Given circumstances in the context of "Moscow Art Theatre"

Play Trivia Questions online!

 or

Skip to study material about Given circumstances in the context of "Moscow Art Theatre"
Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Given circumstances

The term given circumstances is a principle from Konstantin Stanislavski's methodology for actor training, formulated in the first half of the 20th century at the Moscow Art Theatre.

The term given circumstances is applied to the total set of environmental and situational conditions which influence the actions that a character in a drama undertakes. Although a character may make such choices unconsciously, the actor playing the character is aware of such conditions on a conscious level to help him or her deepen his or her understanding of the motivation behind the character's actions. Given circumstances include conditions of the character's world (e.g. specifics of time and place: in Hamlet for instance, being in Elsinore at a specific time in history is a given circumstance), elements from the history of the character's environment (e.g. Hamlet: the death of the old King Hamlet preceding the play's plot is a given circumstance), and elements from the character's personal situation (e.g. Hamlet: the character Hamlet is a crown prince).

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier

Given circumstances in the context of Stanislavski's system

Stanislavski's system is a systematic approach to training actors that the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski developed in the first half of the twentieth century. His system cultivates what he calls the "art of experiencing" (with which he contrasts the "art of representation"). It mobilises the actor's conscious thought and will in order to activate other, less-controllable psychological processes—such as emotional experience and subconscious behaviour—sympathetically and indirectly. In rehearsal, the actor searches for inner motives to justify action and the definition of what the character seeks to achieve at any given moment (a "task").

Later, Stanislavski further elaborated what he called 'the System' with a more physically grounded rehearsal process that came to be known as the "Method of Physical Action". Minimising at-the-table discussions, he now encouraged an "active representative", in which the sequence of dramatic situations are improvised. "The best analysis of a play", Stanislavski argued, "is to take action in the given circumstances."

↑ Return to Menu
LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Stanislavski's system
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Konstantin Stanislavski → Actor → Moscow Art Theatre → Character (arts) → Drama → Motivation → Hamlet → Elsinore →