This book should be on your bookshelf and it should be worn from reading and re-reading. In this first book of the trilogy (An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role) Stanislavski begins to lay out an approach to acting. Written from the viewpoint of a student in an acting class, the book follows beginning students as they are introduced to basic yet important concepts through lectures, exercises, and happenstance. We learn from them as they struggle, succeed, ask questions, and have breakthroughs. Anyone who has ever been in acting class will identify with the students and their challenges.
This volume covers such important topics as action, imagination, concentration, relaxation, objectives, and communion. We are introduced to emotional memory, the magic if, circles of attention, the unbroken line, and super-objectives. While the last couple of chapters are dense and not as clear as they could be, the book is filled with essential lessons for actors.
A new translation, which combines An Actor Prepares and Building A Character, has recently come out and it is an easier read. I’ll be reviewing that soon but I still encourage you to pick up An Actor Prepares and work your way through it. As you read, make notes in the margins, highlight important passages, and make the book your own. An Actor Prepares is the benchmark for all other books on acting and it should be on your bookshelf.