An edited collection of essays exploring the work and legacy of the academic and theatre-maker Clive Barker. Together, the essays trace the development of his work from his early years as an actor with Joan Littlewood's company, Theatre Workshop, via his career as an academic and teacher, through the publication of his seminal book, Theatre Games (Methuen Drama). The book looks beyond Barker's death in 2005 at the enduring influence of his work upon contemporary theatre training and theatre-making. Each writer featured in the collection responds to a specific aspect of Barker's work, focusing primarily on his early and formative career experiences with Theatre Workshop and his hugely influential development of Theatre Games. The collection as a whole thereby seeks to situate Clive Barker's work and influence in an international and multi-disciplinary context, by examining not only his origins as an actor, director, teacher and academic, but also the broad influence he has had on generations of theatre-makers.

A collection of essays from leading actor trainers on how to incorporate Stanislavsky's 100 year old methods into today's anti-racist and inclusive actor training practices. Written for students and teachers on acting and directing units in BA Theatre Studies, Acting and Performing Arts degrees. The only book to look at Stanislavsky's enduring and influential techniques through the lens of today's diverse and racially conscious processes.

Stanislavsky and Intimacy is the first academic edited book with a focus on how intimacy protocols, choreography, and theories intersect with the broad practices of Konstantin Stanislavsky’s ‘system’. As the basis for most Western theatre and film acting, Stanislavsky’s system centers on truthful performances. Intimacy direction and choreography insists on not only a culture of consent, but also specific, repeatable choreography for all staged intimate moments. These two practices have often been placed as diametric opposites, but this book seeks to dispel this argument. Each chapter discusses specific Stanislavskian principles and practices as they relate to staged sexually intimate moments, also opening the conversation to the broader themes and practices of other kinds of intimacy within the acting field. Stanislavsky And... is a series of multi-perspectival collections that bring the enduring legacy of Stanislavskian actor training into the spotlight of contemporary performance culture, making them ideal for students, teachers and scholars of acting, actor training, and directing.

Stanislavsky and Intimacy is the first academic edited book with a focus on how intimacy protocols, choreography, and theories intersect with the broad practices of Konstantin Stanislavsky’s ‘system’. As the basis for most Western theatre and film acting, Stanislavsky’s system centers on truthful performances. Intimacy direction and choreography insists on not only a culture of consent, but also specific, repeatable choreography for all staged intimate moments. These two practices have often been placed as diametric opposites, but this book seeks to dispel this argument. Each chapter discusses specific Stanislavskian principles and practices as they relate to staged sexually intimate moments, also opening the conversation to the broader themes and practices of other kinds of intimacy within the acting field. Stanislavsky And... is a series of multi-perspectival collections that bring the enduring legacy of Stanislavskian actor training into the spotlight of contemporary performance culture, making them ideal for students, teachers and scholars of acting, actor training, and directing.

A collection of essays from leading actor trainers on how to incorporate Stanislavsky's 100 year old methods into today's anti-racist and inclusive actor training practices. Written for students and teachers on acting and directing units in BA Theatre Studies, Acting and Performing Arts degrees. The only book to look at Stanislavsky's enduring and influential techniques through the lens of today's diverse and racially conscious processes.

This edited collection of essays details a wide-ranging selection of some of the most sensationally successful theatre productions of the long Victorian era, the real "blockbusters" of the age. Ranging from the world of operetta and music hall to spectacular drama and sensational melodrama, the productions included provide the reader with definitive proof that the phenomenon of the "smash hit" show is not restricted to modern Broadway. This is a world that encompassed the ground-breaking stage technology of Ben Hur, the wide political impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin and the sheer creative originality of L'Enfant Prodigue. Supporting the "star" system, productions featured some of the greatest names of the period - Sir Henry Irving, Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson, James O'Neill and Dion Boucicault. This was the very dawning of a new media age, which saw many of the productions transfer to the new world of silent cinema for the very first time

Film technology developments in the early 20th century opened up a new world of possibilities for the motion picture industry, and opera, relying as it did on the melodramatic storyline and grand pantomime acting, was an ideal subject for early silent film. Even deprived of their principal glory-their voices-opera singers were among the first prominent screen stars. This book examines the relationship between the established operatic stars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the newly developing motion picture industry. It concentrates primarily on developments between 1895 and 1926, from the invention of the commercially exploitable motion picture to the coming of viable sound on film. Early chapters discuss the changing role of the opera star prior to and during the development of film as a popular commercial medium, and explore the technological innovations that eventually enabled opera to move out of the strict confines of the opera house and to be viewed by a global audience. Later chapters expose the fragile relationship between art and the entertainment industry in the early decades of the motion picture, and show how the opera helped establish a balance between film as a new art form and its commercial exploitation. Also discussed is the extent to which the inclusion of opera in early motion pictures contributed to the broader democratization of art. The book concludes with four detailed case studies that examine the experiences of operatic performers who made the transition to the silent screen and who made a notable impact on the early movie industry. An extensive filmography is included to provide the reader with full details of films cited and archival locations of surviving materials.

Viktor Simov is the first English-language biography of Konstantin Stanislavsky's principal scenic designer at the Moscow Art Theatre from the company's formation in 1898. His ground-breaking work included the designs for the premieres of Anton Chekhov's major stage plays, and his approach to theatre design still influences contemporary scenography. Translated from the original Russian text written by author, editor, and literary critic Yuri Ivanovich Nekhoroshev, the book provides a revealing insight into the staging and technical practices of one of the world's most influential theatre companies. Supported by 60 illustrations representing the full range of Simov's designs, this volume provides a historical account of Simov's career and a vivid description and critical assessment of his work. The book traces the artist's development from his early years as a painter to his later experiments in early silent film design, including his work for the classic Russian science fiction film Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924). Written for theatre scholars and students of Scenic Design and Drama courses, Viktor Simov: Stanislavsky's designer re-establishes Simov as one of the most influential theatre designers of the 20th century.

Sergei Bertensson's diary of his trip to Hollywood with Russian theatre great Nemirovich-Danchenko is a unique record of an extraordinary and under-documented chapter in film and theatre history. For a year Bertensson followed his employer as he met with directors, producers, and stars, forever discussing projects that would never be realized. Some of the leading figures in Hollywood history appear in this record, including Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and John Barrymore. Bertensson's observations of life in Hollywood on the eve of the talkies revolution provide us with a compelling snapshot of movie history in the making, seen from the unusual perspective of an outsider.

Paul Fryer's first collection of poems is illustrated with keen insight by Damien Hirst. Together they have produced a beautiful diatribe against current complacencies that, remarkably, also show a precious tolerance and love for their fellow men and women. They have concocted an acute distillation of manners, cultures and prejudices, a polemic, even, that reflects a light suffused with a powerful disinterest, a disturbing sine qua non.

Viktor Simov is the first English-language biography of Konstantin Stanislavsky's principal scenic designer at the Moscow Art Theatre from the company's formation in 1898. His ground-breaking work included the designs for the premieres of Anton Chekhov's major stage plays, and his approach to theatre design still influences contemporary scenography. Translated from the original Russian text written by author, editor, and literary critic Yuri Ivanovich Nekhoroshev, the book provides a revealing insight into the staging and technical practices of one of the world's most influential theatre companies. Supported by 60 illustrations representing the full range of Simov's designs, this volume provides a historical account of Simov's career and a vivid description and critical assessment of his work. The book traces the artist's development from his early years as a painter to his later experiments in early silent film design, including his work for the classic Russian science fiction film Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924). Written for theatre scholars and students of Scenic Design and Drama courses, Viktor Simov: Stanislavsky's designer re-establishes Simov as one of the most influential theatre designers of the 20th century.

This collection of essays explores the many and varied ways in which composers have been depicted on the cinema screen. Beginning with some of the very earliest silent films examples - which were amongst the first feature-length "bio-pics" ever to be produced, these essays range in subject from the 12th century abbess, Hildegard of Bingen, through the great classical and romantic eras of Verdi, Wagner, Berlioz and Strauss, up to the 20th century, Elgar, Delius, Gershwin and Blitzstein.

The silent film Cenere (Ashes) is the only cinematic ""expression"" of Eleonora Duse (1858-1924), the greatest of all Italian actresses. Taken from the homonymous novel by Grazia Deledda (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926), it offers us the highest proof of Duse's silence and of her spiritual meditation as an artist: on the screen she remembered all the ""mother-roles"" that she had created for the theatre, and used them to create a new performance for a new medium. The genesis, the development and the difficulties involved in the making of Cenere, are evident in the essays of this collection. Duse's perfectionism was too advanced for the rules of the Italian movie industry of the 1910s: now we render historical justice to the many facets of her work, and not only as an actress, illustrating her broader opinion of the silent movie industry as it developed in war-time Italy. The publication of the current collection marks the 100th anniversary of the making of Cenere, and brings together, for the first time in English, a broad survey of scholarship surrounding Duse's only film performance seen within the creative, political and historical context of its time.

A collection of essays that explores the relationship between opera and the development of media technology from the late 19th to the early 21st century. Examining the subject from an international perspective, the contributing authors, all of whom have extensive experience as academics and/or practitioners, cover a variety of topics which include audio, video and film recording, contemporary critical responses, popular and "high brow" culture, live and recorded performance, lighting and performance technology, media marketing and advertising.

A prominent star in both pre-Revolutionary Russia and New York, Lina Cavalieri, described as the most beautiful woman in the world, was one of the most frequently photographed personalities of her time. The cabaretperformer, courtesan, and international star is documented in this, her first English-language biography. Researched from Russian archive sources,the book details her career from her early experiences in cafe-chantant and variety theatre in Paris, London, and St. Petersburg, through a highlysuccessful operatic career in which she sang in many of the world's leading opera houses with such celebrities as Caruso and Ruffo. In 1914, Cavalieri became the first great opera singer to appear in silent movies, making her debutin Manon Lescaut and continuing with a series of successful films. Her life was ended by an Allied air raid in World War II.

The book includes excerpts from period reviews, programmes, posters, and many previously unseen photographs. Appendices include a bibliography, filmography, discography, and chronology of stage performances (dates, venues, work, cast, conductor).

'The Great history of Britain' is an introduction to some of the key events in British history aimed specifically at children. With short, concise chapters, over one hundred and seventy hand-drawn illustrations and an in-depth Glossary and Index it is an ideal first history book which aims to encourage children (and adults!) to ask more questions and to do further research. Beginning at the time of Jesus Christ and ending with an overview of Modern Britain, this book endeavours to show how events and people over the centuries are all linked together. Anyone reading this book should finish with a clear and concise overview of the chronology of 'The Great history of Britain'.

An edited collection of essays exploring the work and legacy of the academic and theatre-maker Clive Barker. Together, the essays trace the development of his work from his early years as an actor with Joan Littlewood's company, Theatre Workshop, via his career as an academic and teacher, through the publication of his seminal book, Theatre Games (Methuen Drama). The book looks beyond Barker's death in 2005 at the enduring influence of his work upon contemporary theatre training and theatre-making. Each writer featured in the collection responds to a specific aspect of Barker's work, focusing primarily on his early and formative career experiences with Theatre Workshop and his hugely influential development of Theatre Games. The collection as a whole thereby seeks to situate Clive Barker's work and influence in an international and multi-disciplinary context, by examining not only his origins as an actor, director, teacher and academic, but also the broad influence he has had on generations of theatre-makers.