Teaching Stanislavski

An investigation into how Stanislavski is taught to students in the UK

A research project initiated by SCUDD (the Standing Conference of University DramaDepartments) in conjunction with PALATINE (the Higher Education Academy SubjectCentre for Dance, Drama and Music) and funded by a PALATINE Development Award.

The Research team:

Kathy Dacre Jane BostonAnthony DalnasAndrew EglintonColin EllwoodPaul FryerThomasina UnsworthBev VincentPhilip Weaver

The following lecturers and theatre practitionerstook part in the research:

Matthieu Bellon Jean BenedettiDee CanonAlex CliftonSteve DuncanViv GardnerEmma GerschRobert Gordon Jeremy HarrisonChris HeinmannKate JamieChris Johnston Julian JonesAlexander KomlosiAmir KorangyKatie MitchellAngela MooreBrigid PanetMarcin RudyDominic SymondsLaurie SladeAnatoly SmelianskySergei TcherkasskiDavid Zoob

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Contents

An Introduction

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Section One:

Stanislavski and the A-level and AS-levelExamination Syllabi in the UK 10

Section Two:

Teaching Stanislavski within an A-level andAS-level Curriculum (Case Studies) 14

Section Three:

Stanislavski and the Business andTechnology Education Council National Award, Certificate,and Diploma Syllabi in Performing Arts 19

Section Four:

Teaching Stanislavski within a BTECCurriculum (Case Study) 32

Section Five:

Teaching Stanislavski in Higher EducationUniversity-based BA Degree Programmes 38

Section Six:

Teaching Stanislavski in Higher EducationConservatoire-based BA Acting Programmes 46

Section Seven:

Teaching Stanislavski at Rose BrufordCollege (Case Study) 53

Section Eight

: Teaching Stanislavski at the Royal Academyof Dramatic Art (Case Study) 61

Section Nine:

Adventures Beyond Stanislavski (Case Study) 68

Section Ten:

Teaching Stanislavski in Europe:Placing UK Practice in a Wider Frame 77

Recommendations

82

APPENDICESAppendix 1:

Exam Boards and Glossary of Terms 86

Appendix 2:

Extracts from Lesson Plans and Students’Written Work 89

Appendix 3:

Beyond Stanislavski – The Workshops 95

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An Introduction

This, I believe, is the first funded research report on the teaching of Stanislavski’s ideasin the UK school and HE curriculum. As such it offers a glimpse of what we understandand teach about the art of acting, its development and particularly about the influenceand practice of one Russian director who tried to develop a systematic approach to theart of acting a century ago.The research employs qualitative methodology. It involves six case studies – three with16+ students and teachers in schools and a Further Education College and three withteachers and students in Higher Education Institutions. Each case study has beenundertaken and reported on by a different member of the research team. It includesinterviews undertaken by members of the team with ten teachers from a wide variety of university and conservatoire departments offering degrees in Drama, Performance orActing. Interviews and observations from teachers and directors working in Russia andthe Czech Republic help to put the UK practice in context and offer comparativeapproaches. As the study not only considers the teaching of Stanislavski, but also thetransition between the approaches of levels 3 and 4 in the UK academic infrastructure,an overview of the A-level and BTEC syllabi involving the study of Stanislavski is given.Edited reports on different aspects of the research are presented in ten separatesections below and actual student work and excerpts from two interviews are shown onan accompanying DVD.

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The full data and DVD recordings of interviews and practicalwork are stored at the Stanislavski Centre, Rose Bruford College. The nine-strongresearch team includes teachers from the UK School, FE and HE sectors. A furthertwenty-two teachers and theatre practitioners have been involved in the case studies,interviews and practical workshops.In a discipline that is notorious for shrouding rehearsal room practice in secrecy, thisresearch has encountered a positive and refreshing willingness to share examples of practice. More, in fact, than I think I have encountered in over thirty years of teaching inuniversities and conservatoires. It is difficult to find sound evidence of the curricula of training in theatre over the past fifty years but these case studies will at least offerscholars details of how the ideas of Stanislavski were being applied in school, college,university and conservatoire classrooms in 2008. The research offers detailed examplesof how the mastery of practice based upon Stanislavski’s ideas is delivered in theclassroom.Based on their observations, the team propose a number of recommendations whichwill enhance the teaching of Stanislavski at 16+ and beyond. We feel however that thiswork looks beyond the transition between levels of study and is significant in beginningto clarify the thoughts, practices and preconceptions which surround the study of

1 The research has abided by the British Educational Research Association’s

Revised Guidelines for Educational Research

(2004). Informed consent has been obtained from the research participants, and student anonymityhas been preserved at all times. Data from the research will be secured securely in compliance with theData Protection Act 1998.