The What Happened of Experience: Reflections on the practice of The Method of Analysis through Action

Achieving a genuine connection between the actor’s felt experience and the need to speak words is the holy grail of many rehearsal processes; words spoken from an impulse beyond mere ink on the page. This is the promise the actor presents to audience. In this article I reflect on The Method of Analysis through Action as a means of achieving this. The role of this rehearsal process is beginning to play an increasingly important part in our understanding of Stanislavski’s work thanks in large part to the many excellent teachers and writers who are bringing the latter period of his work to the fore. Here, I will consider the use of this process as both a means of rehearsal and training following on a three week collaborative research project entitled The Russian Connection which brought together professional actors steeped in the British tradition alongside British drama student graduates to explore the method in practice. Particular attention was paid to the nature of the collaborative relationships in the rehearsal room alongside the practical impact of conversations between actors and directors. A recurring theme contained within is that by putting the primacy of the actor’s individual experience at the heart of the creative process we change the nature of the relationship between actor and director in the rehearsal room significantly.