What is Stanislavskian realism?

Stanislavskian realism stems from the naturalistic literary movement of the late 19th century, the point of which was to portray real people and everyday conversations. The concept of naturalism is comprised of 'faire vrai' (make it real)- to use real human behaviour, 'faire grand' (make it significant)- to focus the drama on important, significant interactions, and 'faire simple' (make it simple)- to focus the drama on one plot, without many subplots or twists and turns. The hallmarks of naturalism include everyday dialects and use of the fourth wall.Stanislavski took the idea of naturalism and turned it into 'the system', whereby the actor learns how to deeply develop a character. This system includes concepts such as emotional memory, physical actioning, subtext, given circumstance, the 'magic if', objectives and super-objectives, and through line. Emotional memory is the idea that an actor can use their own life experiences to relate to the experiences of a character, and thus give their characterization depth. Physical actioning is the use of describing each line with a movement, such as 'twisting' or 'pushing' in order to understand the subtext and purpose of a line. Given circumstances is the understanding of the context wherein the character makes decisions. The 'magic if' is when the actor asks themselves, what would I do in this situation, in order to further understand the plight of the character. The objective is a character's motivation through a scene, the play or even throughout life, and the through line is how these objectives progress throughout the play.

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Answered by Chloe L. Drama tutor

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