Stanislavsky System and Character Development

• The Stanislavsky System is an intense character development process that strives to make a performance “real” and not artificial.
• In order to achieve this realism, the system is used to bring an actor’s experiences into the role and expand an actor’s imagination.
• Stanislavsky believed that in order to make a character true, the character must be approached from the inside. That means drawing on the real inside life of the actor, most specifically drawing on memories.
• The actor also has to create the inside life of the character: the character has to have inner thoughts, backstories, beliefs, and so on, just as a real person does.
• When the actor answers questions about the character, they should speak in the first person. “I am…” “I want…”
• The use of the imagination is very important: the system is not about working out your problems on stage as therapy!
• Stanislavsky always focuses on the art of the process: “Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art.”
• The System has a set vocabulary of terms. These terms represent specific exercises used as the actor works on the script.
• The exercises are appropriate for any character and any script.

The given circumstances are the character details in the script - the facts the playwright gives the actor. They are unchangeable. Focus attention on the geographical, social, and historical elements in the script.

Explore the principles of the Stanislavsky System, a method of intense character development to make performances realistic and authentic. Learn how the system enables actors to draw on personal experiences, expand their imagination, and approach characters from the inside.