Theatre

Appropriate for both fundamental and advanced levels, the authors ground their commentary on actor training on the process of personalization and the innovative approaches to voice and movement training. They define the personalization process as 'one in which the actor discovers and explores in the self, characteristics, qualities, attitudes, and experiences that are legitimate dimensions of the role being created.

The art of acting in restoration comedy, the buoyant, often bowdy romps which celebrated the reopening of the English theatres after Cromwell's dour reign, is the subject of Simon Callow's bold investigation. There is cause again to celebrate as Callow, one of Britain's foremost actors, aims to restore the form to all its original voluptuous vigor. Callow shows the way to attain clarity and hilarity in some of the most delightful roles ever conceived for the theatre.

Acting Stanislavski is an inspiring and technically thorough practical book for actors. It sets down a systematic and coherent process for organic, Stanislavski-based acting.

Recognized as a classic in its field, Acting with Style continues to be an invaluable guide to the process of approaching plays. This edition contains significant facts, data, information, and exercises, and offers a clear and warm writing style that expresses a sensitivity to the needs of actors. In addition to presenting the physical approach to actor training, the authors encourage readers to use the text materials and concepts with creativity and imagination, asserting that the process of discovering language is not limited to one specific time, place, or culture.

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For centuries the theatre has been one of the major forms of art. How did acting, and its institutionalization in the theatre, begin in the first place? In some cultures complex stories relate the origin of acting and the theatre. 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.'

Acting classical drama demands very different skills from acting in modern plays. Classical plays use heightened language and may well be written in verse. Malcolm Morrison shows the actor how to approach the reading and speaking of these texts. He looks at the whole acting process, including developing character, research, movement and voice. Practical exercises are given throughout the text which can be used in the classroom or by individuals for private study.

Text analysis, character studies, and both classical British training and American methods are explored. The exercises and recorded workshops provide inspiring advice to all actors and demonstrate concepts discussed throughout the book. The critical skills required for acting Shakespeare, including scansion, phrasing, caesura, breathing, speech structure, antithesis, and more are covered in detail. The comprehensive exercises using the Bard's plays and sonnets teach actors to break down the verse, support the words, understand the imagery, and use the text to create vibrant performances.

Intended for actors, directors, teachers and researchers, this book offers an exceptionally clear and thorough introduction to the renowned acting technique developed by Michael Chekhov. Providing a complete overview of the whole method, Michael Chekhov's Acting Technique includes illuminating explanations of his principles and a wide range of practical exercises that illustrate, step by step, how they can be applied to dramatic texts.

The Michael Chekhov Handbook is a practical guide to Chekhov's supportive techniques for actors, fully updated with new exercises that examine the relationship between the sensations of the physical body and the imagination.

The culmination of an innovative practice-based research project, Michael Chekhov Technique in the Twenty-First Century: New Pathways draws on clusters of historical writings and archive materials to investigate how Chekhov's technique can be used for other areas of theatre-making practice.

Contains chapters on the following time periods:
Medieval and early Tudor
Elizabethan and Jacobean period
Restoration and Georgian period
Victorian and Edwardian period

Together with Royal Shakespeare Company actors (including Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley, and David Suchet), director John Barton demonstrates how to adapt Elizabethan theater for the modern stage. He begins by explicating Shakespeare's verse and prose, speeches and soliloquies, and naturalistic and heightened language to discover the essence of his characters. In the second section, the director and the actors explore nuance in Shakespearean theater, from evoking irony and ambiguity and striking the delicate balance of passion and profound intellectual thought, to finding new approaches to playing Shakespeare's most controversial creation: Shylock, from The Merchant of Venice.

This is the definitive guide to roles in historical drama. The past is a foreign country, and this outstanding book is concerned with exploring it from the actor's point of view. Specific guides range from Greek, Elizabethan, Restoration, and Georgian theatre to more contemporary stylings, including futurism, surrealism and postmodernism. Barton takes great care to present the actor with the roles and genres that will most commonly confront them.