The method, p.48
The Method, page 48
54 he and Lilina were awakened by the company Ibid., 444.
54 They went on to play their greatest hits Magarshack, Stanislavsky: A Life, 276.
54 “a very energetic, thickset man” Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 446.
54 “the most powerful theatrical experience I have ever had” Quoted in Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 164.
54 Handbook of Theatrical Poses Rader, Playing to the Gods, 4.
54 “all of a sudden while raising your hand” I am indebted to Miranda Popkey for translating this (and coining the phrase “invitation to the breast”).
55 Zola’s naturalism would instead treat literature Esslin, “Modern Theatre,” in The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre, 342.
55 championed by iconoclastic critics Ibid., 343.
55 In 1889, Strindberg founded his Scandinavian Experimental Theatre Ibid., 346.
55 “Where the dialogue is concerned” Strindberg, Miss Julie and Other Plays, 63.
55 Realism took hold in Russia Figes, Natasha’s Dance, loc 163; March, “Realism in the Russian Theatre,” 146.
56 “we knew that Russians are a century behind” Quoted in Polyakova, Stanislavsky, 181.
56 “I copied naïveté, but I was not naïve” Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 460.
56 Stanislavski believed … the more they calcified Ibid., 448–49.
57 “at the exact time when he is advertised to come out and perform” Stanislavski, An Actor’s Handbook, 84.
57 “Less talented people receive it less often” Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 461.
57 “the superconscious” … Stanislavski never read Freud Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 169.
58 The first was the primacy of the actor’s own life experiences Ibid.
58 ya yesm … circumstances of the play Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 102.
58 If a role “is impossible to own” Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 462.
59 a “demarcation line” was “essential” Benedetti, ed., The Moscow Art Theatre Letters, 241.
59 “with energy in an unsullied atmosphere” Ibid., 242–43.
59 “Let me unburden my heart” Ibid., 252.
59 “shame on us” Ibid., 251.
60 A talented writer, gifted orator, and autodidact Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 468–71.
60 Everyone there, with the noted exception of Nemirovich, loved him Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 172–73. Stanislavski hired Suler without clearing it with Nemirovich and paid him out of pocket. Nemirovich, who was supposed to have final say in all management issues of the theater, resented it.
60 Gorky gave him the nickname Suler Polyakova, Stanislavsky, 184.
60 In Suler’s spare time, he helped the Social-Democratic Workers Party Ibid.
60 Stanislavski already sympathized with many core Tolstoyan beliefs Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 35.
60 Suler pushed Stanislavski toward symbolist writings Gordon, Stanislavsky Technique, Russia: A Workbook for Actors, loc 341.
60 prana, the “invisible life force that streams through all living things” Ibid., loc 323.
61 “I performed all sorts of experiments” Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 462–63.
61 “unseen unembodied passion” Ibid., 474.
61 he directed the actors through psychology Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 173.
61 “drawing my attention away” Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 464.
61 “entire physical and spiritual nature” Ibid., 465.
61 public solitude Stanislavski, An Actor’s Handbook, 115.
61 object of attention Stanislavski, An Actor’s Work, 92.
61 Take a coin and put it on a table Gordon, Stanislavsky Technique, Russia: A Workbook for Actors, loc 546. There are hundreds of versions of this exercise, often involving books of matches.
62 You have created a circle of attention Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 137. Stanislavski discusses circles of attention in depth in An Actor’s Work, 86–118.
62 “believe in everything that takes place on the stage” Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 465.
62 “But if they were true, then I would do this and this” Ibid., 466.
62 The given circumstances Whyman, The Stanislavsky System of Acting, 44.
63 “As our ten years of effort have ended” Benedetti ed., The Moscow Art Theatre Letters, 263.
63 this spat led to both men getting what they wanted Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 181.
64 technically as an adviser, with Suler as the credited director Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 131.
64 “the rhythm of feelings, the development of affective memory” Quoted in Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 184.
64 Ribot’s writings … would go on to exert tremendous influence Whyman, The Stanislavsky System of Acting, 52–53.
64 “affective impressions” that works alongside our other forms of memory Ribot, The Psychology of Emotions, 167.
64 “smell and taste, our visceral sensations” Ibid., 141.
64 “by provocation, or spontaneously” Ibid.
64 If you trained your affective memory well Whyman, The Stanislavsky System of Acting, 54; Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 184–85. Affective memory was to become more central to Stanislavski’s vision of acting training in a few years.
65 In The Blue Bird, with the help of his new ideas, Stanislavski pushed the actors Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 183–84.
65 Nemirovich crowed over Stanislavski’s forcing the actors Ibid., 179.
65 In Russia, The Blue Bird became a legend Ibid., 13.
65 “an intelligent actor … should examine the main and primary concern” Quoted in Polyakova, Stanislavsky, 198.
65 Plays have latent supertasks Whyman, The Stanislavski System of Acting, 101.
65 To Gogol, “the actor must perform” Quoted in ibid., 100.
CHAPTER 5: THE STANISLAVSKI SICKNESS
67 “The actors of our theatre … consists in living a part” Quoted in Roberts, Richard Boleslavsky: His Life and Work in the Theatre, 19.
67 a merging of the two selves Hobgood, “Emotions in Stanislavski’s System,” 150.
67 “superfluous, harmful and stupid” Quoted in Roberts, Richard Boleslavsky: His Life and Work in the Theatre, 19.
68 Boleslaw Ryszard Srednicki Ibid., 3.
68 yet even his lovers didn’t know he spoke Polish Ibid. An enormous debt is owed the late Jerry W. Roberts, who dedicated his scholarly career to unearthing as much as he could about Boleslavsky’s life and work. Boleslavsky was highly secretive, and both he and his only child died young. Roberts is the author of the only extant English-language biography of Boleslavsky, Richard Boleslavsky: His Life and Work in the Theatre, and writing that book entailed tracking down pretty much every piece of paper with Boleslavsky’s name on it and interviewing everyone who ever knew him who was both alive and on this side of the Iron Curtain. Without this effort, and without the collection of all of Roberts’s research in his papers at the University of Scranton, a major chapter in the history of acting and theater in America would have been lost.
68 the Polish Hearth (Ognisko Polski) Ibid., 8.
68 “Odessa steps” Ibid., 10.
68 he had married and fathered a child Ibid., 8.
69 Hundreds auditioned annually for a handful of slots Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 63.
69 “All my teachers taught me in a very simple way” Quoted in ibid., 42.
69 on the condition that he take voice lessons Ibid., 16.
69 Students at the Moscow Art Theatre Ibid., 16–17.
69 The program was sink or swim Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 62.
69 Tuition was free, covered by the labor you provided Ibid.
69 after which they would be considered for a place in the company Ibid.
69 A Month in the Country did little to change that reputation Briggs, “Writers and Repertoires,” in A History of Russian Theatre, 101.
70 who found the play boring Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 176.
70 “There will be no mise-en-scènes” Quoted in ibid., 192.
70 Dobuzhinsky was associated with the World of Art Ibid., 183.
70 It was the World of Art that published “Unnecessary Truth” Magarshack, Stanislavsky: A Life, 265.
70 led by, among others, the critic and impresario Sergei Diaghilev Figes, Natasha’s Dance, loc 3844.
70 The magazine stood against the Wanderers Ibid., 5023.
70 for the audience of the Moscow Art Theatre, they read as evocative Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 183–84.
70 Stanislavski moved rehearsals from the theater into a rehearsal studio Magarshack, Stanislavsky: A Life, 305.
70 He made a précis Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 190–91.
71 “radiating … receive the arrows” Quoted in Gordon, Stanislavsky Technique, Russia: A Workbook for Actors, loc 373.
72 forced the actors to speak sotto voce Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 191.
72 terms like “ray emission” and “ray absorption” Quoted in Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 179.
72 “it is not possible to compare each component part” Quoted in ibid., 183.
72 hieroglyphic notation Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 179.
72 “this painstaking analysis” Koonen, Pages of Life, 92. I am grateful to Jerry Vikournov for his help in translating these quotes.
72 Stanislavski detailed a new and largely unnecessary six-step process Gauss, Lear’s Daughters, 31–32.
72 a never-completed paper titled “My ‘System’ ” Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 113.
73 “Moskvin and Stanislavski have … already held between 80 and 90 rehearsals” Quoted in Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 186.
73 “What have they been doing with themselves” Quoted in ibid.
73 “he was a fanatic in art” Quoted in ibid., 189.
73 Stanislavski sent her a bouquet of flowers and a letter Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 193.
73 “At the moment you are going through a difficult period” Benedetti, ed., The Moscow Art Theatre Letters, 277.
73 “brought me much suffering” Quoted in Magarshack, Stanislavsky: A Life, 308.
74 In November, he began having chest pains Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre, 187.
74 Nemirovich came to see another rehearsal Ibid.
74 critics declared the “unstageable” play a remarkable success Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 194.
74 “discover simple forms of words” Quoted in ibid., 205–206.
74 “Perhaps it is insane arrogance” Quoted in ibid., 205.
75 “The Theatre is no longer viable” Quoted in Polyakova, Stanislavsky, 204.
75 two long-standing dreams Ibid.
75 “I’m frantic to get to Moscow” Quoted in ibid., 205.
75 For Gorky, these questions were political Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 203.
75 When the makeup of the second Duma was too left-wing Montefiore, The Romanovs, 542.
75 But Nicholas II refused Ibid., 547.
75 Vasily Kachalov threatened to quit Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 206.
75 On May 7, 1911, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko officially … gained full control Ibid.
75 “a crude, manufactured, artificial surrogate” Quoted in ibid.
75 stanislavshchina, or “the Stanislavski sickness” Ibid., 207.
77 übermarionette Esslin, “Modern Theatre 1890–1920,” in The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre, 364.
77 “If there is a thing in the world that I love it is a symbol” Quoted in Polyakova, Stanislavsky, 195.
77 Hamlet likely marks the first time Whyman, The Stanislavsky System of Acting, 65.
77 Those actions are then generally phrased as infinitive verbs There is some debate in writing about Stanislavski as to whether it is the zadacha or the action that is phrased as an infinitive verb. This may be because in American acting practice, the zadacha and action often are conflated into one thing (usually called an objective, an intention, or, yes, an action) that is phrased as an infinitive verb. Also, later in life, Stanislavski adopted working methods that focused on action; actors would determine actions first and then figure out the task/problem as a result. The formulation of the relationship between problems and action used in this book both makes the most logical sense and is derived from Stella Adler’s lectures based on her work with Stanislavski.
77 Zadachi were not psychological Ibid., 67.
77 the task/problem was special Ibid., 57.
77 If you put the resulting actions together Ibid., 101.
77 Concentrating on the task Ibid., 29.
78 “Once more we fumble forward” Quoted in Polyakova, Stanislavsky, 210.
78 Nemirovich came to rehearsals of Hamlet Benedetti, Stanislavski: His Life and Art, 207.
78 fourteen and a half hours Ibid., 208. Because it divides plays into so many segments, and requires such a deep investment in world building and backstory, Stanislavskian theatrical technique is particularly prone to slow, thorough, time-intensive rehearsals and classes. When I was a teenager taking Method classes and it came time to do scene study, our teacher told us that we would be lucky to get through five lines when we presented our work for the first time. My scene partner and I got through two.
79 “rejoined that it was each individual’s responsibility” Quoted in ibid.
79 “I will separate … with a special group” Quoted in Malaev-Babel, Yevgeny Vakhtangov: A Critical Portrait, 57.
CHAPTER 6: I NEED A NEW THEATRE
80 Suler had been teaching classes in the “system” Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavsky, 113.
80 His father … drove Evgeny’s grandfather to suicide Malaev-Babel, Yevgeny Vakhtangov: A Critical Portrait, 10.
80 built an outdoor theater by himself Ibid., 17.
81 on the day of his marriage to Nadezhda Baytsurova Ibid., 23.
81 assisted Stanislavski in creating lists of tasks Whyman, The Stanislavsky System of Acting, 157.
81 “Correct, complete … or take out the false” Quoted in Malaev-Babel, Yevgeny Vakhtangov: A Critical Portrait, 57.
81 Vakhtangov led the company, directing eleven of the twelve plays Ibid., 62.
81 Stanislavski deputized Vakhtangov to lead semi-clandestine workshops Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 127.
81 “Go on working quietly. Don’t mention my name” Quoted in Whyman, The Stanislavsky System of Acting, 157.
81 he insisted on teaching in his own way Malaev-Babel, Yevgeny Vakhtangov: A Critical Portrait, 65.
81 a shabby room above a cinema called the Lux Roberts, Richard Boleslavsky: His Life and Work in the Theatre, 25.
81 The First Studio opened in 1912 Ibid.
82 Vakhtangov, Boleslavsky, and two young actresses Ibid., 27–28.
82 seated only fifty people … no backstage Ibid., 30.
82 It was left to Suler to teach the “system” Gauss, Lear’s Daughters, 33.
82 The actors were too star-struck Ibid., 34.
82 “Why did he love the Studio so much?” Quoted in Gauss, Lear’s Daughters, 37.
82 studytsi Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 126. According to Shevtsova, the term is a neologism and roughly translates to “studists.”
82 These were Tolstoyan precepts Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 35, 145. For more on Tolstoy and his followers, see Figes, Natasha’s Dance, loc 6345.
82 revealing the unspoken common language Gordon, Stanislavsky Technique, Russia: A Workbook for Actors, loc 408.
82 “the purpose of art is to force people to be more attentive” Quoted in Whyman, The Stanislavsky System of Acting, 158.
82 placing a notebook at the entrance Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 141. Supposedly, over the course of his tenure at the First Studio, Suler and his charges filled around sixty of these notebooks with ideas.
83 While most of these books do not survive Ibid.
83 the Studio’s work focused on many Stanislavskian precepts Gordon, Stanislavsky Technique, Russia: A Workbook for Actors, loc 529.
83 create whole performance pieces out of them, called études Shevtsova, Rediscovering Stanislavski, 137.
83 These improvisations could grow quite elaborate Ibid., 142.
83 “affective memory … starts from sense memory” Quoted in Gray, “The Reality of Doing,” in Stanislavski and America, 206.
83 “when our inspiration” Quoted in ibid., 207.
83 “Just thank Apollo and act!” Quoted in ibid.
83 While adapting Chekhov’s The Witch Tcherkasski, Masterstvo aktera, 28.
