Konstantin Stanislavski 1863 - 1938

1. Konstantin Stanislavski1863 - 1938 “Whatever thread one takes up in the history of twentieth-century drama leads back to Stanislavsky” James Roose-Evans

2. Beginnings • As a child, Stanislavski was exposed to the rich cultural life of his family; his interests included the circus, the ballet, and puppetry. • Sergei Vladimirovich Alekseiev, Stanislavski's father, was elected head of the merchant class in Moscow in 1877. That same year, he converted a building on his estate into a theatre for the entertainment of his family and friends. The same year, Stanislavski formed the Alexeyev Circle with other family members. The Circle would go on to stage a number of productions under the direction of Stanislavski’s school master • Stanislavski started, after his début performance there, what would become a life-long series of notebooks filled with critical observations on his acting, aphorisms (statement of a truth or opinion), and problems. • A second family theatre was added to their mansion at Red Gates, on Sadovaia Street in Moscow, in 1881; their house became a focus for the artistic and cultural life of the city. • That year, rather than attend university, Stanislavski began working in the family business. • In 1885, Stanislavski studied in the Moscow Theatre School, where students were encouraged to mimic the theatrical 'tricks' and conventions of their tutors. • Although unhappy with the lack of a credible training ‘system’, Stanislavski did find an important mentor in Glikeria Fedotova who would, along with her husband, become instrumental in Stanislavski’s creative development • In 1888 he established the Society of Art and Literature as an amateur company at the Maly Theatre, where he gained experience in ethics, aesthetics and stagecraft. He gradually took a leading position while acting in such lead roles as Othello and Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing

3. Historical, social and theatrical context of Russia in the late 1800s • Stanislavsky and the Russian Theatre.mht

4. Influences - The State of Russian Theatre • Stanislavski’s system came out of his own struggle to improve as an actor. He saw the Theatre as a moral instrument, which could civilise, increase sensitivity and heighten perception. • When Stanislavski started in the Theatre standards were haphazard and actors would inhabit the stage as they sought fit and deliver the lines of the text downstage centre and out front. The style was melodramatic and actors were not artists “An actress would move to the window or the fireplace for no better reason than that was what she always did”. Stanislavski felt that “Theatre was controlled by barmen on one hand and bureaucrats on the other” (Bendetti) • The role of the director was essentially ignored, the “star” actors of the day would ignore any attempt at direction given and settle for what they knew best. According to Bendetti “Lead actors would simply plant themselves downstage centre, by the prompter’s box, wait to be fed the lines and then deliver them straight to the audience in a ringing voice, giving a fine display of passion” • If Stanislavski was to find the artistic role models that he sought, he would have to look back a generation of ‘artists’ “to the great days of the Maly theatre when artistic standards had been set and discipline imposed by two men of genius, the actor Mikhail Shchepkin and the writer Nikolai Gogol…where the first steps had been taken towards a genuinely Russian style – Realism” (Bendetti)

5. Influences - The Maly Theatre (meaning Little Theatre) • Instead, Stanislavski devoted particular attention to the performances of the Maly Theatre, the home of psychological realism in Russia • Psychological realism had been developed here by Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Shchepkin. In 1823, Pushkin had concluded that what united the diverse classical authors—Shakespeare, Racine —was their common concern for truth of character and situation, understood as credible behaviour in believable circumstances • Gogol, meanwhile, campaigned against overblown, effect-seeking acting. In an article of 1846, he advises a modest, dignified mode of comic performance in which the actor seeks to grasp "what is dominant in the role" and considers "the character's main concern, which consumes his life, the constant object of his thought, the 'bee in his bonnet.'"This inner desire forms the "heart of the role," to which the "tiny quirks and tiny external details" are added as embellishment • The Maly soon became known as the House of Shchepkin, the father of Russian realistic acting who, in 1848, promoted the idea of an "actor of feeling.“ This actor would "become the character" and identify with his thoughts and feelings: he would "walk, talk, think, feel, cry, laugh as the author wants him to.“ A copy of Shchepkin's Memoirs of a Serf-Actor, in which the actor describes his struggle to achieve a naturalness of style, was heavily annotated by Stanislavski. • Shchepkin's student, Glikeriya Fedotova, was Stanislavski's teacher (she was responsible for instilling the rejection of inspiration as the basis of the actor's art, along with the stress on the importance of training and discipline, and the practice of responsive interaction with other actors that Stanislavski came to call "communication") • Shchepkin's legacy included the emphasis on a disciplined, ensemble approach, the importance of extensive rehearsals, and the use of careful observation, self-knowledge, imagination and emotion as the cornerstones of the craft • In 1888 Stanislavski established the Society of Art and Literature as an amateur company at the Maly Theatre, where he gained experience in ethics, aesthetics and stagecraft. He gradually took a leading position while acting in such lead roles as Othello and Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing • From MLIA “Mikhail Shchepkin, whose tradition still lived in the Moscow Little Theatre in the days of my youth…was a friend of our great writer Gogol and the educator of an entire generation of great and competent artists. He was the first to introduce simplicity and lifelikeness into the Russian Theatre” P10.

6. Practical workshop 1 • 2 groups • One create an improvisation about Stanislavski attending a melodrama as a child. You must find a primary quote from Stanislavski re:melodrama and use this is in your rehearsed presentation. • The other group present his first night seeing the Maly theatre. Again You must find a primary quote from Stanislavski re: The Maly and use this is in your rehearsed presentation (see My Life in Art)

7. Influences - The Meiningen • German court theatre of the late 19th century whose innovations in staging, scene design, lighting, and period research had an influence on directors such as André Antoine and Stanislavski. “Through its advanced production techniques in the naturalist/realist style it was responsible for influencing a number of theatre companies, including Stanislavski and the Moscow art Theatre”-Drama and theatre studies. • “Stanislavki first saw the company perform in 1890”-Drama and theatre studies • Stanislavski was inspired by the unity of production elements; the sense of realism; the artistic integrity and the discipline and commitment of the both actors and director Ludwig Chroengk who directed with an “iron hand”. “The restraint and cold bloodedness of Chroengk were to my taste and I wanted to imitate him”-My Life in Art • He was especially impressed with the coherence of the production and the effectiveness of the crowd scenes, something he would later recreate to stunning effect in his own production of The Seagull. “The choreographed movement of extras, which isolated the protagonist in dynamic stage pictures”-Drama and theatre studies • Stanislavski realised that if much was to be expected of the actors in terms of application, dedication and discipline, it was important that they should be treated with respect and given decent conditions to work in. He had previously been appalled at the derelict and decrepit theatres and dressing rooms in particular. “Outside of theatre Chroengk’s relations even with the third-rate actors of his company were simple and friendly…But as soon as rehearsal began and Chroengk mounted his usual place he was reborn”. Can’t find source • Read chapter XIX in My Life In Art

8. Influences - Nemirovich Danchenko and the foundation of The MAT • By 1897 Stanislavski was becoming disenchanted with the life of an amateur part-time actor, but when he was approached by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, an acting teacher at the Philarmonic School, things began to change. A meeting was soon arranged. It so happened that in 1897 Nemirovich has a particularly talented group of actors, who would make the ideal basis for a new company. Among them was Olga Knipper (later to become Chekhov's wife), and Meyerhold, both of whom were destined to become founding members of the new theatre and Stanislavski's lifelong friends. • The first meeting with Nemirovich lasted 18 hours, but by the end they had, in all but detail, laid the foundations for the policy of the theatre. They went as far as discussing individuals, and not for the last time, Stanislavski used the phrase when vetoing an actor: "She is a good actress but not for us... She does not love art, but herself in art". As Stanislavski records, he was to be predominantly responsible for artistic matters, such as devising the production plans and some directing, and would also continue as an actor. Nemirovich would look after literary matters, such as choosing the repertoire, and would also direct. Benedetti, in his biography, highlights five separate qualities that at this time which concerned Stanislavski: • Theatre was to be a moral instrument. • Its function was to civilise. • It was to increase sensitivity. • It should heighten perception. • It should ennoble the mind and uplift the spirit.

9. Influences - Realism and Naturalism • There is absolutely no doubt on Stanislavski's position on Realism. He made the concepts embodied in it the guiding principles of his life and work and was totally opposed to what he saw as the meaningless experiments of the avant-garde. Though he was noted for groundbreaking productions in new styles, such as The Bluebird (1908), he totally failed to appreciate Gordon Craig's point of view when discussing their production of Hamlet. • We need to be clear about the meaning of Realism, however, since there are as many definitions as there are contexts and the Moscow Art Theatre was no exception. Since Realism is often seen as synonymous with Naturalism, and since the term Realism is used frequently by Stanislavski, we must make a clear distinction between the two. • Naturalism as a movement in literature and drama was associated with the work of the French novelist Emile Zola. In the preface of his novel Thérèse Raquin he clearly explains: • "While I was writing Thérèse Raquin I was lost to the world, completely engrossed in my exact and meticulous copying of real life, and my analysis of the human mechanism" • Therefore a basic definition of Naturalism would be that it seeks to meticulously re-create every detail of human life • This obsession with exposing a "slice of life" was for a time very influential, and before the term was eventually subsumed into Realism there were some noted practitioners. For example, Strindberg applied the same characters in his Miss Julie (1888) and, like Zola, wrote in his introduction an explanation of his intentions: • "So I do not believe in "theatrical characters". And these summary judgments that authors pronounce upon people - "He is stupid, he is brutal, he is jealous, he is mean", etc. - ought to be challenged by naturalists, who know how richly complex a human soul is..." • It was and remains an extremely influential document, calling into question the one-dimensional characters of 19th century playwriting. It also questions the actor's insistence on facing the audience at all times. However, one of the problems for us as readers is that Strindberg, even when writing this thesis, used the terms Realism and Naturalism as interchangeable.

10. Influences – Anton Chekhov • “Let us be just as complex and as simple as life itself” Chekhov quoted in Edward Braun 1982 • Chekhov was an instrumental factor in the success of the Moscow Arts Theatre. He was responsible for the values that the theatre sought to embody. • He made Stan realise that theatre is to replicate life itself “to present his characters without moralising” (Cooper and MacKey) • His writing was heavily dependant on subtext and inner emotion which is a crucial focus of theatre today • “The script ceases to be an artform based on verbal organisation, like a poem or an novel, and becomes the pretext and context for an activity” Bendetti Pg 47 • “Stanislavsky’s success in creating the Mise-en-scene lay in his ability to turn the nuances of Chekhov’s script into very specific directions for the actors” – Bella Merlin • “Stanislavsky was clearly intrigued by the imitation of real life as his Seagull production illustrates. However, he was so insistent on naturalistic detail that Chekhov’s initial thrill with the production plan was completely wiped out. He grew incensed at the pedantic ‘truth’ that Stanislavsky demanded of the actors” – Bella Merlin • “But the theatre is art!... You forget, you don’t have a fourth wall” – Chekhov quoted in Bella Merlin

11. The ‘super-objective’ is a intrinsic component in Stanislavsky’s ‘system’. Consideration of units and objectives was essential when dealing with such a complex, multi layered text • In ‘An Actor Prepares’, Tortsov begins by referring to Chekhov and shows that Chekhov felt Stanislavsky didn’t really understand what his plays were about. Stanislavsky defines it - “the inner essence, the all embracing goal, the objective of all objectives, the concentration of the entire score of the role, of its major and minor units” – Bella Merlin • Stanislavsky discusses how he didn’t always understand Chekhov’s plays, indeed Chekhov was unhappy with his interpretation of The Cherry Orchard. Stan perceived it as a Tragedy, Chekhov wanted a comedy “Apparently they were not all wallowing in their depression but were longing for gaiety and laughter” – Stanislavsky (‘The Director and the Stage’ – Edward Braun) • Nonetheless, regardless of their disagreements over presentation and style, “All of Chekov’s subsequent work was produced by the company”… “became the standard by which the ensemble work of the company was judged” Cooper and Mackey

12. Influences – Jacques Dalcroze • Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (July 6, 1865 – July 1, 1950) was a Swiss composer, musician and music educator who developed eurhythmics, a method of learning and experiencing music through movement. • Emile Jaques-Dalcroze was no stranger to the theatre. As a young man he worked as a touring actor and he briefly trained at the Comedie-Francaise in Paris • The element that made eurhythmics an "indispensable" part of actor training was the training in rhythm. Rhythmic training helps the actor control the body and move in concert with other actors. Dalcroze wrote, "As concerns the solo actor, rhythmic training should not lead him to think out his own motricity, but simply allow him to attune it to that of the others." • Dalcroze called the system ‘Eurhythmics’ and by 1910, he opened a studio where some of the most famous artists could see his experiments. He began to develop a system that sought to achieve “harmony of body and spirit through a coordination of physical movement and sound movement, musical and spatial elements” [Cooper & Mackay] • The Dalcroze Method involves teaching musical concepts through movement. A variety of movement analogues is used for musical concepts, to develop an integrated and natural feel for musical expression. Turning the body into a well-tuned musical instrument, Dalcroze felt, was the best path for generating a solid, vibrant musical foundation. • The Dalcroze Method consists of three equally-important elements: eurhythmics, solfège, and improvisation (musical not dramatic)]. Together, according to Dalcroze, these elements comprise the essential musicianship training of a complete musician. In an ideal approach, elements from each subject coalesce, resulting in an approach to teaching rooted in creativity and movement. • On a demonstration tour to Russia in January of 1912, Dalcroze in contact with the actors of the Moscow Art Theatre, the most influential theatre in the twentieth century. (The M.A.T. was responsible for popularizing the full-length plays of Anton Chekhov and was the home of the seminal acting teacher Constantin Stanislavski.) Dalcroze gave a presentation at the state theatre in St. Petersburg, the home of the influential young director, Vsevolod Meyerhold, the man who Stanislavski entrusted his studio to. • As a result of the Russian tour, eurhythmics became part of the actor training at the Moscow Art Theatre's First Studio in 1912. • Stanislavski turned to Dalcroze after Isadora Duncan had no system that could be easily expressed. Dalcroze’s work was becoming known throughout Europe. • Stanislavski favoured his work and from it he devised such ideas such as tempo rhythm in movement. “Wherever there is life, there is action; Wherever action, movement, where movement, tempo; where there is tempo there is movement.” [ Stan in Building a Character]

13. Influences – Isadora Duncan • Stanislavski met Isadora Duncan in 1908, when she was dancing in Moscow, and began discussions with her ‘systems’ of movement. • It soon became clear that she had no system that could be easily expressed, so Stanislavski turned to Jacques-Dalcroze, whose work was becoming known throughout Europe (Cooper and Mackay – pg 249) • This led him to use Tempo-Rhythm in Movement. • “when we saw the scenery made of black velvet and the entire portal of the stage turned into a gloomy, sarcophagal awful and airless distance we seem to sense the presence of death and the grave on stage. (this is of the production ‘The Life of Man’).” • “Isadora Duncan, who happened to be in the theatre at the time cried out in terror, “mon dieu, c’est une maladie!” (that’s bad), and she was right.” (MLIA – pg 491) • Stanislavski considered her opinion on set design. • “I see that all these truths were merely separate elements of art which can fulfil the purposes of creativeness no more that the separate elements of air can serve man for reason.” (MLIA – pg 492) • “Meets Isadora Duncan. Is fired with enthusiasm for her dance.” (Cooper and Mackay) • It was Isadora Duncan who first related movement to emotion… to evolve it’s own forms when given an emotional impetus.” (James Roose Evans – pg 92)

14. Practical activity • You will be given a partner • One of you will be Constantin Stanislavski and the other will be a reporter from a publication of your choice • It is 1938. This is to be the final interview of his career (although obviously this is unknown to him at the time) • An Actor Prepares is about to be published in America, hence the interview • The reporter has been given five minutes to interview Stan and the starter questions can be of your own choice as long as they are appropriate • The final and most important questions should be regarding his influences as a theatre practitioner • You will be given one of his many influences that he must centre his answer around • You have ten minutes to prepare this rehearsed improv.

15. Homework essay • Due Monday 30th November • Aim for 1500 words • Ensure you use primary sources (Stan’s words) and secondary sources (other practitioners and critic’s words about him). Try to use at least four different texts in your response. • You must also try to refer to either rehearsal practices used by him or directorial decisions made in productions to justify how this aspect was influential to his practice Describe and analyse what you consider to be the key influences and events that helped to shape and evolve Stanislavski’s ideas for the theatre throughout his working life. (You should address the following areas referring to both textual and contextual evidence: the key influences and events in his working life; how these influences helped him develop/shape his ideas and practice in the theatre)

16. Textual and contextual evidence • Textual: connected with or contained in a text (things written) • Context: the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea • Contextual: connected with a particular context (things that occurred/happened) • So in short, textual evidence refers to anything written by or about Stanislavski. Contextual evidence means information pertaining to the historical, social and theatrical context in which Stanislavski was working, events that occurred in his life and career, and exercises, experiments, productions undertaken by him.

19. Crafting a point – do this 4 more times and you have an A essay Intro/ Context One of the earliest and most crucial influences in Stanislavski’s working life was the state of the Russian theatre that he inherited from the previous generation of Imperial control. Stanislavski, raised in a family “devoted to the theatre” (Jean Bendetti in “Stanislavski: An Introduction) When Stanislavski began his dramatic life the Russian theatre was highly melodramatic and was in need of serious reformation. In the theatre at that time standards were haphazard and working conditions very poor. The primary concern was commercial success and the 19th century Russian audience had come to accept stock characters and design. Actors would inhabit the stage as they sought fit and deliver the lines of the text downstage centre and out front. The actors were not artists but perpetuators of theatrical stereotypes. According to Jean Bendetti in “Stanislavski: An Introduction “An actress would move to the window or the fireplace for no better reason than that was what she always did”. He adds that Stanislavski felt that “Theatre was controlled by barmen on one hand and bureaucrats on the other” . The role of the director was essentially ignored, the “star” actors of the day would ignore any attempt at direction given and settle for what they knew best. Once again Bendetti describes it thus “Lead actors would simply plant themselves downstage centre, by the prompter’s box, wait to be fed the lines and then deliver them straight to the audience in a ringing voice, giving a fine display of passion” This style of theatre was anathema to Stanislavski, who sought his inspiration in the ‘genius actors’ of the Maly and the Meiningen. In My life in Art Stanislavski quotes the great actor of the Maly, Mikhail Shchepkin “Watch yourself sleeplessly…for you are your severest critic” Indeed, Stanislavski goes onto state that “Shchepkin…was the educator of an entire education…he was the first to intdroduce simplicity and lifelikeness” And it is this desire for ‘lifelikeness’ that Stanislavski aspired to with elements such as Emotion Memory “The type of memory which makes you relive the emotions you once felt…The broader your emotion memory, the richer your material for inner creativeness” One such production that he implemented such a technique in a bid to achieve ‘lifelikeness’ was “The Miserly Knight” in which he took on the title role. In “Konstantin Stanislavski” Bella Merlin states “affective memory…setting up the rehearsal room…his memory of the gloomy existence would provide the elusive component”. Although this experiment was unsuccessful in this instance as all he experienced was an emotionally ‘cold’ response, his attempt nonetheless highlights his dedication to the pursuit of ‘spiritual truth” and his response against the prevailing Melodramatic tradition. Secondary source Primary source System/ Production example

20. An exemplar essay: 20/20Collaborator* or director dictator? Which term most closely describes thecreative approach adopted by Stanislavski in pursuit of his theatrical vision?You should make reference to both his theories and practice.*Collaborator—one who works with others in a joint activity. Konstantin Stanislavski was one of the most influential theatre practitioners of the twentieth century, having successfully formulated a universal ‘System for Acting’, pulling together the concise notes which he kept on his own performances as an amateur actor during a sabbatical break to Finland on 1906. However, what is important to remember, is that as Stanislavski himself grew and developed his practice as a director, so too did his System, and one of his attitudes to change the most radically over time, was the role in which he saw the director. In essence, before he began to formulate his System in 1906, he adhered to a more dictatorial style of direction. However, following the creation of his System, his directive style changed with him ultimately seeing the director in a more collaborative role, a part of the ensemble. When Stanislavski first became involved in theatre in his native Russia in the late nineteenth century, he found it to be in a shambolic state, entrenched in the grossly exaggerated acting style, which predated his birth in 1863. There was a distinct lack of focus and purpose in the actors, very little, if any at all, character interaction, and sets and props were sourced solely from available stock and thus often bore little reference to the play. Most importantly of all, the role of the director was rendered almost non-existent – as a mere functionary who supervised rehearsals.

21. Stanislavski sought to change what he felt was an outmoded practice, but would not have been able to do so, had it not been for his wealthy background, his influences, his experience of being both actor and director and perhaps most crucially, his own note taking. He was heavily influenced by the acclaimed Russian actor Shchepkin, who imparted to him the importance of being, at all times self critical, ‘You yourself must be your own hardest critic’. This was a mantra to which Stanislavski stuck his whole life. He was also initially heavily influenced by the writer, Gogol, who, like Stanislavski, felt the need for Russia to have its own theatrical identity. ‘For God’s sake, give us a Russian theatre with Russian characters!’ It was on this belief that Stanislavski co-founded the Moscow Art Theatre (MAT) in 1898 in collaboration with the writer, Nemirovich-Danchenko. Undoubtedly influenced by Gogol, the two sought to ensure that from this base, theatre in Russia could be ‘a moral instrument which could influence the people for good’. As Gogol himself said, ‘Theatre should be a pulpit… from which so much good could be spoken to the world’. Given that Stanislavski’s directive stance and practice changed vastly from a dictatorial to a collaborative one in the course of his practice, I would concede that he, at different times, took both creative approaches in his lifelong quest for truth on the stage, especially in his actors’ performances. Let us look for example at one of his earliest productions, ‘The Seagull’ which is very typical of his early style of direction. When the MAT opened in 1898, Stanislavski and Danchenko chose to mount a production of Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’. This was a massive risk for the reputation of the newly established company as a previous production of the play had been a miserable failure at the Alexandrinski Theatre the year before.

22. Nevertheless, Stanislavski’s production was a resounding success, hailed for pioneering an extraordinary ‘new’ movement in Russian theatre known as ‘naturalism’ and thus establishing the MAT’s reputation in Russia. The legacy of this production is so great that the theatre still retains a seagull as its emblem to this day. At the time, Stanislavski had been heavily influenced by the style of the German theatre troupe, the Meiningen Company. It was from them that Stanislavski learned the value of ensemble playing, discipline in the training of actors, perspective in design concepts, and perhaps, most importantly, a radical new movement in theatre known as ‘Realism’ inspired by the writings of the French novelist Emile Zola. ‘The Seagull’ is a very typical example of Stanislavski’s dictatorial style of direction as every aspect of the performance was dictated by him as director. One of the most central things about this play is that it showcases Stanislavski’s first successful use of subtext. Given that he felt the play was at face value, an essentially uneventful play, he was forced to dig beneath its surface to flesh out the subliminal meanings in the text. Although Chekhov despaired at Stanislavski’s preconception of what was not in the script, this collaboration did prove crucial to the creative development of both men. Before rehearsals even began on ‘The Seagull’, Stanislavski made hundreds of notes on moves and appropriate justification for every character at every point in the play. He also composed what he referred to as a very complex ‘Directorial Score’ detailing a very elaborate mise-en-scene in the hope of effectively conveying subtext. For perhaps the first time, actors on the Russian stage were beginning to consider the psychological motivations of their character, with an awareness of their purpose on stage. However, as Stanislavski had imparted this purpose to them, they were essentially unable to begin the imaginative and creative process for themselves by extrapolating a character. Thus he

23. had, through his dictatorial methods, effectively eliminated the process for them. He also, having thoroughly rehearsed the pretext, defined what he referred to as the ‘super objective’ for the actors, which was, in essence, the through line of action for the characters, often resulting in the denouement of the play. However, yet again, these were defined by the director, and he alone. In a further attempt to enhance character interaction, he imparted to the cast a series of sense units, which made up each scene, ultimately ending in the resolution of an objective, here represented by an active verb – for example – to annoy him, to please her. This process encouraged character interaction, a sense of purpose on stage and as each objective had to be directed towards someone or something else, prevented self indulgent or introspective acting. He later went on to experiment heavily with this process during a 1909 production of Turgenev’s ‘A Month in the Country’ at the MAT. Stanislavski’s notes on character, second only to his detailed notes on design elements in this production really were extensive as he had defined such character specific traits such as gesture, mannerisms, facial expressions and vocal inflection. His actors, at this stage in his career, simply did as they were told, and although the play undoubtedly had undergone creative and imaginative processes in the rehearsal phase, they all undoubtedly came from Stanislavski. Nevertheless, the performance was heavily acclaimed for it’s portrayal of such a ‘shockingly truthful’ portrayal of life attributed to the actors realistic performances and the extraordinary naturalistic feel of the technical and design elements. Never before were audiences used to actors turning their backs on the audience or the sound of crying babies. Stanislavski went on to say that he saw ‘The Seagull’ as being like the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ guiding them on their quest in search of the truth. The entire creative process however, was engineered, by the director. The actors only essentially portrayed a sense of realism by proxy.

24. If we are, on the other hand, to take as an example of his later practice the1939 production of ‘Tartuffe’ at the MAT which was mounted posthumously, we see a complete turnaround in Stanislavski’s directorial practice and how he saw the role of the director. By the time he first established his System in 1906, he acknowledged that, particularly in the Chekhovian plays, he was too preoccupied with using design as a means of conveying truth, that he had overlooked and underestimated the importance of the actor himself. He realised eliminated the process for the actors to explore and add clarity to their character by means of Inner Action, resulting in them being therefore unable to consider what he defined as ‘The Magic If’ by which an actor is able to extrapolate a character imaginatively by means of asking the hypothetical. For example –if I were Lady Bracknell in ‘The importance of Being Earnest’ how would I feel upon discovering that Jack was found in a handbag? Without doubt, when he came to direct ‘Tartuffe’, he saw himself in a more collaborative ensemble role, in which the actor must work in tandem with the director in order to achieve theatrical truth on stage. This production was heavily improvised during the rehearsal process which allowed his actors to develop a channel into their characters organically, but most importantly of all, themselves. By this time, he had rejected complex mise-en-scenes and theatrical concepts, which diminished the actors ability to create themselves. This shows that the process was now all about the actor, and the director was no longer in a dictatorial position. One of the greatest pieces of evidence which authenticates his turnaround in this production was that he told an actress who had made meticulous notes on her performances to ‘burn them’ despite this being a process which he adhered to religiously, in his own early years as an actor.

25. According to Toporkov, an actor in the production, Stanislavski was now insistent that the actor should at all times be psychologically aware of his purpose on stage, his superobjective and that a fertile use of his own imagination was essential to his using the System correctly. ‘All action on stage must have a purpose – be coherent and logical’. This marked a significant change, as all these things were imparted to the actors by him in his pre 1906 practice. He also encouraged actors to use his concept of ‘Circles of Attention’ on stage in order to improve their focus and concentration. However perhaps the most significant feature of his practice at this time was his dedication to ensemble playing and that actors should go through a process which he defined as ‘The Method of Physical Action’, having distanced himself from ‘Emotion Memory’ a few years earlier, believing that it led to too much introspection and put the actor at risk unnecessarily on stage. In this new method actors extrapolated the emotions of their character through highly physical processes of improvisation. Again, he was collaborating with them showing them to think for themselves. This method, he felt, was invariably linked to the awareness of one’s own ‘Tempo/rhythm in Movement’ which he had learned some time earlier from the notable dancer Isadora Duncan, and the music teacher Jacques-Dalcroze. For this reason, actors were encouraged to find their desired Tempo/rhythm through a series of exercises in the rehearsal process. It is evident therefore, that time and experience as a director had now led him to his assertion that the creation of true ‘realism’ and truth on stage was the result of a collaborative approach between actor and director. (1800 words)

26. PRODUCTIONS • How many can you name?

27. Othello 1896 • Stanislavski directed and acted in Othello in 1896 and again in the late 1920s. He was passionate about the play, it was the only Shakespearian tragedy he had a leading part in producing, and he did so twice. • His three books on acting all use Othello as an example. • Stanislavski visited Venice before producing the play to gather ideas for set, costume and props design. “In one of the summer restaurants of Paris I met a handsome Arab in his national costume…with the help of the waiter we made the designs of the costume. I learned several bodily poses which seemed to me to be characteristic” Detailed character study from direct observation • “Every aspect of the play was focused on the one objective: that of creating an overwhelming psychological realism” (Cooper and Mackey) • A critic of the time (Marov) stated of Stanislavski’s performance “This is magnificent…how passion, little by little, takes possession of the whole being” (Of Stan’s portrayal of Othello the character) • Written like a work of fiction, Stanislavski details much of his desired rehearsal process in the work An Actor Prepares. He uses the fictional character of Tortsov the director to highlight how he, as a director, would approach work on the text. In An Actor Prepares Tortsov criticises his ‘lead actor’ for an animalistic characterisation of the Othello “You were tempted by the external appearance of a black man in general…you reached for an external characterisation…that it what always happens when an actor does not have at his disposal a wealth of live material taken from life…” • In the original production, all present in the “Senate Scene” wore black masks • Realistic sounds were used such as a tower bell, splashing oars and chains

28. MXAT • Stanislavski sought to build upon the foundations of the work and ethos of the great 19th century actor Schepkin, whom he quotes in My Life in Art "Seek your examples in life". In other words the actor had to go no further in his quest for truth than to base his art on his cumulative experience of the world around him, mediated and enhanced by the director's interpretation and the rehearsal process. • It took some time to acquire suitable premises and it wasn't until their fifth season that they moved into what became the Moscow Art Theatre. The stage was to be functional, the orchestra pit abolished, and the most up-to-date technical and lighting equipment installed. Above all, the two men sought to bring unity and freshness to all aspects of production and presentation. It was this vital philosophy that distinguished their work from the tired old ideals still so readily evident in the work of their rivals. It was to be a truly coherent company and it was to be based on the ethics and beliefs of the best of the past and present. They sought to achieve the following: • Choose plays from a classical repertoire, but also encourage new writing. • Treat actors with proper respect. They in turn would be expected to respond with total dedication to the new discipline. • Rehearse all plays for an agreed amount of time and mount all productions with new designs and costumes.

29. Realism and Naturalism • The term Naturalism applied to these two writers' work and began to imply a concern with the suffering and degradation of the servant and working class and an obsession with love, death and moral decay. Realism had evolved from Naturalism and began to supercede it as the desire for an indiscriminate reproduction of lower class life in all its squalor ceased to fascinate the public. The majority of Stanislavski's plays were peopled by characters who reflected the lives of the bourgeois audience who would watch them (the only notable exception being Gorki's Lower Depths). • Realism now involved the selection and distillation of the detailed observation of everyday life - not, as with Naturalism, the life itself. While there is an important discrimination to be made both words were used fairly interchangeably by practitioners at the time, including Stanislavski. • However, while Stanislavski desired to work towards the idea of Realism, in practice he was smothering the real in the detail of Naturalism. A poignant example of this was Stanislavski's over-detailed naturalistic set design which he would later fall out with Chekhov over. Stanislavski wanted the highest standard of representation for each new production resulting in a stage picture which left nothing to the imagination. • Realism, as a method, stands apart because of its emphasis on the subtext of a play; text was no longer a matter of surface meaning and characters said things with hidden agendas and intentions. It was on the way towards an understanding of this and how it could be communicated with feeling that many aspects of the System were devised.

30. Stanislavski’s Productions at MXAT Stanislavski’s early mise-en-scene (all that is seen on stage) were very detailed and extremely naturalistic. See slides on • The Seagull • Uncle Vanya • The Cherry Orchard • Tsar Fyodor • The Lower Depths However, later in his career he became more experimental and influence by abstract art and symbolism See slides on • The Blue Bird 1908 • Hamlet 1911-12 • DeaD SOULS? • TARTUFFE?

31. Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich 1898 by Aleksei Tolstoi “Stanislavsky is a real artist, he transformed himself into the general so completely that he lived his life down to the smallest detail. The audience didn't need any explanations. ... In my opinion that is the direction the theatre should take”Lenin (1918)

32. Production information- Tsar Fyodor • Tsar Fyador Ivanovich opened on the 14th of October 1898. However the play was written in 1875 but could only now in 1898 be released by the censor for public performance. • Production was a tremendous popular success because of its naturalism however while the critics gave it good reviews Stanislavski was disappointed in the performance, declaring that the actors were imitating his directions rather than truly acting. • The MXAT survived partly thanks to Count Alexei Tolstoys historical drama Tsar Fyador Ivanovich as it was there first performance. • Tsar Fyador had in Victor Simov a naturalistic designer of outstanding talent. • The role of Victor Simov in the revolution of the Arts Theatres style was crucial. In every case he worked on an equal footing with the director from the earliest stages of the production. He did much to advance the conception of the stage setting as a lived in space, following the Meiningen companies example by employing diagonals and varied levels

33. Directorial Approaches Employed • Stanislavski took a similar approach with Tsar Fyador which he had took with Othello but in addition it was given no fewer than 74 rehearsals. • When Simov and Stanislavski started working on Tsar Fyador, they began by steeping themselves in all available documentaries and pictorial sources; next they organised expeditions to the ancient cities of Rostov, Nizhny, Novgorod and Kazan in order to absorb the atmosphere of the 16th C Russia, to make sketches, to collect authentic furs, gowns and assorted bric a brac. • In rehearsals for Tsar Fyador, Stanislavski asked each actor to prepare answers for the following questions; • Who am I ? How old am I ? My profession? Members of my family? • Where do I live in Moscow? (You must be able to draw the plan of your apartment and the furniture in the rooms.) • How did I spend yesterday ?

34. The Seagull 1898 Uncle Vanya 1899by Anton Chekhov(Partially based on a powerpoint by Liubov Oves of the Moscow Arts Theatre)

35. Ground plans for the Seagull before Simov (designer) after Simov

36. The Seagull • During the late Russian summer of 1898 Stanislavski spent a month and a half alone in a tower in the Ukraine devising a mise-en-scene for Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’. • The members of the Moscow Arts Theatre were in a barn in Pushkin, putting together a repertory for their critical first season. • Weeks later, as he was finishing, the company returned to Moscow to rehearse at the Hunt Club and to occupy the dilapidated Hermitage Theatre. • Between August 12 and September 20, the director sat in isolation at his desk and struggled to decipher the puzzle that was Chekhov’s difficult and unusual play, to work out what it meant and how he could convey that meaning in a theatrical production. • Stanislavsky’s partner, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko had taken a strong initiative with this particular play. Early in 1898, trying to compose his inaugural repertory, he had badgered Chekov with letters pleading for the rights to ‘The Seagull’.

37. The Seagull - Great Directors at Work (David Richard Jones) • “Konstantin Stanislavski and The Seagull” in Great Directors At Work by David Richard Jones (1986) • Spent a month and a half alone during the summer of 1898 creating a mise-en-scene for The Seagull and trying to unlock the complexities of the play and how these might be communicated in production. • “diagrams….500 notes on everything from love to barking dogs…of course, a mise-en-scene is no more an evening at the theatre than a ground is an office building….but even as a step in a sequence, the making of his mise was an artistic event with its own integrity, an imaginative act that raised issues for analysis and comment” • The production was initially chosen by Danchenko rather than Stan, badgering Chekhov for the rights and presenting a four hour lecture to introduce the company to the first two acts, sending Stan to the Ukraine to work on the mise-en-scene. • Danchenko worked Stan’s mise-en-scene into the rehearsal process as Stan’s notes arrived in the post. Of 26 rehearsals, Danchenko directed 15 and so to an extent Stan had created a production for Danchenko. Such collaboration was unusual in the late 19th century theatre world but normal practice for Danchenko and Stan at MXAT.

38. The Seagull - Great Directors at Work (David Richard Jones) • The Seagull’s first audiences must have found some of the dialogue pointless and the action drab, “the inertia of personal and social lives” commented Danchenko. • “In short, the meaning of The Seagull was about as difficult to grasp in 1898 as that of Waiting For Godot was in the mid 1950’s” • The conflict of the play centred around an existentialist crisis. Even Stan’s initial comments were negative “monotonous…boresome…character’s half human…lacked stageworthy scenes or images…are you sure it can be performed at all?….I just can’t make head or tail of it” Danchenko though was a literary man and could easily identify the play’s merits. • Stanislavski was ill prepared to deal with such a text. Ten years of producing amateur theatre, a further decade producing with the Society of Art and Literature, eight of those years directing following Fedotov’s departure. But his work (and successes) had centred around Vaudeville and Melodrama. “He was known for stunning production techniques and extraordinary abilities as a colorist, fantasist, historicist, melodramatist…reputation as an elderly teacher is so widespread…we often forget he was a classical showman”

39. The Seagull - Great Directors at Work (David Richard Jones) • “In his early directing…repeatedly used crowd scenes, panoramas, special effects, and startling images to cover poor character development and weak acting. But The Seagull is nothing but acting” It was also “a revolutionary dramatic structure by any standards” • However, after receiving positive feedback from the company and Danchenko, Stanislavski began to build in confidence and continue to do so throughout productions over the next decade. “Stanislavski was already on the path to becoming Chekhov’s director and the leading modern spokesman for theatrical realism” • What is a mise-en-scene? Combination between staging and setting – the visual aspects of a production. “The Seagull mise-en-scene is full of stage designs, descriptions of settings, diagrams of movement and groupings, plus hundreds of notes on blocking, picturization and visual rhythms” During the mise-en-scene stage the director is alone with the play and searching for her/his image of it, her/his interpretation.

40. The Seagull - Great Directors at Work (David Richard Jones) • DETAILS OF THE SEAGULL’S MISE-EN-SCENE – • “Sorin’s estate was crowded, deep and dimly lit…benches, stumps for sitting…a garden seat built around a tree trunk…hothouses, more trees and shrubs…another path…bushes and sunflowers…when the stage’s curtain opened midway through act 1, the audience saw beyond it a lake and trees, moonlit and beautiful… a dense maze… a faint lantern atop a post” • All these visual images ran in conjunction with a detailed sound plot of “frogs and dogs and birds and bells and singing drunks and distant thunder” • Stanislavski allowed the audience to absorb this atmosphere by beginning with a ten second pause before character’s entered. When they did they spoke the dialogue and “continued to meander across the cluttered stage” • “The lighting of cigarettes, the cracking of nuts, Medvyedeno swinging the small club he carried, starting and stopping, entering and exiting, walking around obstructions – all these Stanislavski added. To such a short scene he gave busy hands and feet.. he added a huge amount of business throughout the mise” • In terms of the rhythm of the dialogue, he phrased the material “parsing it into units of meaning and then sculpting those units around physical movements” • “Stanislavski’s emphasis on the visual and physical oversimplified certain minor characters… seemed surprisingly uninterested in Sorin…his life’s unsatisfactory qualities… his unfulfilled aspirations…Stanislavski ignored these considerations and saw the character as a man holding props (blanket, cigarette, cane, hat)”

41. Production Information – Uncle Vanya • In 1899, Anton Chekhov found himself in an awkward situation. The previous year, the newly founded Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) had staged a tremendously successful production Chekhov's The Seagull. After its triumph, MXAT expected to receive the rights to the Moscow premiere of Uncle Vanya. Chekhov, however, had already promised the play to the state-supported Maly Theatre. • After MXAT’s Success with Chekhov's Seagull, Nemirovich quickly requested the rights to Uncle Vanya. The playwright knew he had finally found a truly talented company to stage his works, but he was bound by his former commitment to the Maly Theatre. If not for an attempted bowdlerization, MXAT would probably have lost the premiere of Vanya and its growing reputation as Chekhov's principal interpreter. A committee at the Maly objected to the scene in which Vanya fires a gun at the Professor, criticizing the gesture as an insult to intellectuals. The Maly demanded cuts. Chekhov refused and promptly delivered the play to the Moscow Art Theatre • Stanislavski directed and played Astrov. “Uncle Vanya” was the third major play from Chekhov. • The play was completed in 1897, and performed in 1899. • It was subtitled “Scenes from Country-Life” and there is strong emphasis on such. Stanislavki’s over attention to detail evokes the general mood of rural Torpor but undercut the inner drama of the play • Stanislavski spent the summer of 1899 creating his promptbook for Vanya, envisioning himself in the title role. Nemirovich, however, didn't see his tall, handsome co-director as the avuncular type, and he soon persuaded Stanislavsky to play the doctor, Astrov. Chekhov, who had loathed Stanislavsky's performance as Trigorin in The Seagull, wanted to remove Stanislavski from the cast altogether. In a letter to the actress Olga Knipper, who played Yelena, Chekhov offered the following assessment: "When he directs then he's an artist but when he acts he's just a rich young merchant who wants to dabble in art." The playwright finally accepted MXAT's casting, but expressed a concern that the puritanical Stanislavsky wouldn't exude Astrov's sexual energy. "Inject some testosterone into him," Chekhov quipped to Nemirovich as the company began rehearsals. . • Though critics and public responses were mixed, “Uncle Vanya” far outstripped “The Seagull” in popularity.

42. Directorial Approaches Employed - Vanya Meyerhold notes that Vladimir Nemirovich Danchenko is domineering of Stanislavski in rehearsal. At first everything ran smoothly, but tension quickly mounted between the co-directors. Nemirovich, who saw himself as Chekhov's representative in rehearsals, was always more focused on the text. Stanislavsky, in contrast, was more concerned with the visual, physical, and aural life of the production. As opening night approached, Nemirovich wrote to Stanislavsky: "We are both aware that it is awkward to disagree during rehearsals. It is embarrassing in front of the actors, don't you think? ... I feel obliged to ask you for a few concessions. Obliged by my conscience as a writer ... I don't want a handkerchief on your head to keep off mosquitoes, it's a detail I simply cannot take. And I can tell you for certain that Chekhov won't like it. During the rehearsals and premiere, Chekhov was stuck in Yalta, where the doctors had exiled him in an effort to spare his tubercular lungs. He didn't see MXAT's Uncle Vanya until the spring of 1900, when the Theatre went on tour to Sevastopol and Yalta. Despite the positive notices Stanislavsky had received, Chekhov remained skeptical about his portrayal of Astrov. Before the tour, he warned Nemirovich, "Remembering [Stanislavsky's] acting for me is so depressing I can't shake it off, and in no way can believe that he is good in Uncle Vanya although everyone writes to me with one voice that he is nonetheless good and even very good." Chekhov was pleased with MXAT's work when he finally saw the production. He even complimented Stanislavsky and offered him a suggestion for Astrov's departure at the end of the play: "[Astrov] whistles. Listen, he whistles! Uncle Vanya is crying, but Astrov whistles!" Stanislavsky got no further explanation from Chekhov, but he immediately integrated the new stage direction into his performance, interpreting it, or perhaps misinterpreting it, as Astrov's loss of faith in humanity. By the time MXAT reached Chekhov in Yalta, the troupe was imploring the playwright for a new script. Debilitated by a tubercular infection that would take his life in four years and distracted by his romance with Olga Knipper, Chekhov didn't have a completed play to open MXAT's next season. But that fall, he brought the troupe Three Sisters - a play tailored for the MXAT company.

43. The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky1902 Jean Benedetti on Gorky.mht

44. Production Information • In 1902 the Moscow Art Theater staged the first production of Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths, which is about a group of people living in a flophouse in Czarist Russia • The Lower Depths (literally: 'At the bottom') is perhaps Maxim Gorky's best-known play. It was written during the winter of 1901 and the spring of 1902. Subtitled "Scenes from Russian Life," it depicted a group of members of the Russian underclass in a shelter near the Volga. Produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18, 1902, Konstantin Stanislavski directed and starred. It became his first major success, and a hallmark of Russian socialist realism. • When it first appeared, The Lower Depths was criticized for its pessimism and ambiguous ethical message. The presentation of the lower classes was viewed as overly dark and unredemptive, and Gorky was clearly more interested in creating memorable characters than in advancing a formal plot. However, in this respect, the play is generally regarded as a masterwork. • The theme of harsh truth versus the comforting lie pervades the play from start to finish, as most of the characters choose to deceive themselves from the bleak reality of their condition.

45. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov 1904

46. Production Information – The Cherry Orchard • Again, on the 17th of January 1904 the MXAT were given responsibility to produce the world premiere of one of Anton Chekov’s plays, this time entitled “The Cherry Orchard” • This production (Like “The Lower Depths” and “Julius Caesar” also produced that season) were produced in the Meiningen Style with heavy emphasis on external naturalism

47. ‘The Cherry Orchard’ • The final draft was despatched in October 1903. • Chekhov came to Moscow in December and spent almost every day at the plays’ final six week's rehearsals. • Chekhov and Stanislavski were far from harmonious. Chekhov was unable to persuade Stanislavski in his view of the Cherry Orchard as “a comedy, at times almost a farce.” Stanislavski argued that it is “a tragedy, no matter what solution you may have found in the second act for a better life.” • 3 months later Chekhov was seen to be still complaining to Olga Knipper that the play was portrayed as a drama in it’s promotional posters.

48. Stanislavski handled the play with uncertainty; accommodating Chekhov’s comedy perspective and missing the point completely. One striking alteration was Stanislavski proposed to set Act 4 in the same nursery that Act 1 was set in. • Stanislavski and Simov were responsible for the “oppressive emptiness” which the text prescribes. • In Act 3, Stanislavski doesn’t fill the stage with extras as he once would have, and conveys Chekhov’s mood. His prompt book reads: • “A completely abortive ball. Very few guests. Despite all their efforts, they’ve only managed to drag along the station manager and the post office clerk…Silence prevails the whole evening, so you think they’d come along to a funeral.” • Yet again, the fascination of the new technology of naturalism had proven too strong for Stanislavski. Chekhov said to someone in Stanislavski’s hearing “I shall write a new play and it will begin with a character saying ‘how wonderfully quiet it is! There are no birds to be heard, no dogs, no cuckoos, no owls, no nightingales, no clocks, no harness bells, and not a single cricket.’” • Stanislavski records this in his memories and it seems that he has little regard for Chekhov’s theatrical instinct.

49. Vladimir Egorov’sdesigns for The Blue Bird by MaeterlinckDirected by Stanislavski in 1908

50. Vladimir Egorov’sdesigns for The Blue Bird by MaeterlinckDirected by Stanislavski in 1908