Konstantin Stanislavsky transformed theatre in the West and was indisputably one of the twentieth century’s greatest innovators. His life and work mark some of the most significant artistic and political milestones of that tumultuous century, from the emancipation of the serfs to the Russian Revolution. Little wonder, then, that his correspondence contains gripping exchanges with the famous and infamous of his day: men such as Tolstoy, Chekhov, Trotsky and Stalin, among others. Laurence Senelick, one of the world’s foremost scholars of Russian literature, mines the Moscow archives and the definitive Russian edition of Stanislavsky’s letters, to produce the fullest collection of the letters in any language other than Russian. He sheds new light on this fascinating field. Senelick takes us from the earliest extant letter of an eleven-year-old Konstantin in 1874, through his work as actor, director and actor trainer with the Moscow Art Theatre, to messages written just before his death in 1938 at the age of seventy-five. We discover Stanislavsky as son, brother and father, as lover and husband, as businessman and "internal emigre." He is seen as a wealthy tourist and an impoverished touring actor, a privileged subject of the Tsar and a harried victim of the Bolsheviks. Senelick shares key insights into Stanislavsky's work on such important productions as The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, Hamlet, Othello, and The Marriage of Figaro. The letters also reveal the steps that led up to the publication of his writings My Life in Art and An Actor’s Work on Himself. This handsome edition is also comprehensively annotated and fully illustrated.

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.'

Konstantin Stanislavsky transformed theatre in the West and was indisputably one of the twentieth century’s greatest innovators. His life and work mark some of the most significant artistic and political milestones of that tumultuous century, from the emancipation of the serfs to the Russian Revolution. Little wonder, then, that his correspondence contains gripping exchanges with the famous and infamous of his day: men such as Tolstoy, Chekhov, Trotsky and Stalin, among others. Laurence Senelick, one of the world’s foremost scholars of Russian literature, mines the Moscow archives and the definitive Russian edition of Stanislavsky’s letters, to produce the fullest collection of the letters in any language other than Russian. He sheds new light on this fascinating field. Senelick takes us from the earliest extant letter of an eleven-year-old Konstantin in 1874, through his work as actor, director and actor trainer with the Moscow Art Theatre, to messages written just before his death in 1938 at the age of seventy-five. We discover Stanislavsky as son, brother and father, as lover and husband, as businessman and "internal emigre." He is seen as a wealthy tourist and an impoverished touring actor, a privileged subject of the Tsar and a harried victim of the Bolsheviks. Senelick shares key insights into Stanislavsky's work on such important productions as The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, Hamlet, Othello, and The Marriage of Figaro. The letters also reveal the steps that led up to the publication of his writings My Life in Art and An Actor’s Work on Himself. This handsome edition is also comprehensively annotated and fully illustrated.

First published in 1973, this collection of Chekhov's correspondence is widely regarded as the best introduction to this great Russian writer. Weighted heavily toward the correspondence dealing with literary and intellectual matters, this extremely informative collection provides fascinating insight into Chekhov's development as a writer. Michael Henry Heim's excellent translation and Simon Karlinsky's masterly headnotes make this volume an essential text for anyone interested in Chekhov.

Stanislavsky’s system of actor-training has revolutionised modern theatre practice, and he is widely recognised to be one of the great cultural innovators of the twentieth century. The Routledge Companion to Stanislavsky is an essential book for students and scholars alike, providing the first overview of the field for the 21st century. An important feature of this book is the balance between Stanislavsky’s theory and practice, as international contributors present scholarly and artistic interpretations of his work. With chapters including academic essays and personal narratives, the Companion is divided into four clear parts, exploring Stanislavsky on stage, as an acting teacher, as a theorist and finally as a theatre practitioner. Bringing together a dazzling selection of original scholarship, notable contributions include Anatoly Smeliansky on Stanislavsky’s letters; William D. Gunn on staging ideology at the Moscow Art Theatre; Sharon Marie Carnicke and David Rosen on opera; Rosemary Malague on the feminist perspective of new translations; W.B. Worthen on cognitive science; Julia Listengarten on the avant-garde; David Krasner on the System in America; and Dennis Beck on Stanislavsky’s legacy in non-realistic theatre.

Every single artistic endeavor in Stanislavsky's life was achieved in close collaboration with female partners. First, it was his own mother, Elizaveta Alekseyeva, who shaped his personality, and encouraged his exploration of theatre. Then it was his artistic mother, Glikeria Fedotova, who guided him through the ten years of his work. Then Maria Lilina, his wife, who became his best student, and later one of the best actresses of the Art Theatre. It would be impossible to understand Stanislavsky's development as an actor and director without his work with Maria Andreyeva, the 'femme fatale' of turn of the century Russian theatre, or Olga Knipper, whom he directed and acted with for forty years. And near the end of his life, when Stanislavsky introduced the method of physical action (metod phizicheskix deistvii), another woman embraced his work, a young actress named Irina Rozanova. Stanislavsky and Female Actors is the exploration of Stanislavsky's artistic and personal relationship with the leading actresses of the Moscow Art Theatre. It seeks to portray their life-long artistic dialogue and offers a new biographical study of the previously unknown spheres of Stanislavsky's life, as well as the lives of the Moscow Art Theatre's principal actresses.

This volume assesses the contributions of André Antoine, Konstantin Stanislavski and Michel Saint-Denis, whose work has influenced theatre and training for over a century. These directors pioneered Naturalism and refined Realism as they experimented with theatrical form including non-Realism. Antoine and Stanislavski's theatre direction proved foundational to the creation of the director's role and artistic vision, and their influential ideas progressively developed through the stylized theatre of Saint-Denis to the innovative contemporary theatre direction of Max Stafford-Clark, Declan Donnellan and Katie Mitchell.