Cara Winterbottom

[This article is part of a series about how to craft an intentional life using ideas and tools from Constantin Stanislavski’s acting system for working on our inner motive forces. Previous article: Imagination Part 2: Prompts ] In the previous two chapters, I discussed imagination and Stanislavski’s belief in its power to motivate us and move us to action. He believed this would only be the case if our imaginings were actively pursued, coherent and grounded in reality. Stanislavski made it clear that the use of imagination was only effective for developing a believable character (or, in our case, a future goal) if imagined events were achievable. This is where the idea of given circumstances comes in. In the theatre, given circumstances means “ the story of the play, its facts, events, epoch, time and place of action, conditions of life, the actors’ and regisseur’s interpretation, the mise- en- scene, the production, the sets, the costumes, properties, lighting and sound effects, — all...

[This article is part of a series about how to craft an intentional life using ideas and tools from Constantin Stanislavski’s acting system for working on our inner motive forces. Previous article: Imagination Part 1: The Magic If ] In the previous chapter, I discussed how Stanislavski saw imagination as an important tool of the Intellect. I also introduced the Magic If , Stanislavski’s mechanism for stimulating imagination in our daily lives. Using the Magic If , observing the world around us, and embracing our sensory experiences are excellent ways to trigger the imagination. Even so, imagination can be difficult to prompt if our emotions are not in the right place - we are not in the mood - or we have mental blocks to struggle against. This chapter introduces ideas and techniques from Stanislavski that prompt a reluctant imagination. How to prompt the imagination It’s all very well to say ‘use your imagination’ but that can be difficult to do in each moment. It is well-recognised i...