Understanding Stanislavski's principles, regardless if you consider yourself a method actor or not, is crucial for actors. His techniques have had a profound influence on modern acting methods. This is because Constantin Stanislavski is widely regarded as the pioneer of modern acting, and his influence permeates throughout the field. Nearly every contemporary acting approach owes a debt to "Father Stan." Stanislavski's system emphasized the importance of psychological realism, inner truth, and emotional authenticity in performance.
One of Stanislavski greatest gifts to us is the Seven Questions. Quite simply, these questions are a roadmap that any Actor (or Director).
I often run workshops on the 7 Questions and it is joyous to watch young and emerging actors realise just how useful the questions are and how they ultimately make our job easier.
(There's an awesome doco about Stanislavski at the end of this post)
THE 7 QUESTIONS FOR ACTORS
Question One: Who Am I?
Start with the basics and then fill in the gaps with your imagination. Pick apart the script to find out what type of person your character is; what they look like, what they believe, how others describe them and so on. Think about your character’s past and the significant events/people that influenced them and made them who they are in the script. The clues are in the script!
Create your own method. Don't depend slavishly on mine. Make up something that will work for you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you.
Question Two: Where Am I?
The script will usually tell you where you are but the important thing for an actor is to consider how the character feels about the place they are in. IE, Characters act differently in public than they do in private. People move differently when they are cold vs. when they are too hot. The space your character occupies can determine how they behave during a scene. We learn more from a character’s emotional response to their setting than we do from the best descriptions of that space. Do they love their high rise apartment or feel isolated by it? Do they love the safety of their hiding place in the woods or feel lost? Why?
Unless the theatre can ennoble you, make you a better person, you should flee from it.
Question Three: What Time Is It?
Year, season, month, day, and time of day should all be described. Then, think about how the specific time of the play changes the character’s action. If it’s set in Victorian England, voice and etiquette will be different than Mumbai in the 2000s.
Talent is nothing but a prolonged period of attention and a shortened period of mental assimilation.
Question Four: What Do I Want?
This is a character’s primary motivation for everything they do in a scene. All actions should be executed with the goal of getting what you want from the other characters in the scene. This is also called a character’s objective. What does your character want in the story and in each scene? Once you know your character’s primary motivation, you will know what actions make sense. Everything in your plot should move toward that objective, even as your character encounters obstacle after obstacle. The goal should be clear throughout the story.
Love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art.
Question Five: Why Do I Want It?
There must be a driving force behind your objectives on stage and on screen and that is your justification. We all having reasons for doing what we do and characters are no different. Give your character a convincing reason for acting and you automatically generate high stakes which leads to tension. Knowing why your character wants what he/she does will define there actions. It also defines the type of tension required. If you know why they want what they do, then it’s easier to figure out how to block them from succeeding until the end of the story when they either succeed or fail for the final time. But more importantly, knowing why your character wants something will help you create a fuller character. One who has backstory and motivation, as well as a reason to keep fighting. It is essential you know what motivates your character.
Do not try to push your way through to the front ranks of your profession; do not run after distinctions and rewards; but do your utmost to find an entry into the world of beauty.
Question Six: How Will I Get It?
Everything in the story and character needs to show how your character is going to get what they want. Gestures, actions, speech, movement, motivation all need to reveal the how of the story. It also forms the plot—the steps they need to take to reach their goal. Each step should lead to the next until you reach the conclusion. It should be a logical progression, or at least a natural one. This is also called a character’s tactic. If one tactic fails, try a new one and see if that works.
The greatest wisdom is to realize one's lack of it.
Question Seven: What Must I Overcome?
What's holding your character back from reaching her goal? There is always something stopping you from achieving your objective. Usually, there is someone or something in the outside world impeding a character’s advancement and also some internal conflict with which they struggle. Find what it/they are and fight against them with the scene. This is also called a character’s obstacle. Answering this question helps you build tension by constantly hindering your character's progress. External obstacles might be other characters, weather, or situations. Internal obstacles are personal struggles like doubt, fear, or inner conflicts. The most gripping stories blend both types of obstacles to keep the character in turmoil and ramp up tension, making audiences eager to see what happens next.
Stanislavski - Lust for Life (2020)
A story about Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski, a twentieth-century theatre genius. Owing to his powerful extraordinary talent he managed to stay a true artist and a free spirit within the harsh Soviet system. In the film, contemporary theatre and film directors (Kirill Serebrennikov, Katie Mitchell, Lev Dodin and others) show how Stanislavski’s method affects their everyday work. Each of the directors finds his or her own reflection in the mirror of his genius. In search of an answer to the question of whether modern theatre really needs Stanislavski, they discover that art lacks its most essential part – the human being.
Music
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