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The Vocabulary of Acting: a Study of the Stanislavski 'System' in Modern

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The Vocabulary of Acting: a Study of the Stanislavski 'System' in Modern THE VOCABULARY OF ACTING: A STUDY OF THE STANISLAVSKI ‘SYSTEM’ IN MODERN PRACTICE by TIMOTHY JULES KERBER A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS BY RESEARCH Department of Drama and Theatre Arts College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis aims to examine the extent to which the vocabulary of acting created by Konstantin Stanislavski is recognized in contemporary American practice as well as the associations with the Stanislavski ‘system’ held by modern actors in the United States. During the research, a two-part survey was conducted examining the actor’s processes while creating a role for the stage and their exposure to Stanislavski and his written works. A comparison of the data explores the contemporary American understanding of the elements of the ‘system’ as well as the disconnect between the use of these elements and the stigmas attached to Stanislavski or his ‘system’ in light of misconceptions or prejudices toward either. Keywords: Stanislavski, ‘system’, actor training, United States Experienced people understood that I was only advancing a theory which the actor was to turn into second nature through long hard work and constant struggle and find a way to put it into practice. Imperceptibly, each of them accepted, as best he could, what I was proposing and shaped it in his own way. But anything in my ‘system’ that was still rough, confused or vague produced severe criticisms from them…. Much worse was the fact that many of the actors and students accepted my terminology without looking into its meaning, or understood me with their heads and not their hearts. Worse still, this satisfied them fully and they started circulating the ideas they had heard from me and started allegedly teaching my ‘system’ (Stanislavski, 2008b, p. 300). TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. THE VOCABULARY OF ACTING ................................................................................................. 1 HISTORICAL CONTEXT ............................................................................................................................ 10 RESEARCH METHODS ............................................................................................................................ 15 2. THE ‘STANISLAVSKI VOCABULARY’ ........................................................................................ 22 MAGIC ‘IF’ AND GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES .................................................................................................. 26 A SENSE OF TRUTH ............................................................................................................................... 29 ACTIONS AND THROUGHACTION .............................................................................................................. 32 TASKS AND SUPERTASK .......................................................................................................................... 34 MEMORY OF EMOTION ......................................................................................................................... 36 3. THE ‘AGNOSTIC VOCABULARY’ .............................................................................................. 40 4. THE ‘ASSOCIATIVE VOCABULARY’ .......................................................................................... 51 5. THE ‘CONTEXTUAL VOCABULARY’ ......................................................................................... 64 ACTION AND EMOTION: THE FORMULATIONS OF THE ‘SYSTEM’ ..................................................................... 65 ELEMENTS OF THE ‘STANISLAVSKI VOCABULARY’ ........................................................................................ 71 THE AMERICAN ‘ACTOR AS SELF’ ............................................................................................................. 86 APPENDIX A. PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET AND CONSENT FORM ....................................... 97 APPENDIX B. THE ACTOR’S SURVEY PART I .................................................................................... 98 APPENDIX C. THE ACTOR’S SURVEY PART II ................................................................................. 113 APPENDIX D. A COMPARISON OF PARTS I AND II ......................................................................... 130 PART I QUESTIONS INFORMING THE COMPARISON AND ACCOMPANYING DATA ............................................ 130 PART II DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONS INFORMING THE COMPARISON ............................................................ 183 APPENDIX E. CORRELATED USER RESPONSE NUMBERS ................................................................ 184 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................ 185 TABLE OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. STANISLAVSKI’S ‘PLAN OF EXPERIENCING’ ....................................................................................... 23 FIGURE 2. TEXTS BY STANISLAVSKI READ BY GENERATION ................................................................................. 55 FIGURE 3. PART III RESPONDENTS, BY GENERATION ........................................................................................ 64 FIGURE 4. PART III RESPONSES TO FORMULATIONS OF THE 'SYSTEM' .................................................................. 65 FIGURE 5. FORMULATIONS OF THE 'SYSTEM' BY GENERATION ........................................................................... 66 FIGURE 6. FORMULATIONS OF THE 'SYSTEM' WITH AND WITHOUT TRAINING ....................................................... 67 FIGURE 7. FORMULATIONS OF THE 'SYSTEM' WITH AND WITHOUT STUDY OF STANISLAVSKI .................................... 68 FIGURE 8. FORMULATIONS OF THE 'SYSTEM' BY MEDIUM ................................................................................. 69 FIGURE 9. FORMULATIONS OF THE 'SYSTEM' IN AND OUT OF REHEARSAL ............................................................ 70 FIGURE 10. MAGIC 'IF' ONE ....................................................................................................................... 71 FIGURE 11. MAGIC 'IF' TWO ....................................................................................................................... 72 FIGURE 12. GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES ONE ..................................................................................................... 73 FIGURE 13. GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES TWO ..................................................................................................... 73 FIGURE 14. GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES THREE ................................................................................................... 74 FIGURE 15. GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES FOUR .................................................................................................... 75 FIGURE 16. SENSE OF TRUTH ONE ............................................................................................................... 75 FIGURE 17. SENSE OF TRUTH TWO .............................................................................................................. 76 FIGURE 18. SENSE OF TRUTH THREE ............................................................................................................ 77 FIGURE 19. ACTIONS ONE .......................................................................................................................... 77 FIGURE 20. ACTIONS TWO ......................................................................................................................... 78 FIGURE 21. THROUGHACTION ..................................................................................................................... 79 FIGURE 22. TASK ONE ............................................................................................................................... 80 FIGURE 23. TASK TWO .............................................................................................................................. 80 FIGURE 24. SUPERTASK ONE ...................................................................................................................... 81 FIGURE 25. SUPERTASK TWO ...................................................................................................................... 82 FIGURE 26. MEMORY OF EMOTION ONE ...................................................................................................... 84 FIGURE 27. MEMORY OF EMOTION TWO ...................................................................................................... 84 FIGURE 28. ‘ACTOR AS SELF’ ONE BY GENERATION ......................................................................................... 86 FIGURE 29. ‘ACTOR AS SELF’ ONE WITH AND WITHOUT TRAINING ..................................................................... 87 FIGURE 30. ‘ACTOR AS SELF’ ONE BY MEDIUM .............................................................................................
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