The audition is the most vital part of what you do as an actor. Brendan McNamara's successful career as both an actor and casting director gives him a special insight into the audition process, which he shares in this fresh and insightful book. Developed from Brendan's popular workshops for actors, this practical and up-to-date guide gives you all the inspiration and advice you need to give a great audition. Includes: - How to approach agents and casting directors. - The types of auditions you are likely to face. - The pitfalls of the waiting room. - The dangers of under- and overpreparing. - What to wear and not to wear. - How to deal with recalls. - The seven deadly sins of auditions.

Teaching Acting with Practical Aesthetics uses constructivist pedagogy to teach acting via Practical Aesthetics, a system of actor training created in the mid-1980s by David Mamet. The book melds the history of Practical Aesthetics, Practical Aesthetics itself, educational theory, and compatible physical work into the educational approach called Praxis to create a comprehensive training guide for the modern actor and theatre instructor. It includes lesson plans, compatible voice and movement exercises, constructivist teaching materials, classroom handouts, and a suggested calendar for Acting courses. Written for Acting instructors at the college and secondary levels, Acting scholars, and professionals looking for a new way to perform, Teaching Acting with Practical Aesthetics offers detailed instructions to help students sharpen their performing skills and excel on stage.

Acting Exercises for Non-Traditional Staging: Michael Chekhov Reimagined offers a new set of exercises for coaching actors when working on productions that are non-traditionally staged in arenas, thrusts, or alleys. All of the exercises are adapted from Michael Chekhov's acting technique, but are reimagined in new and creative ways that offer innovative twists for the practitioner familiar with Chekhov, and easy accessibility for the practitioner new to Chekhov. Exploring the methodology through a modern day lens, these exercises are energizing additions to the classroom and essential tools for more a vibrant rehearsal and performance.

In the 21st century, actors face radical changes in plays and performance styles, as they move from stage to screen and grapple with new technologies that present their art to ever-expanding audiences. Active Analysis offers the flexibility of mind, body, and spirit now urgently needed in acting. Dynamic Acting through Active Analysis brings to light this timely legacy, born during the worst era of Soviet repression and hidden for decades from public view. Part I unfolds like a mystery novel through letters, memoirs, and transcripts of Konstantin Stanislavsky's last classes. Far from the authoritarian director of his youth, he reveals himself as a generous mentor, who empowers actors with a brand new collaborative approach to rehearsals. His assistant, Maria Knebel, first bears witness to his forward-looking ideas and then builds the bridge to new plays in new styles through her directing and influential teaching. Part II follows a 21st century company of diverse actors as they experience the joy of applying Active Analysis to their own creative and professional work.

Packed with insights from a lifetime of directing theatre, Words into Action is a fascinating read and a vital masterclass for actors and directors. Renowned theatre director William Gaskill was one of the founders of the Royal Court, whose ethos, as Christopher Hampton says in his Foreword, 'this book goes a long way towards defining'. Gaskill's acclaimed work as a director always began with the words of the playwright, and here, starting with a chapter on 'Trusting the Writer', he takes the actor through the vital steps needed to find the life of the play and then to articulate it on stage. Drawing instances from his own work in the theatre and from teaching at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he looks at action and intention, stillness and movement, sentences and rhetoric, punctuation and pauses. He pays detailed attention to staging Shakespeare's plays, and there are also chapters on masks, on language as character, and on verse and prose. Gaskill was, says Maggie Smith, 'the best teacher in the world.'

A comprehensive study of Nicole Kidman's work through the lens of ten of her most iconic roles Nicole Kidman (b.1967), internationally renowned and one of the most celebrated actors of her generation, has starred in a host of award- winning movies. She came to worldwide recognition for her roles in Days of Thunder (1990), Far and Away (1992), and Eyes Wide Shut (1995), and has since been the recipient of numerous Golden Globe awards. Her performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002) received an Oscar for Best Actress. The Anatomy of an Actor series takes ten roles by a single actor, each studied in a dedicated chapter, and identifies the key elements that made the performances exceptional - carefully examining the actor's craft for both a professional audience and movie fans alike. Arguably the biggest star of his generation, Leonardo DiCaprio (b. 1974) is also one of its finest actors. Since first gaining attention in What's Eating Gilbert Grape at only 19 years old, he has consistently been in the public eye: notably in record-breaking Titanic in 1997, and most recently as the lead in Wolf of Wall Street, nominated for five Oscars.

A comprehensive study of George Clooney's work through the lens of ten of his most iconic roles. A new title in the fascinating Anatomy of an Actor series from world-renowned cinema magazine Cahiers du cinema. This book explores the career of George Clooney (b.1961). A TV heartthrob doctor for five years, he made one of the most successful transitions from television to being a critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning film actor starring in both mainstream and art-house films. An accessible text combines both a narrative and analytical dimension and is illustrated by 300 film stills, set photographs and film sequences The book will appeal to enthusiastic moviegoers as well as serious cinephiles, fans, and those who want to become actors.

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

THE GOOD AUDITION GUIDES: Helping you select and perform the audition piece that is best suited to your performing skills Each Good Audition Guide contains a range of fresh monologues, all prefaced with a summary of the vital information you need to place the piece in context and to perform it to maximum effect in your own unique way. Each volume also carries a user-friendly introduction on the whole process of auditioning. Shakespeare Monologues for Men contains 50 monologues drawn from across the Shakespeare canon. Each speech is prefaced with an easy-to-use guide to Who is speaking, Where, When and To Whom, What has just happened in the play and What are the character's objectives. In fact, everything the actor needs to know before embarking on the audition! Shakespeare Monologues for Men is edited by director, teacher and academic Luke Dixon. 'Sound practical advice for anyone attending an audition' Teaching Drama Magazine on the Good Audition Guides

The vital building blocks of movement training - a key sourcebook for actors, directors, students and teachers. In precise detail, Darley sets out the exercises and techniques she developed with her own drama-school students. She deals with the vital building blocks of movement training: awareness, relaxation, tension-particularly Lecoq's Seven States-and suspension, before progressing to areas in which she was a pioneer: animal work, contact work, visual spacing, and the relationship between voice and movement. 'Christian was much more than a teacher, she was an indomitable and extraordinary spirit' Anna Maxwell Martin

For centuries the theater has been one of the major forms of art. How did acting, and its institutionalization in the theater, begin in the first place? In some cultures complex stories relate the origin of acting and the theater. And over time, approaches to acting have changed considerably. In the West, until the end of the 19th century, those changes occurred within the realm of acting itself, focusing on the question of whether acting should be 'natural' or 'formal.' Approaches to acting were closely related to the trends in culture at large. Acting became more and more professional and sophisticated as philosophical theories developed and knowledge in the human sciences increased. In the 20th century, the director was established as the most important force in the theater--able to lead actors to pinnacles of their art which they could not have achieved on their own. Approaches to acting in non-Western cultures follow quite different patterns. This book provides a clear overview of different approaches to acting, both historical and contemporary, Western and non-Western, and concludes with a challenge to the future of the art.

'Adrian Noble vigorously highlights the extraordinary rhythmic, linguistic patterns Shakespeare gives the speaker. Any actor will find this book invaluable. For any student of Shakespeare it should be essential.' (From the Foreword by Ralph Fiennes)

'How can I bring the text alive, make it vivid, how do I make people hear it for the first time? How can I enter into that world and not feel a stranger. How can I not feel clumsy and inept? ... How can I speak it without sounding artificial or "actory"? In other words, how can I make it real ...?'

Adrian Noble has worked on Shakespeare with everyone from oscar-nominated actors to groups of schoolchildren. Here he draws on several decades of top-level directing experience to shed new light on how to bring some of theatre s seminal texts to life.

He shows you how to approach the perennial issues of performing Shakespeare, including:

• wordplay using colour and playing plain, wit and comedy, making language muscular
• building a character different strategies, using the text, Stanislavski and Shakespeare
• shape and structure headlining a speech, playing soliloquys, determining a speech s purpose and letting the verse empower you
• dialogue building tension, sharing responsibility and passing the ball .

This guided tour of Shakespeare s complex but unfailingly rewarding work stunningly combines instruction and inspiration.

From the Renaissance commedia dell'arte to today's Second City comedy troupe, improvisation has been a hit. Learn the structure behind the spontaneity of comedy improvisation. Over thirty-five performance-tested improv structures and performance tips in this book help even a beginner tackle this "off the cuff" humor with confidence. Learn the elements of successful improvisation: setting, characters, conflict and action, and dialog and humor. Then have fun polishing your new skills in comedy clubs, coffee houses or acting classes. Instruction on loosening up, writing routines, coping with audiences and protecting original routines through contracts and copyrights are also included. Nine chapters: Basics of improvisation and Comedy, improvisation in the Classroom, Simple Improv Structures, Character Improv Structures, Advanced Improv Structures, Advanced Acting Exercises, Forming a Comedy/Improv Show, Putting on an Improv Show, Protecting Yourself and Your Work.

At the time of his death, Stanislavsky considered Nikolai Demidov to be 'his only student, who understands the System'. Demidov's incredibly forward-thinking processes not only continued his teacher's pioneering work, but also solved the problems of an actor's creativity that Stanislavsky never conquered. Despite being one of the original teachers of the Stanislavski system, Demidov's name was little known either in his native Russia or the wider world until the turn of the 21st Century. Since then, his extensive works have been published in Russian but are yet to find their way to the English-speaking world. His sophisticated psychological techniques, stimulation of creativity, and methods of developing the actors themselves are now gaining increasing recognition.This book brings together Demidov's five volumes on actor training. Supplementary materials, including transcriptions of Demidov's classes, and notes and correspondence from the author make this the definitive collection on one of Russian theatre's most important figures.

This pioneering introduction to Stanislavsky's methods and modes of actor training covers all of the essential elements of his System. Recreating 'truthful' behaviour in the artificial environment, awareness and observation, psychophysical work, given circumstances, visualization and imagination, and active analysis are all introduced and explored. Each section of the book is accompanied by individual and group exercises, forming a full course of study in the foundations of modern acting. A glossary explains the key terms and concepts that are central to Stanislavsky's thinking at a glance. The book's companion website is full of downloadable worksheets and resources for teachers and students. Experiencing Stanislavsky Today is enhanced by contemporary findings in psychology, neuroscience, anatomy and physiology that illuminate the human processes important to actors, such as voice and speech, creativity, mind-body connection, the process and the production of emotions on cue. It is the definitive first step for anyone encountering Stanislavsky's work, from acting students exploring his methods for the first time, to directors looking for effective rehearsal tools and teachers mapping out degree classes.

This clearly written guide to the Stanislavski method has long been a favorite among students and teachers of acting. Now, in light of books and articles recently published in the Soviet Union, Sonia Moore has made revisions that include a new section on the subtext of a role. She provides detailed explanations of all the methods that actors in training have found indispensable for more than twenty years. Designed to create better actors, this guide will put individuals in touch with themselves and increase personal sensitivity as well.

An authoritative, hands-on guide through the practical challenges involved in performing Shakespeare. Drawing on a lifetime's experience of playing Shakespearean roles, Oliver Ford Davies offers practical advice to actors, directors and drama students on a wide variety of scenes, characters, speeches and individual lines from almost every one of the plays. The three core sections of Performing Shakespeare take us through the whole process of Preparation, Rehearsal and Performance, preceded by discussions of the Elizabethan actor and Shakespeare's language. Also included are revealing interviews with other notable Shakespearean actors including Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Harriet Walter, Simon Russell Beale and Juliet Stevenson. 'An invaluable guide to those who act and to all those who wish to gain deeper insights into the performance of Shakespeare's plays' Stanley Wells from his Foreword

As one of the most well-known names in theatre history, Konstantin Stanislavsky's teachings on actor training have endured throughout the decades, influencing scholars and practitioners even in the present day. This second edition of Konstantin Stanislavsky combines: an overview of Stanislavsky's life and work, including recent discoveries an assessment of his widely read text, An Actor Prepares (1936) with comparisons to Benedetti's 2008 translation, An Actor's Work detailed commentary of the key 1898 production of The Seagull an indispensable set of practical exercises for actors, teachers and directors. As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial ex- ploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners are unbeatable value for today's student.

Your Body Knows provides the foundation actors need to move with ease and power. It is a practical guide to movement starting at the very beginning: knowing your body and experiencing how it works. Through the work of F.M. Alexander, Rudolf Laban, and Michael Chekhov, this book offers basic training in movement fundamentals. Its step-by-step process supports the actor's work in any acting or movement training program and as a working professional. The book focuses on three main areas of exploration: Body facts - Know your body and its design for movement. Let go of misinformed ideas about your body. Move more freely, avoid injury, and develop a strong body-mind connection. Movement facts - What is movement? Discover the movement fundamentals that can serve your art. Explore new ways of moving. Creative inspiration - Connect your body, mind, and imagination to liberate authentic and expressive character movement. Your Body Knows: A Movement Guide for Actors is an excellent resource for acting students and their teachers, promoting a strong onstage presence and awakening unlimited potential for creative expression.

Hamlet is a characteristic intellectual more inclined to lecture actors about their craft than listen to them, and is a precursor of Enlightenment figures like Diderot and Lessing. This book is a quest for the voice of early professional actors, drawing on English, French and other European sources to distinguish the methods of professionals from the theories of intellectual amateurs. David Wiles challenges the orthodoxy that all serious discussion of acting began with Stanislavski, and outlines the comprehensive but fluid classical system of acting which was for some three hundred years its predecessor. He reveals premodern acting as a branch of rhetoric, which took from antiquity a vocabulary for conversations about the relationship of mind and body, inside and outside, voice and movement. Wiles demonstrates that Roman rhetoric provided the bones of both a resilient theatrical system and a physical art that retains its relevance for the post-Stanislavskian performer.

In "The Power of the Actor," a "Los Angeles Times" bestseller, premier acting teacher and coach Ivana Chubbuck reveals her cutting-edge technique, which has launched some of the most successful acting careers in Hollywood.

The first book from the instructor who has taught Charlize Theron, Brad Pitt, Elisabeth Shue, Djimon Hounsou, and Halle Berry, "The Power of the Actor" guides you to dynamic and effective results. For many of todayas major talents, the Chubbuck Technique is the leading edge of acting for the twenty-first century. Ivana Chubbuck has developed a curriculum that takes the theories of the acting masters, such as Stanislavski, Meisner, and Hagen, to the next step by utilizing inner pain and emotions, not as an end in itself, but rather as a way to drive and "win" a goal.

In addition to the powerful twelve-step process, the book takes well-known scripts, both classic and contemporary, and demonstrates how to precisely apply Chubbuckas script- analysis process. "The Power of the Actor" is filled with fascinating and inspiring behind-the-scenes accounts of how noted actors have mastered their craft and have accomplished success in such a difficult and competitive field.
Praise for Ivana Chubbuck and "The Power of the Actor"
aThis is my bible. I donat leave home without it.aaEva Mendes
aIvana Chubbuck is the premier acting coach of the twenty-first century. . . . Ivanaas innovative methods of teaching both complement and rival those methods of the great teachers of the past. . . . Under Ivanaas tutelage, the course of my career and depth of my work have changed dramatically.aaHalle Berry

An inspiring new approach to acting from a respected drama teacher - concise, succinct and full of practical exercises Nick Moseley is fed up with the way acting is taught in this country: 'In a nation which regards itself as the centre of world theatre, it is disappointing how many actors seem unable to do the job.' He blames the teachers and their underlying philosophy, which tells students: 'This is the training and you must fit yourself to it rather than it to you.' As Head of Acting at a major drama school, he has developed a system that is based on the individual's need to find truth in everything they do, to be 'in the moment' and to react instinctively to the other people on stage. In this book, he takes the best of Stanislavski, David Mamet and Sanford Meisner to fuel his own intensely practical approach. Starting with the technique of Transactional Improvisation, he covers such topics as: The World of the Play Inhabiting the Space Learning to Trust Your Body and Approaches to Text.

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.