Science and the Stanislavsky Tradition of Acting (Routledge Advances in Theatre and Performance Studies)

Providing new insight into the well-known tradition of acting, Science and the Stanislavsky Tradition of Acting is the first book to contextualise the Stanislavsky tradition with reference to parallel developments in science. Rooted in practice, it presents an alternative perspective based on philosophy, physics, romantic science and theories of industrial management. Working from historical and archive material, as well as practical sources, Jonathan Pitches traces an evolutionary journey of actor training from the roots of the Russian tradition, Konstantin Stanislavsky, to the contemporary Muscovite director, Anatoly Vasiliev. The book explores two key developments that emerge from Stanislavsky’s system – one linear, rational and empirical, while the other is fluid,organic and intuitive. The otherwise highly contrasting acting theories of Vsevolod Meyerhold (biomechanics) and Lee Strasberg (the Method) are dealt with under the banner of the rational or Newtonian paradigm; Michael Chekov’s acting technique and the little known ideas of Anatoly Vasiliev form the centrepiece of the other Romantic, organic strain of practice. Science and the Stanislavsky Tradition of Acting opens up the theatre laboratories of five major practitioners in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and scrutinises their acting methodologies from a scientific perspective. Science and the Stanislavsky Tradition of Acting offers new insight into the well-known tradition of acting. Rooted in practice this is the first book to contextualize the Stanislavsky tradition with reference to parallel developments in science, it presents an alternative perspective based on philosophy, physics, romantic science and theories of industrial management. Working from practical sources, historical and archive material Jonathan Pitches traces an evolutionary journey of actor training from the roots of the Russian tradition, Konstantin Stanislavsky, to the contemporary Muscovite director, Anatoly Vasiliev. The book explores two key developments that emerge from Stanislavsky's system - one linear, rational and empirical, while the other is fluid, organic and intuitive. The otherwise highly contrasting acting theories of Vsevolod Meyerhold (biomechanics) and Lee Strasberg (the Method) are dealt with under the banner of the rational or Newtonian paradigm; Michael Chekov's acting technique and the little known ideas of Anatoly Vasiliev form the centerpiece of the other Romantic, organic strain of practice. Science and the Stanislavsky Tradition of Acting opens up the theatre laboratories of five major practitioners in the twentieth and twenty first centuries and scrutinizes their acting methodologies from a scientific perspective Book Cover......Page 1 Half-Title......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Dedications......Page 7 Contents......Page 8 Illustrations......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 11 Introduction: Science and Stanislavsky-the Evolution of a Tradition......Page 12 1. A System for the World? Newtonianism in Stanislavsky’s Science of Acting......Page 21 2. The Theatricality Reflex: the Place of Pavlov and Taylor in Meyerhold’s Biomechanics......Page 59 3. The System, Psychology and the US: Richard Boleslavsky and Lee Strasberg......Page 88 4. A Delicate Empiricism: Romantic Science and the Michael Chekhov Technique......Page 126 5. The Laboratory as Sanctuary: the Theatre of Anatoly Vasiliev......Page 160 Epilogue: Qenetic Modification and the Backbone of Tradition......Page 189 Notes......Page 191 Bibliography......Page 200 Index......Page 209 Jonathan Pitches. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [210]-219) And Index.