Building A Character

Stanislavski's theory of method acting requires actors to dip into their personal emotional wells to achieve verisimilitude in their roles. As such, actors are expected to exercise self-reflection regularly as part of their technique. Stanislavski's techniques for building a character are as useful to the lay person as to the actor--they are practical lessons in self-control. If practiced habitually, such technical awareness will expand one's moral perception as well as one's emotional depth, making one a more sensitively attuned actor in the world.

In his most famous book, An Actor Prepares, Stanislavski dealt with the imaginative processes. In the second book, Building a Character, he deals with the physical realisation of character on the stage, expressions, movement and speech etc. It is a book in which every theory is inextricably bound up with practice - a perfect handbook to the physical art of acting. The work of Stanislavski has inspired generations of actors and trainers. This edition, now reprinted with a new cover at a more accessible price, has stood the test of time for actors all over the world and was the original English language translation.