This book is designed for all members of stage crew who are responsible for maintaining a respectful, inclusive work and artistic environment, and documenting administrative and artistic matters throughout the entire production process. The professional theatre industry desires to understand the process involved in utilizing Intimacy Directors or consultants: industry professionals want to know when Intimacy Directors or intimate staging are required and how to build a more supportive and consensual working environment in these scenarios. Empowers theatre artists with tools and techniques to assist in the creation of a supportive and consensual working environment, and recommended practices and protocols for maintaining intimate staging during the run of a production.

This is the first book of its kind to explain and detail research for practice for actors. The book has a versatile approach that offers meaningful points of intersection in a variety of performance-based contexts, and avoids enshrining a set methodology or praxis which might be perceived as conflicting with other approaches. This is a supplementary text designed to support study and training across programs of performance study.

A broad-ranging guide to the process, collaborations and lasting influences of one of Europe's leading Twentieth Century actor trainers. Written for students and scholars of Theatre Studies, particularly acting, directing, European theatre and 20th Century theatre. By far the most comprehensive and up to date setting out of Meyerhold's role in theatre.

This book provides a fascinating and concise history of devised theatre practice. As both a founding member of Philadelphia's Pig Iron Theater Company and a Professor, Telory Arendell begins this journey with a brief history of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and Living Newspapers through Brecht's Berliner Ensemble and Joe Chaikin's Open Theatre to the racially inflected commentary of Luis Valdez's Teatro Campesino and Ariane Mnouchkine's collaboration with Theatre de Soleil. This book explores the impact of devised theatre on social practice and analyzes Goat Island's use of Pina Bausch's gestural movement, Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed in Giving Voice, Anna Deavere Smith's devised envelope for Verbatim Theatre, The Tectonic Theatre Project's moment work, Teya Sepinuck's Theatre of Witness, Pig Iron's use of Lecoq mime to build complex physical theatre scripts, and The Riot Group's musical arrangement of collaborative devised text. Included are a foreword by Allen J. Kuharski and three devised plays by Theatre of Witness, Pig Iron, and The Riot Group. Replete with interviews from the initial Pig Iron collaborators on subjects of writing, directing, choreographing, teaching, and developing a pedagogical platform that supports devised theatre.

Vince introduces readers to the sources of information available to the theatre historian, and to some of the methods that have been used in the interpretation of that evidence. He provides an analytical survey of the principal written and artifactual evidence for the history of the Renaissance theatres of Italy, Spain, England, and France. The book includes a discussion of the various types of evidence available to the theatre historian, with special reference to those sources that have proved to be of central importance, and an evaluative sketch of some of the most significant scholarship. Wherever possible, the reader is directed to original documents and sources that reproduce primary evidence. Each chapter concludes with a reference bibliography.

Introduces and explores the concept of embodied truthfulness, a powerful approach that expands on the Meisner technique using meditation and mindfulness. Addresses the challenges unique to actors post-coronavirus and working in the now accelerated numbers of digital auditions, rehearsals, performances, and projects. Emphasizes practical exercises in each chapter, deepening the unique power of the Meisner technique by bringing in complimentary mindfulness meditation techniques, something considered by many Meisner experts to be an impossible union.

Introduces and explores the concept of embodied truthfulness, a powerful approach that expands on the Meisner technique using meditation and mindfulness. Addresses the challenges unique to actors post-coronavirus and working in the now accelerated numbers of digital auditions, rehearsals, performances, and projects. Emphasizes practical exercises in each chapter, deepening the unique power of the Meisner technique by bringing in complimentary mindfulness meditation techniques, something considered by many Meisner experts to be an impossible union.

This book provides the first comprehensive study of Anthony Neilson's unconventional rehearsal methodology. Neilson's notably collaborative rehearsal process affords an unusual amount of creative input to the actors he works with and has garnered much interest from scholars and practitioners alike. This study analyses material edited from 100 hours of footage of the rehearsals of Neilson's 2013 play Narrative at the Royal Court Theatre, as well as interviews with Neilson himself, the Narrative cast and actors from other Neilson productions. Replete with case studies, Gary Cassidy also considers the work of other relevant practitioners where appropriate, such as Katie Mitchell, Forced Entertainment, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Complicite's Simon McBurney, Stanislavski and Sarah Kane. Contemporary Rehearsal Practice will be of great interest to scholars, students and practitioners of theatre and performance and those who have an interest in rehearsal studies.

The Routledge Companion to Performance Practitioners collects the outstanding biographical and production overviews of key theatre practitioners first featured in the popular Routledge Performance Practitioners series of guidebooks. Each of the chapters is written by an expert on a particular figure, from Stanislavsky and Brecht to Laban and Decroux, and places their work in its social and historical context. Summaries and analyses of their key productions indicate how each practitioner's theoretical approaches to performance and the performer were manifested in practice. All 22 practitioners from the original series are represented, with this volume covering those born after 1915. This is the definitive first step for students, scholars and practitioners hoping to acquaint themselves with the leading names in performance, or deepen their knowledge of these seminal figures.

Partners of the Imagination is the first in-depth study of the work of John Arden and Margaretta D'Arcy, partners in writing and cultural and political campaigns. Beginning in the 1950s, Arden and D'Arcy created a series of hugely admired plays performed at Britain's major theatres. Political activists, they worked tirelessly in the peace movement and the Northern Ireland 'Troubles', during which D'Arcy was gaoled. She is also a veteran of the Greenham Common Women's Peace camp. Their later work included Booker-listed novels, prize-winning stories, essays and radio plays, and D'Arcy founded and ran a Woman's Pirate Radio station. Raymond Williams described Arden as 'the most genuinely innovative' of the playwrights of his generation, and Chambers and Prior claimed that 'The Non-Stop Connolly Show', D'Arcy and Arden's six-play epic, 'has fair claim to being one of the finest pieces of post-war drama in the English language'. This study explores the connections between art and life, and between the responsibilities of the writer and the citizen. Importantly, it also evaluates the range of literary works (plays, poetry, novels, essays, polemics) created by these writers, both as literature and drama, and as controversialist activity in its own right. This work is a landmark examination of two hugely respected radical writers.

Provides a clear and structured guide to how psychology affects circus performance and how it can be managed effectively. Written for professional circus performers and their trainers, either in professional settings or circus schools. No other book on this topic exists, with Circus Psychology being the first and only to cover the subject comprehensively.

Unparalleled insights from some of the world's foremost practitioners of clowning. The Origins/Influences/Technique/Philosophy structure allows direct comparisons between varied figures. An opening history of clowning puts the interviews and their findings into context.

Unparalleled insights from some of the world's foremost practitioners of clowning. The Origins/Influences/Technique/Philosophy structure allows direct comparisons between varied figures. An opening history of clowning puts the interviews and their findings into context.

This practical guide presents a wide array of games and exercises designed to develop the players observation, imagination, presentation and self-confidence. This long-awaited new edition has been fully revised and extended, now including example workshops and an index of games to help instructors get the most out of the exercises in rehearsals, workshops and classes. Christine Poulter shares what she has learned from her students over the years, and opens up the language of the book to the worlds of youth work, healthcare, the prison service, 'customer care', management training, and secondary school education. This is an essential resource for directors, drama teachers, and students of Drama, Theatre and Performance at all levels. It will also be useful to anyone looking to improve their presentation skills.

The starting point for virtually all theatre is studying the play script, but what does this involve? "Interpreting the Play Script: Contemplation and Analysis" argues that one type of analysis cannot fit every play, nor does one method suit every theatre artist or collaborative team. The first text to combine traditional and non-traditional models, it gives students a range of tools with which to approach different kinds of performance. Supported by pragmatic questions, practical exercises and sources for further reading, this book will challenge students and theatre practitioners to engage with the play using both analysis and contemplation. It is essential reading for anyone wanting to unlock and more fully understand the performance potential of any play.

1. The last specialised study of Deburau (the most famous and influential mime actor of all time) in French or English was the biography by Tristan Remy in 1954, Jean-Gaspard Deburau. 2. This book is very wide-ranging: starting with Deburau's Pierrot figure, it discusses nineteenth-century theatre, novels, poetry, society, and twentieth-century echoes in cinema and modern mime. 3. Readers who think they know who and what 'Pierrot' is (and was) will be surprised by what they find in this book; for example, his relation to colonialism and race. 4. There are 26 figures in the book, all of them discussed in depth. 5. Deburau is well-known among scholars, and the wider public know his image even if they can't necessarily put a name to it, but he has never been studied through such a wide range of manuscript as well as published sources, many of them identified for the first time.

* This book expands on content, history and perspectives of the Stanislavski actor lineage. * This book analyzes history, lineage and contemporary experiential aspects of performance, focusing on its peculiar research that deals with truth, trance and attention. * This book fill existing gaps in contemporary studies, particularly in English, related to the theory, practice, history and aims of a conscient use of altered states of consciousness as a work on the self in acting and performance.

* This book expands on content, history and perspectives of the Stanislavski actor lineage. * This book analyzes history, lineage and contemporary experiential aspects of performance, focusing on its peculiar research that deals with truth, trance and attention. * This book fill existing gaps in contemporary studies, particularly in English, related to the theory, practice, history and aims of a conscient use of altered states of consciousness as a work on the self in acting and performance.

"Refreshing and imaginative, this book teaches through enhanced awareness and instructs through clear and specific exercises." Cicely Berry A practical course for actors and other professional voice-users to achieve clarity and expressivity with the voice. Setting out the fundamental principles of voice training, the book provides structured and informed methods for developing vocal power, range and flexibility. At the heart of the book are practical projects with exercises which enable you to: - connect your breath with your voice - meet the demands of your performance - use your voice expressively through fully controlling pitch and range Each chapter consists of an introductory framework; explorations; exercises; follow-up work; suggested texts and further reading altogether offering a unique, student-centred approach not found in other voice books. This revised edition speaks more directly to the actor, rather than the voice teacher, through revised terminology and descriptions, updated references, additional appendices on health and other issues related to trends in contemporary drama and questions of equality, diversity and inclusion with respect to vocabulary and suggested texts. Includes forewords by Cicely Berry and Fiona Shaw.

Outlines key physical and mental preparation tips and skills for students training to become performers. This book is meant to serve as a companion to live instruction in acting, musical theatre, theatre movement, physical theatre, and dance classes, encouraging a deeper analysis of studio work to ignite thoughtful in-class discussions, innovative research, and creativity in performance. Focuses on the development of the actor-dancer, instead of prioritizing one over the other.

Outlines key physical and mental preparation tips and skills for students training to become performers. This book is meant to serve as a companion to live instruction in acting, musical theatre, theatre movement, physical theatre, and dance classes, encouraging a deeper analysis of studio work to ignite thoughtful in-class discussions, innovative research, and creativity in performance. Focuses on the development of the actor-dancer, instead of prioritizing one over the other.

Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond brings together a community of international practitioner-researchers who explore voice through soma or soma through voice. Somatic methodologies offer research processes within a new area of vocal, somatic and performance praxis. Voice work and theoretical ideas emerge from dance, acting and performance training while they also move beyond commonly recognized somatics and performance processes. From philosophies and pedagogies to ethnic-racial and queer studies, this collection advances embodied aspects of voices, the multidisciplinary potentialities of somatic studies, vocal diversity and inclusion, somatic modes of sounding, listening and writing voice. Methodologies that can be found in this collection draw on: eastern traditions body psychotherapy-somatic psychology Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method Authentic Movement, Body-Mind Centering, Continuum Movement, Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy Fitzmaurice Voicework, Linklater Technique, Roy Hart Method post-Stanislavski and post-Grotowski actor-training traditions somaesthetics The volume also includes contributions by the founders of: Shin Somatics, Body and Earth, Voice Movement Integration SOMart, Somatic Acting Process This book is a polyphonic and multimodal compilation of experiential invitations to each reader's own somatic voice. It culminates with the "voices" of contributing participants to a praxical symposium at East 15 Acting School in London (July 19-20, 2019). It fills a significant gap for scholars in the fields of voice studies, theatre studies, somatic studies, artistic research and pedagogy. It is also a vital read for graduate students, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.

Talk-show confessions, online rants, stand-up routines, inspirational speeches, banal reflections and calls to arms: we live in an age of solo voices demanding to be heard. In The Contemporary American Monologue Eddie Paterson looks at the pioneering work of US artists Spalding Gray, Laurie Anderson, Anna Deavere Smith and Karen Finley, and the development of solo performance in the US as a method of cultural and political critique. Ironic confession, post-punk poetry, investigations of race and violence, and subversive polemic, this book reveals the link between the rise of radical monologue in the late 20th century and history of speechmaking, politics, civil rights, individual freedom and the American Dream in the United States. It shows how US artists are speaking back to the cultural, political and economic forces that shape the world. Eddie Paterson traces the importance of the monologue in Shakespeare, Brecht, Beckett, Chekov, Pinter, O'Neill and Williams, before offering a comprehensive analysis of several of the most influential and innovative American practitioners of monologue performance. The Contemporary American Monologue constitutes the first book-length account of US monologists that links the tradition of oratory and speechmaking in the colony to the appearance of solo performance as a distinctly American phenomenon.

The popularity of participatory work with audiences is greater than ever, but the invitation to participate is rarely given attention as a feature of performance, or an important element of practice in its own right. This book presents a theory of audience participation in the theatre, based on the importance of the moment of invitation and how an event changes character when such an invitation is made. The materials from which theatre performance is made expand to include the audience participant's body and social being, with the participant's prior experience and expectations, and their embodied, affective response to the performance becoming of vital importance. Attending to this expanded set of performance media allows us to begin to articulate the aesthetics of participation, and thereafter to consider the ethics and politics of participation more precisely.

Performing in Contemporary Musicals brings into sharp focus the skills performers must possess when tackling shows that are newly written, in development, or somewhere in between. The authors bust myths about contemporary musical theatre and analyze the development timelines of musicals from around the world. They also explore how performers can become invaluable to a creative team by developing the skills needed to move a new musical forward including: contemporary acting and singing techniques, dramaturgy, quickly picking up new material, and collaboration. Each chapter features insightful industry interviews, recommended activities, an extensive reading list, and an online companion for further study. This textbook is the only comprehensive resource that provides an overview of the development process of a new musical while guiding musical theatre performers to be fruitful collaborators in a new works scenario.