Language Russian Originally published 1949 Preceded by An Actor Prepares Country Soviet Union | Media type Print Subject Acting Followed by Creating a Role | |
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Original title Работа актера над собой Translator Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood Similar Constantin Stanislavski books, Actor books | ||
Building a Character (Russian: Работа актера над собой) is the second of stage actor/director Constantin Stanislavski's three books on his method for learning the art of acting. It was first published in Russian in 1949. Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood's seminal English translation was published by Theatre Art Books of New York in 1949.
In Stanislavski's most widely read work, An Actor Prepares, he describes a process by which an actor imagines the character he will become. In Building a Character, he explains that the outward expressions of character must flow from that character's inner life: his memories, beliefs, preoccupations, and so on. He then elaborates ways in which the actor's manner of speech, dress, and movement (gestures, facial expressions, etc.) evidence the character's inner experience.
Contents
- Toward a Physical Characterization
- Dressing a Character
- Characters and Types
- Making the Body Expressive
- Plasticity of Motion
- Restraint and Control
- Diction and Singing
- Intonations and Pauses
- Accentuation: The Expressive Word
- Perspective in Character Building
- Tempo-Rhythm in Movement
- Speech Tempo-Rhythm
- Stage Charm
- Toward an Ethics for the Theatre
- Patterns of Accomplishment
- Some Conclusions on Acting