Play.

 

I personally think that Stanislavski's method and ideas were not in the slightest but complicated. If you wanted to be the best actor possible, then you must become your character, giving the most realistic and on point performance possible. Those taught in theatre schools would try to complicate his theory and learn it as an art, but for myself there is no art, it is just pretending but to an unbelievable standard. 

An Actor Prepares

Ask an actor, after some great performance, how he felt while on the stage, and what he did there. He will not be able to answer because he was not aware of what he lived through, and does not remember many of the more significant moments. All you will get from him is that he felt comfortable on the stage, that he was in easy relationship to the other actors. Beyond that, he will be able to tell you nothing. You will astonish him by your description of his acting. He will gradually come to realise things about his performance of which he had been entirely unconscious.

Constantin Stanislavski, An Actor Prepares (1936)

 

The very best that can happen is to have the actor completely carried away by the play. Then regardless of his own will he lives the part, not noticing how he feels, not thinking about what he does, and it all moves of its own accord, subconsciously and intuitively.

Constantin Stanislavski, An Actor Prepares (1936)

 

 

 

 



Stan's Quotes.

right in front of you.

Every part of his performances had to be in every way real. Costume, set, actors, emotions, staging. Everything. His audience had to be so captivated by the intensity and reality of the performances that they would feel as though they were watching this performance on a street, through the window- anywhere real. He did everything possible to create that real atmosphere and scene.




Stanislavski's drawing of the set design for Act 3 of Seagull.

Become your character.

Stanislavski taught actors that the more they knew about the backgrounds of their characters -- how they would dress, what they would eat, how they grew up, etc. -- the more fully realized the characterization would be. If portraying a historical character, this meant researching that person's life in depth, including speech and movement patterns if recordings or videos were available. To portray fictitious characters, or those who existed in unfamiliar places or times, research into historical or foreign culture was necessary. Characters with special circumstances, such as blindness, disease, etc., required special research into how those things would manifest themselves in the character.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_8397383_stanislavskys-acting-techniques.html#ixzz2q0Rdcht7

BE REAL

STANI'S MAIN DESIRE WAS FOR HIS ACTING AND THAT OF HIS ACTOR'S TO BE REAL.
ImAgInAtIoN:
Stanislavski believed that, without imagination, an actor or actress could not be successful, as their performance could not be ‘true'. He believed it was the most useful tool a performer could have, as a strong imagination allows them to truly draw themselves and others into their character.

Both imagaination and another method: emotion memory are very similar. It is a way to give a more natural, real performace by stimulating his actor's own memories.
Think about memories (Stanislavski in picture.)

Influences

How Stanislavski was influenced??

He was in a play in 1977, he was 14. He played a part- he thought he was fantastic, but was later told that he had been a terrible actor in his latest play. This troubled him so in the next play he was worried. However, he acted much better in the 2nd performance.
Stani could not understand the why he thought he was good when he was bad, and vies versa.
As he was so interested in what he did he decided to keep note of all the expressions he showed and all the emotions he had to portray. he analysed the difficulties he had found and created solutions to his problems.
He studied at a theatre school in Moscow, but did not want to be instructed by the traditional conventions of his tutors. He later moved to Maly Theatre school, and approved of their fresh approach to drama.
He wanted to create rather than imitate.
He learned it from foreign artists, such as: Salvini and Duse.
Stanislavski believed that both Salvini and Duse are powerful, showed graceful movements and perfection.
From his may experiences, he learned that he acted best when he was real and behaved exactly as his character should. He liked to feel free and  un stereotypical.  Stanislavski had determination and desire to be the best he could be; for these reasons his new approach was excellent.

The Magic 'IF'

 

'The Magic if....'

He felt that the word, "if" gave the actors problems to solve and that way they could portray natural emotions in the acting on stage. He believed that the actors had to both physically and mentally become the character and until they did so, they could not show REAL emotion and feeling. Stanislavski did not require actors to be the part, as is a popular misconception, but he did demand that they lived the part with the magic if.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+magic+if+stanislavski&qpvt=the+magic+if+stanislavski&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=64F9C3E5370B0629386864F9C3E5370B06293868

Who was he?

Constantin Stanislavski is a famous Russian actor, director and teacher of acting history. He dropped out of drama school out of several weeks of instruction. Born on the 17th January  1863 and died on the 7th August 1938. He was part of a wealthy family who loved theatre; his grandmother was a French actress and his father built a stage on the family's estate. He started acting at the age of 14 and gradually developed his acting skills, whilst working in the family's manufacturing business. IN 1885, he gave himself the stage name of Stanislavski- the name of an actor he had met. He married a teacher called Maria Perevoshchikova and she joined her husband in his prusuit of acting.  
Read in enormous detail about him at:
http://homepage.smc.edu/sawoski_perviz/Stanislavski.pdf