Outline Stanislavski(TM)s concept of emotion memory and assess it(TM)s usefulness as part of the rehearsal process.

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Elle Johnson

Outline Stanislavski’s concept of emotion memory and assess it’s usefulness as part of the rehearsal process.

In the 19th century, Constantin Stanislavski developed revolutionary ‘system’ of both rehearsing, and acting, which changed he theatre forever. One aspect of his ‘System’ and probably the most prominent one is “Emotion Memory”. Use of emotion memory has become part of a common rehearsal process, and spreads through all area of theatre, from television drama, to films, to theatre. In the following, I am going to depict the concept of emotion memory, and assess to what extent it is useful in building a character.

One of Stanislavski’s main aims of his method was to create a character with depth, bringing it to life and therefore creating truth on stage, in order to achieve this, he believed emotion memory was key. Stanislavski added another sense to the five human senses, he added ‘Emotional Memory’.

“Just as your visual memory can reconstruct an image of some forgotten place or person, your emotion memory can bring back things you have already experienced.”-An actor prepares. Stanislavski obtained the idea that one could create “truth on stage” by using this extra sense, and being able to tune into past experiences, henceforth creating the needed emotion for the role. He stated that it is this ability to tap into past emotions imprinted on the memory, which enables one to build and layer a character. Stanislavski suggested that it was a good idea for and actor to make a conscious effort to broaden his/her range of experience and that in broadening his/her horizons this would result in a wider and more detailed memory bank of emotional stimuli, enabling the actor to tap into a wide variety of past thoughts and feelings.

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The idea of emotion memory evolved from the works of Ribot. His books, la psycologie des sentiments, and Problemes de psychologie affective, influenced Stanislavski and stemmed the idea of emotion memory. Problemes de psycologie affective dealt with the memory of emotion. Ribot obtained the idea that the nervous system retained the marks of past experiences, which could be triggered by various stimuli, such as sight, smell, sound, touch or even taste, this concept is not dissimilar from the idea of dejavu. Stanislavki expanded this idea of stimuli causing memories to return and activate the appropriate emotions, and incorporated it ...

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