Stanislavski
... themselves ‘what would the character do if they were in this situation’ but they ask ‘what would I do if I was in this situation’. It does not relate to the character, but the actor themselves. By doing this the actor is able to see how the situation may develop depending on how it would be dealt with. “If acts as a lever to lift us out of the world of actuality and into the realm of the imagination” One of the practical exercises that an actor might carry out to put this aspect of the system into use is the party scenario. The exercise is simulator to the kind of thing that Stanislavski would have had his actors carry out. It involves the actor putting themselves in a room full of people, none of whom they know, for example a university welcome party. The people must then mingle until all of a sudden the lights go out. The actor would then have to ask him/herself, ‘what would I do if I was in this situation’ and quickly react. This was carried out as an exercise in one of my drama classes and there seemed to be lots of fuss, people asking others what had happened, others sounding scared and others finding the whole situation rather funny. “If is the starting point, the given circumstances the development.” By adding a set of given circumstances to the original situation on which the actor asks themselves ‘what if…’ they become able to further their reaction and develop their character further. The given circumstances could be: • The story of the play • Facts, events, time and place of action, epoch (culture at time play is set) • Conditions of life (class/economics) • Actor and director’s interpretation • Production, sets, costume, props • Lighting and sound Given circumstances often give an actors performance more edg...