The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit

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For all their social media, the iGeneration is arguably one of the most socially shy generations in modern history. But this Stanislavsky toolkit really does explain the most important parts of Stanislavsky's teaching in a much more accessible way, breaking them down into practical 'tools' to use when aproaching the play, getting into the mind of the charcater and then embodying the character in performance. This playful and daring first pass through a play has many psychophysical resonances with Stanislavsky’s final practices, not least in terms of discussions. It comprises 16 autobiographical monologues and 5 original songs (by Bella Merlin, arranged by David Roesner).

It explains methods and techniques easy to understand and also gives you steps to take when developing a character. The physical set-up for ‘dropping in’ involves the two actors sitting ‘eyeball-to-eyeball’ (as Packer describes it), knees interlocking, hands lightly resting on their thighs, their bottoms snug into the back of their chairs and their feet on the ground so that their spines are long and their bodies supported.

Giuliani says “Truth Isn’t Truth” in Defense of Trump’s Legal Strategy’, New York Times, 19 August, 2018. I wonder if, for a while, I took that hunger for emotional boundary testing as a ‘given’ for anyone choosing to study acting.

Though well-known - and much taught - in Russia, Psycho-Physical Acting is in its infancy in the West. In Part I, Merlin takes a semi-objective look at Stanislavsky and Packer: first, she traces the evolution of Stanislavsky’s psychophysical Active Analysis and, thereafter, makes links with Packer’s contemporary rehearsal processes. In collaboration with the director of photography, they’ll construct what’s important to the audience’s eyes. Maybe my generation and earlier generations almost believed that was the whole point of going to college in the first place.

In other words, her staging of a production comes from deep witnessing of and listening to the whole team’s thoughts and discoveries. After all, acting for the camera includes following impulses in response to what actually happens there and then.

The basic principle of Active Analysis is similar to the Method of Physical Actions, in that you initially improvise a scene in your own words. The unbroken chain of events that comprises the whole play’s structure is unlocked by the actors in the course of their improvisations. James Thomas’ A Guide to Stanislavsky’s Active Analysis is a brilliant book that includes Maria Knebel’s formative essay On Active Analysis.My whole experience in Russia was this profoundly embodied, imaginative, playful, anarchic, energetic experience. It became crystal-clear for me that, if we’ve done the appropriate prep on our roles, we can feel relaxed on set, we can harness our focus to the task in hand, while remaining open to the world around us and letting those observations (of partner, environment and unexpected happenings) instantly feed our imaginations.