The Magic If

Part of Stanislavsky's method for acting involves a concept called 'the magic if'. This can exist in two states. The state of how you would react to something if it happened to you as yourself and also how you as your character would react. The thing we focused on in lessons was the reactions you would have to these various situations as yourself. These reactions are what I find to be the most important as they are what will hold the most truth, this is providing that you are carrying out these reactions as you really would and not with an awareness of being a performer or the fact that an audience may be watching. The aim of this concept is to be able to establish a sense of actuality on stage within your character, and therefore create a reality that is truthful and believable. The magic if is designed to unlock those inner and impulsive actions and thoughts that come naturally to you, there should be nothing staged or controlled about the way you react to the what if's. 

This method was explored during our lesson via an exercise that involved half of the class walking around the room as ourselves just going to school. We then would have to respond, as ourselves, to a serious of possibilities we could encounter on our journey. For the most part these were possibilities that could potentially be a reality for a lot of people and therefore weren't as hard to naturally respond to as I could envisage that happening to me. When the what if's became more and more extreme, such as 'You are in love with the floor', it became harder and harder to not think about what your reaction would be. The reason for this is that these more exaggerated and usual if's are further away from the reality we live in and therefore its harder for me to connect and place myself in that situation, therefore effecting how truthful my response would be.