Overview

• Alexander Pushkin (1799 - 1837)

• Well know for his poems and novels
• Brought up in a distinguished Russian family (Well known to the bourgeois)
• As a child Pushkin went to school outside St Petersburg where he made a reputation being a poet and was interested in politics

• After his death, every year there is a 'Pushkin Prize' which is given to the most literate in the country
• 1831 - After reading Gogol's 'Evening on a farm' he turned to the idea of realism
• His stage design was very realistic, as well as costume (Where do we see this..?)
• Influenced Stanislavskiby his 'psychological realism' as he concluded the best authors are like Shakespeare: Their downfall was the truth of the characters and in order to be good you had to understand the given circumstances (which Stanislavski talks about in his 'System'). - (Whose downfall are we talking about here?)
• Stanislavski used Pushkin's ideas for the rehearsal process of many of his plays (seagull) and mentions it being a huge influence in 'An Actor Prepares'.
• Pushkin influenced Stanislavski in his formulation of the concept of 'Tempo Rhythm' (derived from Pushkin's 'Physical rhythm'). Pushkin used this in his operas, such as 'Eugin Onegin'
• He focussed on the denial of emotions, by creating a backstory in order to make it real)