The Stanislavsky Method
The Stanislavsky MethodWhen I came off of the stage that first night, I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was ecstatic, on a natural high. Suddenly, I had found my place in the world. As I have gotten older and more experienced, I have learned that acting is not just
reciting lines in front of an audience. There is a technique to acting. It is known as the �method�, �method acting�, or the �Stanislavsky method�.
The method was created by Konstantin Stanislavsky, a Russian actor, director,producer and founder of the Moscow Art Theatre which opened in 1898. Stanislavsky had many shortcomings as an actor and worked obsessively to improve his voice, diction and body movement. As a director and producer, Stanislavsky believed that the mere
external behavior of an actor was not sufficient to portray the unique inner world of a character. He felt that once an actor felt what the character was feeling, the emotion would then manifest itself physically, making the performance believable. This idea was
the basis for the method that Stanislavsky created, now the most common acting style in Western theatre.
Stanislavsky�s method begins with relaxation. He called in an �occupational disease.� One of Stanislavsky�s most famous students, Lee Strasberg, believed it to be the actor�s worst enemy. The exercise Stanislavsky developed for relaxation is meant to
help the actor find hidden tension in all muscles of the body, most importantly the face, where most mental tension manifests itself. The exercise begins with the actor sitting in a straight backed, armless chair. First, the actor must find the position that he or she
would be most likely to sleep in, if absolutely necessary. Then, starting with the fingers and working all the muscles in sequence, finding the tension hiding in each muscle, and will the muscle to relax. The first time I performed this exercise was in Beginning
Drama, my freshman year. My instructor, Mrs. Daniels, had each student find a space on the floor and lay down on their back. From there Ms. Daniels went through each of our muscles telling us to relax each one as we went through them. This exercise helps the
actor find where they, personally, hold their tension. Once an actor knows where they hold their tension, they can begin to release it, letting as little of themselves show through the character they are portraying.
The next exercise in the method is called Sense Memory. It is basically each of the five senses remembering the sensory impressions experienced in everyday life. The sense memory exercise trains an actor�s senses to react onstage as they do in real life. By
pulling events from an actor�s past, the actor then feels the corresponding emotion. The actor begins the exercise by of getting a mug of coffee, or anything for...
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