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Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Theatre, drama > Acting techniques
In the heat of renaissance Italy two houses are at war. One son and one daughter from the opposing families break this bitter conflict by falling in love. Yet, in this whirlwind of enmity, Romeo and Juliet's passion agitates rather than unites the clashing houses, causing a trail of destruction. Locked in a burning embrace, the two young lovers are tragically doomed to live or die together. For the first time, the world-renowned Arden Shakespeare is producing Performance Editions, aimed specifically for use in the rehearsal room. Published in association with the Shakespeare Institute, the text features easily accessible facing page notes - including short definitions of words, key textual variants, and guidance on metre and pronunciation; a larger font size for easier reading; space for writing notes and reduced punctuation aimed at the actor rather than the reader. With editorial expertise from the worlds of theatre and academia, the series has been developed in association with actors and drama students. The Series Editors are distinguished scholars Professor Michael Dobson and Dr Abigail Rokison-Woodall and leading Shakespearean actor, Simon Russell Beale.
The acting process is an interlocking trinity: the person, the actor, and the character. The person has habits and idiosyncrasies cultivated over the years in response to life experiences. The actor may have developed another set of behaviors that manifest themselves during a performance. The exercises within this text will guide the user toward making the necessary choices needed to achieve the extension of self to character whether that involves utilizing personal traits that are congruent to a character's make-up, or discarding personal habits which do not fit. Movement: From Person to Actor to Character concisely collects many common movement principles such as use of breath, alignment, relaxation, imagery, and surroundings. Illustrations are included which provide the actor with a basic knowledge of the human body and function that can serve as a foundation for advanced movement techniques. Case studies outline a variety of characterization projects from a range of well-known plays, to further illustrate some of the exercises within the text. Mitchell's text will be useful for beginning to intermediate movement courses or as a supplement to acting or directing courses, or by actors seeking to enrich their movement technique.
Forty fantastic female speeches for teenagers, all written since the year 2000, by some of the most exciting and acclaimed writers working today. Whether you're applying for drama school, taking an exam, or auditioning for a professional role, it's likely you'll be required to perform one or more monologues, including a piece from a contemporary play. It's vital to come up with something fresh that's suited both to you - in order to allow you to express who you are as a performer - and to the specific purposes of the audition. In this invaluable collection you'll find forty speeches by leading contemporary playwrights including Andrew Bovell, Nadia Fall, Vivienne Franzmann, James Fritz, Stacey Gregg, Arinze Kene, Cordelia Lynn, Lynn Nottage, Chinonyerem Odimba, Evan Placey, Jessica Swale and Tom Wells, from plays that were premiered at many of the UK's most famous and respected venues, including the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, Manchester Royal Exchange, Royal Court Theatre, Bush Theatre, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and VAULT Festival. Drawing on her experience as an actor, director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Trilby James introduces each speech with a user-friendly, bullet-point list of ten things you need to know about the character, and then five ideas to help you perform the monologue. This book also features an introduction to the process of selecting and preparing your speech, and approaching the audition itself. 'Sound practical advice for anyone attending an audition... a source of inspiration for teachers and students alike' Teaching Drama Magazine on The Good Audition Guides
Fall in love with your voice. Get to know how it works. You will soon feel how good it is to sound like you. In The Voice Exercise Book, Jeannette Nelson - Head of Voice at the National Theatre - shares the voice exercises she uses with many of Britain's leading actors to help to keep their voices in shape. Her belief is that all of us, not just actors, can learn to use our voices well. Whether you perform professionally or you just want to be understood clearly and easily, you can improve your voice by knowing how it works and by practising simple exercises. The aim is not to 'fake it' - to try to sound like someone else. It is to find your authentic voice: to be honestly and clearly you in any situation. 'Jeannette's warm-up sessions are tremendous and this book extends those exercises.' Zoe Wanamaker CBE 'Jeannette's knowledge is astonishing, and her approach so gentle and effective.' Derren Brown 'She makes voice production endlessly fascinating and fun. There is no one better.' Rory Kinnear 'A must for anyone who is serious about producing a strong, clean noise from their voice box.' Sir Lenny Henry
Actor Training expands on Alison Hodge s highly-acclaimed and best-selling Twentieth Century Actor Training. This exciting second edition radically updates the original book making it even more valuable for any student of the history and practice of actor training. The bibliography is brought right up to date and many chapters are revised. In addition, eight more practitioners are included - and forty more photographs - to create a stunningly comprehensive study. The practitioners included are: Stella Adler; Eugenio Barba; Augusto Boal; Anne Bogart; Bertolt Brecht; Peter Brook; Michael Chekhov; Joseph Chaikin; Jacques Copeau; Philippe Gaulier; Jerzy Grotowski; Maria Knebel; Jacques Lecoq; Joan Littlewood; Sanford Meisner; Vsevolod Meyerhold; Ariane Mnouchkine; Monika Pagneux; Michel Saint-Denis; W odzimierz Staniewski; Konstantin Stanislavsky; Lee Strasberg The historical, cultural and political context of each practitioner s work is clearly set out by leading experts and accompanied by an incisive and enlightening analysis of the main principles of their training, practical exercises and key productions. This book is an invaluable introduction to the principles and practice of actor training and its role in shaping modern theatre.
Psychophysical Acting is a direct and vital address to the demands of contemporary theatre on today 's actor. Drawing on over thirty years of intercultural experience, Phillip Zarrilli aims to equip actors with practical and conceptual tools with which to approach their work. Areas of focus include:
Psychophysical Acting is accompanied by Peter Hulton 's interactive DVD-ROM featuring exercises, production documentation, interviews, and reflection.
Art mirrors life; life returns the favor. How could nineteenth and twentieth century technologies foster both the change in the world view generally called «postmodernism and the development of new art forms? Scholar and curator Faye Ran shows how interactions of art and technology led to cultural changes and the evolution of Installation art as a genre unto itself - a fascinating hybrid of expanded sculpture in terms of context, site, and environment, and expanded theatre in terms of performer, performance, and public.
Most historians and literary critics describe Spanish Golden-Age society as anti-Semitic, offering, for example,
Psychophysical Acting is a direct and vital address to the demands of contemporary theatre on today 's actor. Drawing on over thirty years of intercultural experience, Phillip Zarrilli aims to equip actors with practical and conceptual tools with which to approach their work. Areas of focus include:
Psychophysical Acting is accompanied by Peter Hulton 's interactive DVD-ROM featuring exercises, production documentation, interviews, and reflection.
An inspiring, hands-on guide to narrative improvisation, by the co-creator and director of the Olivier Award-winning improv show Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. Improvisation is a craft that anyone can learn. When freed from endless rules and rigid approaches and allowed to relax, react instinctively and work seamlessly as a group, improvisers can spontaneously create performances that thrill audiences with their liveness. Drawing on the author's extensive experience teaching and performing around the world, Improv Beyond Rules is a fresh and exciting re-examination of the whole field of improvisation. Starting with the fundamental principles that work for all forms of improvised performance - and the common traps improvisers fall into - it goes on to explore the elements of narrative improvisation, where performers create a story without any predetermined structure: The Moment: How to be authentically 'in the moment' by listening and responding to your fellow performers, accepting their suggestions (not necessarily by always saying 'yes') and committing to whatever happens next. The Scene: How to connect moments together to build a compelling scene and keep it moving forward; why there's no such thing as a mistake; understanding and working with audiences. The Story: How to link scenes to build story and plot; what kids can teach us about storytelling; utilising dramatic structure; developing and playing different types of characters; key principles of staging. Packed with dozens of games and exercises, Improv Beyond Rules will give you the tools to build your confidence, empower your performance, and unlock your creativity. Written for improvisers with any level of experience, this book is also the perfect starting point for directors, teachers, actors or anyone eager to learn how improvisation can benefit both rehearsal and performance. 'Adam transforms the seemingly impossible into something exceptionally practical with his trademark patience, charm and clarity' Mischief Theatre, from their Foreword
This book offers a comprehensive study of the role of dance in a wide range of contemporary Irish plays and argues that dance can be perceived as exemplifying the re-embracement of bodily expression by the local culture. The author approaches this issue from a cultural materialist perspective, demonstrating that dance in twentieth-century Ireland was particularly prone to ideological appropriation and that, consequently, its use in contemporary drama often serves to communicate critical and revisionist approaches to the social, economic and political concerns addressed in these plays. The book makes a valuable contribution to current debates about the nature of Irish theatre, investigating recent changes to its traditional, text-based character. These are examined within two important contexts: firstly, transformations in the perception of the human body in Irish culture and, secondly, changes in the attitude of the Irish towards their past and their cultural heritage.
Over the years there has been much controversy and confusion about the true nature of The Actors Studio, a secluded workshop in New York City that for decades has had a marked influence on the stage and screen and yet functions like a secret society behind closed doors. It all began when Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theater brought its brand of ""realism"" to the United States in 1923. The legendary Group Theater of the 1930s followed. Then came the creation of a studio workshop incorporating the provocative acting and directing techniques of Eliza Kazan, and the emergence of Lee Strasberg as Studio head following Kazan's departure. Strasberg's background and the encounters between him and the actors he guided are presented in detail. The lives and careers of early icons like Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean are examined. Also covered are a progressive trans-Atlantic view of the subject, the Studio's short-lived efforts to form a world-class production company in the 1960s, and a later set of transitions leading to an altered image of the Studio and a change of venue for the 21st century. Such luminaries as these (and many more) have been associated with the Actors Studio: Edward Albee, Lauren Bacall, Glenn Close, Robert DeNiro, Robert Duvall, Danny Glover, Julie Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Mike Nichols, Al Pacino, Julia Roberts, Eva Marie Saint, Neil Simon, Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone, Rod Steiger, Meryl Streep, Eli Wallach, and Tennessee Williams.
Worried about short rehearsal time? Think that fluffing your lines
will be the end of your career? Are you afraid you'll be typecast?
Is there such a thing as acting too much? How should a stage actor
adjust performance for a camera? And how should an actor behave
backstage?
Acting in Musical Theatre remains the only complete course in approaching a role in a musical. It covers fundamental skills for novice actors, practical insights for professionals, and even tips to help veteran musical performers refine their craft. Educators will find the clear structure ideal for use with multiple courses and programs. Updates in this expanded and revised third edition include: A comprehensive revision of the book's companion website into a fully online "Resource Guide" that includes abundant teaching materials and syllabi for a range of short- and long-form courses, PowerPoint slide decks and printable handouts for every chapter. Updated examples, illustrations, and exercises from more recent musical styles and productions such as Hamilton, Waitress, and Dear Evan Hansen. Revision of rehearsal and performance guidelines to help students and teachers at all levels thrive. Updated and expanded reading/listening/viewing lists for specific-subject areas, to guide readers through their own studies and enhance the classroom experience. New notes in the "The Profession" chapters to reflect the latest trends in casting, self-promotion, and audition practice. Acting in Musical Theatre's chapters divide into easy-to-reference units, each containing group and solo exercises, making it the definitive textbook for students and practitioners alike.
Performance practice is the study of how music was performed over the centuries, both by its originators (the composers and performers who introduced the works) and, later, by revivalists. This first of its kind "Dictionary" offers entries on composers, musicians/performers, technical terms, performance centers, musical instruments, and genres, all aimed at elucidating issues in performance practice. This A-Z guide will help students, scholars, and listeners understand how musical works were originally performed and subsequently changed over the centuries. Compiled by a leading scholar in the field, this work will serve as both a point-of-entry for beginners as well as a roadmap for advanced scholarship in the field.
In "Come Closer," community activists, scholars, and theatre artists describe their Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) work and how they are transforming TO for new purposes, new audiences, and new settings. Each chapter features a first-person narrative on how the authors' work both honors and transforms the vision of Augusto Boal, whose imaginative response to human oppression offers the world an aesthetic intervention that has the power to move both the oppressors and the oppressed to the possibility of transformative dialogue. Contributors to this important volume center their ideas and their descriptions of their practice within theoretical frameworks, particularly Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. "Come Closer" will be useful to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as administrators and professors interested in the topic of democratic education.
What's the role played by the invisible in our lives? At what level can it be perceived when explored in theatre-making? Having as its focus the acting processes carried out by Peter Brook and his actors, this book examines many aspects of their practical work - from actor training seen as "poiesis" to the production of the "present moment" - and in doing so, it tries to recognize the nuances and subtle qualities generated by the invisible produced by them. However, the core of this investigation is that of trying to capture the invisible not as a vague sensation but in its dynamic and powerful manifestation.
Arden Performance Editions are ideal for anyone engaging with a Shakespeare play in performance. With clear facing-page notes giving definitions of words, easily accessible information about key textual variants, lineation, metrical ambiguities and pronunciation, each edition has been developed to open the play's possibilities and meanings to actors and students. Designed to be used and to be useful, each edition has plenty of space for personal annotations and the well-spaced text is easy to read and to navigate.
'This book gives some of the very best of Shakespeare's twenty-first-century colleagues an opportunity to share insights that can only come from playing him' Nicholas Hytner, from his Foreword Twelve leading actors take us behind the scenes of landmark Shakespearean productions, each recreating in detail their memorable performance in a major role. Roger Allam on his Falstaff in both Henry IV plays at Shakespeare's Globe Eileen Atkins on Viola in two productions of Twelfth Night seventeen years apart Simon Russell Beale on Cassius in Deborah Warner's modern-dress Julius Caesar Chiwetel Ejiofor on his Donmar Warehouse Othello, directed by Michael Grandage Sara Kestelman on Hippolyta and Titania in Peter Brook's iconic white-box Dream Ian McKellen on one of Shakespeare's most demanding of roles: King Lear Michael Pennington on stepping in at the eleventh hour as Timon of Athens Alan Rickman on re-evaluating the melancholic Jaques in As You Like It Fiona Shaw on Shakespeare's Shrew, Katherine, in Jonathan Miller's production Patrick Stewart on his Las Vegas-set Shylock, a role he has played many times Harriet Walter on Imogen in Shakespeare's late romance, Cymbeline, at the RSC Zoe Wanamaker on her National Theatre Beatrice, directed by Nicholas Hytner Each actor leads us through the choices they made in rehearsal, and how the character works in performance, shedding new light on some of the most challenging roles in the canon. The result is a series of individual masterclasses that will be invaluable for other actors and directors, as well as students of Shakespeare - and fascinating for audiences of the plays. Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2 was shortlisted for the 2018 Theatre Book Prize. 'Absorbing and original... Curry's actors are often thinking and talking as that other professional performer, Shakespeare himself, might have done.' TLS on Shakespeare On Stage: Vol. 1
'Masks are empowering... They enable you to take risks. They provoke you into working with the reckless logic of a six-year-old or the enigmatic stillness of someone wiser than you'll ever be. But above all, masks let you be you without your habitual limitations.' In Playing the Mask, award-winning theatre-maker and teacher John Wright explores and demystifies mask-work: what masks do, how they do it, and, above all, what they can teach us about acting. This book is a wonderfully accessible introduction to a fresh and innovative acting technique for actors, theatre-makers and teachers to use in training and rehearsal. A mask releases the actor to be playful, and playfulness generates ideas, finds meaning, develops characterisation - and is infinitely more fun than traditional training. Rather than a dry guide to making masked theatre, it is about, for instance, playing Lady Macbeth in Red Nose, or Hamlet in the mask of The Victim, The Ogre or The Fool, or even Romeo and Juliet in grotesque half-masks... All in the name of liberating your creativity and, ultimately, improving your performance. Extensively illustrated with a rich variety of masks, this inventive and pragmatic book is full of invaluable games and exercises drawn from the author's own workshops, his experience as co-founder of both Trestle and Told by an Idiot, and his pioneering mask and clown work in many professional productions. 'Brilliant, entertaining and accessible' Paul Hunter, from his Foreword |
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