Emotional Memory

Extract

In the second chapter of my book Method—or Madness?, the lecture analyzing the chart of the Stanislavsky system, I skipped somewhat cautiously over Item Number 17: “Emotional Memory.” Rather than take the risk, in a public talk, of adding to the dangerous nonsense that has been spread around over the years on this subject, I contented myself with a definition and let it go at that. I also felt that this was one of the most involved elements of technique in the Method and could only ultimately be made clear to the actor through actual classroom work. However, because this subject is one of the most fundamental problems of acting: namely, how to generate real, and at the same time appropriate, emotion, I would now like to expand a bit on this point.