I am delighted to announce that, after five years of work, Stanislavsky in the World: The System and its Transformation across Continents, has just been published, co-edited with Dr Stefan Aquilina of the University of Malta.
More information can be found by following this link: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/stanislavsky-in-the-world-9781472587886
The book maps the movement of Stanislavsky’s system across five continents, revealing undiscovered paths of transmission and examining wider questions of embodied history and tradition building. To make its point, it focuses on practices beyond Russia and the US – for too long accepted blindly as the two most-developed seats of Stanislavskian practice – and introduces readers and practitioners to new routes in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia and South (Latin) America. We were joined by an internationally broad network of 18 scholars and practitioners to take on some knotty and current questions – of transformation, translation, appropriation and resistance. The book will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to Stanislavsky studies but recent research on theatre and interculturalism, globalisation, and postcolonialism will also be boosted by these findings.
Contributions include:
- Marie-ChristineAutant-Mathieu’s discussion of selected affinities between Stanislavsky and the French Theatre Tradition;
- Franco Ruffini’s detailed account of the 1960 court case in Bari that questioned the reach of Elizabeth Reynolds’ copyright claims on Stanislavsky’s books;
- Stefan Aquilina’s exposition of how the System was processed in the amateur theatre context of Malta;
- Ina Pukelytė’s discussion on a heavily institutionalised reading of Stanislavsky in Lithuania;
- Maria Gaitanidi’s elaboration of Stanislavsky’s impact on both modern theatre and contemporary actor training in Greece;
- Siyuan Liu’s analysis of Stanislavsky’s impact on a Chinese School of Performance and Directing;
- Raúl Serrano’s teacher-perspective on current Stanislavskian teaching at the Escuela de Teatro de Buenos Aires inArgentina;
- Kene Igweonu’s exposition on Stanislavsky’s interaction with the Nigerian cultural environment as a series of convergences and counterpoints;
- Hilary Halba’s account on the System experienced through the Maori World in New Zealand;
- Syed Jamil Ahmed’s articulation of the System as postcolonial appropriation and assimilation in Bangladesh.
The book’s official launch will be held as follows:
Date: 5th June 2017
Time: 17:00
Venue: Alec Clegg Studio, stage@leeds building, University of Leeds
For more information please contact us on [email protected] or [email protected]
Given the world wide influence of Grotowski and his stated debts to Stanslavsky it is a shame that this aspect of transmission was not included in what promises to be a major contribution.
Many thanks Richard for this observation. Indeed Grotowski’s contribution to Stanislavsky studies and practice is immense. I think on balance we wanted to tell the lesser known stories in this book, and to air some transmission routes which will surprise and provoke. There will of course be gaps but hopefully these will not be fundamental.