Stanislavsky Method Acting

Stanislavsky Method Acting is conscious and professional approach to acting. When it is mastered it gives an actor exceptional possibilities for achieving creative results in the field of dramatic art.
It was developed by Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863 - 1938) – a Russian actor, theatre director, teacher and co-founder of the famous Moscow Art Theatre.

Stanislavsky discovered that acting could be learnt and created a system, which enabled a person to train as an actor step by step. Stanislavsky System is well known all over the world as Method Acting. For thirty years the object of Stanislavsky's study was the creation of an artistically conceived image of life and of a living, truthful human being on the stage. Stanislavsky System is a great contribution, a luminous legacy to the art of theatre. It was recognized as a revolutionary theatrical development of great importance.

Stanislavsky Method Acting empowered many legendary Hollywood stars to create their most memorable work on stage and in films. Stella Adler, Anthony Quinn, Mala Powers, John Dehner, John Abbot, Akim Tamiroff, Gregory Peck, Julie Harris, Kim Stanley, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe... - all Method actors.

Stanislavsky proves that an actor with great talent and subtle means and nuances needs more technique than others, and thus emphasizes his rejection of the widespread layman's opinion that a gifted actor does not need any technique at all. Through tangible, conscious means, the Method teaches actors how to bring themselves into a natural, alive state on the stage. It teaches actors the shortest way to accomplish what the director demands of them.

Through the Method actors can acquire a technique, which consciously will lead them to inspiration. It has been proved vital not only for beginners but also for experienced actors.

Michael Chekhov Acting Technique

Michael Chekhov (1891 - 1955) was the nephew of the playwright Anton Chekhov and was widely recognized as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century. He was considered by Stanislavsky to be his most brilliant student.

Stanislavsky once said that if anyone wanted to know what he was teaching, they should go and see what Michael Chekhov was doing.
Stanislavsky recognized his genius and appointed him as the Head of the Second Moscow Art Theatre, where Chekhov started to develop his innovative psycho - physical acting techniques incorporating imagination and body. With this technique, the actor learns how to consider his body as an instrument for expressing his creative imagination.
Many Russian, European and American actors, in order to further develop their craft and grow as artists, embraced Michael Chekhov Acting Technique.

Chekhov left Russia in 1928 and spent eight years in Europe acting, directing and teaching. In 1936 Beatrice Straight invited him to establish the Chekhov Theatre Studio, a training program for a company of actors at Darlington Hall in England.
World War II forced Chekhov to immigrate to America where he taught Hollywood's most famous actors in the 1940s and 50s. He received an Oscar Award Nomination for the role of Dr. Alex Brulov in Hitchcock's 'Spellbound'. He was also highly respected and admired by teachers and directors such as Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg.
Michael Chekhov taught Method Acting and his own acting technique to prominent Hollywood actors: Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, Patricia Neal, Clint Eastwood, Anthony Quinn, Ingrid Bergman, Jack Palance, Lloyd Bridges, Anthony Hopkins, Yul Brynner, Elia Kazan, Mala Powers...