(Taken from The H2G2 Guide Entry on Stanislavski. However, some editorial license has been applied to original text. For comparison, see: http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/A5133151)
While such a cheat sheet will always be inadequate, the following is a summary of the major points in An Actor Prepares. Whether you should do these things while attempting to portray Stanislavski during the inception of An Actor Prepares raises a whole host of metaphysical questions I am not qualified to answer. But your mind, like mine, is probably a little bit blown right now:
The Method
By encouraging actors to become artists in their own right, Stanislavski had to lay down a method to stimulate his three-part System. Now known as ‘method acting’, the mechanisms used to take on a role are varied, but all focus on making an actor put their own experience, imagination and feeling into a role.
Physical Actions
Towards the end of his life, Stanislavski placed emphasis on physical expression in training. He said that through the physical – the doing – an actor could give his role depth. He believed that actors must be in role all the time they are on stage, and most of the rehearsal time too, even if not required by the text to speak or carry out an action. This meant the actor should assume the role of their characters even during rehearsals. If the character stood in a cold place then the actor should shiver and alter his posture while rehearsing. A good way to experiment with characterization is to improvise various scenes that do not appear in the text, but could happen between some characters. This activity provokes the actor to think about their character as a real person rather than simply role on a page.
The Magic If
The ‘magic if’ is the basis of assuming the mentality of a character. An actor asks ‘If I were there, what would I be thinking?’ and then later ‘If I were my character, what would I be thinking?’ allowing the emulation of realism on stage. Stanislavski did not require actors to be the part (whatever that would mean), as is a popular misconception, but he did demand that they lived the part with the magic if.
The Given Circumstance
This forms the context within which the actor asks the ‘magic if’. The actor must believe in the given circumstances and appreciate them as the truth. The circumstances are: the play’s narrative; its facts, events, epoch, time and setting; conditions of life; interpretation by the actor and director; and, finally, the design element – costumes, lighting, sound, etc.
Imagination
A character does not have a full biography. The actor must find details of a character’s life from hints within the text or invent them. Stanislavski demanded his actors undergo a process of motivation, answering the questions: who you are, where you came from, why, what you want, where you are going and what you will do when you get there. According to Stanislavski, speaking lines without fully realizing the answer to these questions means not acting with your imagination.
Circles of Attention
During his career as a young actor, Stanislavski felt tense while performing. Later in life, he examined ways to help an actor relax and focus on stage. According to Stanislavski, an actor can focus by concentrating on a small circle, himself and one other actor or prop. The actor, once focused on this small circle, extends his attention to a medium circle that includes other actors or larger props. After focusing on this, the actor extends the focus of the large circle of attention to cover the entire stage. If an actor loses concentration, he can retreat into the small circle before building up to a large circle again. This enables actors to achieve public solitude.
Truth and Belief
Contrary to popular belief, stage truth is not actual truth. Thus, the actor is responsible for establishing the world of the play. If they fail to suggest the facts and circumstances of their theatrical world, Stanislavski believes that the audience will be unable to suspend their disbelief.
Communion
Before communicating the subtle nuances of the play to an audience, an actor must commune with the rest of cast. They must be aware of themselves and the relationships between their characters. To achieve full communion the actor must use all senses and he should always rehearse dialogue with another actor so as to learn nothing outside of this communal sense.
Adaptation
An actor must overcome problems to achieve the best portrayal of a role. To keep a creative mind, the actor must think round a problem and approach it in different ways. By doing this, an actor can find imaginative solutions to the problems of staging.
Tempo
On stage, less experienced actors may fall victim to nerves and hurry their lines and directions in order to get off as soon as possible. It is an actor’s responsibility to find the correct tempo of every line and action. Actors should rehearse each line and action until they find a suitable rhythm.
Emotion Memory
It is an actor’s duty to stimulate his own emotional memory and to draw and build a character from it. These memories are repeated emotional experiences, rather than the primary experiences they are based on. In other words, an actor should look for a general approach to a situation rather than their personal one. Stanislavski found this process best suited to re-inventing emotions for performances night after night.
Units and Objectives
This idea focuses on breaking the play down into units of action instead of acts and scenes. Each unit is dominated by its objectives and once those objectives are reached, the unit ends. There should not be too many units, however there should be enough to guide an actor towards realism. Each actor must realize their character’s role in the objective of a unit, for example, whether they want to achieve it, prolong it, or prevent it.
Super-Objective and Through-Line of Action
The super-objective of a play is the main thrust of the plot, an objective that runs throughout the entire text. It links to all the small units and objectives via the through-line. To gain understanding of a character, an actor must be aware of their character’s relation to the super-objective.
