Stanislavski in Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner – In the Neighbourhood with Brecht

Abstract

The study introduces a discipline, Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner, which explores a double existence of an actor in the role and the ability of identifying with the role or distancing from it. The principle of identifying corresponds with Stanislavski’s concept of acting of experiencing and the truthful presence on the stage. The principle of distancing is based on anti-illusionist principles of Brechtian and Russian avant-garde theatre. The integration of these antithetic principles is enabled by the actor’s inner partner (inner spectator) which is understood as an integral component of a triadic concept, author–actor–spectator. The discipline was founded by Czech alternative actor, writer and pedagogue Ivan Vyskočil.