Output details

Using Stanislavsky's Toolkit for Shakespeare's Richard III, Part I: Research on the Text and the Play

Part II: Research on the Self in the Play

Each new encounter with Stanislavsky’s work highlights different aspects of acting processes. In recent years, Merlin has been struck by his emphasis on three particular avenues of research: 1) research on the text, 2) research on the realm of the play and the playwright, and 3) research on the self. Using the role of Margaret in Richard III – in which she was directed by Shakespeare veteran, Tina Packer, at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in 2012 – Merlin investigates the ways in which each of these three lines of enquiry can provoke new interpretative choices for the actor. Part 1 addresses ‘research on the text’ and ‘research on the realm of the play and the playwright’. Merlin begins with the necessity of detailed textual analysis – particularly with the richness of Shakespeare’s plays – and continues with the historical and psychological information surrounding Margaret and the impact of grief. In this first Part, Merlin also argues that Shakespeare and Stanislavsky need not be incompatible bedfellows, as has been mooted by fellow practitioners and scholars. The significance of Stanislavsky-based research for any text is highlighted in these articles, as long as it is used appropriately. Part 2 addresses another aspect of practical research for any practitioners who also teach: the vulnerability required as they step away from the actor-trainer role and immerse themselves as actors in the rehearsal room. The different authorial voices adopted in each of the two parts of the article reflect the differing processes undertaken when researching text or play or self.

N.B. Part 1 was published in Volume 29, Issue 1 of New Theatre Quarterly. Part 2 was published in Volume 29, Issue 2. The output has been submitted in the form of a PDF that merges the two parts.