Stanislavsky

Book excerpt: Konstantin Stanislavsky is one of the colossi not simply of Russian, but American and European theatre. The works of the creator of the Stanislavsky System - which later gave rise to the Method - have tended to shroud him in mystique, leading his followers to revere him as a saint and his detractors to dismiss him out of hand. As Irving Wardle says in his foreword to this edition (1986), David Magarshack's biography - first published in 1950 - offers 'a vigorous, highly readable narrative that succeeds in demystifying the working of the Moscow Art Theatre, and in removing Stanislavsky from his pedestal without cutting him down to size. To his autobiographical writings, Magarshack supplied the companion piece - A Life - and as such it remains unsuperseded.'