Customer Reviews

Stella Adler on Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov

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This book is a must for serious actors who wish to further their understanding of the great writers for the stage. Before reading this book, I was, as an actor, very intimidated by the works of all three writers, but now feel like I can approach their plays with some degree of clarity and purpose. Adler writes from the point of view of performer, literary analyst, and teacher, a combination that serves to leave the reader inspired to tackle these three catalysts of the theatre.

Whether you are an actor, director, or just someone interested, these lectures of Stella's make you feel as though you are in a class with her, gaining the benefit of her years of experience in the theater. Given her significant experience observing her father (a noteworthy actor) but also her own experience in the famous Group Theater, she has a unique background and a wealth of understanding that fuels her ability to convey the essence of these three playwrights and their works.

Her goal is to get the actor (or director, for that matter) to understand the absolute criticality of getting at the heart and soul of any play and any of the roles (characters) within. In the case of any playwright, Stella Adler points out through wonderful examples that one must not only seek to understand a playwright, but also the time in which he or she lived, all in addition to the time period within the play itself.

Her vibrant soulful expression of the material seems connected itself with grasping the material. She's does not mull over reams of boring details of fringe intellectual material, but rather she's full of uncompromising excitement and clarity about how the material of Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov is full of issues which have stakes that are no different than the sort of dilemma's people deal with today. Yes, some standards and things are different, but that's part of what she helps one to overcome. From what she conveys, I walked away from the book having deep passions for what the different characters had to deal with.

Before I read this book, I had no clue who Ibsen, Strindberg, or Chekhov were. When I got this book, I also picked up a copy of each of the plays she discusses. They were distant to me at first, but I'm grateful I didn't shy away. Immediately, as I started reading her book alongside of each play, she made things seem so clear, exciting, full of life, and comprehensible. It became easy and fun to grasp what could have otherwise been dry and boring and absent of any return.

For example, I had no idea Ibsen could be thought of as one of the first contemporary playwrights covering feminist issues in a serious manner*, but in this book, Stella Adler brings that reality to life. There is fuel for the actor's soul to be had in this sort of understanding because, in a fun and tangible manner, it cultivates an understanding within one's heart of what's at stake, which is connected with the emotions and passions that are required to drive life-filled heightened theatrical action.

* The extent to which Ibsen wrote about feminist issues seems debated, but it seems clear that he did when you consider what Stella Alder passes on, which will have you considering the time in which he wrote it and the criticism he received at that time (Ibsen's "A Doll's House" was scandalous in many mainstream circles of that time). Shaw, who seemed to love "A Doll's House", said of it in a review, "Nora's revolt is the end of a chapter of human history. ..." Stella Adler's book will have you seeing this sort of stuff clearly.

This is definitely a theater must. Stella Adler, probably one of the best American acting teachers talking about three of the greatest playwrights (Ibsen, Strindberg, and Chekhov) ever. It is hard where to categorize this book for it points out ways (or I should say one way for Chekhov) to approach the plays of these Playwrights to the Actor but it is also very academic and analytic of the plays at the same time. Most of the entries, broadly discuss the play going from the actor's point of view to the directors to historical facts to the author's life etc. It is very insightful and inspring but There is only one problem I have with this book is her aggressive assumption that the only approach to Chekhov can be through Stanlisvaski's method and any other way is wrong. Now I agree that Stanislavski goes hand in hand with the Realism period but as Chekhov himself said "I wrote vaudevilles and Stanlisvaski has staged them as sentimental dramas". What is my point? That in theatre you cannot approach everything from one school of thought. We in the Theatre fight too much about Technique instead of moving audiences and transforming them. Still though, this book is worth reading and has great insights on these three playwrights.