Hapgood Elizabeth Reynolds - An actor prepares

An Actor Prepares

TITLES IN THE BLOOMSBURY REVELATIONS SERIES

Aesthetic Theory , Theodor W. Adorno

On Religion, Karl Barth

The Intelligence of Evil , Jean Baudrillard

In Defence of Politics , Bernard Crick

Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy , Manuel DeLanda

A Thousand Plateaus , Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattari

Anti-Oedipus , Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattari

Taking Rights Seriously , Ronald Dworkin

Discourse on Free Will , Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther

Education for Critical Consciousness , Paulo Freire

To Have or To Be? , Erich Fromm

Truth and Method , Hans Georg Gadamer

All Men Are Brothers , Mohandas K. Gandhi

Eclipse of Reason , Max Horkheimer

After Virtue , Alasdair MacIntyre

Time for Revolution, Antonio Negri

The Politics of Aesthetics , Jacques Ranciere

An Actor Prepares , Constantin Stanislavski

Building a Character , Constantin Stanislavski

Creating a Role , Constantin Stanislavski

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An Actor Prepares

Constantin Stanislavski

Translated by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood

Bloomsbury Academic

An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

www.bloomsbury.com

First published in Great Britain in 1937 by Geoffrey Bles Ltd.

Copyright Theatre Arts, Inc., 1936

All Rights Reserved

Translated by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood

This paperback edition first published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Academic

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ePub ISBN: 978-1-7809-3638-3

Contents

Bella Merlin

Among my most treasured possessions in the world is a well-thumbed, broken-spined copy of An Actor Prepares . Purchased back in the 1980s, it was my first encounter with the acting student, Kostya, and his formidable but kindly tutor-director, Tortzov. At the time, I was an undergraduate in Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham and, as soon as I bought the required reading, I wrapped my tongue around the authors strange-sounding Russian name and devoured the books title. All Id ever wanted to do with my life was to prepare as an actor.

That copy now almost thirty years old has been read over a dozen times. Its pages are filigreed with margin notes and highlights: different colours, different sized scrawlings, each one influenced by particular questions about the art of acting that I was probing at each re-reading. The first time (as I say) was when I was a student, just starting out on my training. The next, some years later when struggling as a professional actor with the challenges of repertory theatre; the next, some years later as a graduate actor in Moscow; the next, grappling with my doctoral thesis; then writing a book on Stanislavsky; then working at the National Theatre; then preparing for a television pilot. My last foray was a few years ago when comparing Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgoods translation with that of Jean Benedetti. Each re-reading has proved to be a revelation.

Indeed, every time I pour over An Actor Prepares , I discover a new tool, a new insight that I hadnt fathomed before, a new little joke that I now can appreciate. And the reason is that, although on the surface An Actor Prepares may seem like a fairly straightforward read, its contents hold (sometimes hidden) gems of invaluable use to actors of all ages and experiences. Its easy to think that because the character of Kostya is a student actor, the book is only relevant to student actors. That couldnt be less true. In fact, there are passages that I simply didnt get until Id reached certain stages of my career. After Id made the mistakes, had the hits, hit the stumbling blocks only then could I really understand what Stanislavsky was saying.

There can barely be an acting school or a theatre studies major that doesnt have An Actor Prepares on its reading list. There can barely be an actor or director who doesnt have a copy on their shelves. Why? Because theres just so much common sense in its pages about the process of preparing a role. And that common sense arises from the humility of its author: Stanislavskys own struggles with the elusive and tantalizing art of acting leap off the page in vibrant images that clearly stem from his personal experience. Kostyas incarnation of the inner Critic is both fun and familiar to those of us who daily try to improve our art. The carving-up of the turkey as a simile for accessing the entire structure of a play is immediate and trans-cultural. Even those allusions that may now seem old-fashioned or specific to pre-revolutionary Russia can appeal to a lively imagination and make their point succinctly. The brooch hidden in the curtain. The mad man behind the door. The money thrown into the fire by the simple brother. Each image is vivid and has its purpose in unlocking the actors craft.

In the lead-up to the 2013 Stanislavsky anniversary celebrations, I was invited by Anatoly Smeliansky, Principal of the Moscow Art Theatre School, to participate in their festival: Open Class: Stanislavsky continues: an International Festival of Acting Schools. Two potent impressions impacted me during my trip. First of all, I was awe-struck by the effortless physical versatility and emotional receptivity in the performances of the MXAT students. Secondly, I was charmed, on visiting Stanislavskys House Museum, by the playful soul that seemed to live within its walls. Strange, evocative furniture plucked from productions adorned the apartment. A huge, double throne from Tsar Fyodor . An ornate, in-laid chair from Othello . Call it sentimentality, call it an actors imagination, but I was struck by the joyful spirit of Stanislavskys atmosphere. Indeed, an invaluable aspect of Hapgoods translation of An Actor Prepares are the recurring references to spirit, soul and prana energy references omitted in a later version as a result of Soviet censorship. I would argue that these somewhat esoteric elements of the toolkit are vitally important to actor-training and very significant for Stanislavsky studies. These references alone contribute to the indispensible nature of An Actor Prepares for practitioners and scholars dedicated to understanding and implementing, in totality, Stanislavskys system.

No one person has impacted on contemporary acting practice as significantly as Konstantin Stanislavsky. No one book accesses the elements of his system more readily than An Actor Prepares. Its witty, imaginative, and artful in its dialogue between the troupe of young actors and their strict but nurturing tutor. It contains a multitude of practical tools (including actions, objectives, and tempo-rhythm). At the same time, it contains a range of textured philosophies (including the discussion of dilettantism and artistry, the application of the inner motive forces, and the principle of grasp). That Bloomsbury are celebrating one hundred and fifty years since Stanislavskys birth with the re-edition of this classic text is a great gift to us all as actors, directors, students and teachers. And personally, its a great gift to me, so that my well-thumbed, broken-spined, 1980s copy can retire to the archive.