Learning to act convincingly, according to Konstantin Stanislavski, an actor and director who taught at the Moscow Art Theatre, does not only involve the outward appearance of the actor, but what is going on in the actor’s mind. This will reflect upon the overall performance and affect the delivery.
What is the Stanislavski Method of Acting?
Contrary to an idealised portrayal of emotions within fictional characters, such as within a pantomime or a Shakespearian play, a progressive method of acting involves the portrayal of real life situations, helping to develop the drama skills of students for a more visually captivating stage play.
The Stanislavski way of acting is such a method, using emotional and creative thinking to bring about a much more realistic performance. This also enables the actor to control the performance during the scene. In order to mentally prepare for acting within a particular scene, the drama teacher may firstly explain the Stanislavski method of acting via the following indentifiers.
- The actor must identify with the character being portrayed in some way, most importantly, the motives, or the driving force of the character. This may also include likes, dislikes, fears and desires.
- The actor must feel the emotions in real time whilst acting out the character.
- The scenes within the play must not be over rehearsed, for this may kill the feeling out of the performance and lines spoken may become a recital. This allows room for improvisation.
- Acting the Stanislavski method often involves taking risks and adaptation.
Acting Lesson Plan Using the Stanislavski Method
Students may inspect a highly emotive script. A good example of which may be Willy Russell’s stage play, Educating Rita, which was made into a film in 1983 by Lewis Gilbert, and starred Michael Caine and Julie Walters.
The drama teacher may give a preliminary overview to the story to help students get a feeling for the story prior to reading the script.
Working class Rita (played by Walters) seeks a way out of her dead-end life by embarking upon a university course in literature. Lecturer and alcoholic, Frank (played by Caine), jaded by his academic life, experiences a new passion for his subject through Rita’s enthusiasm. However, Rita struggles to fit in with the campus life, and ashamed of her background, tries to change her persona to fit in with the other students. Frank sees this as a betrayal of her true identity. Throughout the film, Rita experiences a personal growth when she learns that campus life is not what it is cracked up to be. Similarly, Frank is forced to face his own demons and the root of his alcoholism.
Simple Exercise for Actors
A preliminary exercise in fictional character study will help students get under the skin of the characters and create tension and subtext within the play. To do this, the students must read the script carefully and each make note of the following:
- Look for key factors within the characters, either in Rita or Frank that the student can identify with. This may be shame of one’s background, desire for self-improvement or self-denial. Students must draw upon their own experiences to find the answer.
- Identify what each character wants within the story.
- Identify the obstacles that are preventing the characters from reaching their goals. Remind students that the obstacle could be one or several, real or imagined. An obstacle for example, could be poverty or a private fear.
- Think about how the characters try to achieve their goals.
- Select a scene that best portrays the motives and feelings of the characters.
- Finally, select an emotional memory that closely represents what Rita or Frank might be experiencing within the chosen scene. This memory can be kept private.
Finally, the students may think about the question Stanislavski often posed to his students when helping them connect with the character. “What if this happened to me?” This helped make the character part of the actor, rather than the actor falling into the trap of imitation.
Lesson Plan for Drama School Using the Stanislavski Technique
The written exercise will help students think about how they might perform the chosen scene, which should form part of the following lesson. Repeating this exercise when preparing to play any character within a given play will help students develop their acting skills.
Stanislavski Lesson Plan for Acting Class
The Stanislavski method of acting is a great strategy for students wishing to develop their acting skills within drama school. Far from imitating how a fictional character might behave, the Stanislavski method means the student actors must draw upon their own emotional wellspring to connect with the character, resulting in a more convincing performance. The simple written exercise just described will help students prepare for an acting audition, scene within a play or film by connecting with the emotions and motives of the character portrayed.
Rachel Shirley - I have written and illustrated several art instruction books entitled Oil Paintings from your Garden and Oil Paintings from the Landscape ...
