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“ My system is the result of lifelong searchings… I have groped after a method of work for actors which will enable them to create the image of a character, breathe into it the life of a human spirit and, by natural means, embody it on the stage in a beautiful, artistic form… the foundations for this method were my studies of the nature of an actor.
The first [proposition] is this: There are no formulas… on how to become a great actor, or how to play this or that part. [It] is made up of steps towards the true creative state of an actor on the stage. When it is true it is the… normal state of a person in real life. But to achieve that normal living state… an actor… has to be: (a) physically free, in control of free muscles; (b) his attention must be infinitely alert; (c) he must be able to listen and observe on the stage as he would in real life, that is to say be in contact with the person playing opposite him; (d) he must believe in everything that is happening on the stage that is related to the play.
The second proposition… is: A true inner creative state on the stage makes it possible for an actor to execute actions necessary for him to take in accordance with the terms of the play, whether inner psychological actions or external, physical ones… Actually in each physical act there is an inner psychological motive which impels physical action, as in every psychological inner action there is also physical action, which expresses its psychic nature.
The union of these two actions results in organic action on the stage.
That action then is determined by the subject of the play, its idea, the character of a certain part and the circumstances set up by the playwright.
In order to make it easier for you as an actor to take action on stage, put yourself first of all in the circumstances proposed by the playwright for the character you are playing. Ask yourself: what would I do if the same thing should happened to me as it does in the play to your character I am playing?... Find out all the reasons which justify the actions of your character and then act without reflection about just where your “own†actions end and “his†begin.
The third proposition (is): True organic action… is bound to give rise to sincere feelings.
Therefore the summing up is: On the stage a true inner creative state, action and feeling result in natural life on the stage in the form of one of the characters. It is by this means that you will come closest to what we call “metamorphosis,†always providing of course that you have properly understood the play, its idea, its subject and plot, and have shaped inside yourself the character of one of the dramatis personae.
The power of this method lies in the fact that it was not… invented,… it is based on the laws of nature.
The system is not a hand-me-down suit you can put on and walk off in… It is a whole way of life; you have to educate yourself in it… You cannot hope to do this all at once.
With a strong desire, if you work, if you come to know your own nature, and discipline it, then with talent you will become a true artist.
With the gradual study of the method… you will find it is not as complicated in execution as it may appear to be in theory. My system is for all nations. All peoples possess the same human nature: it manifests itself in varying ways, but my system is no deterrent to that.â€
-Constantin Stanislavski
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