Essay --

Emotional memory is one of the methods used in Stanislavski’s system. This method is where the actor draws on one of their own personal memories that relates to the situation their character is in. Emotional memory helps the actor to really become the character and portray the emotions the character would be feeling at the time. For example, if your character is grieving you would think of a time when you have grieved and remember how you felt and how you reacted to certain situations at this time. I have used this method during my rehearsal process on several occasions and it works well for me. I feel this method assists to make my performance real and believable. Emotional memory is a big part of method acting, although this method was devised by Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg said, â€Å"Method acting is what all actors have always done whenever they acted well.† (www.methodactingstrasberg.com,11/13). When emotional memory is incorporated into the rehearsal process, the actor really starts to feel the same way that the character would in the given situation. An example of this from Stanislavski’s book ‘An Actor Prepares’ is when an actor is guided through an emotional memory exercise by the director. â€Å"Imagine our amazement when both Tortsov and Rokhmanov told us that, whereas our playing of this exercise used to be indirect, insincere, fresh and true; today it was false, insincere and affective. We were dismayed at such unexpected criticism. We insisted that we really felt what we were doing. â€Å"Of course you were feeling something†, said the director. â€Å"If you were not you would be dead. The point is: what were you seeing? Let us try to disentangle things and to compare your former with your present exercise.† (Stanislavski, 1936: 163-... ...t ways. Once this part of the rehearsal process is complete the actor will know which emotions and feelings work best in the scene and will begin to incorporate emotional memory and the inner monologue. In conclusion to this essay we can say that Stanislavski’s system in the training of the actor and the rehearsal process is effective. The system helps actors to break down their characters gradually and really know the role. Some may even the say that the system helps them to almost become the character. The system has played a significant part in theatre training for many years. It has been used, adapted and interpreted by several practitioners, actors and tutors. For many years to come Stanislavski’s system will still be used in theatre training. Not only is it an effective system it is the past, present and future of theatre training and the rehearsal process.