Acting Intensive: Stanislavski & The Cherry Orchard

About

A Week of Craft. A Night on Stage.

Are you ready to level up your acting with one of the most legendary techniques in theatre history?

Join our one-week summer intensive where you'll dive deep into the world of Konstantin Stanislavski the father of modern acting and bring Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard to life from the inside out.

This course is for actors, creatives, and the theatre-curious who want to stretch their craft without the pressure of perfection. You'll train hard, laugh often and perform with purpose all in the company of like-minded adults who love great writing and smart theatre. Expect focused technique, collaborative scene work, a lot of "Aha!" moments, and yes, some unexpected laughs too. Because great acting isn't just serious - its alive.

Through scene work and practical exercises you'll explore the Stanislavski Tool kit and the text of the Cherry Orchard. The week ends with a script in hand performance in our Lantern Theatre space, with an invited audience and drinks afterwards in the bar.
Come for the technique. Stay for the Chekhov. Leave with a drink and a story.

Lets bring The Orchard to blossoming life.

What the course consists of:

* How to work with Given Circumstances, Units, Objectives and Actions.
* Working with Text, Subtext and Emotional Memory.
* Method Of Physical Action and Active Analysis.
* How to develop and build authentic characters.
* Exploration of the World of the Play: The Cherry Orchard.
* Rehearsals of selected scenes with direction and guidance.
* A script-in-hand performance in the theatre space.
* Post show feedback with drinks in the bar.

Dates & Times:Monday 18th - Friday 22nd August 2025. Monday to Friday - 10am to 5pm with a 7pm Showing in the Lantern Theatre on the Friday.

[Danile Finlay]

Who is teaching the course?

Daniel Finlay started work backstage in the West End at the age of 15 and later gained his degree in Visual & Performing Arts in 1987 from the University of Brighton.

Since then he has worked extensively as an actor and theatre director. As an actor his work includes; The UK tour of Beyond Reasonable Doubt; Giorgio Joyce in Simples of the Moon at the Lyric, Hammersmith and Dr Harry Trench opposite Lisa Harrow in Widowers Houses. TV credits includes: The Bill, Sherlock Holmes, Londons Burning. As a Director his work includes; Trunks for Brighton Theatre Collective, the site specific Lose the Plot on the Volks Railway for Arts Agenda. Larry by Mark Burgess at Jermyn Street Theatre, London, Screaming Inside, Tristan Bates Theatre, London and recently he has been working with Su Douglas on her solo show Fake It till You Make it. He has directed over 30 full scale student productions.

Daniel was an associate producer of Tandem Theatre, whose critically acclaimed productions include: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, PVT Wars and The Games Rule, in Edinburgh, London and on tour.
A seasoned workshop leader, Daniel has coached performers in both the private and corporate sectors as well as lecturing in Performing Arts at various schools and colleges including City College, Brighton and Hove where he was Head of Performing Arts and Media.

The Cherry Orchard -Why It Still Matters:

Stanislavski used The Cherry Orchard to test and develop many of his core ideas:

* Given Circumstances: The social and personal context of the characters
* Objectives & Super-objectives: What do characters want, in each moment and across the play?
* Subtext: Characters rarely say what they mean - how do you act what's beneath the words?
* Emotional truth: Finding personal connection to the characters inner life

This play became a live laboratory for his method and remains a goldmine for actors wanting to explore his techniques in practice. The play is now considered a perfect training ground for actors learning Stanislavski's system.

Stanislavski & The Cherry Orchard: A Defining Collaboration in Theatre History

Konstantin Stanislavski (18631938) wasn't just a towering figure in theatre - he changed acting forever. His revolutionary ideas on truthful, psychological performance became the foundation of modern acting but whats often overlooked is how Anton Chekhov's plays, especially The Cherry Orchard, were central to Stanislavski's development and legacy.

The Meeting of Two Giants

In 1898, Stanislavski co-founded the Moscow Art Theatre with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. This company became the birthplace of a new kind of naturalistic theatreemotionally rich, deeply human, and grounded in real life.
Enter Anton Chekhov, Russias literary genius.

Chekhov was writing plays that were unlike anything else at the time: subtle, layered, often more about what wasn't said than what was. He hated melodrama. He wanted actors to explore inner life, subtext, and the quiet tragedy (and comedy) of everyday existence.
Stanislavski was the perfect match.
The Cherry Orchard (1904): Their Final Collaboration
The Cherry Orchard was Chekhov's last play and premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904, directed by none other than Stanislavski himself. This production marked the final and most iconic partnership between these two theatre legends.

But it wasn't smooth sailing. Chekhov wrote The Cherry Orchard as a comedy, even calling it a comedy in four acts. Stanislavski staged it as a tragedy leaning into the melancholy, the fading aristocracy, the sense of loss. Chekhov was furious, claiming Stanislavski missed the humor and lightness. Yet... the production was a triumph. It helped define modern theatre and showed how subtle human emotions could hold an audience spellbound.