STELLA ADLER: On Imagination

Full of vim and vigour, fun and fire during a script analysis class, the regal grande dame of theatre, Stella Adler preaches the importance of using the imagination. This is from her great lectures on Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” where she’s haranguing students about how to think about using the text, facts, descriptions and stage directions regarding the topography/physical circumstances of the play.
Furthermore, Adler taught that our personal memories, experiences, and identities are naturally part of our imaginations – it’s inescapable. But she didn’t want students to restrict themselves to using their personal past (as Lee Strasberg taught) which debilitates actors, leading to self-indulgent self-portraits and disconnection from the play’s circumstances, the author’s ideas, and the other actors. This is what Stella learned firsthand from Constantin Stanislavski himself. She believed vehemently that actors should use themselves as raw materials to create characters that serve the author’s intentions for the play.

“Don’t use your conscious past. Use your creative imagination to create a past that belongs to your own character. I don’t want you to be stuck with your own life. It’s too little.” – Stella Adler.

Видео STELLA ADLER: On Imagination канала Principe Turandot