El quadern de direcció d’«Otello», de William Shakespeare, espeblert per Konstantin Stanislavski

Abstract

This article is a compilation of the conclusions of a seminar where the contents of the direction notebook which Stanislavsky wrote up in Nice in 1929 were analysed in order to direct the group Art's Theatre of Moscow in its play Othello by Shakespeare. After the issue of the notebook' s French edition (Mise en Scene d'Othello. Éditions du Seuil. Paris, 1973), the seminar tried to take out from it the most interesting aspects related to the theatre. Thanks to the accurate instructions given by the master to his group Art's Treatre, the seminar was able to dissect the essential and constant elements of Stanislavsky's work from the text by Shakespeare. The first part of that article, entitled “Directing actors is a dramatic art”, explains the formal keys of the notebook and analyses its dramatic deal, the criterion followed to omit certain parts of the original text, the scenographic conception and the way to deal with the characters. That analysis reveals Stanislavsky's way of adapting Shakespeare to his method of directing actors, which, in short, is equivalent to bringing tragedy to the drama's field. The second part, entitled “Advices given by the master”, emphasizes sorne fragments of the direction notebook of Othello, which can be considered excellent and practical lessons in the field of the self-control of the actor's energy in the performance.