Editing Konstantin Stanislavski (section)

==Overview of the system==
{{Main|Stanislavski's system}}

Stanislavski subjected his acting and direction to a rigorous process of artistic self-analysis and reflection.<ref>Benedetti (1989, 1) and (2005, 109), Gordon (2006, 40–41), and Milling and Ley (2001, 3–5).</ref> His [[Stanislavski's system|system]]{{efn|Stanislavski began developing a "grammar" of acting in 1906; his initial choice to call it his System struck him as too dogmatic, so he wrote it as his "system" (without the capital letter and in inverted commas) to indicate the provisional nature of the results of his investigations—modern specialist scholarship and the standard edition of Stanislavski's works follow that practice; see Benedetti (1999a, 169), Gauss (1999, 3–4), Milling and Ley (2001, 1), and Stanislavski (1938) and (1957).}} of acting developed out of his persistent efforts to remove the blocks that he encountered in his performances, beginning with a major crisis in 1906.<ref>Benedetti (1989, 1), Gordon (2006, 42–43), and Roach (1985, 204).</ref> He produced his early work using an external, director-centred technique that strove for an organic [[Gesamtkunstwerk|unity of all its elements]]—in each production he planned the interpretation of every role, [[Blocking (stage)|blocking]], and the ''[[mise en scène]]'' in detail in advance.<ref>Benedetti (1989, 18, 22–23), (1999a, 42), and (1999b, 257), Carnicke (2000, 29), Gordon (2006, 40–42), Leach (2004, 14), and Magarshack (1950, 73–74). As Carnicke emphasises, Stanislavski's early prompt-books, such as that for [[Moscow Art Theatre production of The Seagull|the production of ''The Seagull'' in 1898]], "describe movements, gestures, ''[[mise en scène]]'', not inner action and [[subtext]]" (2000, 29). The principle of a unity of all elements (or what [[Richard Wagner]] called a ''[[Gesamtkunstwerk]]'') survived into Stanislavski's system, while the exclusively external technique did not; although his work shifted from a director-centred to an actor-centred approach, his system nonetheless valorises the absolute authority of the director.</ref> He also introduced into the production process a period of discussion and detailed analysis of the play by the cast.<ref>Milling and Ley (2001, 5). Stanislavski and [[Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko|Nemirovich]] found they had this practice in common during their legendary 18-hour conversation that led to the establishment of the [[Moscow Art Theatre|MAT]].</ref> Despite the success that this approach brought, particularly with his [[Naturalism (theatre)|Naturalistic]] stagings of the plays of [[Anton Chekhov]] and [[Maxim Gorky]], Stanislavski remained dissatisfied.<ref>Bablet (1962, 134), Benedetti (1989, 23–26) and (1999a, 130), and Gordon (2006, 37–42). Carnicke emphasises the fact that Stanislavski's great productions of Chekhov's plays were staged without the use of the system (2000, 29).</ref>

[[File:Diagram of Stanislavski's 'system'.jpg|thumb|left|Diagram of [[Stanislavski's system]], based on his "Plan of Experiencing" (1935), showing the [[Psychotechnique|inner]] (''left'') and outer (''right'') aspects of a role uniting in the pursuit of a character's overall "supertask" (''top'') in the drama.]]

Both his struggles with Chekhov's drama (out of which his notion of [[subtext]] emerged) and his experiments with [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]] encouraged a greater attention to "inner action" and a more intensive investigation of the actor's process.<ref>Benedetti (1989, 25–39) and (1999a, part two), Braun (1982, 62–63), Carnicke (1998, 29) and (2000, 21–22, 29–30, 33), and Gordon (2006, 41–45). For an explanation of "inner action", see Stanislavski (1957, 136); for [[subtext]], see Stanislavski (1938, 402–413).</ref> He began to develop the more actor-centred techniques of "[[Realism (theatre)|psychological realism]]" and his focus shifted from his productions to rehearsal process and [[pedagogy]].<ref>Benedetti (1989, 30) and (1999a, 181, 185–187), Counsell (1996, 24–27), Gordon (2006, 37–38), Magarshack (1950, 294, 305), and Milling and Ley (2001, 2).</ref> He pioneered the use of theatre studios as a laboratory in which to innovate actor training and to [[Experimental theatre|experiment with new forms of theatre]].<ref>Carnicke (2000, 13), Gauss (1999, 3), Gordon (2006, 45–46), Milling and Ley (2001, 6), and Rudnitsky (1981, 56).</ref> Stanislavski organised his techniques into a coherent, [[system]]atic methodology, which built on three major strands of influence: (1) the director-centred, unified aesthetic and disciplined, [[Ensemble cast|ensemble]] approach of the [[Meiningen Ensemble|Meiningen company]]; (2) the actor-centred realism of the [[Maly Theatre (Moscow)|Maly]]; and (3) the Naturalistic staging of [[André Antoine|Antoine]] and the independent theatre movement.<ref>Benedetti (1989, 5–11, 15, 18) and (1999b, 254), Braun (1982, 59), Carnicke (2000, 13, 16, 29), Counsell (1996, 24), Gordon (2006, 38, 40–41), and Innes (2000, 53–54).</ref>

The system cultivates what Stanislavski calls the "art of experiencing" (to which he contrasts the "[[art of representation]]").<ref name=rep>Benedetti (1999a, 201), Carnicke (2000, 17), and Stanislavski (1938, 16–36). Stanislavski's "[[art of representation]]" corresponds to [[Mikhail Shchepkin]]'s "actor of reason" and his "art of experiencing" corresponds to Shchepkin's "actor of feeling"; see Benedetti (1999a, 202).</ref> It mobilises the actor's [[Consciousness|conscious]] thought and [[Will (philosophy)|will]] to activate other, less-controllable psychological processes—such as emotional experience and [[subconscious]] behaviour—sympathetically and indirectly.<ref name="Benedetti 1999a, 170">Benedetti (1999a, 170).</ref> In rehearsal, the actor searches for inner motives to justify action and the definition of what the character seeks to achieve at any given moment (a "task").<ref name="Benedetti 1999a, 182–183">Benedetti (1999a, 182–183).</ref> Stanislavski's earliest reference to his system appears in 1909, the same year that he first incorporated it into his rehearsal process.<ref>Carnicke (1998, 72) and Whyman (2008, 262).</ref> The MAT adopted it as its official rehearsal method in 1911.<ref>Milling and Ley (2001, 6).</ref>

Later, Stanislavski further elaborated the system with a more physically grounded rehearsal process that came to be known as the "Method of Physical Action".<ref name=MOPA>Benedetti (1999a, 325, 360) and (2005, 121) and Roach (1985, 197–198, 205, 211–215). The term "Method of Physical Action" was applied to this rehearsal process after Stanislavski's death. Benedetti indicates that though Stanislavski had developed it since 1916, he first explored it practically in the early 1930s; see (1998, 104) and (1999a, 356, 358). Gordon argues the shift in working-method happened during the 1920s (2006, 49–55). Vasili Toporkov, an actor who trained under Stanislavski in this approach, provides in his ''Stanislavski in Rehearsal'' (2004) a detailed account of the Method of Physical Action at work in Stanislavski's rehearsals.</ref> Minimising at-the-table discussions, he now encouraged an "active analysis", in which the sequence of dramatic situations are [[Improvisation|improvised]].<ref>Benedetti (1999a, 355–256), Carnicke (2000, 32–33), Leach (2004, 29), Magarshack (1950, 373–375), and Whyman (2008, 242).</ref> "The best analysis of a play", Stanislavski argued, "is to take action in the given circumstances."<ref name=ANALYSIS>Quoted by Carnicke (1998, 156). Stanislavski continues: "For in the process of action the actor gradually obtains the mastery over the inner incentives of the actions of the character he is representing, evoking in himself the emotions and thoughts which resulted in those actions. In such a case, an actor not only understands his part, but also feels it, and that is the most important thing in creative work on the stage"; quoted by Magarshack (1950, 375).</ref>

Just as the First Studio, led by his assistant and close friend [[Leopold Sulerzhitsky]], had provided the forum in which he developed his initial ideas for the system during the 1910s, he hoped to secure his final legacy by opening another studio in 1935, in which the Method of Physical Action would be taught.<ref>Benedetti (1999a, 359–360), Golub (1998a, 1033), Magarshack (1950, 387–391), and Whyman (2008, 136).</ref> The Opera-Dramatic Studio embodied the most complete implementation of the training exercises described in his manuals.<ref name=ODS>Benedetti (1998, xii) and (1999a, 359–363) and Magarshack (1950, 387–391), and Whyman (2008, 136). Benedetti argues that the course at the Opera-Dramatic Studio is "Stanislavski's true testament". His book ''Stanislavski and the Actor'' (1998) offers a reconstruction of the studio's course.</ref> Meanwhile, the transmission of his earlier work via the students of the First Studio was revolutionising acting in the [[Western culture|West]].<ref>Carnicke (1998, 1, 167) and (2000, 14), Counsell (1996, 24–25), Golub (1998a, 1032), Gordon (2006, 71–72), Leach (2004, 29), and Milling and Ley (2001, 1–2).</ref> With the arrival of [[Socialist realism]] in the [[Soviet Union|USSR]], the [[Moscow Art Theatre|MAT]] and Stanislavski's system were enthroned as exemplary models.<ref>Benedetti (1999a, 354–355), Carnicke (1998, 78, 80) and (2000, 14), and Milling and Ley (2001, 2).</ref>