Stanislavski's Stuff = Chekhov's Gun

Should we schlock up the stage?

“Stanislavsky’s ruined my play.”

Chekhov wrote that about the Moscow Art Theater actor/director who directed and starred in all of his plays. Meyerhold, the Moscow Art Theater’s next famous actor/director agreed with Chekhov after seeing The Cherry Orchard. “….the naturalistic director, profoundly analyzing each separate part of a work, does not see a picture as a whole; fascinated by his filigree work…in the Moscow Art Theater the characters of The Cherry Orchard became real and the mystical lyricism was lost.”

Meyerhold has a variety of bones to pick with naturalism. The idea that the stuff on stage doesn’t just take the audience’s attention - but the actor’s! and a director’s! is new to me. This perspective as an actor first, director next, and audience member last is so rare.

1. We look where the lighting designer looks - that I know.

2. We look where the actors look - that one is more subtle, but obvious once you are aware.

3. We look where the directors look. That’s the unconscious stuff.

So…