Tynan's Anger

(RTFM means Read the Fucking Manual, for those readers over the age of 28)

One of the constant annoyances I face when I am introduced to people is that they automatically assume my name is spelled Stanislavsky. I am thus faced with the dilemma of either going into detail about how the real version of the name is the Polish version, but I'm not Polish, etc. etc., or just give them the correct spelling and say "I know, weird right?" Still, it's not a bad name to have for theater circles, and I was once even given free tickets to a show desperate to fill its house based on my name alone. So all in all, I'm about even with my last name.

Not so much for actors, to whom the most famous person named Stanislawski (or one of its alternate version) is still a constant source of contention. One of the biggest misconceptions about Constantin Stanislavsky is that he invented Method Acting, when in fact it was invented by Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen in the Group Theater of the 1930s, who used a modified version of Stanislavsky's technique based on An Actor Prepares. Benedict Nightingale wrote an excellent review of a new translation of Stanislavski's works, including the often-ignored Building a Charachter, which was unfinished at the time of his death. Wouldn't you know it, it turns out that "affective memory" is a minor part of the original Stanislavskian technique, instead the real emphasis is for the actor to truly imagine being in that situation. That's not to say Method acting doesn't work, but that it would be better off called the Strasberg Method than Stanislavsky. Though I suppose that would mean I wouldn't deserve the nickname "Method Man" that I acquired in the Maroon office last year, a nickname that I'm quite proud of.

Labels: benedict nightingale, lee strasberg, stanislavsky, stanislawski, uta hagen