The Stanislavsky System

What is it?

The Stanislavsky System is when there is a character development process, this is to make the performance 'real'.  The system was created to portray believeable and natural people on stage. This notion was a striking contrast in 19th century Russia where the actor and acting where essentially two separate things.

In class we also learn new stage terms like...

Crossover- When two actors 'exchange' stage positioning in an diagonal line.

General Stage Direction-

Give and Take- When one character is more prominent than the other. So the character that is less prominent is giving the scene and the prominent character is taking the scene.

First Drama Lesson -- Dramatic Terms

Last lesson my class was given homework, we had to find a range of dramatic terms that were unknown... Here are few definitions that I were completely unfamiliar...

Box set: 
A set built behind a proscenium arch to represent three walls of a room. The absent fourth wall
on the proscenium line allows spectators to witness the domestic scene. First used in the early 

nineteenth century

Reversal or Peripeteia:
The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the 
protagonist- from failure to success or success to failure. 
Examples: Oedipus's and Othello's moments of enlightenment are also reversals. They learn 

what they did not expect to learn.

Tragic flaw:
A weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the fall of the tragic hero. 

Example: Othello's jealousy and too trusting nature is his tragic flaw

Soliloquy

a monologue uttered by a character alone on-stage that provides insight into his or her thoughts. 

Trope

a musical passage that serves as an interpolation in a Christian religious service and elaborates on the liturgy. Tropes included the representation of religious figures in a call-and-response structure and became a traditional part of the Easter Mass during the Middle Ages.