Stanivslaski Work

In order for us to look at our characters in a way that would help us 'become' our character, we had to look at the practitioner Stanivslaski and his idea of creating a high degree of physiological involvement with the character that you are playing. Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavor, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity. Throughout his life, he subjected his own acting to a process of rigorous artistic self-analysis and reflection.

Konstantin Sergeievich Alekseiev (Benedetti, 1988, 3)  17 January [O.S. 5 January] 1863 – 7 August 1938) was a Russian actor and theatre director

"Stanivslaki created a system of training actors in a methodical way and is strongly associated with realistic theatre. This system was designed to create a high degree of psychological involvement of the actor with the role he or she is playing"

Magic if: Stanislavski believed that the truth that occurred onstage was different than that of real life, but that a 'scenic truth' could be achieved onstage. A performance should be believable for an audience so that they may appear to the audience as truth. One of Stanislavski's methods for achieving the truthful pursuit of a character's emotion was his 'magic if.' Actors were required to ask many questions of their characters and themselves. 

Objectives: The objective is a goal that a character wants to achieve. This is often worded in a question form as "What do I want?" An objective should be action-oriented, as opposed to an internal goal, to encourage character interaction onstage. The character doesn't necessarily have to achieve the objective, and the objective can be as simple as the script permits. For example, an objective for a particular character may simply be 'to pour a mug of tea.' For each scene, the actor must discover the character's objective. Every objective is different for each actor involved because they are based on the characters of the script.

Given Circumstance: The term given circumstances is applied to the total set of environmental and situation conditions which influence the actions that a character in a drama undertakes. Although a character may make such choices unconsciously, the actor playing the character is aware of such conditions on a conscious level to help him or her deepen his or her understanding of the motivation behind the character's actions.

The Units: In order for Stanislavski to effectively create this map, or method, of physical actions, he created and defined acting units. In a foundation sense, a unit is any portion of a scene that an objective is established for an actor. In any given scene, there may be a single unit or multiple units.

Selected character: Puck

Objective: Puck wants to gain respect from oberon, and for him to gain the ultimate level of trust.

Through Objective: Puck wants to be the most important of all the sprites, and he does this by working his way up the ladder of heirachy by gaining respect from Oberon.

Stanislavski Fact File

• The Russian actor and director Constantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938) originated a system of acting.
• He was a co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, where his productions achieved the zenith in 20th-century naturalism.
• Constantin Stanislavsky was born Constantin Sergeyevich Alexeyev on Jan. 18, 1863, in Moscow.
• His stage name, Stanislavsky, was taken from an actor whom he met in amateur theatricals. 
• Stanislavsky's excellent classical education included singing, ballet, and acting lessons as well as regular visits to the opera and theatre.
• By the age of 14 he was acting in performances at the family estate, where his father had built a theatre.
• After completing his formal education, Stanislavsky entered the family business, enthusiastically devoting himself at the same time to a career in semi-professional theatre.
• Beginning in 1888 he directed and acted in performances for the Society of Art and Literature, which he had founded, and he continued these productions until 1897 under the sponsorship of the Hunting Club.
• He developed a performance process known as method acting, allowing actors to use their personal histories to express authentic emotion and create rich characters. 
• He died in Moscow in 1938.
• In June 1897, he and playwright/director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko decided to open the Moscow Art Theatre, which would be an alternative to standard theatrical aesthetics of the day.
• In 1912, Stanislavski created First Studio, which served as a training ground for young Thespians.
• Stanislavski worked on providing a guiding structure for actors to consistently achieve deep, meaningful and disciplined performances.
• He believed that actors needed to inhabit authentic emotion while on stage and, to do so, they could draw upon feelings they'd experienced in their own lives.
• Stanislavski also developed exercises that encouraged actors to explore character motivations, giving performances depth and an unassuming naturalism while still paying attention to the parameters of the production.
• In 1917 Stanislavski faced some criticism for not producing communist works, yet he was able to maintain his company's unique perspective and not contend with an imposed artistic vision
• .During a performance to commemorate the Moscow Art Theatre's 30th anniversary, Stanislavski suffered a heart attack. 
• Stanislavski spent his later years focusing on his writing, directing and teaching. He died on August 7, 1938, in the city of his birth.
• Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity. 
• Stanislavski's work was as important to the development of socialist realism in the Soviet Union as it was to that of Physiological realism in the United States.

Character analysis

Though there is little character development in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and no true protagonist, I believe Puck is the most important character in the play. He is portrayed as being mischievous and  quick-witted. He is important as his action set many of the play’s events in motion with his magic, by means of both deliberate pranks on the human characters (transforming Bottom’s head into that of an ass) and unfortunate mistakes (smearing the love potion on Lysander’s eyelids instead of Demetrius’s).

 Puck’s childish spirit, magical fancy, fun-loving humour, and lovely personality, evocative language adds to the atmosphere of the play. With contrasts, such as the  comparison between the rough, dirty male sprites and the delicate fairies. Puck seems to illustrate many of these contrasts within his own character: he is graceful but not too overpowering as Oberon is always watching him. he is given  a certain mischievousness, which leads him to transform Bottom’s head into that of an ass merely for the sake of enjoyment. He is good-hearted but capable of cruel tricks. Finally, whereas most of the fairies are beautiful, Puck is often portrayed as somewhat bizarre looking. Indeed, another fairy mentions that some call Puck a “hobgoblin,” a term whose connotes are decidedly less glamorous than those of “fairy”.

Photographs from Rachel's lesson

Character Research

'A midsummer nights dream' Animated tale

Lesson 4/5

In today’s lessons we began to look at the interpretation of the immortals, and the ways in which Oberon and Titania's relationship and current relationship is portrayed. In the narrative Oberon is angry with Titania as she is spending all her time with a changeling boy and will not give him over to Oberon to be used as a henchman. He could be considered to be quite spiteful or evil in exacting his revenge upon her.

The following is a quote made by Oberon; (Act 2 Scene 1)
“Well, go thy way. Thou shalt not from this grove Till I torment thee
for this injury” 

 Titania accuses Oberon of being jealous,(Quote: “These are the forgeries of jealously”). Oberon is presented as being  powerful character however Titania's characters appears to be just as headstrong and they seem equally matched. We know they have had a good relationship up until now, as they both quote; “dance our ringlets to the whistling wind” To help us develop the way the immortals talk we had a look at iambic pentameter.

Iambic pentameter = refers to a certain kind of line of poetry, and has to do with the number of syllables in the line and the emphasis placed on those syllables. Many of Shakespeare’s works are often used as great examples of iambic pentameter and he uses it in A.M.N.D to show a clear distinction of the immortals as he shows each line as a 10 syllables, this shows that the immortals speak more poetically and they show a distinct difference between immortal and mortality.

We were then asked to interpret a duologue between both of these characters, however we had to keep it in it's classical language. We were then told than we could also include a translation of the language, so we used this as a modern twist to look at Oberon and Titania's relationship from a different and more modern angle. We decided that music would also allow us to heighten the shift and dynamics between speech. I was placed with Ben, I was Titania and he was Oberon. We aimed to show a clear contrast in hierarchy of power between the two immortals, and we believed the best way to show this was by using elastic to create a 'puppet like' effect. This was effective as it allowed that characters to control each other, and highlight the battle in the relationship, and also that the struggle for power is imminent.

We delivered the lines in Shakespearian language first with no music, to clearly highlight the seriousness of conflict. Then to convey the switch to modern language and attitude, we used the song ‘happy’ by Pharrell Williams.  I think the mood was clear from the medium of music and the contemporary language used making this a success. Also I believe that we were successful in presenting the contrast between classical and modern interpretation as well as the contrast in both the characters relationship.


WWW= This lesson was useful in regards to looking at the immortals and their contrats to mortal characters. I learnt how to develop and adopt my acting style in  multiple ways, the characters we played were convincing and I thought we made a good distinct difference between modern and classical dialogue and language.



EBI= Keeping disciplined in all performances, and be always looking for ways in which \i can develop my understanding and acting style even further.

Lesson 3

In today's lesson, we were looking at the original classical language that was used during the Shakespearian era. By analysing the classical grammar and language used, it provided us with a deeper understanding of the translation of the language used, and also the original conditions. We looked at several words and phrases, some of these included;

Thither = to that place 
Thou art = you are 
Thou hast = you have 
Thou dost = you do 
Art thou? = are you? 
Hast? = have you? 
Dost thou? = do you?

We then went on to use this classical language to translate mre modern words and phrases such as;

Who are you? {Who art thou?} 
Have you been here long? {Hast (thou) been here long?} (Thou can be removed if needed.)


The English language has changed a great deal over the last few hundred years, and it is still changing.  Several words in use during Shakespeare's day either have different meanings today or have been nearly forgotten. Shakespeare is the most quoted English writer of all time, It’s not surprising given the volume and quality of works that Shakespeare wrote – along with the enduring popularity of his plays and sonnets around the world – that virtually everyone can quote Shakespeare, even if at times they don’t know they’re doing it!

Shakespeare played a major role in the transformation of the English language. At the time he was writing, the early modern English language was less than 100 years old. No dictionaries had yet been written and most documents were still written in Latin. Shakespeare contributed over 3,000 words to the English language  because he was the first author to write them down. Of this number more than one tenth or 1,700 were used for the first time. 

(Taken from the royal Shakespeare company biography)


We then practically demonstrated a subtext while delivering it in Elizabethan language. The annotated paragraph is attached to this. After this we developed the speach by adding an emotion and gesture to the speech to show how Demetrius would be feeling through the situation. This was usefull as it allowed us to think deeper about what a character is actually saying, and thinking about the characters thought process behing the speach.

WWW= In this lesson, I was able to fully develop my understanding of the ways in which a character will react during a scene, and also the emotion and though process behind their reaction. I can now take my detailed knowledge and apply in to my own characterisation and interpretation of 'Puck' and this will allow me to develop my character further by anylsing my characters emotions and feelings surinf specific scenes.

EBI= If I can extend my knowledge even more I will be able to develop my character more. If I focus more during lessons I think I will be able to reach the goal of a distinction

Lesson 1

In our opening lesson, we began by developing our understanding of the Shakespeare play 'A midsummer nights dream'. We started by discussing what we already knew about the play, and it was quite obvious that all the members of the group had a slight knowledge about the content and narrative of the classical play. We analysed the plot and that characters of the play by watching three video, each with a different interpretation. This was useful as it allowed us to view the play from different perspectives, styles and modern interpretations. We watched three videos in total; the animated Shakespeare tales video, the (year 2000) Hoffman video and the BBC's own adaptation.

The animated Shakespeare video was not as detailed as the original play, however it was useful to watch as it gave us basic knowledge and understanding of the narrative and the involvement of the characters. The animations were very 'child like', however this was understandable as it was only to give the basic synopsis of the play. Overall I found it very useful to watch, for basic knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the play.

The Hoffman (2000) film, was far more detailed, and this was due to it's length as a feature length film. The setting for the film is different from Shakespeare original setting, and it is presented in a more modern interpretation, but still with the classical language. as it was more detailed, this allowed us as a group to develop our understanding further, and introduce the idea of a modern adaptation of the classical play. This was useful as we would later have to do our own interpretation. In regards to the plot and characters, this was more useful than the animation and the deeper detail meant  we would be able to gain a greater understanding of each specific characters involvement to the plot, and to the other characters. Overall, the film was more beneficial as the detail of the film developed our overall understanding and knowledge.



The BBC's own interpretation was used many different aspects in comparison to the other two videos.  Firstly the narrative and setting had been changed, however the basic plot was still used but changed in a number of ways. The setting was modern as it was based at an holiday park, and also the classical language was mixed with some more modern text. This mixture of classical and modern made it slightly hard for  us to understand, but as a group we did enjoy the unique twist on the Shakespearian classic. When it came to our understanding, this video was not the most useful, as it made it very confusing between the original concept, and this modern adaptation. Also, this interpretation used a lot of comedy which compared to the others, was presented in a way that we could understand more. With the original genre being a comedy, we often do not understand the humour, as the understanding of the classical text is more complicated. Overall, it was nice to see a modern a funny take on the classical, but in terms of our understanding to the classical plot and setting, it was not the most beneficial for us as a group.











A brief synopsis of the play: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” William Shakespeare's most popular comedy, was written around 1594 or 95. It portrays the adventures of four young lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with woodland fairies and a duke and duchess. Taking place in a mythical Athens and an enchanted forest, there is a handsome fairy king, a misguided parent, star-crossed lovers, a weaver who's transformed into a half-donkey, wood sprites and elves. This work is widely performed around the world, and no wonder - it's about the world's most popular pastime, falling in love. But as Puck knows, falling in love can make fools of us all. Will love win out in the end?


The Athenians:
Theseus – Duke of Athens
Hippolyta – Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
Philostrate – Master of the Revels
Egeus – father of Helena, wants her to marry Demetrius
Hermia – daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander
Helena – in love with Demetrius
Lysander – in love with Hermia at first but later loves Helena but then goes back to Hermia
Demetrius – in love with Hermia at first but later loves Helena

The Fairies:
Oberon – Titania's husband and King of the Fairies
Titania – Oberon's wife and Queen of the Fairies
Robin Goodfellow/Puck – servant to Oberon
Peaseblossom – fairy servant to Titania
Cobweb – fairy servant to Titania
Moth – fairy servant to Titania
Mustardseed – fairy servant to Titania
First Fairy, Second Fairy

The Mechanicals: (An acting troupe)
Peter Quince – carpenter, leads the troupe and plays Prologue
Nick Bottom – weaver, plays Pyramus
Francis Flute – bellows-mender, plays Thisbe
Robin Starveling – tailor, plays Moonshine
Tom Snout – tinker, plays Wall
Snug – joiner, plays Lion

Character Diagram to aid my understanding of each character:

After we had watched and analysed all of the video's, we were given a quiz to test our knowledge and understanding of what we had learned. I got 4 out of a possible 10, which was not very good, but from this result, I know which specific aspects of the play that I need to learn and focus on in order to develop my knowledge.

Looking back on all of the last few lesson. I have gained a very detailed understanding of all aspects to do with 'A midsummer nights dream' as well as its original Shakespearian conditions. Also I have been able to look at possible characters that I would like to use for my own interpretation. I am particularly interested in the character 'Puck' because of his unique movement and vocals, and also his acting and portrayal is relative to my preferred acting style.