Konstantin Stanislavski

Konstantin was an Actor, director and a Russian theatrical theorist who was born in Moscow in 1863 and died in Moscow in 1938

in 1898, with Nemirovich-Danchenko

They staged the great works of Chekhov

Soon he began to develop his system of interpretation

The emotional world of the characters was projected to the viewer in a veridical way and away from all artificiality

In an effect of "psychological realism"

After the Soviet revolution he devoted himself exclusively to his research work

He set out his books

“An Actor Prepares” and “The Character Construction”

He was a decisive influence in European and American theater

He develops his theory of acting as a «Dramatic sum» between interior and exterior technique.

Konstantin developed a series of techniques known as

The main aim of this technique was to make the actor look very natural and believable on stage

This notion was a striking contrast in Russia at that time. Most of the actors during that era spoke in a grandiose tone, and gestured in an over-the-top manner.

In many ways, Konstantin is the father of today's style of Method Acting, a process in which actors immerse themselves into their characters as much as possible.

A great concept that Konstantin created is the “magic if”.

Stanislavski's "Magic If" describes an ability to imagine oneself in a set of fictional circumstances and to envision the consequences of finding one facing that situation in terms of action, to basically ask yourself “¿what would my character do in these situation?”, These circumstances can be given by other actors.

Practical activity:

• Each of us has to interact with a non-existent object. For example with a bowl full of water. The size and weight of the bowl are important details for us, also the amount of water inside the bowl, where the water reaches us if we put our hand inside the bowl, etc.

by Tristany Calvo Caballero (12 year)