Slogging Through Stanislavski

My Chekhov & Stanislavski class at Brookline Adult & Community Education (BACE) starts in a few weeks, assuming there are enough enrollments. I've been brushing up on Constantin Stanislavski's book, An Actor Prepares, in preparation. I have to say, it's pretty tough going.

Stanislavski was a gifted director, actor and teacher. Writer? Not so much.

It's partly the literary conceit of the book. It's written as a first person novel from the point of view of an eager young acting student, Kostya who idolizes his teacher, Torstov, the great master.

Kostya is short for Constantine - get it? That's how subtle he is.

Except that Torstov is the character that is based on Stanislavski. Kostya is there simply for us to identify with and follow through the storyline.

We follow the mishaps and progress of Kostya and his peers as Torstov holds forth with gems of theatrical wisdom. It's sort of like "David Copperfield goes to acting school." We're supposed to identify with Kostya & Co through their training but they're all so cardboard, they are there simply to demonstrate Torstov's theories. Ironic, since the lessons Torstov gives are geared toward creating well-rounded characters and believable reality onstage. Most of the students are just whiney. And Kostya just gets on my nerves, constantly piping up with the perfect question or the clever comment.

Yeah. It's that precious.

So why bother? Well, it's still Stanislavski and Stanislavski is the father of most modern acting techniques - Meisner, Adler, Strasberg. It's the source. The writing is pretty sad, but if you can get past the whining and the rhetoric, the acting technique is solid. And this is the Stanislavski technique in his own words. Maybe it's not as straightforward as a textbook or a memoir but perhaps this indirect approach could be talking as much to my subconscious as to my intellect.

I do know this -- much as the book annoys me I find myself returning to it periodically. And I each time I find something new, in spite of the writing. You just have to dig a bit. This time I'm planning to read it twice - scanning through the first time, then going through slowly, with a notebook at my elbow. The last time I read it was as a student, identifying with Kostya (and probably as annoying as he is) but now I'm following Torstov's character, looking for the purpose beneath the exercises. Later, I'll go back and note down the process in detail.

This will be the second time I've taught at BACE. That was the Shakespeare course (has anyone else noticed how many shows in Boston are Shakespeare or Shakespeare-inspired). The first time was a great experience and I'm still in touch with 7 out of the 8 people that were my students. After the class was finished, most of the students wanted to continue, which is how my freelance class got started.

I hope to give the students enough of a taste Stanislavski - and some good scenes from Chekhov - to encourage them to continue it on their own. I'll only have 8 weeks and, although I want them to discover something new, I want them to have fun. 'Cause if it's not fun, it's too much damn work.