Stanislavski's system
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Stanislavski's system is a systematic approach to training actors that the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski developed in the first half of the twentieth century. His system cultiva
A diagram of Stanislavski's system, based on his "Plan of Experiencing" (1935), showing the inner (left) and outer (right) aspects of a role uniting in the pursuit of a character's overall "supertask" (top) in the drama.
Gorky (seated, centre) with Vakhtangov (right of Gorky) and other members of the First Studio, an institution devoted to research and pedagogy, which emphasised experimentation, improvisation, and self-discovery.
Stanislavski's production of Chekhov's The Seagull in 1898, which gave the MAT its emblem, was staged without the use of his system; Stanislavski as Trigorin (seated far right) and Meyerhold as Konstantin (on floor), with Knipper (behind).
Stanislavski considered the Italian tragedian Salvini (pictured as Othello) to be the finest example of the "art of experiencing".
Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko was a Soviet and Russian theatre director, writer, pedagogue, playwright, producer and theatre administrator, who founded the Moscow Art Theatre with his collea
Nemirovich-Danchenko, c. 1900
Russian 1998 commemorative postage stamp of Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko