Despite the constraints imposed by Stalin, Stanislavski and MAT continued to work throughout the 1930s, most notably with a production of Maxim Gorky’s The Lower Depths. During this time, Stanislavski continued to work on his acting manual, a project that proved a constant battle with his American publishers, who at times felt the work was too long, oddly structured, and unclear. But despite these complications, Theater Arts Inc. published An Actor Prepares – the first part of an intended trilogy on acting – in 1936. The Russian edition followed two years later.
By the time An Actor Prepares was published, Stanislavski’s heart troubles had returned, and by early 1938 he was unable to continue managing MAT (now called the Stanislavski and Nemirovich Music Theater). Several months earlier, Meyerhold, whose avant garde work and strong opposition to the constraints of Socialist Realism put him heavily at odds with the new regime, had his theater declared “antagonistic and alien to the Soviet people” and shut down. Sensing the opportunity to relieve himself, Stanislavski transferred control of MAT to Meyerhold shortly thereafter. A few months later – on August 7th 1938 – Stanislavski died of heart failure during rehearsals for Tartuffe.
Theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold's mugshot, taken at the time of his arrest. 1939.
Unfortunately, Meyerhold would only enjoy the directorship of MAT for a year. In 1939 was arrested by Soviet police and tortured, eventually admitting to being both a British and Japanese spy. While these admissions were absurd and later recanted, Meyerhold was executed by firing squad in 1940. MAT continued under the direction of Nemirovich, but the company remained a shadow of its former self until the end of the Cold War. Today, it has managed to rebuild its reputation and once again exists as a premier institution of theatrical training.
The Legacy of An Actor Prepares
Konstantin Stanislavski in 1938
After Stanislavski’s death, An Actor Prepares became enormously influential in both The United States and The Soviet Union. However, in both nations, this influence was tainted by historical circumstance and was in many ways contrary to Stanislavski’s intentions.
In The United States, An Actor Prepares was met with enormous acclaim. However, publishing complications and the intervention of World War II prevented the second two parts of Stanislavski’s guide – Building A Character and Creating A Role – from being published until 1949 and 1961, respectively. Taking An Actor Prepares – which focuses on the emotional and psychological elements of acting to the exclusion of physical and factual aspects detailed in the later books – to be the whole of Stanislavski’s system, American actors pioneered what is now known as Method Acting. While this approach is far closer to Stanislavski’s vision than prior American stage work, it represents only a part of The System, the rest of which has never been wholly absorbed into American theater.
Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, Stanislavski’s death provided the context for the political exploitation of his fame and of An Actor Prepares. Posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin, The People’s Artist of the USSR, and The Order of the Red Banner Of Labor, Stanislavski’s opposition to Socialist Realism was washed from his official biography and his system held up as the official acting method of The Soviet Union. However, this ‘method’ diverged heavily from Stanislavski’s intent: the Russian edition of An Actor Prepares was heavily censored, with many of the more avant garde and spiritual elements (Stanislavski called his system “Spiritual Realism”) removed entirely. Distorted by Soviet propaganda artists, the “Stanislavski System” was used in Russia to promote a “people’s method of realistic acting” wholly in-line with the ideals of Socialist Realism.
Media:
A reel of Charlie Chaplin’s best known shorts from 1917. Indicative of pre-Method American acting in film.
1915’s Birth of a Nation. While coming long before Stalin or the publication of An Actor Prepares, it represents the high point of American cinematic acting before Method.
