Customer Reviews

Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit

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Easily one of the best books on breaking down Stanislavsky's system in a useful way.

It's not so much that there is anything necessarily new for those who are already familiar with Stanislavsky, but it is the approach that Dr. Merlin takes to present the material in a very accessible and organized way and her ability to perhaps correct some misconceptions about Stanislavsky and his views on the art of acting.

The toolkit is just that - tools for an actor (or director or student or whomever) to evaluate and use when needed. Merlin does not preach Stanislavsky's system as gospel, and neither did Stanislavsky himself. Instead this book becomes your kit full of "trays" of various tools that may or may not come in handy when an acting challenge arises. Some tools you may like and use all of the time without fail, others you may leave in the toolkit in favor of supplementing/replacing with a different approach from another source that works as a better tool for you.

It is the ease of attitude and frankness with the material that won me over with this book and Merlin's personal take on some of the tools that she has found useful or not useful in her own career.

Stanislavsky is too often misunderstood because of our own narrowness to pick and choose segments of his writings and take them out of context without evaluating the entire scope of his ideology - he was a brilliant pioneer in the advancement of the art of acting and Merlin does an excellent job of conveying his spirit through her thoughtful book and transforming his ideas into manageable tools that are so useful for any theatre practitioner today.