Applying Stanislavski’s Principles to a Role in Volpone Essay -- Konst

Applying Stanislavski’s Principles to a Role in Volpone As founder of the first acting system, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, and an eminent practitioner of the naturalist school of thought, Konstantin Stanislavski challenged traditional notions of the dramatic process, establishing himself as one of the most pioneering thinkers of his time in modern theatre. His process of character development, the Stanislavski Method, was the catalyst for method acting- one of the most influential acting systems on the modern stage and screen. Such renowned schools of acting and directing as the Group Theatre and The Actors Studio are a legacy of Stanislavski's pioneering vision. Stanislavski developed this unique system of training to change the way that people saw their characters. The actors would research the situation created by the script, break down the text according to their character's motivations and recall their own experiences, therefore causing actions and reactions according to these motivations. The actor would ideally make his motivations for acting identical to those of the character in the script. He could then replay these emotions and experiences in the role of the character in order to achieve a more genuine performance. This was Stanislavski’s main aim to create a more genuine performance. ACTION â€Å"In every physical action, unless it is purely mechanical, there is concealed some inner action, some feelings. This is how the two levels of life in a part (dramatic role) are created, the inner and the outer. They are intertwined. A common purpose brings them together and reinforces the unbreakable bond.† - ‘Creating a role’ In Volpone, it would be most likely to happen in the market place. The busy market place would be played by a group of people that would need to show a complicity of lives that intermingle with other characters just as if they were a real community. This would be hard to show, as they are not a real community. Good methods of getting these groups of characters to resemble villagers would be to give them little scenarios to act out in which all the characters intermingle and have lines to say to each other. This would help them realise each other’s inner character and feeling and therefore are then able to react in the way their character would to that situation. Then use what they ... ...must find out all he can about the character and the situation. This helps to create an overall realistic reaction to that particular situation. To be able to use ‘Magic if’ the actor must know a lot about his character and his or her personality. Stanislavski teaches the actor to become the character by asking questions that are answered by action based on emotional response. For example, the actor that plays Volpone in the rape scene must ask before he plays the scene, ‘What if I am Volpone and I am just about to rape Celia and Benario jumps out from the cupboard? What will I do?’ Another good question from Celia’s point of view: "What if I'm Celia and I am being raped by an old dirty man and I have no one to help me would I give in or stand my ground? "Magic if" questions contain motivation and awareness of "the now." The questions are cast in the first person, in the present tense, and therefore they pull you into the character's major concerns. Very importantly, the questions suggest not one but two attitudes: The character toward her or him, and toward other characters. These types of questions help the actor figure out the action to take in response.