Emotion memory

Emotion memory is an early element within Stanislavski's system. It requires an actor to call upon a certain emotional memory that has details similar to those that their character is going through. Stanislavski believed that actors needed to take emotion and personality to the stage and call upon said memories when portraying a character. 

We had a workshop with Jill which we explored the use of emotion memory. As a group, some told emotional memories of theirs and then would have to use it to tell another story. For example, Andrew told his own story and then used the emotion to tell the story of the three little pigs and the wolf. 

I think this method is a good way to feel and show the emotion more naturally. However some people believe this method is very draining and mentally exhausting. If say, you perform a show a number of times and have to recall certain memories each time it can leave you feeling very drained. So many people prefer to actually get into the zone of their character and feel the emotion, then as soon as they are off stage that emotion is gone because it wasnt theirs. 

I chose not to do this method because i felt like, if i was concentrating on a memory i would feel less focused on the scene and making it more natural.