This May 2024 issue of Stanislavski Studies sources a lot of its contributions from The S Word symposium that was hosted by the Department of Theatre Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens between the 9 and 11 November 2023. It was another stimulating meeting of Stanislavsky scholars, historians, teachers, and practitioners, with the event being organized by our own Dr Michaela Antoniou, Associate Editor of this journal. Like past editions of the symposium, the meeting in Athens featured a full programme of keynote lectures, book launches, presentations, and workshops, and I was excited to see in front of my eyes how the field is developing thanks to the internationalization efforts that were started by Paul Fryer and Bella Merlin when they first conceived the symposium way back in 2015.
Among the newer directions of Stanislavsky research, the symposium featured several contributions in line with the “applied Stanislavsky” projects which I was always keen to see featured in this journal. “Applied Stanislavsky” implies opening Stanislavsky and elements of his system to unexpected areas of work and disciplines; during the symposium, these took the form of panels on Stanislavsky and Applied Theatre, Light Design, Drama Education and Youth Studies, and Music Pedagogy. Some of these presentations appear in essay form in this issue, with others scheduled for the next issue in November 2024. First among these is Valentina Tamiolaki essay “Creating a Role for Light: A Lighting Design Teaching Method Based on Stanislavsky.” As the name suggest, Tamiolaki’s application is in using elements from Stanislavsky’s system, namely the Six Questions (who, what, when, where, why, and wherefore) and the magic “if” to devise a training programme for light designers. This application, she argues, allows the training of light designers to go beyond its technical aspects in order to develop a sensitivity to dramaturgical matters. Tamiolaki argues further that the application of Stanislavsky in light design can help elevate the status of light designers within the collective working on a production. A second “applied” essay is co-authored by Konstantinos Demirtzoglou and Maria Papazachariou–Christophorou, whose focus is on using Stanislavsky in “enhancing young violinists’ musical identities.” Particularly interesting in their study is the parallels that the authors draw between Stanislavsky and renowned music educator Shinichi Suzuki, especially in the ways that the latter uses mental images and representations in the preparation for performance.
The symposium is further represented here by keynote speaker Marie-Christine Autant-Mathieu’s essay on “Stanislavsky and Voice Training.” It is a sprawling essay that takes into account various phases of Stanislavsky’s work to argue that voice training was an early and then consistent preoccupation for Stanislavsky. This preoccupation often placed him in contrast with theatre conventions of the time, busy as Stanislavsky was in his search for the laws of organic nature and their relationship to theatre practice. A second historical essay is provided by Rose Whyman (presenter of the 2023 Jean Benedetti Memorial Lecture). Whyman goes into rigorous detail about the work carried out in the 1905 Studio on Povarskaia Street, headed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, and uses Russian sources to challenge conventional readings that the Studio was “a disaster” and inconsequential to Stanislavsky’s and Meyerhold’s developments as theatre makers.
Essays like Autant-Mathieu’s and Whyman’s remind us of the depth of Stanislavsky’s experimentation and how, as a historical figure, there is still much in his work that awaits our study. This, I believe, is the first step towards contemporary transmission in the studio or rehearsal room of his system and training approaches, with one example of such a transmission being documented here by Joelle Ré Arp-Dunham in her essay “Active Analysis for Beginning Acting Students: A Class Blueprint.” Underscored by the knowledge that Active Analysis is a powerful tool for integrating a script into an actor’s body, Arp-Dunham’s analysis sheds new light on how the practice can be used to curtail difficulties which beginners typically encounter in acting classes, especially the anxiety of performing in front of a teacher, classmates, and an audience. A further co-authored essay in this issue is that of Markéta Machková and Mish Rais, who introduce the figure of Czech theatre maker and pedagogue Ivan Vyskočil. Vyskočil passed away as recently as last year, leaving behind him a legacy of authorial training – where a performer writes, dramatizes, directs, and performs their own production – which Machková and Rais discuss as a development of Stanislavsky’s technique of solitude in public.
Another aspect of the research carried out by the Stanislavsky Research Centre (Leeds/Malta) is the publication of the Stanislavsky And… book series that is edited by Paul Fryer. Two volumes are reviewed in this issue, namely Stanislavsky and Pedagogy (edited by myself) and Stanislavsky and Race (edited by Siiri Scott and Jay Paul Skelton). A third volume – Stanislavsky and Intimacy (edited by Joelle Ré Arp-Dunham) – is already out, and its review is scheduled for the next issue of Stanislavski Studies. Taken together but also individually, these volumes help to markedly expand our field by making Stanislavsky conversant with contemporary performance challenges, and I certainly look forward to other volumes in the series. The book launches for the Pedagogy and Race volumes can also be found online on our Stanislavsky Here, Today, Now website (https://www.stanislavskyheretodaynow.com/). The issue ends with an announcement detailing upcoming events on “Stanislavsky and Actor Training for the Screen” and “Stanislavsky and America.”
I hope that readers find a lot in this issue that is stimulating, thought-provoking, and applicable to their work contexts. As always, I invite anyone interested in the work of the journal and, more broadly, of the Stanislavsky Research Centre, to get in touch to discuss possible collaborations.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Stefan Aquilina
Stefan Aquilina is Editor-in-Chief of the Stanislavski Studies journal, Co-Director of the Stanislavsky Research Centre, and Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at the School of Performing Arts of the University of Malta.