ABSTRACT

Stanislavsky’s system of actor-training has revolutionised modern theatre practice, and he is widely recognised to be one of the great cultural innovators of the twentieth century. The Routledge Companion to Stanislavsky  is an essential book for students and scholars alike, providing the first overview of the field for the 21st century. An important feature of this book is the balance between Stanislavsky’s theory and practice, as international contributors present scholarly and artistic interpretations of his work. With chapters including academic essays and personal narratives, the Companion is divided into four clear parts, exploring Stanislavsky on stage, as an acting teacher, as a theorist and finally as a theatre practitioner. Bringing together a dazzling selection of original scholarship, notable contributions include Anatoly Smeliansky on Stanislavsky’s letters; William D. Gunn on staging ideology at the Moscow Art Theatre; Sharon Marie Carnicke and David Rosen on opera; Rosemary Malague on the feminist perspective of new translations; W.B. Worthen on cognitive science; Julia Listengarten on the avant-garde; David Krasner on the System in America; and Dennis Beck on Stanislavsky’s legacy in non-realistic theatre.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

Stanislavsky: Past, present, and future

part |92 pages

Stanislavsky on Stage

chapter |15 pages

Stanislavsky as Amateur

The Alekseev Circle and the Society of Art and Literature

chapter |11 pages

“A seagull Flew to us from Yalta”

Stanislavsky's life in Chekhov

chapter |15 pages

The Organic and the Political

Stanislavsky's dilemma (Ibsen, Tolstoy, Gorky)

chapter |15 pages

“Back to Ostrovsky!” and Forward to Socialist Realism

Stanislavsky's Ardent Heart (1926) and the staging of ideology at the Moscow Art Theatre

chapter |19 pages

Silhouette of a Destiny

The letters of Stanislavsky 1

part |53 pages

Stanislavsky the Teacher

chapter |17 pages

Stanislavsky on Voice and Movement

Contexts, concepts, and content

chapter |19 pages

A Singer Prepares

Stanislavsky and opera

chapter |15 pages

Stanislavsky's System and Women

A feminist reading of new translations

part |94 pages

Stanislavsky's Impact on Practice

chapter |4 pages

In Search of the Truth

Stanislavsky and Strasberg

chapter |18 pages

Stanislavsky and Ramacharaka

The impact of yoga and the Occult Revival on the System 1

chapter |13 pages

Active Analysis — More Active than You Know

Stanislavsky and cognitive science 1

chapter |4 pages

Three roads Converging

Stanislavsky, Suzuki, and SITI

chapter |16 pages

“Here, Today, Now”

Active Analysis for the twenty-first-century actor