The Influence Of The Seagull On The Formation Of Stanislavsky System

It was in the direction and performance of The Seagull that Stanislavsky completed his key transition of dramatic ideas from the outer truth to the inner truth, which established an important theoretical foundation for his artistic pursuit in the later period. "The inner truth" has also become a key concept of Stanislavsky system, or method.The Seagull was considered as an aesthetic declaration of Moscow Art Theatre. It was the first step that the theatre took bravely on the road to dramatic innovation. None of the other dramas could ever reach what The Seagull had achieved in the history of Moscow Art Theatre. Stanislavsky was not originally aware of the innovative meaning and value of Chekhovian drama, because he had attached great importance to the presentation and demonstration of the outer truth, and hadn't realized that the inner movements and the inner truth were much more important. But Denchenko insisted on putting on The Seagull, because he thought that it was a drama that embodied the contemporary spirit, and with the performance of such a drama the theatre could obtain a real birth.Chekhov maintained that the drama should display daily life, but he believed that the more important thing to be displayed should be the inner life compared with daily life. This dramatic idea had similarities with those of other innovative genres such as Zolaism and Symbolism, however there still existed substantial differences among them, which were the unique features of Chekhovian drama. Zolaist regarded drama as the records of the life, while Symbolist denied physical movement in the drama. But Chekhov thought drama was neither a Zolaism-like description of daily life, nor an inquiry into secret psychological movement. He deemed that the drama was a poetical manifestation of a more complex and subtle inner life behind daily life.In the process of directing The Seagull, Stanislavsky started the exploration of the methods to express "the inner truth", in which there still existed some problems. In Chekhovian drama, conflict was just an incident, with no special significance. But Stanislavsky exaggerated the function of the conflict. The inner truth Chekhov pursued was that the inner feelings should be displayed implicitly and poetically. The intense conflict would undoubtedly do great damage to the dramatic the poetry and sentiment.Our previous cognition about Stanislavsky system seems over-conceptual and superficial. The performance rule "live in play " don't mean that actors must present the daily life directly or vivid imitation on the stage. The purpose for which Stanislavsky demanded actors to experience life was to awake their emotional memory. Actors must perform the experience artistically. Stanislavsky believed that "the inner truth" was an organic synthesis of the outer performance and inner experience. This kind of truth must not only be based on real life, but also be looked upon as the artistic fabrication and the poetic expression of life experience.