A revised and updated edition of Declan Donnellan's bestselling book, a fresh and radical approach to acting by a world-famous director. 'Cuts open every generalisation about acting and draws out gleamingly fresh specifics' Peter Brook 'Explains Donnellan's highly practical system and sheds unique light on one of the greatest directors of acting in our time' Le Monde 'Hugely practical and never gets lost in theory' El Pais 'A gripping read, as acute about the psychology of lying as it is about the art of acting' Guardian 'Rooted in modern theatre, modern psychology and, above all, modern reality' Izvestia 'Unpretentious, straightforward, and pierced with acute insight' Kommersant

Follow the yellow brick road in this delightful stage adaptation of L. Frank Baum's beloved tale, featuring the iconic musical score from the MGM film. The timeless tale, in which young Dorothy Gale travels from Kansas over the rainbow to the magical Land of Oz, continues to thrill audiences worldwide. Professional Artwork Available for Your Production of The Wizard of Oz (R.S.C. 1987)! Concord Theatricals has collaborated with Subplot Studio to create high-quality artwork that complies with your license. Promoting your show has never been easier! Learn more at Subplot Studio. There are two full-length versions of The Wizard of Oz: MUNY and RSC. Both include the songs "Over The Rainbow," "Munchkinland (Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead)," "If I Only Had A Brain/A Heart/The Nerve," "We're Off To See The Wizard (Follow The Yellow Brick Road)," "The Jitterbug," and "The Merry Old Land of Oz." The MUNY version also has "Evening Star." The RSC version also includes "Poppies (Optimistic Voices)" and "If I Were King Of The Forest." This RSC version is a more faithful adaptation of the film. A more technically complex production, it recreates the dialogue and structure of the MGM classic nearly scene for scene, though it is adapted for live stage performance. The RSC version's musical material also provides more work for the SATB chorus and small vocal ensembles. The MUNY Version is more theatrically conservative, employing its stage, actors, singers, dancers, and musicians in traditional ways. Using L. Frank Baum's book - and not the MGM film - as its inspiration, this version employs story and songs as elements of a classic stage musical, adding a bit more humor to the witch and her cronies. The MUNY version does not include Toto, but instead adds new characters, including: Farmhand Joe, Gloria of Oz, Lord Growlie, Tibia (the witch's skeletal assistant), two comical neighboring witches, and the Royal Army of Oz.

Can theatre change the world? If so, how can it productively connect with social reality and foster spectatorial critique and engagement? This open access book examines the forms and functions of political drama in what has been described as a post-Marxist, post-ideological, even post-political moment. It argues that Bertolt Brecht's concept of dialectical theatre represents a privileged theoretical and dramaturgical method on the contemporary British stage as well as a valuable lens for understanding 21st-century theatre in Britain. Establishing a creative philosophical dialogue between Brecht, Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno and Jacques Ranciere, the study analyses seminal works by five influential contemporary playwrights, ranging from Mark Ravenhill's 'in-yer-face' plays to Caryl Churchill's 21st century theatrical experiments. Engaging critically with Brecht's theatrical legacy, these plays create a politically progressive form of drama which emphasises notions of negativity, ambivalence and conflict as a prerequisite for spectatorial engagement and emancipation. This book adopts an interdisciplinary and intercultural theoretical approach, reuniting English and German perspectives and innovatively weaving together a variety of theoretical strands to offer fresh insights on Brecht's legacy, on British theatre history and on the selected plays. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

This book provides an overview of the inception, development and achievements of British socialist and workers theatre – a feat which has not been attempted before. It explores the connections between politics and culture (specifically theatre) and between political theory and cultural (theatrical) expression. The book is organized chronologically and uncovers much in labour and theatre history which is in danger of being lost. It can also be seen as a way into different moments in its subject’s story (e.g. post-Ibsen naturalism; agitprop theatre; ‘fringe’ theatre of the 1970s) and the relationship of such forms to specific political events and ideas at specific points in history.

This book explores the impact that high-profile and well-known translators have on audience reception of translated theatre. Using Relevance Theory as a framework, the book demonstrates how prior knowledge of a celebrity translator's contextual background can affect the spectator's cognitive state and influence their interpretation of the play. Three canonical plays adapted for the British stage are analysed: Mark Ravenhill's translation of Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht, Roger McGough's translation of Tartuffe by Moliere and Simon Stephens' translation of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. Drawing on interviews, audience feedback, reviews, blogs and social media posts, Stock examines the extent to which audiences infer the celebrity translator's own voice from their translations. In doing so, he adds new perspectives to the long-standing debate on the visibility of the translator in both the process of translating and the reception of the translation. Celebrity Translation in British Theatre offers an original approach to theatre translation that sheds light on the culture of celebrity and its capacity to attract new audiences to plays in translation.

This book offers an innovative account of how audiences and actors emotionally interacted in the English theatre during the middle decades of the eighteenth century, a period bookended by two of its stars: David Garrick and Sarah Siddons. Drawing upon recent scholarship on the history of emotions, it uses practice theory to challenge the view that emotional interactions between actors and audiences were governed by empathy. It carefully works through how actors communicated emotions through their voices, faces and gestures, how audiences appraised these performances, and mobilised and regulated their own emotional responses. Crucially, this book reveals how theatre spaces mediated the emotional practices of audiences and actors alike. It examines how their public and frequently political interactions were enabled by these spaces.

WINNER: 2022 THEATRE BOOK PRIZE Written by the Crucible Theatre's first Artistic Director, Colin George, and his son, Tedd, 'Stirring Up Sheffield' is the extraordinary story of a group of visionaries who came together to build a revolutionary thrust stage theatre in Sheffield. The radical design they proposed for the auditorium - which redefined the actor/audience relationship - aroused fierce opposition from Sheffield's conservative quarters and several of the era's theatrical luminaries. But it also galvanised a new generation of Britain's actors, directors, designers and playwrights who launched a passionate defence of the thrust stage and its theatrical potential.

Curated from the first four volumes of Peter Lang's Playing Shakespeare's Characters series, this omnibus edition selects the most practical essays for actors and directors wanting to play and produce Shakespeare's plays. The dozen contributors in this volume explore ways to play Shakespeare's lovers, villains, monarch, madmen, rebels, and tyrants. It gives critical guidance for directors and producers wanting to stage Shakespeare in the age of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. The book is a valuable companion for students, actors, directors, and designers who want insight into playing Shakespeare today.

Romeo and Juliet always use 'thou' to each other, but they are the only pair of lovers in Shakespeare to do this. Why? All the women in Richard III address Richard as 'thou', but no man ever does. Why? When characters address the dead, they use 'thou' - except for Hamlet, who addresses Yorick as 'you'. Why? Shakespeare's contemporaries would have known the answers to these questions because they understood what 'thou' signified, but modern actors and audiences are in the dark. Through performance-oriented analysis of extracts from the plays, this book explores the language of 'trulls' and termagants, true loves and unwelcome wooers, male impersonators, smothering mothers, warring spouses and fighting men, as well as investigating lese-majeste, Freudian slips, crisis moments and rhetorical flourishes. Drawing on work with RSC actors, as well as the author's experience of playing a range of Shakespearean roles, the book equips the reader with a new tool for tracking emotions, weighing power relations and appreciating dazzling complexity.

How do you decide what stories an audience should hear? How do you make your theatre stand out in a crowded and intensely competitive marketplace? How do you make your building a home for artistic risk and innovation, while ensuring the books are balanced? It is the artistic director's job to answer all these questions, and many more. Yet, despite the central role that these people play in the modern theatre industry, very little has been written about what they do or how they do it. In The Art of the Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon (former artistic director of the Gate Theatre, 'London's most relentlessly ambitious theatre' - Time Out) compiles a fascinating set of interviews that get to the heart of what it is to occupy this unique role. He speaks to twenty of the most prominent and successful artistic directors in the US and UK, including: Oskar Eustis (Public Theater, New York), Diane Paulus (American Repertory Theater, Boston), Rufus Norris (National Theatre, London) and Vicky Featherstone (Royal Court Theatre, London), uncovering the essential skills and abilities that go into making an accomplished artistic director. The only book of its kind available, The Art of the Artistic Director includes a foreword by Michael Grandage, former artistic director of the Sheffield Crucible and the Donmar Warehouse in London.

In Ramón Griffero’s seminal work, The Dramaturgy of Space, the playwright and director describes his aesthetic philosophy and theoretical approach to theatrical creation, illustrating his theory through practical application in a series of exercises. As well as touching upon some of Griffero’s own work, like Cinema utopia (1985), Tus deseos en fragmentos (2003), Fin del eclipse (2007) and El azar de la fiesta (1992), this book also reinforces the practicality of Griffero’s concepts through a series of online videos, breaking down each exercise and allowing readers to engage with the effects of his celebrated approach. Published here in English for the first time, in a translation by the leading expert on Griffero, The Dramaturgy of Space reveals the internationally renowned Chilean artist’s thought process, and how his practice has influenced the theatrical, political, and social context, from the Pinochet dictatorship to the present day.