Understanding Stanislavski

Stanislavskis system suggests that to create a believable character you should build
from the inside out. You should start with an inner dialogue and then develop the
physical traits of the character.

Action
Rather than trying to perform or entertain, aim to BE the persona
you are working on. If you are sitting in a chair, know why you
are there and what motivates you to stay there. Whether you
are active or inactive, there should be a motivation for what you
are doing.
Sit on a chair and think about who you are being as you sit there.
How does your posture reflect your inner thoughts? How do your
inner thoughts affect the way you move and speak?

Practise entering and leaving the room. Try doing it with

different intentions and emotions. If you hold your
intention in mind, your actions should communicate clearly
to your audience.

Read the following role-card and perform it, first in mime and then using voice.

You find yourself in desperate times. You have no money to pay your rent
and a friend has come to the rescue. She has no cash to lend you, but she has
brought you a valuable ring. Her generous act has moved you. Can you
accept such a sacrifice? You cannot make up your mind. You try to refuse.
Your friend places the ring on the side and leaves. You leave the ring and
follow her, where there is a long scene of persuasion, refusal, tears,
gratitude etc. In the end you accept. Your friend leaves and
you come back in to the room to get the ring. But where is
it? Can anyone have entered and taken it? Perform your
search for the ring.

Watch other people perform their action. Which performances are more
believable? Why?

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Understanding Stanislavski

Magic if
According to Stanislavski the word if acts as a
lever to lift us out of the world of actuality into
the realm of imagination. Art and theatre are
both products of the imagination.
Try the following exercises:
1.

Walk through a door. Ask yourself why you

are doing that? What are your thoughts?
Motivations? Feelings? Where are you?

2.

Walk through the door again and, this time, use your imagination. What if the
room belonged to a man who was taken away for being violently insane? What if he
had escaped? As you walk through the door what if he could be inside or watching
you from nearby?

3.

Sit down and imagine drinking a cup of tea. Now what if that tea was actually cod
liver oil and you had to drink it? What if the seat was a hot stove? What if you
were drinking the cup of tea to calm your nerves following a scary encounter?

4.

If can extend to more unrealistic or abstract concepts e.g. become something

from a forest (an old tree, flower, bush). Say to yourself I know I am not a tree,
but if I were a tree where would I be in the forest? What would I see? What would
I do? Would I have birds in my branches? Would I be swaying?

5.

You receive a phone call to say you have a sister who you didnt know even existed
and she is arriving soon! Perform your response.

Given circumstances
These form the basis for an actor and his or her role. They are created by the
playwright, the director and designer and form the context from which the actor can ask
what if ?
Given circumstances include:

the plot

facts about the characters, events, time and place

conditions of life for characters e.g. physical abilities, intelligence, wealth

the back story.

According to Stanislavski, the actor must believe in the given circumstances; through
this belief he or she will be able to function at a high level of involvement. Remember
the goal is truth.
Create an environment and act out a scenario, e.g. a family funeral.

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Understanding Stanislavski

Imagination and emotional memory

1.

Sit alone and think back to a time when someone did something that made you
angry. In your mind, go over the story of what happened that day in detail. Try
to remember everything you did, said and felt.

2.

Now think about a later time when you were by

yourself and reflecting upon what had happened. Close
your eyes and try to recreate the place and feelings in
your mind.

3.

Begin to be aware of your body and how it can reflect

what you felt on that day. How can your facial
expressions show your feelings?

4.

Now use both externalisation and internalisation to

recreate how you felt that day for an audience. You
can use dialogue if you feel it is appropriate e.g.
consider the way you might sometimes talk to yourself when youre alone.

5.

Show your scene and ask your audience to describe what they have seen. What
feelings, emotions and thoughts could they surmise were going through your head?

Circles of attention
Stanislavski was concerned with how to make the actor feel relaxed on stage. He
developed this idea to help the actor focus on something on stage and to shift his or her
awareness from the audience.
He defined circles of attention as being like ripples in a pond: the circles radiate from
the actor. The smallest circle an actor can create is what is called solitude in public.
Here the actor focuses within him- or herself. They can then increase their focus to
take in further objects, until gradually the whole stage becomes their imagined world.
1.

Sit in the middle of a large space. How can you make an audience want to watch
you?

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2.

How can you extend the focus?

3.

Use a hoop (real or imaginary!) and holding it at arms

length, walk in a controlled way around a space. Can you
create solitude in public? Drop the hoop and stand within
it. Now extend your focus to fill the whole space.

4.

Do the exercise again without the hoop. How clear and

concentrated is your focus?

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Units and objectives

Stanislavski suggested that a play can be broken down into acts, scenes and also into
units.
Each unit is controlled by objectives within them. A unit ends with the end of an
objective. Its almost like signposts guiding to where you are going (though ultimately
you need to know where you are going and this is called super-objective).
One of the most important features of objectives is that they are active, driving the text
forward. Often there is one character whose objective is achieved by the end of a unit.
It is helpful to describe objectives in role using a verb such as: I wish to
Choose a play and work out where the units are in the first scene and then describe the
action of each unit e.g. I am x and I wish to

Affective / emotional memory recall

Accessing emotions can be easier if you pick a time from your past when you
experiences that state. You can use this for all emotions!
1.

Sit in a chair, close your eyes and relax for a short while.

2.

Think back to the last time you felt particularly happy/upset/excited.

3.

Think about where you were and define all of the aspects of the place in your
mind. What did you hear? See? Feel? Smell? etc.

4.

Which physical objects were present in the experience?

5.

Remember voices and any sounds leading up to the experience.

6.

Try to remember anything you touched or felt.

7.

Try to conjure up exactly what caused you to feel this way.

Many actors use this technique to recall
emotional experiences in order to associate with
an emotional scene in a play.
Use the following line and link it to the emotion
that you have recreated to make the line come
to life.

Please, just leave me alone. I need to be by myself right now.

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Sense memory
Actors often use sense memory to help them recreate an object for a scene that has no
props and calls for an element of mime.
1.

Sit by yourself and try to imagine an invisible table with a cup on it in front of you.
Trace the outlines precisely in your mind.

2.

Focus your attention on the exact area where you imagine the cup to be. Then try
to see the colour and contours.

3.

Next reach out your hand and place your index finger through the imaginary
handle.

4.

Gently lift the cup and whilst doing so, become aware of the shift in balance and
weight as the cup is raised. The rest of your fingers and hand play an important
part in this.

5.

Notice how the whole hand, arm and shoulder come into
play.

6.

Now slowly, take an imaginary pot of hot coffee and start

to fill up the cup. Try to feel the weight change; how the
coffee sloshes from side to side and when the cup is full.

7.

Drink the hot coffee, feeling the heat on your lips.

8.

Show your mime and ask the rest of your class to evaluate
it in terms of reality.

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Animal exercises
We all have some character traits that we could loosely associate to an animal. Some
people are shy, and have a mouse-like quality; some people are aggressive and may have
the quality of a lion etc. It can often help to develop your character by thinking about
what type of animal they would be.
The gorillas
1.

Sit on the floor by yourself, paying no attention to people around you.

2.

Normally, you would start with internalisation work, but the animal exercises are
the opposite. Find the external characteristics first and then work inwards. Think
about the posture of a gorilla on the floor. Think about the animals weight and
size, and how it carries itself. Become the animal.

3.

How heavy and relaxed are your arms? Do your knuckles scrape along the floor?

4.

Imagine the new shape of your body and the efforts it might take to move. Where
is your animals balance and how does this affect its movement?

5.

Now start to move around the room, socialising with other gorillas. How do you
associate with others?
a)

Do you try to be the dominant gorilla?

b)

Are you territorial?

c)

Do you groom other gorillas?

d)

Are you cautious, aggressive, passive etc?

e)

What noises do you make?

6.

Now stop what you are doing, shake out your body
and then relax.

7.

You are now going to become group of businessmen

and women at a seminar where you are trying to
promote your business. Think of a person who might
have the traits of the gorilla that you recreated and
use those qualities as the basis of your character.
Tone down the physical traits of the animal and
focus on the personality of the person you are
portraying.

Choose a character from a play and decide which animal

might represent them. Try becoming that animal and try
out its movements and manner before transferring those
traits to a new performance of your character.

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