The magic If

Another Stanislavski technique that is part of the system is the “Magic If”, the “Magic If” technique was created by Stanislavsti to draw believable emotion from actors simply by having actors ask a “what if” question to themselves and their characters. This question is “What if I were in the same situation as my character”, or "What would I do if I found myself in this (the character's) circumstance?” by using this technique and asking these questions the theatrical actions of the actors would be believable and therefore 'truthful. Our BTEC level three drama class learned this technique and practiced it, our tutor put us in groups of three where we performed devised scenes until a certain point and then the rest scenes where improvised realistically to show how you would react to that particular situation, our tutor gave each group the same scenario which consisted of a male walking into a home and the reactions of people there. This exercise requires an actor to think about what they would do if this had happened to them. For example when my co performer “Ryan” walked on stage I raised my voice and shouted “What are you doing” and as the scene developed I said “I don’t care, listen you need to leave or I’m going to call the police” and then I grabbed his collar because these actions are identical to what I would do in real life and these elements helped me convey an emotional performance. Stanislavski believed that the truth shown on stage and the truth that of real lifer were different but however by using this technique a “scenic truth” could be achieved.