ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the importance of role-playing games in Stanislavsky’s process of rehearsing a show. It reflects on the role of play in human life, referring to the findings of Brian Sutton-Smith and Gordon M. Burghardt. It discusses the character of ‘Adaptations’ in the System, in the light of the Darwinian notion of adaptation and the sense of a constant struggle with the world underlying Stanislavsky’s teaching. It comments upon the notion of an ‘Inner Creative State’ as the ultimate goal of an actor’s formation. It also points at Stanislavsky’s hidden Platonism, permeating his notions of the essential and the non-essential. It criticises his description of a ‘Supertask,’ which appears arbitrary and inconsistent with his other teaching. Finally, it stresses the usage of military metaphors in the late chapter of Stanislavsky’s finished volume, concluding with Stanislavsky’s image of the coming holidays.
