In this illustrated talk Professor Pitches introduced the work of Michael Chekhov, drawing specifically on his time at Dartington in the mid-late 1930s. He outlined some of the philosophical and practical differences between Chekhov’s Technique and the Stanislavsky system and presented Chekhov as a practitioner who in many ways was before his time.

Jonathan Pitches is Professor of Theatre and Performance in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at Leeds University. He has written two books on Russian actor training: one dedicated to Vsevolod Meyerhold for the Routledge Performance Practitioners series (2003) and a second entitled Science and the Stanislavsky Tradition of Acting (2005), described in Theatre Research International as ‘a remarkable achievement’. He is the co-Editor of the new Routledge journal, Theatre Dance and Performance Training and is currently working on an EU-supported cultural exchange project with the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

Lee Strasberg – in his own words
Notes on a lecture by Suresh Patel

Suresh Patel trained for two years at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in New York where he worked as assistant director to Robert Ellermann on a production of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters. He has trained actors in New York, London and Ireland and now works as Associate Artist with Real Circumstance [http://www.realcircumstance.com/home/index.php], where his main responsibilities include teaching and actor training and development.

In the first part of his lecture, Suresh took the audience through the principal stages of actor training as taught by Strasberg in 1950’s New York. Using frequent textual references to writings by Strasberg and Stanislavski, he demonstrated the intrinsic relationship between Stanislavski’s ‘System’ and Strasberg’s ‘Method’ of acting, positioning the latter as an invaluable proponent in the continuation and elaboration of Stanislavski’s work; rather than a misguided deviation as some have been led to believe.

In the second part, he discussed elements of Vakhtangov’s contribution to Stanislavski’s system, such as Vakhtangov’s ideas on defining artistic ‘attitude’ prior to approaching a role and ‘thinking outside the box’ (Suresh’s term) with regard to emotion memory. Vakhtangov is known for having trained actors to overcome their inability to emotionally identify with particular character traits or situations by approaching them through alternative emotional memories.

In the last section, Suresh addressed Strasberg’s use of emotion memory’ He took made a short aside to cover Stella Adler’s meeting with Stanislvaski which lead to the famous discord between Adler and Strasberg over the purpose and practice of emotion memory. The lecture ended with a round of succinct and engaged questions from students on various aspects of actor training.

Andrew Eglinton, 03.11.2008

Stanislavski on stage
An exhibition of rarely seen photographs from the archive of The Stanislavski Centre, Rose Bruford College.

The exhibition was made possible by the generosity of Evgeny Lebedev.

Curator: Robert McIndoe
Designer: Nigel Hook
Mounted in association with Routledge

The exhibition catalogue Stanislavski on Stage: (edited by Kathy Dacre and Paul Fryer) is on sale at the NT bookshop, or direct from Rose Bruford College (price £5.99).

Gorky: The Lower Depths

The Stanislavski Centre’s major event of 2008, our photographic exhibition at London’s National Theatre, opened with a private view on 8th April.

The exhibition, in the upper foyer of the Olivier Theatre, was designed by Nigel Hook and curated by Robert McIndoe, and included over 80 photographs from the archive of the Stanislavski Centre. The photographs are from seven productions at the Moscow Art Theatre and represent Stanislavski’s work as actor, director and producer.

The exhibition was officially opened by Professor Anatoly Smeliansky (Head of the Moscow Art Theatre School and Associate Director of Moscow Art Theatre), a member of the Centre’s advisory board, and Professor Alastair Pearce, Principal of Rose Bruford College. Professor Pearce thanked the exhibition’s sponsor, Evgeny Lebedev, for his generosity and support which made this event possible. A distinguished guest-list included Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Fiennes, Joanna Trollope, Anthony Beevor and Murray Melvin.

The opening of this exhibition also maked the publication of an accompanying book, Stanislavski on Stage (edited by Kathy Dacre and Paul Fryer), which includes essays by each member of the Centre’s advisory board, and a selection of the photographs that feature in the exhibition. This book will remain on sale in the National Theatre bookshop throughout the exhibition, and will also be available from the Stanislavski Centre.

Training in Moscow - a seminar presentation by Tess Dignan (voice) and Peter Bramley (movement)

Two key members of RBC teaching staff present an informal seminar on their experiences of working at the Moscow Art Theatre.

Monday 12th November @ 18.30Study Room (Learning Resources Centre)
Rose Bruford College, Lamorbey Park, Sidcup, Kent
(Rail: Sidcup Station is 25 minutes from Charing Cross)

The interview was conducted by Rose Bruford College’s visiting lecturer and co-editor of Theatre Voice, Aleks Sierz. Benedetti talks about his new translation of Konstantin Stanislavski’s writings, and why the Russian director (1863-1938) is still relevant to actor training today.