Understand Stanislavski through acting exercises

Stanislavski’s acting technique has inspired all the major acting methods developed in America in the 20th century, yet many beginning actors still find it difficult to understand. For a quick look at the basics of the “Stanislavski system,” four of Stanislavski’s acting principles are shown below, each illustrated by a simple acting exercise.

1) Use your imagination to create real emotions on stage.

Stanislavski encouraged his students to use magic if they believed in the circumstances of the play. Actors use their imaginations to answer questions like:

“What if what happens in the scene is really happening to me?”

“Where do I come from?”

“What do I want?”

“Where I go?”

“What will I do when I arrive?”

A simple exercise you can do anywhere to develop your imagination is to simply observe the people around you as you go about your daily life (for example, on the subway or in the cafeteria). Then make up details about their lives and use your observations to make a biography for each person. The next step is to write the biography of a character that you are playing.

2) Action versus emotion

Stanislavsky encouraged his students to focus on actions rather than emotions. In each scene, the actor has a objective (a goal of what you want to achieve) and you face a number of obstacles. To achieve his goal, the actor divides the scene into rhythms, each of which is a active verb, something the character does it to try to reach your goal. Here are some examples of active verbs that can be actions in scenes:

Help

Hurt

To praise

Degrade

Let

Maintain

Convince

A simple exercise to get used to this way of working is to take a piece of paper and continue this list, adding as many active verbs as you can think of.

3) Relaxation and concentration

Actors who study Stanislavski’s method of acting learn to relax their muscles. The goal is not to use muscles in excess of those necessary to perform a particular action on stage. They also work on concentration so that they can reach a state of loneliness in public and not feel tense when performing on stage. In this acting technique, relaxation and concentration go hand in hand.

Here’s a simple Stanislavski concentration exercise to get you started …

Close your eyes and focus on every sound you hear, from the loudest to the quietest: a door slamming in the distance, a rustle of leaves in the trees outside, the hum of the air conditioner, etc. Try to focus solely on the sounds, excluding everything else from your mind. The next step is to open your eyes and try to maintain the same concentration.

4) Using the senses

Stanislavsky’s students practiced using their senses to create a sense of reality on stage. For example, if your character just walked inside and it was snowing outside, they can work on an exercise to remember what it feels like to be outside in the snow so they can get a clear idea of ​​where they are coming from.

Here’s a quick example of how you would approach that type of exercise …

Close your eyes and imagine that you are outside in the snow, then ask yourself the following five questions:

Do you see? Is the snow pristine? Muddy? Is it shining in the sun? Is it more of a dark cloudy day?

What do you smell How cold is the air when it enters the nostrils and goes down into the lungs?

What do you hear? Is it quieter than usual?

What do you feel? How does snow feel falling on your face? It’s sticky? Powdered? Wet? Are your toes cold?

What do you taste? Imagine that a snowflake falls on your lips. What does it taste like?

Do you have a dry throat from the cold?

Of course, there is much more to Stanislavski than these four principles of action. Among other things, Stanislavski developed various exercises to help actors build a character “from the outside in” through physicality and voice. These techniques are described in his book, Building a character, the second in a trilogy of must-see acting books by this great actor and director.