It All Starts with Imagination: Stanislavski in Training

In It All Starts with Imagination, Victoria May gives Konstantin Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares a welcome contemporary facelift, making it a useful teacher's companion in the study of his method.

In the preface, she writes of the misconceptions that surround the practice of Stanislavski – the misunderstanding that, in pursing theatrical truth, his techniques are akin to psychoanalysis. Over the years, his method has become muddled; clumsy attempts to explore emotional memory have left pupils and teachers feeling, at best, uncomfortable, and at worst, extremely vulnerable.

In this book, May attempts to reinject the spirit of playfulness, with the intention of allowing students to enjoy their personal development as actors. She re-examines Stanislavski's intentions in a way that is totally authentic but presents them in easy to digest, step-by-step workshops.