Discuss, with reference to at least two examples, the relati

In this essay I plan to look at two theatre practitioners who’s lives were dominated by their desire for change: change to prevailing theatre practice, which they saw as inhibiting experimentation. Above all, they were people who took risks, since by challenging outmoded ideas they were forced to provide radical alternatives. We now recognise these as models for our own time. I have chosen to look at the work of Konstantin Sergeievich Alexeiev (Stanislavski), and Antonin Artaud.

Firstly I would like to look at the theories and practices of Stanislavski. To begin with one needs to put his work into context. Stanislavski dedicated his entire life to changing the Russian theatre. Since its infancy in the early 19th century it had been controlled by heavy censorship. Stanislavski identified and described what these gifted performers did naturally and without thought. From his observations he compiled a series of principles and techniques, which today are regarded as fundamental to both the training, and the performance of actors and actresses who want to create believable characters on stage.

It would be easy to assume that believable acting is simply a matter of being natural, however Stanislavski discovered that acting realisti

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The door is opened because the person inside is very important to a situation inside the house (the why). However this was very rarely shown through the spoken word.

When he observed actors and actresses of his day, Stanislavski noticed how fluid and lifelike their movements were. Rather than seeing emotions as leading to action, Stanislavski came to believe that it was the other way around: purposeful action undertaken to fulfill a character's goals was the most direct route to the emotions. He wrote;

“All of our acts, even the simplest, which are so familiar to us in everyday life,

become strained when we appear behind the footlights before a public of a

thousand people. His theatre could do the same through such contrasts as he envisaged the use of puppets along side the human actor to achieve this.

Stanislavski also noted that performers should always appear fully concentrated on some object, person, or event whilst on stage. He did this in order to make his show a magical vision, which could challenge the audience’s perception of his work. In particular, he makes extensive comment on the need for proper methods of breath control and advocates the mystic, semi-ritualistic chants of eastern religions as examples of how breath control may be achieved. He said “the plague takes dormant images, latent disorder and suddenly carries them to the point of the most extreme gestures. With this quote in mind we can see that Artaud kept a close communication with mime.

What Artaud was after was to attach deeper meanings to gesture. Stanislavski referred to this concentration as a circle of attention. The one thing that can relate the two of them is their burning desire to reshape and change the theatre of their time.

Another important principle of Stanislavski's system is that all action on stage must have a purpose.

Approximate Word count = 2899
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

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