Book and video of Stanislavsky's book "The Self-Cultivation of Actors"
Russian and Soviet drama master Konstantin Stanislavsky (КонстантинСтаниславский, 1863-1938) in the 20th century At the beginning, a realistic drama system with experience as the core was established. "Scottish System" is the only comprehensive and complete drama system in the world, and is known as the "Encyclopedia of Drama Creation". Therefore, Stanislavsky became one of the first world cultural celebrities selected by UNESCO.
Chinese academic circles are very familiar with the name Stanislavsky. The systematic theory he founded was translated and introduced in my country in the 1930s, and was applied in stage practice by the first generation of drama directors. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a movement in the theater world to study the "Scottish System" - hiring Soviet experts to give lectures in China and sending Chinese students to study in the Soviet Union. The realist aesthetic principles of the "Scottish System" have had an extremely broad and far-reaching impact on our country's dramatic art.
This article attempts to discuss two very important and popular quotes by Stanislavsky.
"There are no small roles, only small actors."
In 1898, Stanislavsky and the dramatist Nemirovich-Danchenko ( Немирович-Данченко, 1858-1943) co-founded the Moscow Art Theater. On the opening day, June 14, the Art Theater began rehearsing its first play - Tsar Fedor Ivanovich by A. Kon Tolstoy. At the rehearsal, Stanislavsky asked the actors to remember a motto he coined: "There are no small roles, only small actors." ("Нетмаленькихролей, естьнебольшиеактеры.") He explained: Today you will play Hamlet, tomorrow you will play Hamlet. Supporting roles, even if they play supporting roles, actors must play them as artists.
This motto is short and concise, with only six words in the original text and only ten words translated into Chinese, but its meaning is very profound. In other words, actors should do their best no matter what role they play. This is the most basic professional ethics of actors. Every character is important throughout the play. No matter how big or small the role is, as long as you put your heart into it, even a small role can be played brilliantly. A great actor often uses his superb creativity to make ordinary small roles shine. Actors who can play small roles well are truly great actors. What is a young actor? That's because the actor didn't play the role well.
This motto has benefited all members of the Art Theater a lot, greatly improving their obsession and love for art, as well as their perseverance and professionalism for excellence.
In September 1898, the Art Theater rehearsed its second play - Chekhov's "The Seagull". Stanislavsky's wife Maria Lilina (MaрияЛилина, 1866-1943) played the supporting actress Masha in the play. Martha is the daughter of the manor's housekeeper, who has a crush on the young man of the house, but the other party has not noticed her existence at all... Lilina's simple and natural performance style has won the heartfelt love of the audience, adding brilliance to the whole play, and has been well received by the industry People spoke highly of it. She fully embodies the spiritual essence of "there are no small roles, only small actors". Lilina thus set the first milestones for art theater.
In the early 20th century, Stanislavski introduced the "Stanislavsky System" that had been formed and had been used in the performance practice of art theaters since 1909. This played an important role in establishing and consolidating the tradition of realism in art theater. Since then, the Moscow Art Theater has become the highest artistic palace in the Russian drama industry and enjoys a high reputation around the world.
The 1950s was a period of great popularity of the "Scottish System" in our country.
When the Beijing People's Art Theater was built in 1952, an inspiring slogan was put forward: "Build the Beijing People's Art Theater into a theater like the Moscow Art Theater!" It was developed on the basis of the "Scottish System" and the experience of the Moscow Art Theater. Beijing People's Art Theater has always adhered to its artistic beliefs and has become the highest artistic palace in my country's drama industry.
Stanislavsky's "There are no small roles, only small actors" has become the commitment and creed of Beijing People's Art Institute. This sentence has long penetrated into the hearts of everyone in this palace, blended into the blood of artists, and has become their inexhaustible spiritual wealth.
The famous film actor Shu Xiuwen was transferred to the Beijing People's Art Theater in 1957. In the play "Man with a Gun", he played a typist without any lines, only the "click" sound of the typewriter. The Soviet experts in the audience praised: "That typist is a great actor!"
Huang Zongluo, who has played small roles in Beijing People's Art Theater all his life, is known as the "master of one-on-one roles". He even went to the point of going crazy to play the role well. In "Longxugou", he played an old man selling pears. In order to experience life, in the middle of winter, he did "business" with an old man selling pears on the streets of Beijing for half a month. For any small role, the "actor master" can tap out its unique artistic charm.
Because this motto is so popular in the industry, it has become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and many people even do not know that it was said by Stanislavsky. Some people think that this is a "jargon" that has been circulating in my country for a long time. Some people think that it originated from the Beijing People's Art Institute. Some actors said that it was said by their teacher when they were studying at the drama school, and some actors said that it was the words of the director Feng Xiaogang...
This motto has also been misrepresented. An article quoted it as saying: "There are no small actors, only small roles." This completely misunderstood the meaning.
This famous saying even applies to other industries: for everyone who works hard, there will be huge room for improvement in any job.
“You must learn to love the art in your own heart, not yourself in the art.”
Stanislavski’s lifelong struggle for the “system” stems from his love for art. Awe and love. One month before his death, the master published an article in a newspaper, earnestly instructing young artists: "We must bring all the best human thoughts and wishes into the palace of art, and shake off the dust and dirt of life outside the threshold. In this way, Your work will become an eternal festival that makes people’s hearts pure and noble.”
This requires art workers to have noble sentiments, purify their souls, and not allow the filth in life. Bring it into the palace of art. Only a holy mind can create fine works of art and allow the world to be baptized by the spirit. On the contrary, if everything is centered on "me", putting self first, showing off oneself, jealousy, vanity... then this temple will become a place where filth and evil gather together.
How can we avoid the latter situation? The master went on to write: "Learn to love the art in your heart, not yourself in the art." People must love art and put it in the supreme sacred position, above the "ego".
What Stanislavsky said is very profound, full of wisdom and philosophy, and worthy of repeated appreciation and reflection by future generations. Now it has become a wise saying and is widely circulated. In the 1950s and 1960s and the early days of reform and opening up, in my country’s art schools, this thought-provoking aphorism was usually hung on the bedside of students. According to Liao Changyong's recollection: When he was studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, his instructor often told him that he must love the art in his heart, not the self in the art. This sentence had a great impact on him, and now he repeatedly tells his students this. He believes that it is very important to let go of the "I" in your heart, and you cannot always think about expressing yourself and stay outside the role.
It seems that this motto has moved and inspired several generations of people in our country!
I think the Chinese translation of Stanislavsky's sentence is quite accurate and perfect. But as a motto, it can be made more concise, and some words that can be deleted are deleted, such as:
"Love the art in your heart, not yourself in the art."
"Art in love, not oneself in art."
"Art in love, not oneself in art."
These can fully convey its ideological connotation manifest.
But this famous saying has different versions in translation. For example:
"Love the art in your heart, not yourself in the art."
"Love the art in your heart, not yourself in the art."
I think the second half of the sentences in the above two translations are not translated properly, and the conjunction "а" (er) is not translated. Stanislavsky's original intention was to put art first, but it does not mean that if you love art, you should not love yourself. If you do not carefully study the original text and the author's intention, it is easy to translate it like this. Therefore, this kind of translation is quite commonly cited, accounting for almost half of the quotations. If we must translate the word "love" in the second half of the sentence and change it to: "Love the art in your heart, not yourself in the art." It would be impeccable.
In addition, there are also various translations or sayings: "Love the art in your heart, but never love the me in art." "For the art in my heart, not for the sake of the art." Me." "Don't love yourself in art, love the art in your heart." "Learn to love the art in your heart, not the self in the art." And so on. The quoters of such statements may not have read the original text, or may have misread the introduction to Stanislavsky in the original text, or may have read an inaccurate translation, or may have only relied on their own impressions... In any case, they are Dare to write it in an article and publish it in newspapers and periodicals without verifying it.
When writing articles quoting classic quotations, you must be serious and rigorous, otherwise you will misinterpret the classics and blaspheme them. If the source cannot be found and the writing is not very accurate, then do not use quotation marks in the article to let readers understand that this is the general idea and not the original text. If quotation marks are used, they must be accurate (as for the translation, the meaning must be correct, and the text can be relatively free).
In short, Stanislavski is worthy of being a master. These two sentences are concise and comprehensive, but contain rich and profound content. They have become the motto of many artists in the world. These maxims not only inspire the master's colleagues, but even transcend the art world and are of great benefit to everyone.