Konstantin stanislavski

russian 1863-1938

Actor-turned-director Stanislavski revolutionised approaches to performance in the late 19th and early 20th century by insisting on the importance for actors to draw on their personal experiences when conveying realistic emotion on stage. This system caught on in Western theatre, which had been dominated by melodrama through much of the 19th century, and later in cinema as well, where it became known as ‘method’ acting, based on the teachings of Stanislavski’s student Lee Strasberg.

Stanislavski was a pioneer of realism in acting