Stanislavski’s Method of Physical Actions, and the Emergence of Speech Origination

Abstract

The article by Professor V.N. Galendeyev is a part of his doctoral (DSc) dissertation, Stanislavski’s Teaching on Voice and Speech on Stage, which was written in 1992. However, the Stanislavski Studies journal believes that the fundamental issues raised in it have not lost their significance in the present day. Moreover, today we have a unique opportunity to compare the earlier thoughts of Galendeyev as a scholar to his subsequent, long-term experience as a theatre practitioner. The author of the article is also known to audiences and theatre professionals all over the world as a unique director-teacher, an expert in stage voice and speech. He is the Deputy Artistic Director of the St. Petersburg Maly Drama Theater run by Lev Dodin, where he helped to set up the legendary performances of The House, Brothers and Sisters, Gaudeamus, The Devils, Claustrophobia, A Play without a Title, Moscow Chorus, Life and Fate, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, Cherry Orchard, King Lear, and many others. For over two decades, Professor Galendeyev has been the Head of the Voice and Speech Department at the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy, thus defining the strategy of speech education for many generations of actors of the leading Russian theatre school. And in his everyday rehearsals and classes, he is committed to the subject of this very article – finding a way toward authenticity and meaningfulness of the actor’s stage voice and discovering the depth of the speech origination.