KONSTANTÍN STANISLAVSKI: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS AND WORKS - ARTE

Konstantín Stanislavski (1863-1938) was a theater director and actor who has gone down in history for developing an interpretive method present in numerous acting schools. In addition, he was one of the founders of the Moscow Art Theater, the city where he was born in 1863.

Stanislavski became interested in the world of theater while still very young. His family, which was related to some of the most important representatives of Russian culture of the time, collaborated decisively in this interest. Soon, the young Konstantin decided to found some theater companies, among which the Society of Art and Literature stood out.

Konstantin Stanislavski in 1938 - Source: Unknown / Public domain

After getting involved in some avant-garde movements, Stanislavski participated in the creation of the Moscow Art Theater. With that company he premiered several important works, including those of Chekhov. However, he soon began to search for a new system of interpretation that would improve the existing one, which he considered lacking in psychological realism.

From that interest was born the method of interpretation that bears his name, the Stanislavski. Studies of this method began to be taught in some prestigious schools, such as the First Studio, founded by him, and then in the Actors Studio in the United States. In addition, he was the author of several books related to his passion: theater and performance techniques.

Biography

Early years and childhood

Konstantín Sergeyevich Alekséiev, real name of the playwright, came to the world in Moscow (Russia) on January 17, 1863. His family belonged to the upper class, since his father was an important businessman in the textile industry. His grandmother, on the other hand, was the French actress Marie Varley.

The Alekséiev family was part of the circle of industrial patrons of the arts. It was common for the young Konstantin's house to receive visits from prominent representatives of the Russian cultural scene such as Pavel Tretyakov, creator of the National Art Gallery, the publisher Sabanichkov or Savva Morózov, known for his financial contributions to the country's artists.

Among all the arts, the Alekséiev had a special predilection for the theater, regardless of whether it was performed in circuses or at the Bolshoi. This passion was transmitted to the young Konstantin, who began his musical and theatrical training from a very young age.

During his early years, Konstantin had some health problems. However, maternal care turned him into a robust teenager. His family, well-off as has been pointed out, spared no expense so that the education of all the children was the best possible. Thus, apart from formal training, all the brothers learned languages, fencing and dancing.

The family environment helped foster creativity. The parties in the house became famous, especially by the fireworks and by the theater shows promoted by Konstantin himself.

First experiences in the theater

Anecdotally, it can be noted that Stanislavski's first acting experience was at age seven. It was a series of small pieces dedicated to celebrating his mother's birthday.

As a teenager, in 1877, Konstantin's father agreed to the requests of his children and transformed the barn of his country house into a small theater auditorium. That same year, several members of the family decided to form their own amateur theater company: the Alekséiev Circle.

Cousins, brothers, and various friends performed Russian vaudeville and operas. For the first of the performances they had the collaboration of the mathematician and amateur actor Lvov, who acted as director.

At that time, when he was only 14 years old, Stanislavski began to write down his impressions of acting in a notebook. In these notes he analyzed the aspects he considered most complicated and tried to find solutions. That notebook became the first of many as he continued to record his experiences during his 61 years in business.

Despite the fact that his family had a good standard of living, Stanislavski was forced by his father to work in the morning at his business. His afternoons were devoted to his theatrical company.

Maly Theater

Stanislavski finished his formal training at the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in 1881. This, however, did not mean that he abandoned his theatrical activities.

Thus, for several years he was part of the Maly Theater, a group that made semi-professional productions. In this theater, which Stanislavski later described as his "university," he became interested in the idea of natural acting and truthfulness, aspects that would later become the axes of his method.

On the other hand, in 1885 he began to use the pseudonym “Stanislavski”. The election was a tribute to Dr. Markov, a hugely talented amateur actor who called himself that way.

Russian Musical Society

At the time, Stanislavski's intention was to become a professional actor. In the same 1895 he entered the Moscow Theater School, but dropped out after only three weeks. As he reflected, Konstantin was disappointed by the low level offered by the center, which was limited to teaching old acting tricks.

Stanislavski tried to find someone who could define the nature of theatrical performance, without finding him. In the beginning of what would be his studies on the subject, he developed a "grammar" of acting in one of his diaries.

The following year, in 1886, he became part of the leadership of the Moscow headquarters of the Russian Musical Society, as well as being elected treasurer. Meanwhile, he continued to act in an amateur way and learned to take the piano, since he had decided to dedicate himself to opera.

However, part of his time was devoted to analyzing modes of action. In 1888, for example, he traveled to Paris to observe the teaching methods of the city's Conservatory.

Society of Arts and Letters

Upon returning to Moscow that same year, Stanislavski founded, together with his piano teacher, the famous stage director Fyodor Komissarzhevski, the Moscow Society of Art and Literature. The money needed to create this institution came from Stanislavski himself.

In the Moscovite Society he served as stage director. This professional theater company did not have its own headquarters and its purpose was for various art professionals to participate in its activities. In addition, they intended to regularly offer shows for their members.

Stanislavski's idea was that these performances should have a notably higher quality than the usual Russian theater of the time. To achieve this, he requested the collaboration of his former colleagues from the Maly Theater, both actors and directors.

Among those who responded affirmatively were Glikeria Fedotova and her husband, Aleksandr Fedotov. The latter taught Stanislavski the fundamentals of popular theater.

From the outset, Stanislavski wanted to change the way his actors interpreted. Specifically, he intended to eliminate acting tricks that he considered false and base the entire performance on the observation of reality.

Private life

Maria Perevozchikova was an actress who had shared tables several times with Stanislavski under the pseudonym Lilina. She was a young woman from a good family, the daughter of a well-known notary.

Although she had graduated cum laude from the Institute of Noble Maidens in Yekaterinburg, Lilina had chosen to pursue her vocation: the theater.

Stanislavski and Lilina were married on July 5, 1889. In March of the following year their first daughter, Ksenia, was born and died a few months later due to illness. In 1891 they had their second daughter, Kira.

beginning of a new stage

Stanislavski's commitment to the Moscow Society of Art and Literature spanned 10 years. During this period, his acting skills developed remarkably and he was compared to the best performers of the time. Some of his most important roles were that of Anani Yakovlev in Bitter Fate and Alexei Pisemski in The Bride Without a Dowry.

By 1897 the company had established itself on the Moscow cultural scene. Critics highlighted his creativity and the realism of his productions. It is then that Stanislavski decided to take a new step in his career.

Moscow Art Theater

Already with the idea of creating a new company, Stanislavski received an invitation from Vladimir Nemirovich-Dánchenko to hold a meeting. This prestigious playwright was the director of the theater school of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, a company similar to that run by Stanislavski.

Nemirovich-Dánchenko and Stanislavski had in common their dissatisfaction with the situation of the theater in Russia. Likewise, they shared a desire to create a new kind of theater, with a higher level of production and interpretation. In addition, they wanted it to be affordable for the people, since they considered that it should also serve as an educational tool.

During the meeting, which lasted fourteen hours, the two men agreed on what the foundations of this new type of theater should be: an excellent cast of actors, that they had good working conditions and that the way of acting reflected noble and worthy purposes..

The result of the meeting was the merger of their respective companies into one: the Moscow Art Theater Affordable for All.

First assemblies

The activity of the new company during its first year of life was dizzying. Thus, from October 1898 to December of the following year eighteen different productions were presented. The first of them, Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, won him the favor of the public. With the eighth, Chekhov's Seagull, he allowed him to show his own style.

Before the premiere of La Gaviota, the company rehearsed for eighty hours, in addition to three dress rehearsals. This circumstance was totally new for the time and more so for a work with few characters as was the case. Critical reception was very positive, but financially it was a failure.

Technical domain

With few exceptions, the works presented by the company that Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Dánchenko co-directed were a success with the public and critics. In addition to those already mentioned, they also staged some works by Ibsen, Gorki, Shakespeare, Tolstoi or Moliere, among others.

Stanislavski, in addition to directing, participated as an actor in the plays Uncle Vania, The Imaginary Sick, One Month in the Field, Julio Cesar, Three Sisters and Othello. In all these works, the interpreter demonstrated great technical mastery. In addition, as a stage director he demonstrated an enormous ability to find solutions to any type of problem.

Work as a pedagogue

In addition to his work at the Art Theater, Stanislavski was doing important pedagogical work. The culmination of this work would be the creation of the “method of physical actions”, which has gone down in history as the “Stanislavski method”.

During his summer vacation in 1906 in Finland, the playwright spent his time writing a draft acting manual. Four years later, he took a year off and moved to Italy to observe the acting style of Tommaso Salvini and Eleanora Duse, whose natural way of acting inspired some of his theories.

At first, the methods that Stanislavski tried to impose were not well received by the actors, not even in the Art Theater. Even after showing its effectiveness in two productions, Hamlet and A Month in the Country, most of the performers showed no interest.

The risk that Stanislavski would leave the Art Theater due to the rejection of his ideas caused Nemirovich-Dánchenko to agree to convert his method into the company's official way of working.

After this victory, Stanislavski developed various systems to teach his method. Knowing that the most established actors were against it, the playwright assigned these studies to the younger generations. The first place his acting system was taught was the First Studio.

Russian Revolution

Meeting of the Petrograd Soviet 1917

The Russian Revolution of 1917 interrupted the performances of the Art Theater for a time. At first, the new government considered it as an institution that represented the tsarist era.

However, in 1922 the company was given permission to go on a two-year tour of Paris and the United States. In both countries, the works presented by Stanislavski were received with great success. In addition, the theater director Richard Boleslawski, who lived in the United States, requested permission to teach courses in the method in the country. Among his students was Lee Strasberg.

Upon returning to the Soviet Union, Stanislavski became solely responsible for the company, since Nemirovich-Dánchenko was on tour outside the country. This situation lasted until 1925, a period that Stanislavski took advantage of to give a new impetus to the Art Theater and adapt it to the new Soviet reality.

Last years

In 1928, with his method fully installed, the 30th anniversary of the Art Theater was celebrated. During the celebration, Stanislavski suffered a heart attack while on stage. The severity of it not only meant the end of his acting career, but also forced him to spend two years convalescing in France and Germany.

However, that did not mean that he stopped working. Stanislavski took advantage of this period to start writing one of his books: The actor's work on himself.

Upon returning to Russia in 1933, the playwright worked almost entirely from home: he continued writing his book, rehearsing with actors for new performances and, from 1935, teaching young directors and actors at the Bolshoi Theater.

Konstantin Stanislavski died on August 7, 1938, in Moscow. His method, however, continued to be taught in various parts of the world.

Contributions from

Stanislavski is considered one of the key figures in the universal theater. His main contribution was the method of action that he created after analyzing the errors he saw. His system was not only used in the world of theater, but is still prevalent among film actors today.

The key to the Stanislavski method can be drawn from his own words. Thus, the playwright used to repeat a key idea: "There are no small performances, only small actors."

From there, he formulated seven questions that should help the actors understand their characters, as well as their motivations: Who am I? Where I am? What time is it? What do I want? Because I want it? How will I get what I want? And what must I overcome to get what I want?

Teaching and learning

Although Stanislavski's talents as an actor and director were widely recognized in his day, his main contribution to the world of theater is in the field of teaching. The playwright was the first to create a system that structured the steps that an interpreter had to follow to improve his acting techniques.

For Stanislavski it was essential that actors and actresses receive these teachings so that the theater could evolve and renew itself.

Acting study

Before developing his method, Stanislavski spent years studying the acting techniques of the time. These analyzes, collected in their notebooks, can be considered a very important contribution by themselves.

In 1906, the playwright went through a major personal crisis. Thus, he had been working without much rest for eight years, one of his close friends, Savva Morózov, had committed suicide and Chekhov had died.

As a consequence, Stanislavski stopped feeling his creativity as an actor. According to himself, his performances had become mechanical, with a lot of technique but without internal feelings. Ultimately, he thought he had nothing to communicate to viewers.

That same summer, she decided to go on vacation to Finland, with all the notebooks that she had been writing since she was 14 years old. During this period, she began to write her project for an action manual. This, which was the germ of his method, was also a profound analysis of the practice of interpretation.

The Stanislavski method

Stanislavski's purpose was to offer the actor a system that would allow him to make the most of his creativity. It was about following the laws of "emotional art" so that every performer reached a level that, according to what was understood then, was only reserved for geniuses in their minutes of maximum inspiration.

The so-called Stanislavski method tried to provide a scientific theory of performance. In it, the final result of the creative work should be left aside and all the emphasis should be placed on the reasons that give rise to said result.

Thus, the actor or actress should not limit themselves to "playing" their role, but rather they have to "become" their character, living their passions and feelings.

With the help of the director, if necessary, the actor must be very clear about the central theme of the play. From there, an ideological and creative objective is proposed, called by Stanislavski "super-objective". With the so-called technique of emotions, the actor has to show the audience authentic, credible and genuine feelings.

The method also recommends a series of exercises so that the actor can express and experience the emotions of his character. These exercises are designed to increase improvisation capacity, imagination, response to any unforeseen situation, and clarity when expressing yourself verbally.

First studio

With his system already developed, Stanislavski promoted between 1912 and 1924 the creation of a series of studios in which to train young actors and directors. The first of them, as its name indicates, was the First Studio.

Among the students, Mikhail Chekhov, Yevgueni Vajtángov and Richard Boleslawski stood out. The latter was the one who was in charge of spreading the method throughout the United States.

One of Boleslawski's students in the United States was Lee Strasberg, who from 1947 directed the Actor's Studio, perhaps the most famous acting school in the world. Actors and actresses such as Anne Bancroft, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Bradley Cooper, Robert de Niro, Al Pacino and Paul Newman have passed through it, among many others.

Plays

Stanislavski spent his last years of life completing his research on interpretation and publishing the results. His first book was My Life in Art (1924) and the second An actor is preparing (1936). After his death, in 1938, his last book was published: The actor's work on the character.

My life in art

This work is an autobiographical account by Stanislavski himself. Originally, it was a commission he received while on tour in the United States with the Moscow Art Theater.

The work was first published in Boston in 1924. Later, Stanislavski revised the text and published it in his native country. The book has four sections: Artistic childhood; Artistic youth; Artistic adolescence, and Artistic adulthood.

The actor's work on the character

The actor's work on himself in the creative process of the experience was the title chosen by Stanislavski when he began to write this book in 1909. The play, with the shortened name, only saw the light after the death of the author, thirty years later I started writing it.

With this book, Stanislavski sought to close his trilogy on theatrical pedagogy. For this reason, the text specifies some of the arguments already presented in his two previous works and explains them with some practical cases.

These examples are taken from three plays he directed during his time at the Moscow Art Theater: Aleksandr Griboyedov's The Misfortune of Being Intelligent, William Shakespeare's Othello and Nikolai V. Gogol's The Inspector.

References

López, Alberto. Konstantín Stanislavski, the inevitable reference for all actors. Obtained from elpais.com
Orgaz Conesa, María Concepción. The Stanislavski method. Retrieved from redteatral.net
EcuRed. Konstantin Stanislavski. Obtained from ecured.cu
Biography.com Editors. Constantin Stanislavski Biography. Retrieved from biography.com
Moore, Sonia. Konstantin Stanislavsky. Retrieved from britannica.com
Bradford, Wade. The Stanislavsky System of Acting. Retrieved from liveabout.com
New York Film Academy. Stanislavski In 7 Steps: Better Understanding Stanisklavski's 7 Questions. Retrieved from nyfa.edu

KONSTANTÍN STANISLAVSKI: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS AND WORKS - ARTE - 2025