Chekhov Vs Stanislavski

After studying with Stanislavski, Chekhov began to formulate his own methods to better the actor’s ability to become the character. While both theorists sought to develop a source of inspiration, Stanislavski believed this could be pulled from within, whereas Chekhov pulled from outside of the actor (Solomon 13,15). Chekhov viewed Stanislavski’s method of emotional memory as restricting to the actor, as he believed it would “exhaust” the actor and lead to them “imitating themselves” (Brestoff 63). He desired to bring the ideas of imagination, imagery, and physicalization to primary importance in order to “stimulate feeling”, seeing it as more efficient than Stanislavski’s method (Solomon 13, 15). These key points are the basis of Chekhov’s