Stanislavsky in Focus An Acting Master for the Twenty-First Century [Hardcover]

Stanislavsky in Focusbrilliantly examines the history and actual premises of Stanislavskys 'System', separating myth from fact with forensic skill.

The first edition of this now classic study showed conclusively how the 'System' was gradually transformed into the Method, popularised in the 1950s by Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio. It looked at the gap between the original Russian texts and what most English-speaking practitioners still imagine to be Stanislavskys ideas.

This thoroughly revised new edition also delves even deeper into:

• the mythical depiction of Stanislavsky as a tyrannical director and teacher
• yoga, the mind-body-spirit continuum and its role in the System
• how Stanislavsky used subtexts to hide many of his ideas from Soviet censors.

The text has been updated to address all of the relevant scholarship, particularly in Russia, since the first edition was published. It also features an expanded glossary on the System's terminology and its historical exercises, as well as more on the political context of Stanislavsky's work, its links with cognitive science, and the System's relation to contemporary developments in actor-training. It will be a vital part of every practitioner's and historian's library.

Preface: Stanislavsky Enters the Twenty-First Century  Part 1: Transmission  From Moscow to New York.  New York Adopts Stanislavsky.  Part 2: Translation  The Classroom Circuit.  The Publication Maze.  Part 3: Transformation  Stanislavskys Lost Term.  Emotion and the Human Spirit of the Role.  Action and the Human Body in the Role.  Conclusion: A Legacy for the Futurel“0