Consciousness.

Let’s begin with Stanislavski’s quote: ‘Unconscious creativity through conscious technique’.

To have this brief entry on consciousness is to potentially underestimate the importance of the idea. 

The point is to highlight consciousness and what it means to you. Stanislavski’s quote raises two aspects to it.

The practical and objective work in analyzing scripts and preparing your work – the conscious technique. That conscious work comes as a result of your training on how to analyze text, prepare a role, identify genres, recognize TV icons and know what the producers need. 

You can follow any one of a number of methods of work to fulfil this part of your conscious technique work.

Your training and practice of these approaches is what makes it conscious. It’s in your brain. You’ve assimilated the techniques. And when those assimilations have been done properly they will lead to the freeing of the unconscious creativity. 

You do your preparation and then forget about it.

The successful football coach Louis van Gaal puts it this way: ‘We start at the bottom - unconscious and incapable. The next step is conscious and capable, then unconscious and capable.’ 

Stanislavsky’s quote put and end to the argument of technical actors versus natural actors and he did so by linking the two.