Developed in the early 20th century at the Moscow Art Theater, the Stanislavski method of acting is a set of techniques meant to create realistic portrayals of characters. The major goal of Stanislavski method is to have perfect understanding of the motivations and objective of your character in each moment. The technique is most often used for realistic plays, where the goal is to portray an accurate idea of normal life.

To begin employing Stanislavski method, actors generally go over the script very carefully, looking for key identifying factors. An actor must discover what his character wants, what is preventing him from getting it, what means he will use to achieve his goal. These terms are frequently referred to as objective, obstacle and method. He must also determine the given circumstances of every scene, knowing where the scene takes place, what is in the room, and what is going on in the outside world.

To identify the objective clearly, the actor breaks down a scene into “beats” or “bits,” short sections that end with each change of objective. In a basic example, if a character pours a cup of coffee, answers the phone, and then runs screaming out of the house, the scene has at least three separate beats. At the bare minimum, his objective changes from pouring coffee, to answering the phone, to getting out of the apartment. Beats are not determined on action alone, however, and may be based on a change of argument or emotion.

Obstacles are defined as things preventing a character from achieving his objective. In the scene listed above, if as the character was running out the door, he spilled coffee all down his front, it would be an obstacle to his objective of getting out of Obstacles are dealt with one of three ways, either the character gives up his objective because of it, finds a way to go around it, or plunges along regardless. Which method the character chooses to deal with obstacles gives great insight into the character, and defining clearly how and why a character chooses a particular response is the basis for much of the Stanislavski method.

Objectives are definable down to individual lines of dialogue, based on a Stanislavski concept called “objective words.” It is the actor’s job to understand and play the character’s objective not only in the entire play, each scene and each beat, but also in each line. Determining what the key motivation is behind each line is a basic practice in the Stanislavski method.

In order to help actors portray the honest objective of the character, Stanislavski pioneered a concept called the “magic if.” To help connect the character to the actor, the actor must ask themselves “What if this situation happened to me?” The goal of this theme is to identify the character as a possible side of the actor themselves, allowing them to think like the character, rather than just impersonate them.

Understanding the objective and method of the character allows the actor to create an interior monologue of the character. Almost all real people have a semi-constant flow of thoughts going on in their mind, and Stanislavski method attempts to adopt the internal monologue the character might have. This technique is to help each action to feel as if it comes spontaneously, rather than simply because the script says it is what happens. Actors use the interior monologue theory to help them avoid a scene becoming repetitious or dull after many performances.

Because of its emphasis on realism, the Stanislavski method is often used in film and television. It is not to be confused with Lee Strasburg’s “Method Acting,” which involves a near-schizophrenic attempt to become the character entirely. The Stanislavski method maintains that an actor must remain somewhat separate from the character, in order to properly understand his motivations and goals. By close adherence to the principles of discovering objectives, Stanislavski believed a spontaneous and believable portrayal of a character could be achieved.