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 * Sandbox for the article Art of experiencing

The art of experiencing is a critical term used by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski in his 'system' to describe his own approach to acting. The term comes from his acting manual, which in the USA was released as An Actor Prepares (1936) while in the USSR a more substantial edition appeared under the title An Actor's Work (1938). For Stanislavski, experiencing a role means to "experience feelings analogous to it each and every time you do it." Not all emotional experiences are appropriate, however; the actor's feelings must be relevant and parallel to the character's experience. Stanislavski identifies the Italian tragedian Tommaso Salvini, whose performance of Othello he had admired in 1882, as the finest representative of the art of experiencing approach to acting. Salvini had disagreed with the French actor Cocquelin over the role emotion ought to play in the actor's performance; Stanislavski approvingly quotes Salvini when he insists that the actor should really feel what he or she portrays, not merely in rehearsals when preparing the role but also "at every performance, be it the first or the thousandth." On this basis, Stanislavski contrasts his art of experiencing approach with the "art of representation" practised by Cocquelin, in which experiencing forms one of the preparatory stages only; despite this distinction, however, Stanislavskian theatre, in which actors "experience" their roles, remains "representational" in the broader critical sense. While he recognises the art of representation as being capable of the creation of genuine works of art, Stanislavski rejects its technique as "either too showy or too superficial" to be capable of the "expression of deep passions" and the "subtlety and depth of human feelings."

Stanislavski defines the actor's "experiencing" as playing "credibly," by which he means "thinking, wanting, striving, behaving truthfully, in logical sequence in a human way, within the character, and in complete parallel to it", such that the actor begins to feel "as one with" the role. The process of experiencing is used to create the inner, psychological aspect of a role, endowing it with the actor's individual feelings and own personality. Stanislavski argues that this creation of an inner life should be the actor's first concern.

Quotations from An Actor's Work (1938)
The actor and the spectator "surrendered totally to what was happening" and shared the same emotion.

"[I]t is always best when an actor is completely taken over by the play. Then, independent of his will, he lives the role, without noticing how he is feeling, not thinking about what he is doing, and so everything comes out spontaneously, subconsciously. But, unfortunately, this is not always within our power to control."

the indirect influence of the conscious mind on the subconscious. "Certain aspects of the human psyche obey the conscious mind and the will, which have the capacity to influence our involuntary processes." Purpose of psychotechnique is "to rouse and involve the creative subconscious by indirect, conscious means."

One of the fundamental principles of the art of experiencing is "subconscious creation through the actor's conscious psychotechnique. (The subconscious through the conscious, the involuntary through the voluntary.)" Let us leave the subconscious to nature, the magician, and apply ourselves to what is available to us—the conscious approach to creative activity and our psychotechnique. What they teach us, in the main, is that once the subconscious starts working we must try not to get in its way."

like an engineer controlling forces of nature.

"being totally naturalistic in accord with all the laws of human nature"; "psychological realism, or even naturalism, is essential for [the actor] to stimulate the work of the subconscious and produce a burst of inspiration."

"[W]hat is conscious and credible gives birth to truth, and truth evokes belief, and if nature believes in what is happening inside you, then she, too, becomes involved. And in her wake comes the subconscious and, just possibly, inspiration may follow."

The art of experiencing assists the actor to fulfill a fundamental task, he proposes: "the creation of the life of the human spirit in a role and the communication of that life onstage in an artistic form."

"Work through the whole part in this way, and you will then see that every moment of your life onstage will evoke corresponding personal experiences. An unbroken sequence of such moments creates continuous experiencing".

"the actor must not only experience the role inwardly, he musts embody that inner experience physically."

"[The actor] must be concerned not only with his mental apparatus that facilitates the process of experiencing, but even more with his physical apparatus, his body, which conveys his inner feelings in a believable manner—their outer form, their embodiment."

Stanislavski rejects "instinctive actors" who in the absence of a psychotechnique rely on inspiration.

Experiencing makes use of improvisation to give a performance freshness and spontaneity, whereas in the art of representation the performance is fixed once and for all.

He explicitly excludes any form of "mimicry, copying, imitation" from the "real creative work" of the actor. He dismisses the "mere imitation" involved in the practice of what he calls "stock-in-trade acting," which assembles a performance from external clichés and theatrical conventions and offers only a "primitive, formal, outward portrayal of feelings," a "dead mask for non-existent feelings." Imitation for Stanislavski is acting with no psychological content by means of technical tricks-of-the-trade and conventional, external signs. Such acting "illustrates" its roles, he argues.