Stanislavsky, Konstantin Sergeievich [1863-1938]

Konstantin Stanislavsky

Short Biography

Russian actor, director, and teacher. He was cofounder with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. Its work created new concepts of theatrical production and marked the beginning of modern theatre. Rebelling against the highly stylized theatre of the 19th cent., he wanted to create instead a true ensemble theatre based on a realistic method of acting and production. His outstanding productions included many of the plays of Chekhov and Gorky, in which he tried to strip away rhetorical clichés to enter the emotional core and complex psychology of the characters. Their productions of Chekhov 's plays, especially suitable to the company's subtle and intense style, brought fame to both Chekhov and the theatre. Stanislavsky stressed the importance of the actor’s inner identification with the character and the actor’s natural use of body and voice. He is the originator of Method Acting described in My Life in Art (1924) and An Actor Prepares (tr. 1936), Building a Character (tr. 1950), and Creating a Role (tr. 1961). The Method had considerable influence on acting techniques in Europe and the USA resulting in the founding of the Actor Studio by Lee Strasberg.
Other memorable productions were Tolstoy's Czar Fyodor Ivanovitch, Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov, and Gorky's Lower Depths. .
 

Stanislavsky' quotes

Quotes on theatre and acting

• «An Actor must work all his life, cultivate his mind, train his talents systematically, develop his character. He may never despair and never relinquish his main purpose- to love his art with all his strength and love it unselfishly».
• «Success is transient, evanescent. The real passion lies in the poignant acquisition of knowledge about all the shading and subtleties of the creative secrets».
• «Remember: there are no small parts, only small actors».
• «Do not try to push your way through to the front ranks of your profession; do not run after distinctions and rewards; but do your utmost to find an entry into the world of beauty».
• «In the creative process there is the father, the author of the play; the mother, the actor pregnant with the part; and the child, the role to be born».
• «...all action in theatre must have inner justification, be logical, coherent, and real».
• «What exercises resembling solfeggi are needed by him? What scales, what arpeggio for development of creative feeling and experience are required by the actor? They must be given numbers... for systematic exercises in the school and at home. All books and works of the theatre are silent on this score. There is no practical textbook».
  (My Life in Art, 166-67)
• «Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art». (My Life in Art)
• «In spite of my great admiration for individual splendid talents I do not accept the star system. Collective creative effort is the root of our kind of art. That requires ensemble acting and whoever mars that ensemble is committing a crime not only against his comrades but also against the very art of which he is the servant».
• «A true priest is aware of the presence of the altar during every moment that he is conducting a service. It is exactly the same way that a true artist should react to the stage all the time he is in the theater. An actor who is incapable of this feeling will never be a true artist».
• «Remember this practical piece of advice: Never come into the theatre with mud on your feet. Leave your dust and dirt outside. Check your little worries, squabbles, petty difficulties with your outside clothing -- all the things that ruin your life and draw your attention away from your art -- at the door».
• «Stage charm guarantees in advance an actor's hold on the audience, it helps him to carry over to large numbers of people his creative purposes. It enhances his roles and his art. Yet it is of utmost importance that he use this precious gift with prudence, wisdom, and modesty. It is a great shame when he does not realize this and goes on to exploit, to play on his ability to charm».
• «Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it».
• «Our demands are simple, normal, and therefore they are difficult to satisfy. All we ask is that an actor on the stage live in accordance with natural laws».
• «The direct effect on our mind is achieved by the words, the text, the thought, which arouse consideration. Our will is directly affected by the super-objective, by other objectives, by a through line of action. Our feelings are directly worked upon by tempo-rhythm».
• «We have as many planes of speech as does a painting planes of perspective which create perspective in a phrase. The most important word stands out most vividly defined in the very foreground of the sound plane. Less important words create a series of deeper planes».
• «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».