Константин Сергеевич Станиславский ( Konstantin Sergeievich Stanislavski ) Was a Theatre and Acting Innovator from Russia. As a follower of the naturalist school of thought, Konstantin Stanislavski tapped into those “naturalist” notions and undeniably challenged old traditions of the dramatic process, establishing himself as one of the most innovative, pioneering and influential thinkers in modern theatre.

Born Konstantin Sergeievich Alexeyev in Moscow to a wealthy family, he made his first acting appearance at the age of seven. At the age of 25, Konstantin took the stage name Stanislavski. This was to be mindful of the reputation of his family (world renowned gold/silver thread makers). In 1888, Stanislavski established the Society of Art and Literature, where he gained experience in aesthetics and stagecraft.

In 1898 he co-founded the Moscow Art Theatre. It was here that Stanislavski began developing his famous "System" (often called the "Method", though this is an inaccuracy; “method acting” was developed from it). Stanislavski's System focused on the development of realistic characters and stage worlds.

Stanislavski survived both the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the Russian Revolution of 1917, with Lenin himself (leader of the 1917 Revolution), apparently personally intervening to protect him.

How does an actor act?... How can the actor learn to inspire themself?… What can he do to impel himself toward that necessary yet maddeningly elusive creative mood?... These were the simple, yet overwhelming, riddles an actor must respond to that Stanislavksi dedicated his life to exploring.

Stanislavski's System is a complex method for producing realistic characters; most of today's actors, on stage, television, and film, owe much to it. Using "The System", an actor is required to deeply analyse his or her character's motivations and also analyse themselves.

Stanislavski taught that when we perform an action truthfully, respecting the given circumstances and thinking real thoughts, we engage our feelings, and are able to communicate those feelings more realistically in a performance.

He created techniques such as; the inner monologue, the magic if, objective and Super objective, emotional memory and the character biography. These were practices that would help actors to understand their characters better, and play them in a more truthful manner.

The inner monologue, is the process Stanisvalski used to help actors get into the mind of their characters. He encouraged the performer to carry on a “dialogue” and be “in communication” with their character in their minds. This way they would begin to react more as the character they are portraying, rather than themselves. 

There was also the magic if. Actors were required to ask many questions of their characters and themselves. For example, one of the first questions they had to ask was, “What would I do, if I were in the same situation, as my character?” Asking “IF”, unleashes the imagination and starts the actor towards believing in what they are doing, and stimulates creativeness. What would I do…? What would I say...? What would I think…? What would my reaction be…? What is the Truth?

Another way to better understand and achieve character is to know your character’s objective and super objective. A character’s objective is what the character wants to achieve in the short term (in a scene perhaps). The super objective is the overall goal for the character to reach by the end of the story…although it could change throughout the story. Objective Super Objective

Another process Stanislavski tapped into was to engage one’s emotional memory. Actors were instructed to use their emotional memory to more naturally portray a character's emotions. In order to do this, actors were required to think of a moment in their own lives when they had felt the desired or similar emotion to their character and then replay the emotion, while in role, in order to achieve a more genuine performance. 

The character biography was another of Stanislavski’s processes to understand and play character, “thruthfully”. It was probably the most tangible and practical. We are the “sum of our various parts and histories”, and therefore, react in different ways to different situations. The character biography is there for an actor to create a character’s background and history, so they can begin reacting to various situations as the character.

"To find … truth, an actor must see, watch, absorb all possible impressions around him. An actor must learn to be aware of what surrounds him." Stanislavsky's goal was to find a Universal Method or System that could help actors.

"Create your own method. Don't depend slavishly on mine. Make up something that will work for you! But keep breaking traditions, I beg you."

Basic Categories of Stanislavski’s System Action: An actor must always be active, externally or internally. One can be immobile externally, yet active psychologically, having inner action. All action must be justified; it must have a purpose and be logical. If : This "magic" word unleashes the imagination and starts the actor towards believing in what he is doing, and stimulates creativeness. Given Circumstances: All the conditions in which the actor works: the plot, the environment, the lighting, the people. An actor must become familiar with and a part of his environment.

Relaxation of the Muscles: " Unless tense muscles are relaxed, an actor’s normal mental activity, and therefore the spiritual life of the character he portrays, is impossible." The Actor’s Inner State: Because of fear or other reasons, "faculties which functions naturally in life are often paralyzed on the stage… To be able to create a truthful character, an actor must revive all his faculties, which means that he must be in a normal functioning state Feeling of Truth and Belief: "If an actor while carrying out an action uses logical consecutiveness, justifies everything with the help of if, and thinks of the given circumstances, he will not overact and his action will be truthful. Without forcing himself, he will believe in what he is doing because he will be doing it as in real life."

Emotional Memory: Stimulation of actor’s emotions through the recall of experienced ones. Units and Objectives: An actor has various sequential objectives in his role. To help him accomplish these he should have break his presentation into units, each of which helps him accomplish an objective. The Super-Objective and the Through-Line of Action: To carry across the main idea is the overriding objective of actors. All action, all aspects of the performance must be continuously oriented to accomplish this.