Konstatin Staninslavski

Konstatin Staninslavski

1. Historical/social

   • Performed as an amatuer until 33
   • co-founded the moscow art theatre(MAT)
   • His father was a manufacturer and his mother was the daughter of a french actress
   • His voice, diction and movement came to distinguish him from other performers.
     • above all he wanted his work to be BELIEVABLE to the audience and was extremly strict on this
   • believed that theatre was a massive social influence on people
     • pure external approach to acting.

2. Theatrical purpose

   • to be naturalistic and believable to create a sense of relatability with the audience.
   • Wanted actors to rethink the way they move and talk while onstage, each actor needed motivation for each action, staninlslavski expected each actor of this as he believed that ibelievablet gave the role they were playing more meaning and ultimatly make it more
     • Why does the character say this? Why does the character move to this part of the stage? Why does she turn on the lamp light? Why does he take a gun out of the drawer? Some actions are obvious and easy to explain. Others can be mysterious.
     • Stainslavskly didn't want his actors to simply create a facsimile of an emotion. He wanted his actors to actually feel the emotion. So, if a scene called for extreme grief, actors needed to put themselves in the mindset of the character's situation so that they genuinely experience the feelings of intense sadness.

3. Influences

   • Staninslavski was influenced heavily by psychology, becuase it was based on how the human mind works. he learned the notion of affected memory which later developed into emotion memory
   • was heavily inspired by Salvini and Duse ( actors who he believed showed grace and perfection in plays)
   • Influence on others-In his travels throughout the world with the Moscow Arts Theater, Stanislovsky earned international acclaim as an actor, director, and coach. Among his collaborators were the writers Tolstoy and Chekov.

4. Practioner of naturalism- mirrors real life characters,setting and context

5. "to whichever acton i do, i need to give some significant meaning to it"

6. believed that evry action had a purpose eg- to cajole or to convice or to beg