A Practical Workbook for Actors: (Acting on Impulse: Reclaiming the Stanislavski Approach)

Stanislavski was the first to outline a systematic approach for using human experience to create truthful acting. Yet it is often rejected and misunderstood, or misapplied and distorted.
John Gillett offers a comprehensive and lucid step-by-step account of Stanislavski's whole approach from the actor's training to final performance. It is for actors from an actor's point of view. He draws on the major books - An Actor Prepares, Building a Character and Creating a Role - and records of Stanislavski's directing process and final studio classes.
The book provides accessible, practical examples and exercises as an integrated part of each subject. Stanislavski's approach is enhanced and clarified by relating to it the imaginative work of his 'most brilliant pupil', Michael Chekhov (often misrepresented as opposing Stanislavski, but, in fact, rooted in his artistic aims and premises while developing his own understanding and techniques). Biographies of key practitioners and a glossary of terminology make this an essential practical and educational resource for any student or practitioner of acting.