience from the performance again and would not be taken seriously. Going into depth with the character from my monologue, Katerina would benefit me in the sense that I know how she feels, the struggles she is going through and pain she is caused. By knowing all of this I could ask myself questions. How would I react if I were in Katerina’s position and does it connect with her reaction. The techniques of Stanislavski’s system happen to be very theoretical which involves a lot of writing other than the usual expected acting. Though is very beneficial when it comes to realism drama especially when dealing with monologues.

Stanislavski viewed “theatre as a medium with great social and educational significance”. Stanislavski as a courageous man decided he would incorporate the idea of social issues into the arts of theatre. This reflected the happening during the Russian revolution in 1905 on stage. He wanted his actors to ignore the social issues around then by ironically acting a relating situation.

In conclusion Stanislavski is one of the very people who contributed to develop the idea of realism in theatre. This directly involves Konstantin Stanislavski due to the fact that he was the very person whom created the system. This system is the very system actors of all ages use when dealing with realism theatre. Stanislavski went into depth when dealing with the idea. He created a system that not only involved acting but the theoretical aspect of it too. This makes the system in itself a very powerful one. The system created by Stanislavski has not only impacted the actor’s way of acting but has also impacted the way the audience looked at theatre.