Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T02:58:32.916Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Which Came First: The System or ‘The Seagull’?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Bella Merlin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Anton Chekhov's dissatisfaction with Konstantin Stanislavsky's early productions of his plays is well known and oft-discussed. However, it may be argued that the detailed analysis to which Stanislavsky subjected the script of The Seagull, though offensive to the author's intentions, led to the germination of Stanislavsky's acting system as well as laying the foundations for the success of Chekhov's own dramatic career. Bella Merlin, Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University, explores this avenue of debate by assessing the possible reasons for the Alexandrinsky Theatre's failure in its premiere of The Seagull in 1896. Thereafter, the mutual dependency of Chekhov and Stanislavsky is discussed with reference to the success of the Moscow Art Theatre's production of 1898. In the following article in this issue, she links these reflections on the play's early fortunes to its relevance to the ‘Method of Physical Actions’ developed by Stanislavsky towards the end of his career.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , August 1999 , pp. 218 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes and References

1. Polyakova, E., Stanislavsky, trans. Tudge, Liz (Moscow: Progress, 1977), p. 109Google Scholar.

2. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V., My Life in the Russian Theatre, trans. Cournos, John (Boston: Little Brown, 1936), p. 65Google Scholar.

3. Kleberg, L., AND Nilssen, N. A., eds., Theatre and Literature in Russia, 1900–1930 (Denmark: Armquist, Wiksell, 1984), p. 27Google Scholar.

4. Ibid.

5. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V., My Life in the Russian Theatre, p. 148.

6. Cited in Benedetti, J. N., Stanislavsky: a Biography (London: Methuen, 1990), p. 74Google Scholar.

7. Cited in Polyakova, E., Stanislavsky, p. 99–101.

8. Ibid., p. 101.

9. Chekhov, A., The Seagull, trans. Frayn, Michael (London: Methuen, 1993), p. 1Google Scholar.

10. Gorchakov, N. M., Stanislavsky Directs, trans. Goldina, Miriam (New York: Limelight, 1991), p. 143Google Scholar.

11. Stanislavsky, K. S., The Stanislavsky Legacy: Comments on Some Aspects of an Actor's Art and Life, trans. Hapgood, Elizabeth Reynolds (London: Max Reinhardt, 1958), p. 98Google Scholar.

12. Benedetti, J. N., Stanislavsky: a Biography, p. 107.

13. Benedetti, J. N., trans., The Moscow Art Theatre Letters (London: Methuen, 1991), p. 33Google Scholar.

14. Ibid.

15. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V., My Life in the Russian Theatre, p. 19.

16. Yermilov, V., Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, trans. Litvinov, Ivy (Moscow: Moscow Publishing House, 1946), p. 147Google Scholar.

17. Polyakova, E., Stanislavsky, p. 29.

18. Letter to Suvorin cited in Styan, J. L., Realism and Naturalism: Modern Drama in Theory and Practice, 1 (Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 77Google Scholar.

19. Styan, J. L., Realism and Naturalism, p. 77.

20. Melchinger, S., Anton Chekhov (New York: Ungar, 1972), p. 67Google Scholar.

21. Ibid., p. 9.

22. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V., My Life in the Russian Theatre, p. 63.

23. Stanislavsky, K. S., Building a Character, trans. Hapgood, Elizabeth Reynolds (London: Methuen, 1988), p. 121Google Scholar.

24. Gorchakov, N. M., Stanislavsky Directs, p. 318.

25. Cited in Magarshack, D., The Real Chekhov: an Introduction to Chekhov's Last Plays (London: Allen and Unwin, 1972), p. viiiGoogle Scholar.

26. Styan, J. L., Realism and Naturalism, p. 89.

27. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V., My Life in the Russian Theatre, p. 162.

28. Benedetti, J. N., Stanislavsky: a Biography, p. 76.

29. Stanislavsky, K. S., An Actor Prepares, trans. Hapgood, Elizabeth Reynolds (London: Methuen, 1980), p. 250Google Scholar.

30. Cited in Toporkov, V. O., Stanislavsky in Rehearsal: the Final Years, trans. Edwards, Christine (New York: Theatre Arts, 1979), p. 62Google Scholar.

31. Chekhov, A., The Seagull, p. 65.

32. Stanislavsky, K. S.Selected Works, trans. Yankilevsky, V. (Moscow: Raduga Press, 1984), p. 126Google Scholar.

33. Theatre Institute, , Prague, 48th Publication, Konstantin Sergeyvich Stanislavsky, trans. Eisterava, Jean (Prague: Theatre Institute, 1963), p. 44Google Scholar.