Well..

 The actor, director and theoretician was "racked by self-doubt" when he performed. He became increasingly dissatisfied with what he thought were painfully self-conscious performances that were imitative and conventional.

I think all of us actors can relate. And think his spirit of tenacity in his search to "solve the riddle" of acting can inspire us to achieve greatness in our acting this year.

January 17, 2024 will mark the anniversary of his birth in 1863. And his struggle "against the formulaic, the conventional, the self-referential" is why we call him "Stan the Man".

Here's how it went down...

Stan the Man founded a theater company called the Moscow Art Theater where he acted and directed.

After a string of particularly bad performances, Stan decided to take a break and live in Italy to "solve the riddle".

(You can do cool stuff like this when you are the heir to one of the richest families in Russia.)

Simon Callow writes, "So while in Italy, he closely observes great actors such as Tommaso Salvini and Eleanora Duse and trying fathom what appeared to be their effortless inspiration.  He came to the conclusion that they believed in what they were doing, and this belief gave them the capacity to be true to their inner emotion, despite the public nature of the stage; it created great relaxation." 

So, Stan the Man started to ask himself: How can I construct a role so I can believe every moment of it and then find natural relaxation which brings about a genuine spontaneous freedom?

His first stab at solving the riddle was that he thought a performance needs to be based on personal experiences or memories of behavior.

"Armed with his self-discoveries - the principles of belief based on the use of personal memories, relaxation and action - he triumphantly announced to them to the convened Moscow Art Theater group. 'I have discovered the principles of Art!' he cried." (Simon Callow)

The actors collectively rolled their eyes. They didn't believe you could find a systematic approach to acting. They believed in "inspiration" and "fate".

So what conclusion did Stan the Man ultimately make?  What's the solution to the riddle of acting?

Let's just say that he spent 25 years testing and modifying it.  He ultimately backed off making the whole performance "personal".

Callow importantly says, "He pushed his work further and further away from a simple-minded insistence on the primacy of emotion and psychology, exploring physical action and the crucial importance of rhythm in acting."

And FINALLY... (read this next section carefully)

Simon Callow: "Stanislavsky's fascination with human character, its diversity and complexity, has endured, though there remains, embedded in his system, a deep suspicion of actors and their ingrained weakness for self-consciousness, for superficiality, for the convential and imitative - the things if which he so profoundly suspected in himself. He star pupil, Michael Chekhov, though he subscribed Stanislavski's analysis of acting, had a different view of actors." 

"Chekhov believed actors should preserve in themself the first joyous impulses toward acting - at school, at home, in the street - their natural ease of assumption of character, their fantasy, their ready connection their imaginations, and that out of that would come the sense of natural freedom that Stanislavski found so elusive." 

Wishing you LOVE & INSPIRATION in your search for greatness in 2024.

-TD