Konstantin Stanislavski: A Life

by JeanBenedetti (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1988

  $3.28

• Used

  Paperback
  1990

  $3.28

  This is the most complete description yet available in English of Stanislavski's real life in art (New York Times) Jean Benedetti's critical biography of Konstantin Stanislavski, one of the towering figures of twentieth-century theatre, has been fully revised and expanded offering new facts and insights into Stanislavski's life and arts. This new edition, written with unprecedented access to original Russian material including letters and production notes never previously translated, explores the collaboration and often bitter disputes with Nemirovich Danchenko, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, and traces further Stanislavski's often troubled relationship with the company he led. It gives a new account of the difficulties and tensions that lay behind the highly influential 1922-4 American tour. Benedetti also gives us fuller versions of key moments in Stanislavski's career: his arbitrary arrest in 1919 and his troubled relationship with the Soviet regime over artistic differences; a greater understanding of how Stanislavski's seminal books on acting came to be written, edited and translated into English only to lead to gross misunderstanding of his work; plus the best understanding yet of the evolution of Stanislavski's revolutionary acting 'system'. Benedetti's biography rescues Stanislavski from his stereotypes and will reinstate him for this and coming theatrical generations. It's written with the clarity of shape, firmness of purpose and fullness of emotion that mark out a good piece of acting. (Guardian) Both extremely informative and highly readable, this biography will become the one indispensable book in English for anyone beginning to study not just Stanislavski and the Moscow Art Theatre, but also the foundations of modern acting and directing. (Theatre Research International)

• New

  Paperback
  2008

  $20.63

  'A small jewel of a book, a knowleageable introduction to both Stanislavski's personal development and to the content and range of his writings' Theatre Journal '...shows the System to be a practical process - drama school students and actors will be grateful for it' Times Eductational Supplement 'A carefully documented study of peak interest and value to every serious student of acting theory' Choice The Stanislavski 'system' is still the only comprehensive method of actor training we possess. His theories can be hard to grasp and many academic books are impenetrable on the subject. This is a concise book for students that presents a readable introduction to the life and work of Stanislavski. It shows the slow growth of the 'system', from its roots in the tradition of Russian realism, to the various phases it went through until the final emergence of the Method of Physical Action in the years before his death. It also provides a short account of the writing, publication and translation of Stanislavski's books on acting. In this edition, Jean Benedetti makes several important updates in the light of new material and new translations becoming available.