The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit

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Twenge, J. M., (2017), iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, New York: Atria. Shakespeare’s world was as big as the cosmos. He was born into a world that had just discovered it was round, not flat. He was born into the Renaissance of medicine and philosophy, as humanity transitioned out of the Dark Ages. The whole scene is explored like this. And afterwards the actors discuss whatever arose for them during the ‘dropping in’. This paper doesn’t allow for a truly in-depth navigation of this dynamically fruitful process. Suffice it to say it’s an exciting way to research a text and it throws up unexpected and emotional findings. The main points to remember are (a) no one can get anything wrong: the droppers-in are simply free-associating, and the actors are simply harvesting ripe fruits for future rehearsals; (b) the final interpretation of the scene might bear no overt signs of any of the discoveries made during the dropping-in session, yet the residue of them will be in the DNA of the scene somewhere (be it in the relationships, the shared moments, and the often highly-charged emotional journeys); and (c) words hold lots of unexpected information and possibilities, so no one particular interpretation need be fixed like a butterfly on a board.

Knebel, M. (2002), On the Active Analysis of Plays and Roles, Maria Knebel, in unpublished translation by Mike Pushkin with Bella Merlin. Actually I believe there are some very positive elements arising from the iGenerations’ risk aversion. Twenge writes that there’s a growing connection for young people between speech and its emotional impact. In other words, the power of language is becoming increasingly prescient for our young students. From their social media interactions, they know all too well that, ‘When safety extends to emotional safety, speech can hurt’. [27] So how can we help them frame this sensitivity to language so that they see it as a good thing? Well, if there really is an increasing sensitivity between what we say and how those words land, ‘the creation of the living word’ might actually be easier for the iGen than it has been for those of us from earlier generations. In other words, maybe we can reframe their everyday fear that language is going to hurt in terms of two of the invaluable acting principles I noted earlier: ‘dynamic listening’ and ‘willing vulnerability’. The way in which Shakespeare’s imagery works an actor’s imagination provides unmatchable training, not least because the Elizabethan theatre barely used any scenery. It didn’t need to. Shakespeare lived in an aural age where ‘the creation of the living word’ was second nature. There were no advertising hoardings, television commercials, newsfeeds, smartphones and tablets providing constant visual stimuli. So: ‘Being on an empty stage,’ says Kaiser, ‘and having to imagine an entire world around you [uses] exactly the same muscles as standing in front of the green screen and imagining everything that’s going to be provided for you digitally in postproduction’. [21] So you see, movie actors need Shakespeare training! Which brings us to my third research reflection – screen acting. In preparing for the role, I applied the same Stanislavsky-based text analysis that I would to a play: Stanislavsky, K. S. (1980), An Actor Prepares, trans. Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood, London: Methuen. (Original year of publication 1937)

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If, therefore, there is a reluctance – even a resistance – in young students to experience narratives that may unsettle them, maybe we can help them as actor trainers to reset the start button. What if they came to celebrate the role they can play as social storytellers? What if they found that enacting unsettling situations – within the safe structure of a script – enables them to become richer contributors to their broader society? And maybe even heal others by taking them on cathartic, therapeutic journeys? A director arguably needs to know the text far better than the actors do initially. And yet the art is not to prescribe to the actors their journey, but rather to guide them towards choices that serve the writer’s script. In this session, we dive deep into text analysis. As a text analysis junkie, this is one of my favourite tasks as an actor and/or director. I hope to infect you with my enthusiasm! The impact of a first reading is surprising intuitive and creatively lucrative. We will look at a handful of scenes to discover and discuss the impact of the first reading, the text, the seven planes of a text and the given circumstances. I wonder if, for a while, I took that hunger for emotional boundary testing as a ‘given’ for anyone choosing to study acting. I no longer do. While I don’t currently teach in a conservatory or on a vocational program, I’ve reached out to colleagues who do, and the issues seem parallel. For many of us born before social media ruled our lives, college was, as Twenge describes it, ‘a place for learning and exploration, and that includes being exposed to ideas different from your own.’ [36] Maybe my generation and earlier generations almost believed that was the whole point of going to college in the first place. But as Twenge alerts us, ‘iGen’ers disagree: college, they feel, is a place to prepare for a career in a safe environment. […] iGen’ers’ interest in safety leads them to balk at the idea that college should mean exploring new and different ideas – what if they aren’t “emotionally safe”? And what does this have to do with getting a good job and earning money?’ [37] urn:lcp:completestanisla0000merl:epub:9cc1d9fa-4195-4029-b0cd-8ac2326d445b Foldoutcount 0 Identifier completestanisla0000merl Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t0mt6jp8c Invoice 1652 Isbn 0896762599

Gomez, M. (2018), ‘Giuliani says “Truth Isn’t Truth” in Defense of Trump’s Legal Strategy’, New York Times, 19 August, 2018. Each stage of the process is explored with sequences of practical exercises designed to help today's actors and students become thoroughly familiar with the tools in Stanislavsky's toolkit. This is a different worldview from the one into which I was born. Let alone the worlds into which were born those who have inspired my practice-based research. Stanislavsky cited in Stanislavsky Directs (1994), Gorchakov, N. M., trans. Miriam Goldina, New York: Limelights, p.94.

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Stanislavsky’s ‘system’ is in many respects a perfect means of navigating the unsafe. It’s clear. It’s structured. It makes absolute sense. It simply takes the laws of nature and applies them to the artifice of a script. And it’s spawned three generations of extremely successful actors. Many Oscar winners are steeped in the psychophysical training of Stanislavsky, which imbues them with the willing vulnerability to take emotional and relational risks in the roles they play.