Vladimir Nemerovich-Danchenko

 1858-1943
Konstantin Stanislavsky
 (1863-1938)
Their Goals

• improving production elements,

rehearsal practices
• promoting good realistic plays
Their Ideals

• ensemble acting
• no “star” actors
• no type- or stock-casting
• artistically substantial plays
• theatre with an artistic, social,
and educational value
Initially designated roles:

V. N-D.’s job--

choosing plays

KS’s job--staging

In reality, both did both!

The Company Starts

39 actors go with

KS and VN-D to
country village
outside of
Moscow
The First Show

Tolstoy’s Tsar Fyodor

 historical drama
 Research!!
 “Antiquarianism”
• Antigone
•Next
Merchant of Venice
Two Shows
 “antiquarian” style again
 Start losing audiences and money!
The Turning Point!

 ANTON CHEKHOV
ANTON CHEKHOV
(1860-1904)
ANTON CHEKHOV (1860-
1904)
How To produce Chekhov?
Stanislavsky gave The Seagull
a feeling of continuous life
Overlapping dialogue
Lots of specific business
Sound effects for ambiance
The Seagull
Olga Knipper
as Arkadina,
Konstantin
Stanislavski
as Trigorin in
Chekhov’s
THE
SEAGULL.
Telegraph from N-D to Chekhov
The House of Chekhov
Characteristics of Chekhov
1) Life in rural Russia

2) Boredom and monotony of the landowning class

3) Gulf between desire and fulfillment

4) Emphasis on trivial and commonplace action on

stage
Characteristics of Chekhov
5) Muted action on stage (climactic action off
stage)

6) Attention not on events of plot but on

character’s psychological responses

7) Characters do not fully understand their own

feelings
Chekhov and MAT
By the time Chekhov died in 1904, MAT
was a secure and thriving institution.

How to keep the same roles in repertory

alive and fresh over and over again?!?
 Stanislavski’s System

“Love the art in yourself, not

yourself in the art.”
 Stanislavski’s System

“My system is the result of

lifelong searches… I have
tried to find a method of work
for actors to enable them to
create the image of a
character, breathe into it the
inner life of a human spirit,
and, through natural means,
embody it on stage in a
beautiful, artistic form.”
 He was a
popular actor
before the
MAT.

Great at comedy
and character
roles.

Extensive bag
of actor tricks!
How did Stanislavsky
learn to act?
Imitating actors, teachers
Singing and movement lessons
Studying alone in the mirror

What is the secret

of great acting?
The Big Questions
How do you relax on stage?

What makes one actor good

and another mediocre?

How do you keep a role

fresh?
Chekhov’s Plays Offered a
Great Acting CHALLENG!!

“In Chekhov’s plays it is wrong to try to

act, to perform. You must be—that is,
you must live, exist, following the deep,
inner, spiritual line of development.”

--Stanislavsky
Acting in Chekhov’s Plays
 These plays worked on SUBTEXT!
Stanislavsky Investigated Acting!
Made discoveries in
Chekhov productions.
Observed successful
actors.
Took notes!
Began to try training
techniques with MAT
actors.
IMAGINATION

Used by actor to
flesh out the world
of the play and
make it more alive.
GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES

All info must be taken into

account in creating a character

Made more complete with

imagaination of actor
AS IF (The Magic If)

“If I were Vershinin meeting the sisters for

the first time, what would I do?”
GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES +
“AS IF” = SPECIFIC ACTION CHOICES
ACTION
Everything done on stage must have
clear purpose

OBJECTIVE!

SUPEROBJECTIVE!!!!
 Which brings us back to SUBTEXT!

“The subtext is a web of innumerable, varied

inner patterns inside a play and a part, woven
from magic ifs, given circumstances, all sorts
of figments of the imagination, inner
movements, objects of attention, smaller and
greater truths and a belief in them,
adaptations, adjustments, and other similar
elements.”

-- STANISLAVSKY
Inside -> Out Outside -> In

Stanislavski Meyerhold

What is Real What is Interesting

“Representational” “Presentational”
 ACTOR TERMS

• Auditions
• Cold/Prepared Reading
• Open Call
• Callbacks
• Actor’s Equity