Konstantin Stanislavsky was born in Moscow, Russia in 1863 and later went on to contributing to the establishment of the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1897 (W. Bishop and Jones). From a young age, Stanislavsky had been involved with theatre and continued to do so throughout his entire life. Stanislavsky lived during the 19th and 20th Centuries, where art was very traditional and often did not break social norms or discuss political, social or cultural issues. Melodrama was very popular at the time, however Stanislavsky’s conventions of theatre broke away from this. His family inspired him initially as they put him on stage in an amateur performance when he was fourteen (Moore). Later in 1898, Stanislavsky watched a performance called ‘Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich’ and did not truly believe in the characters so decided to implement his own ideas. Later that year, he directed ‘The Seagull’ by Anton Chekhov, which was a huge success. Stanislavsky was inspired by the melodrama at the time and decided he wanted to create a new Stanislavsky system that would be different to this form. This system adopts the ideas that “in every physical act there is an inner psychological motive which impels physical action” (Mitter). He believed in the reality of a performance and urged the actors to understand the inner thoughts of the characters they were playing in order to create believability in a performance. Eleanora Duse and Sarah Bernhardt were regarded as two of the greatest actresses of all time and also inspired Stanislavsky. Bernard Shaw reviewed their work and said that Bernhardt “does not enter the leading character: she substitutes herself for it”, which is exactly what the Stanislavsky system is about (Gillett). These actresses completely consume themselves into their characters and follow through with the technique of realism Stanislavsky developed. His system revolves around this idea of believability and the characters taking on this new character with “true inner emotion” (Callow).

Stanislavy’s ‘system’ was later coined by Lee Strasberg as ‘method acting’ after being inspired his work. The term created by Stanislavsky means to completely emotionally identify, which directly contrasts Melodrama because this form takes an over top plot, embelishing it using stock characters played in an exaggerated style, creating humour. Stanislavsky uses ‘the syetem’ to make theatre more realistic and created the theories of emotional memory and given circumstances. Emotion memory uses personal experiences in order to connect with the emotions of a specific memory. These real life experiences provide a greater understanding of the emotions felt which can attach more believability into the performance. Stanislavsky said in his book, ‘My Life in Art, “the discomfort of unreasonable presence on the stage, and the inner truth of reasoned presence and action on it” (Stanislavski, 24). What Stanislavsky is saying links back to emotion memory and believing in what you are acting. Without a purpose on stage, the acting becomes false and lacks real feelings. The actors must not question what is happening because then the actor is breaking out of character, which is all part of emotional memory. In the book, Stanislavsky in rehearsal: The Final Years, Toporkov explains the techniques of Stanislavsky and says, “when the actor starts to reason … the will is weakened” (Mitter). The actor must completely devour in the emotions and not think about why because then realism is taken away. This point is furthered in another one of Stanlislavsky’s works, published in 1936, ‘An Actor Prepares’. Without an objective, the actors face a “multitude of superficial, unrelated details” because they are unable to connect to their own emotions (Stanislavsky).

The second aspect of Stanislavsky I will be incorporating into my solo performance is given circumstances, which similarly to emotion memory provides greater purpose for characterisation. This involves an understanding of the character’s previous actions, the environmental factors as well as the polar actions that create conflict in the piece. This includes information such as age, gender, family situation and daily routine. This also includes the relationship this character has with other characters in a piece. It can also be described as “a single prompt”, which gives evidence of what the intentions and drive of each character is (Mitter). Given circumstance provide the motivation and context for an actor to be on stage and adds believability because otherwise an actor lacks purpose therefore “having no significance” (Mitter). This comes from, An Actor Prepares, by Stanislavsky. It provides a first hand experience of the acting and theatre he stood for. Something Stanislavsky learnt from one of his Directors was the question an actor must ask himself when taking on the role of another. An actor must “first of all [ask], what am I doing? … Gives you the key to your main objective” (Stanislavsky). The main objective being the given circumstances of a piece and what the character is trying to achieve. This again provides the actor with a sense of purpose and furthers believability.

These two major ideas of emotion memory and given circumstances encapsulate another one of the other important factors in the Stanislavsky system, which is the “magic if”. This “magic if” poses the question to any one of Stanislavsky’s actors asking them if this play were real, how would they act (Mitter)? It is important for an actor to understand through emotions and the circumstances they are given the realism of acting. They are to sell themselves into their characters and completely believe in what they are doing.

All of these approaches come from ‘The System’, which help contribute to the naturalistic way of acting. These approaches include emotion memory and given circumstances, however Stanislavsky also uses the “magic if”, objectives and super objectives to help create the Stanislavsky system of realism and honesty in acting.