Stanislavski's System of Acting and Its Influence in China

The theatrical ideas of Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938), a Russian theater educator and literary theorist, not only laid the foundation for realist acting in twentieth-century Chinese spoken drama, but also provided an important point of reference for its study of traditional Chinese opera’s performance system and the creation of a distinctly Chinese approach to acting. This book discusses the core principles of Stanislavski’s theatrical system, its principal contributions, and its important place in the history of world theater. It explores how his ideas spread through and influenced China, and traces how the Chinese theater world’s reception of them changed across different periods of the twentieth century, including the misunderstandings and misreadings behind both the system’s acclaim and its criticism. The book reexamines the true value of Stanislavski’s theatrical system.