Drama Strategy: Stanislavski's Three Circles of Attention

As all teachers working in secondary drama well know, Konstantin Stanislavski was a Russian theatre director whose system is the foundation of naturalistic theatre styles and of various offshoot systems including modern method acting techniques used religiously by actors such as Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.

Stanislavski rose to fame in helping actors to make their performances more truthful and less showy. If the actor feels the character's emotions, the performance is more genuine. If, for example, you're playing Romeo or Juliet then you need on some level to feel genuinely in love with that other character show after show. However, if the other actor is just the worst type of person off stage and you can't bear to be with them, how do you see the character and not the actor? This is where some of Stanislavski's techniques can make a significant difference.