What is it?

Sources:

- Konstantin Stanislavski: An Actor’s Work

- A further in-depth explanation of Stanislavski’s system
- A more direct representation of the system
- The Stanislavski System ​by Sonia Moore
- An abridged and more concise guide to the system
- Written in more comprehensible and straightforward language

Communication:

- Talks about communication between the actors on stage and the actors and the
audience
- Also, the actor’s communication/understanding of the space and their
environment.
- It is a difficult thing to accomplish fully when on stage.
- Requires full surrender from the actor to the character
- The actor only commits fully when they give themselves over wholeheartedly to the
character.
- The actor’s own life must fill any holes/gaps in the character.
- An actor is human and carries with them their thoughts, feelings, ideas from their
own world/life.
Communion:
- When the actor has direct contact with the audience, it disrupts the performance’s truth
and distracts the audience from the show itself.
- Good communion between actors and gives the audience a chance to be part of what
takes place on stage.
- Actors should be in communion with their real on stage ensemble, not an imaginary one.
- As our behaviour in life depends on the people around us, the actor’s behaviour as a
character is related to that of the people around them.

Why is it essential to an actor?

- Communicating with your space/environment helps you not only be, as the actor
further into the character’s mind and world.
- They are thus assisting the audience to have a more honest and relatable
experience.
- For an actor POV is ​everything.
- An actor needs to be aware of everything within the world of the character,
knowing their relationship with all that inhabit the space (animate and
inanimate)
- Helps the actor further to understand their connection/the vitality of the audience
Quotations​:

“Those who have the greatest percentage of communication with their fellow actor...have
come nearest to the ideal.” (Stanislavski, 255)

“The eyes are the mirror of the soul. And empty eyes are the mirror of an empty soul. Don’t
forget that!” (Stanislavski, 242)

“An honest, unbroken communion between actors, on the other hand, holds the spectators’
attention and makes them part of what takes place on stage.” (Moore, 35)

“Actors without a single word to say created characters full of inner content and brought
individual life to the stage.” (Moore, 37)

Conclusion:

- Both communication and communion help the actor have a clear perspective and POV
on everything in their environment.
- They can use this to go further in-depth into their character, as well as be able to play
off their scene partners and their space more successfully.

Works cited:

Moore, Sonia. ​The Stanislavski System​. The Penguin Group, 1984.

Stanislavsky, Konstantin, et al. ​An Actor's Work​. Routledge, 2017.