A practical guide to the skills, characters and history of Commedia Dell'Arte through graded games and illustrated exercises - a useful tool in any actor's training and a discipline for all forms of physical theatre. Chapters include: * Warm-Up Games * Mime and Movement Games * Word Games * Using Face Masks * The Legacy of Commedia dell'Arte, a chapter looking at the individual Masks or characters in the traditional Commedia dell'Arte.

Stanislavski in Practice is an unparalleled step-by-step guide to Stanislavski's system. Author Nick O'Brien makes this cornerstone of acting accessible to teachers and students alike through the use of practical exercises that allow students to develop their skills. This second edition offers more exercises for the actor, and also new sections on directing and devising productions. Each element of the system is covered practically through studio exercises and jargon-free discussion. Exercises are designed to support syllabi from Edexcel, Eduqas, OCR and AQA to the practice-based requirements of BTEC and IB Theatre. This is the perfect exercise book for students and a lesson planner for teachers at post-16 and first year undergraduate level. New to this edition: Thoroughly reorganized sections, including 'Work on the Actor', 'Work on a Role' and 'Developing your Practice'; A new chapter on using Stanislavski when devising with a series of exercises that will allow students to structure and create characters within the devising process; A new chapter, Directing Exercise Programme, which will be a series of exercises that allows the student to develop their skills as a director; New glossary with US and UK terms; New exercises developed since the publication of the first edition; A new chapter going beyond Stanislavski, exploring exercises from Michael Chekhov, Maria Knebel and Katie Mitchell.

Don Ameche, Eve Arden, George Burns, Bette Davis, Greer Garson, Rex Harrison, Lilli Palmer, George Raft, Ginger Rogers, Barbara Stanwyck, Orson Welles, Cornel Wilde--these are among the stars who graced the silver screen in Hollywoods Golden Age. Biographies and filmographies of these actors and actresses and 70 others who had passed from the scene by September 1996 are presented in this reference work. The biographical section focuses on how they came to be involved with whom they shared the screen. The filmography lists all the films in which they appeared, along with the studio and the year of release.

Talking Shakespeare is a collection of essays on Shakespeare's plays and politics and their impact in the world today. Originally given as provocative talks on Shakespeare at some of the most prestigious universities, conferences, and theatres around the world, they reflect on the author's more than thirty-year career as a producer, director and educator. The essays provide a unique and personal look into multiple aspects of Shakespeare's world-and ours.

This pack contains a book of games and lists and a CD-ROM. Generating ideas from your own improve group is always best, but when you need a source for memory jogs and new inspirations to keep things lively, use this book. It includes more than seventy games and lists along with a CD-ROM so that you may print these lists directly onto labels or pages for student use. Everything is in alphabetical order for quick reference. It's all here - the five Ws and the big H (how). Three appendixes include information about the dramatic uses for games, national theatre standards and other gimmicks and tools.

Acting Greek Tragedy explores the dynamics of physical interaction and the dramaturgical construction of scenes in ancient Greek tragedy. Ley argues that spatial distinctions between ancient and modern theatres are not significant, as core dramatic energy can be placed successfully in either context. Guiding commentary on selected passages from Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides illuminates the problems involved with performing monologue, dialogue, scenes requiring three actors, and scenes with properties. A companion website - actinggreektragedy.com - offers recorded illustrations of scenes from the Workshops. What the book offers is a practical approach to the preparation of Greek scripts for performance. The translations used have all been tested in workshops, with those of Euripides newly composed for this book. The companion website can be found here: www.actinggreektragedy.com

Application of the Michael Chekhov Technique to Shakespeare's Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Monologues illustrates how to apply the Michael Chekhov Technique, through exercises and rehearsal techniques, to a wide range of Shakespeare's works. The book begins with a comprehensive chapter on the definitions of the various aspects of the Technique, followed by five chapters covering Shakespeare's sonnets, comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances. This volume offers a very specific path, via Michael Chekhov, on how to put theory into practice and bring one's own artistic life into the work of Shakespeare. Offering a wide range of pieces that can be used as audition material, Application of the Michael Chekhov Technique to Shakespeare's Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Monologues is an excellent resource for acting teachers, directors, and actors specializing in the work of William Shakespeare. The book also includes access to a video on Psychological Gesture to facilitate the application of this acting tool to Shakespeare's scenes.

Ian Wilkie contends that comic acting is a distinct art form, and as such demands a unique skillset. By exploring the ways in which performance choices and improvised moments can work in conjunction with texts themselves, Performing in Comedy offers an indispensable practical tool for enhancing comic performance. This volume is a must-read for any actors, directors or students who work with comic texts. Wilkie synthesises theories and principles of comedy with practical tips, and re-evaluates the ways in which these ideas can be used by the performer. Most importantly, these skills - timing, focus, awareness - are teachable rather than being innate talents. Exercises, interviews and guides to further resources enhance this comprehensive exploration of comic acting.

There are over 150 BFA and MFA acting programs in the US today, nearly all of which claim to prepare students for theatre careers. Peter Zazzali contends that the curricula of these courses represent an ethos that is as outdated as it is limited, given today's shrinking job market for stage actors. Acting in the Academy traces the history of actor training in universities to make the case for a move beyond standard courses in voice and speech, movement, or performance, to develop an entrepreneurial model that motivates and encourages students to create their own employment opportunities. This book answers questions such as: How has the League of Professional Theatre Training Programs shaped actor training in the US? How have training programmes and the acting profession developed in relation to one another? What impact have these developments had on American acting as an art form? Acting in the Academy calls for a reconceptualization of actor training the US, and looks to newly empower students of performance with a fresh, original perspective on their professional development.

How do actors fuse thought, emotion and action within their creative process? Essential Acting is an inspired and reliable toolbox for actors and teachers in the classroom, the rehearsal room and the workshop. RADA's Brigid Panet has distilled nearly 60 years of acting, directing and actor training into a unique recipe which brilliantly combines the teachings of Stanislavsky and Laban into an invaluable practical resource. These exercises are built around the need for simple, achievable techniques that can be applied by actors, teachers and directors to answer the myriad requirements of actor training. The goal is to produce a continuous level of achievement, addressing: * How to rehearse * How to work with a text * How to audition for drama school * How to access the truth of feelings and actions Essential Acting will be a must-have purchase for anyone looking for a comprehensive study guide to the necessary work of the actor.

"A haunting and often fiercely funny meditation. . . . The marvel of Mr. Eno's voice is how naturally it combines a carefully sculptured lyricism with sly, poker-faced humor. Everyday phrases and familiar platitudes--'Don't ever change, ' 'Who knows'--are turned inside out or twisted into blunt, unexpected punch lines punctuating long rhapsodic passages that leave you happily word-drunk."--"The New York Times" on "Title and Deed"

Known for his wry humor and deeply moving plays, Will Eno's "gift for articulating life's absurd beauty and its no less absurd horrors may be unmatched among writers of his generation" ("The New York Times"). This new volume of the acclaimed playwright's work includes five short plays about being alive--"Behold the Coach, in a Blazer, Uninsured"; "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rain"; "Enter the Spokeswoman, Gently"; "The Bully Composition"; and "Oh, the Humanity"--as well as "Title and Deed," a haunting and severely funny solo rumination on life as everlasting exile.

Will Eno is the author of Thom Pain (based on nothing), which ran for a year Off-Broadway and was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Other works include "Middletown"; "The Flu Season"; "Tragedy: a tragedy"; "Intermission"; "The Realistic Joneses"; and "Gnit," an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt." His many awards include the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theatre Award, the Horton Foote Prize, and the first-ever Marian Seldes/Garson Kanin Fellowship from the Theater Hall of Fame.

A brand-new collection of original audition pieces written by and for actors of colour, commissioned by Tamasha Theatre Company and edited by Titilola Dawudu, with a foreword by Noma Dumezweni. Hear Me Now is a unique collection of over eighty original audition monologues, expressly created by a range of award-winning writers brought together by producer Titilola Dawudu and Tamasha Theatre Company. They're ideal for actors of colour searching for speeches for auditions or training, writers, teachers, and theatre-makers who are passionate about improving diversity. The book provides varied, nuanced stories that expand beyond the range of existing material available - from a cross-dressing Imam, to the first Black Prime Minister, the British Indian girl with dreams of becoming a country music star, or the young Black boy who loves baking as much as football - Hear Me Now is an essential tool for actors of colour to showcase their range, and seeks to inspire, empower, and create a legacy for generations to come.

Creating Solo Performance is an innovative toolbox of exercises and challenges focused on providing you - the performer - with engaging and inspiring ways to explore and develop your idea both on the page and in the performance space. The creation of a solo show may be the most rewarding, liberating and stressful challenge you will take on in your career. This book acts as your silent collaborator as you develop your performance, by helpfully arranging exercises under the following headings: Beginnings Creating character Generating material Using your performance space Technology Endings Collaboration Exercises can be explored in sequence, at random or according to your specific needs and interests as a performer. By enabling you to create a bespoke formula that best applies to your specific subject, area of interest, style and discipline, this book will become an indispensable resource as you produce your solo show.

This comprehensive collection provides theoretical accounts of the grounds and phenomenon of film acting. The volume features entries by some of the most prominent scholars on film acting who collectively represent the various theoretical traditions that constitute the discipline of film studies. Each section proposes novel ways of considering the recurring motifs in academic enquiries into film acting, including: (1) the mutually contingent problematic of description and interpretation, (2) the intricacies of bodily dynamics and their reception by audiences, (3) the significance of star performance, and (4) the impact of evolving technologies and film styles on acting traditions.

The Actor Training Reader is an invaluable resource for students and teachers of acting, offering access to a wide range of key texts that identify, explore, illuminate and interrogate the challenges, practices and processes involved in training the modern actor. A companion volume to the highly-acclaimed Actor Training (Hodge 2010), this book collects key writings by influential actor training practitioners of the twentieth century, introduced with essays from leading academics in the field of actor training. Key practitioners included are: Eugenio Barba; Anne Bogart; Bertolt Brecht; Peter Brook; Michael Chekhov; and Konstantin Stanislavsky. The book sets established, widely used texts alongside less well-known ones in order to trace the development of actor training from the pioneering advances of Eastern Europe to the acting games of Augusto Boal. The texts are grouped into thematic sections rather than chronologically in order to encourage a comparison of different approaches to similar aspects of the craft. Each section will have a specially commissioned introductory essay by an expert in that area of actor training, which will bring context, critical engagement and contemporary relevance to the extracts and offer provocations for further discussion.

Improvisation is a performance practice that animates and activates diverse energies of inspiration, critique, and invention. In recent years it has coalesced into an exciting and innovative new field of interdisciplinary scholarly inquiry, becoming a cornerstone of both practical and theoretical approaches to performance."

The Improvisation Studies Reader" draws together the works of key artists and thinkers from a range of disciplines, including theatre, music, literature, film, and dance. Divided by keywords into eight sections, this book bridges the gaps between these fields. The book includes case studies, exercises, graphic scores and poems in order to produce a teaching and research resource that identifies central themes in improvisation studies. The sections include:

• Listening
• Trust/Risk
• Flow
• Dissonance
• Responsibility
• Liveness
• Surprise
• Hope

Each section of the Reader is introduced by a newly commissioned think piece by a key figure in the field, which opens up research questions reflecting on the keyword in question.

By placing key theoretical and classic texts in conversation with cutting-edge research and artists statements, this book answers the urgent questions facing improvising artists and theorists in the mediatized Twenty-First Century. "

Gender specific! Not just another book of scenes but a wide variety of topics and situations fine-tuned to recreate the day-to-day experiences of young women. This wonderfully diversified collection of monologs, dialogs, trios and quartets deals with subjects of self-discovery, survival in the real world, and daunting decisions both tragic and trivial. These sixty characterizations will make both performers and audience laugh, cry and know themselves better. Excellent for speech contests, acting exercises or auditions. Lengths vary from two minutes to six minutes each. A superbbook for any drama library. Sample titles: Mom or Me. Winners, Losers, First Date, Hurricane Force. He Promised Never Again, Bestest Dog, Nowheresville, Cyber Romance, The Last Kiss of Summer.

What should an actor be thinking on stage? This overlooked, important question is the crux of this new book that combines psychological theory, practical exercises, and a wide-reaching examination of inner monologue in various forms including film, musical theatre, and comedy. The inner monologue is that stream of consciousness or inner voice that constantly echoes in your head. This revolutionary new book tames and harnesses that voice to be used as a powerful tool in acting. Written in an accessible tone, the book assists actors, directors and educators in their quest for deeper more thoughtful acting and is a perfect supplement to traditional actor training.

Acting (Re)Considered is an exceptionally wide-ranging collection of theories on acting, ideas about body and training, and statements about the actor in performance. This second edition includes five new essays and has been fully revised and updated, with discussions by or about major figures who have shaped theories and practices of acting and performance from the late nineteenth century to the present.
The essays - by directors, historians, actor trainers and actors - bridge the gap between theories and practices of acting, and between East and West. No other book provides such a wealth of primary and secondary sources, bibliographic material, and diversity of approaches. It includes discussions of such key topics as:
* how we think and talk about acting
* acting and emotion
* the actor's psychophysical process
* the body and training
* the actor in performance
* non-Western and cross-cultural paradigms of the body, training and acting.
Acting (Re)Considered is vital reading for all those interested in performance.

Russian theater director Vsevolod Meyerhold designed Biomechanics--a system of actor training--shortly after the Russian Revolution. Although not always understood, it received wide attention during the twenties and thirties as a result of Meyerhold's unique position as the foremost Soviet avant-garde director. Meyerhold had students that both perfected and challenged his theories and regime in actor training--one was the great Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein. Gathered from private Moscow archives, this is the first book-length study of Meyerhold's stylized training method in practical detail, as well as Eisenstein's theoretical analysis of Biomechanics. The book is divided into four parts. Part I traces the history of Biomechanics in relation to Meyerhold's and Eisenstein's aesthetic development. Part II is made up of documentary materials: the theoretical foundations of Biomechanics and Expressive Movement, with descriptions of the basic biomechanical exercises and etudes. Part III consists of descriptive accounts and interviews by British and American journalists and theatre practitioners. In Part IV are a glossary of biomechanical terminology, notes, bibliographical information, and the index.

Maxim Gorky was dubbed the father of socialist realism in the Soviet period, but he had forged his career as an internationally known novelist and dramatist some three or more decades earlier. Posing questions that Soviet critics found difficult to confront, the author examines the effects of exile and religion on the content and form of the plays as well as the role played by women, and the personal and political implications of motherhood. All sixteen of Gorky's published plays are covered, and the book explores whether this body of work has themes and styles to unify it. While conflict is central to the core political themes and also infiltrates many aspects of the dramatic style (cartoonish and grotesque), other less expected themes and styles emerge. Viewing the post-revolutionary plays as a development of earlier work leads to a question rarely posed: are the plays written by Gorky in the process of defining the new Party-inspired socialist realism in fact less about socialist realist issues of conformity, and more about Gorky's own painful life experience? And what is equally under the microscope is a search for the monumental style frequently associated with socialist realist theatre: the proposed origins of the spatial grandeur in Gorky's plays come as a surprise.

Konstantin Stanislavsky transformed theatre in the West and was indisputably one of the twentieth century's greatest innovators. His life and work mark some of the most significant artistic and political milestones of that tumultuous century, from the emancipation of the serfs to the Russian Revolution. Little wonder, then, that his correspondence contains gripping exchanges with the famous and infamous of his day: men such as Tolstoy, Chekhov, Trotsky and Stalin, among others. Laurence Senelick, one of the world's foremost scholars of Russian literature, mines the Moscow archives and the definitive Russian edition of Stanislavsky's letters, to produce the fullest collection of the letters in any language other than Russian. He sheds new light on this fascinating field. Senelick takes us from the earliest extant letter of an eleven-year-old Konstantin in 1874, through his work as actor, director and actor trainer with the Moscow Art Theatre, to messages written just before his death in 1938 at the age of seventy-five. We discover Stanislavsky as son, brother and father, as lover and husband, as businessman and "internal emigre." He is seen as a wealthy tourist and an impoverished touring actor, a privileged subject of the Tsar and a harried victim of the Bolsheviks. Senelick shares key insights into Stanislavsky's work on such important productions as The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, Hamlet, Othello, and The Marriage of Figaro. The letters also reveal the steps that led up to the publication of his writings My Life in Art and An Actor's Work on Himself. This handsome edition is also comprehensively annotated and fully illustrated.

The first collection of its kind to bring together scholarly and practitioner perspectives, this book analyses the experiences, skills and techniques of actors when working on television. Featuring eleven chapters by internationally distinguished researchers and actor trainers, this collection examines the acting processes and resulting performances of some of the most acclaimed television actors. Topics include: studio and location realism; actor training for television; actor well-being in the television industry; performance in reality television and British and Irish actors in contemporary US television and film. The book also contains case studies examining the work of Emmy-award-winning actor Viola Davis and the iconic character of Gene Hunt in Life on Mars (BBC, 2006-2007).