Perspective in acting practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT ”Perspective“ is a notion present in Stanislavski’s “system” but not as commonly used in acting practice as “given circumstances” or “objectives”. It deals with the future and with the verbal action. Its use for actors was renewed by the Russian director Anatoly Vasiliev in his work on conceptual texts using the term “reverse perspective”, which has a rich background in art theory, especially as articulated by Pavel Florensky. “Perspective” itself is a notion that has been considered by many art historians, including Erwin Panofsky. After a workshop led at the Stanislavski symposium in Malta in April 2019, this paper shows concretely how to work with “perspective” on Chekhovian texts, particularly on the monologues of Three sisters. It unveils the meaning of this artistic concept for acting, the sense it has specifically for Stanislavski and Vasiliev and how it transforms the preparation of the actor in approaching a monologue from its end through active visualization.