Theatre
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Speaking The Speech: An Actor’s Guide To Shakespeare
With a foreword by Mark Rylance.Why does Shakespeare write in the way he does? And how can actors and directors get the most out of his incomparable plays? In Speaking the Speech, Giles Block – ‘Master of the Words’ at Shakespeare’s Globe – sets out to answer these two simple questions. The result is the most authoritative, most comprehensive book yet written on speaking Shakespeare’s words.
Throughout the book, the author subjects Shakespeare’s language to rigorous examination, illuminating his extraordinary ability to bring his characters to life by a simple turn of phrase, a breath or even a pause. Block shows how we can only fully understand these characters, and the meaning of the plays, by speaking the words out loud.
Drawing on characters from across all of Shakespeare’s plays – and looking in detail at Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing – Block covers everything the actor needs to know, including: the essential distinctions between prose, rhymed verse and unrhymed verse, and the different strategies to be used when speaking them; the difference between you and thou; Shakespeare’s use of silence; and the vital importance of paying attention to Shakespeare’s original punctuation.
Speaking the Speech is a book for actors and directors who want to improve their understanding of Shakespeare’s language in order to speak it better. It is also a fascinating read for anyone who wants to deepen their appreciation of Shakespeare’s language and the way it comes to life when spoken aloud.
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£12.00£14.20Speaking The Speech: An Actor’s Guide To Shakespeare
£12.00£14.20 -
Standout in Stillness: Mindfulness for Actors and Performers
Delve into the captivating world of mindfulness practices, tailored made for the theatre and entertainment industry, with Michael Andersen’s special report: “Standout in Stillness: Mindfulness for Actors and Performers”.
Infused with wisdom from Andersen’s vast experience, this easy-to-follow guide unravels the intertwining threads of mindfulness and extraordinary performances. The content is engaging, enlightening, and, above all, practical, making it ideal for performers across all spectrums, from the fledgling to the seasoned veteran.
- “The Art of Being Present: Mindfulness Basics” will introduce you to the profound concepts of the practice.
- In “Breathing for the Stage: Core of Acting Mindfulness”, you’ll dig deep into the magnificent impacts of purposeful breathwork.
- Chapters like “Emotional Equipoise: Achieving Balanced Sentiments Through Mindfulness” and “Rehearsing Mindfully: A Pathway to Authenticity” will provide invaluable tools in honing your acting abilities while maintaining inner stillness.
With this special report, you can harness your inner calm to ignite your acting potential. So, gear up for a transformative journey through the echoes of encore, from the comforting stillness behind the curtains to standing tall on the grandiose stage. Grab your copy now and commence a journey towards mindful performances that resonate deeply with your audience.
Remember, because in stillness, you truly standout!
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£11.40 -
Stanislavsky and Race: Questioning the “System” in the 21st Century
Stanislavsky and Race is the first book to explore the role that Konstantin Stanislavsky’s “system” and its legacies can play in building, troubling and illuminating today’s anti-racist theatre practices.
This collection of essays from leading figures in the field of actor training stands not only as a resource for a new area of academic enquiry, but also for students, actors, directors, teachers and academics who are engaged in making inclusive contemporary theatre. In seeking to dismantle the dogma that surrounds much actor training and replace it with a culturally competent approach that will benefit our entire community, the “system” is approached from a range of perspectives featuring the research, reflections and provocations of 20 different international artists interrogating Stanislavsky’s approach through the lens of race, place and identity.
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.
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£29.80£34.20 -
Success for Actors (Psychology for Actors)
Is your quest to become a successful actor taking over your life and turning into self-sabotage?
Discover a psychological approach to success that will help you make the most of every opportunity.
Using psychological insights, Success for Actors explains in clear and jargon-free language how to avoid self-sabotage and navigate the rollercoaster of success with ease and grace.
By understanding how your mind works and learning simple yet powerful tools, you will find relief from your insecurities and build a solid foundation for your acting career.
Read this book and discover:
- How to navigate the emotional rollercoaster of success
- How to avoid letting your insecurities turn into self-sabotage
- How to make the most of every opportunity
- The impact of brain chemistry on your state of mind
- Practical tools you can use straight away
Short enough to read in an afternoon, yet jam-packed with practical advice, Success for Actors will help you develop a healthy mindset and build a successful acting career.
Alexa Ispas holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Edinburgh. The books in her Psychology for Actors Series provide actors with proven psychology techniques to thrive and build a successful career.
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Talking Theatre: Interviews with Theatre People
The Sunday Times Theatre Book of the year. Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Alan Ayckbourn, John Gielgud, Tom Stoppard and many more talk about the stories behind some of the most important and successful theatre productions and performances of recent times. Shortly after he left the directorship of the National Theatre, Richard Eyre embarked on a series of interviews with people who had played a significant part in making and influencing the theatre of the second half of the twentieth century. Forty of these interviews – threaded through with Eyre’s own commentary – are published in this new paperback edition. Talking Theatre is a fascinating and revealing insight into the world and mindset of the artists and creative talent who have shaped – and continue to shape – modern theatre.Read more
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Technical Drawing for Stage Design
Technical Drawing for Stage Design explains the importance of drawing in the design process, revealing how the initial two-dimensional drawing is a crucial building block in creating the scale model that in turn will develop into the stage set – that will transport the audience into another world.Read more
£14.10 -
The Actor and the Camera
Drawing on his lifetime career in front of the camera (and sometimes behind it), Denis Lawson offers a wonderfully accessible introduction to acting for film and TV. For the young actor hoping to break into the industry – whether in a drama series, soap or sitcom – this book is the ultimate insider’s guide.The author takes us on a guided tour of the film or TV set from day one. We meet the various members of the crew, from the director of photography to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ADs, and learn what each of them does – and how to get the most from them in your work as an actor. Then comes the actual business of shooting the scenes, beginning with readthroughs and rehearsals (if there are any), on to hitting your mark and getting your eye-line right, finishing with the actor’s involvement in post-production.
Throughout, Lawson takes the actor’s point of view, offering encouragement and enlightenment, as well as being refreshingly candid about some of the more inane procedures. Above all, he offers a magnificent array of tips and inside knowledge for coping with what can be a daunting experience for a hopeful young actor.
Denis Lawson has been running film workshops for drama students and working actors for over twenty years. His work as an actor includes the BBC’s Bleak House, Holby City, Sensitive Skin, Marchlands and Inside No. 9 on television, and Local Hero, Broken and The Machine on film. In 2012 he joined the cast of BBC TV’s New Tricks, now in its eleventh series with an audience of almost nine million.
With a foreword by Ewan McGregor.
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£9.40£10.40The Actor and the Camera
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The Actor and the Target
A definitive guide to acting. A revised and updated edition of Declan Donnellan’s international bestseller, a fresh and radical approach to acting by a world-famous director and one of the most successful titles ever published by Nick Hern Books.“The Actor and the Target comes from the heart of his own experience. Fear, generalising and other actor’s blocks are dismembered lethally and with infectious relish” Alan Rickman
“Brilliantly direct, the ‘target’ equips the actor with keys to unlock the fears and flab of acting. Declan’s insightful voice guides us to the heart of the process; exhilirating to read and more importantly to put into practice.” Joseph Fiennes.
“Cuts open every generalisation about acting and draws out gleamingly fresh specifics.” Peter Brook
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£13.70£16.10The Actor and the Target
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The Actor And The Text
Cicely Berry, Voice Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, is world-famous for her voice teaching. The Actor and the Text is her classic book, distilled from years of working with actors of the highest calibre.Read more
£13.60£16.10The Actor And The Text
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The Actor Speaks: Voice and the Performer (Bloomsbury Revelations)
From the bestselling author of The Right to Speak and The Need for Words comes this Bloomsbury Revelations edition of the essential guide to voice work: The Actor Speaks. Beginning with what every first-year acting student faces in class and ending with what leading professional actors must achieve every night on stage, Patsy Rodenburg’s celebrated work as one of the world’s foremost voice and acting coaches is fully revealed in this thoughtful and inspirational book about acting.Written for the training and working actor, Rodenburg’s book brings to life a wide range of exercises and methods to release the actor’s voice, covering everything from posture, breath and the body, performing in specific spaces, previews and first performances, managing different length runs, using microphones and dealing with an ageing or sick voice. This book allows the reader to perform every night, reaching the pitch, passion and vocal intensity that the best roles require.
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The Actor Speaks: Voice and the Performer (Performance Books)
Beginning with what every first-year acting student faces in class and ending with what leading professional actors must achieve every night on the three stages of the Royal National Theatre, Patsy Rodenburg’s celebrated work as one of the world’s foremost voice and acting coaches is fully revealed in this thoughtful and inspirational book about the process of acting. Through a seven-step process, she takes the actor through an intensive voice and speech workshop tackling the vexing problems faced in rehearsal and on stage: breathing and relaxation; vocal range and power, communication with other actors and the audience; integrating movement, singing and speaking; deciphering and animating a text; adjusting voice to different size stages and auditoria; working in mediums beyond the stage; sustaining a performance through an entire evening and a long run and identifying and overcoming the countless potential problems that face every performer who works in front of an audience.”The Actor Speaks is a stimulating read and an invaluable reference for all actors …a landmark book” (The Stage)Read more
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The Actor’s Business Plan: A Career Guide for the Acting Life: 7 (Performance Books)
The Actors Business Plan is a self-directed practical guide for actors graduating from formal training programs, as well as for those already in the business whose careers need to move ahead more successfully. Using the familiar language of acting training, the book offers a method for the achievement of dreams through a five-year life and career plan giving positive steps to develop a happy life as an actor and as a person. It assists performers to flourish using the same kind of business/career planning that is a necessary part of life for entrepreneurs and business people. This introduction to the acting industry provides essential knowledge not only for how the business actually works, but also describes what casting directors, agents, and managers do, demystifies the role of unions, discusses how much things cost, and offers advice on branding and marketing strategies. It differs from other such handbooks in that it addresses the everyday issues of life, money, and jobs that so frequently destroy an actors career before it is even begun. While addressing NYC and LA, the guide also gives a regional breakdown for those actors who may wish to begin careers or to settle in other cities. It is loaded with personal stories, and interviews with actors, casting directors, and agents from throughout the US. The Actors Business Plan is the answer to the common complaint by students that they were not taught how to negotiate the show business world while at school. It is the perfect antidote for this problem and can easily fit into a ten or a thirteen-week class syllabus. Offering support as a personal career coach, empowering the actor to take concrete steps towards their life and career dreams, The Actors Business Plan: A Career Guide for the Acting Life is a must-have book for actors who are determined to be a part of the professional world .Read more
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The Actor’s Career Bible: Auditioning, Networking, Survival & Success (Rada Guides): Auditioning, Networking, Survival and Success
The Actor’s Career Bible is a practical guide to building an acting career. Based on a huge range of interviews with actors of all backgrounds at every level of the profession, industry experts, key organisations, casting directors, agents, producers, directors and many others, this guide covers all the essentials as well as sharing exclusive inside knowledge.Whether you’re a recent graduate, a young actor or an experienced professional, The Actor’s Career Bible will help you kick-start or reinvigorate your career in an industry famous for its high levels of competition. This in-depth guide will show you how to cope with the pressures and strains of being an actor and offers easy-to-follow advice on how to improve your chances of success.
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£18.00 -
The Actor’s Guide to Playing a Character: William Esper Teaches the Meisner Technique
William Esper, one of the most celebrated acting teachers of our time, takes us through his step-by-step approach to the central challenge of advanced acting work: creating and playing a character.Esper’s first book, The Actor’s Art and Craft, earned praise for describing the basics taught in his famous first-year acting class. The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character continues the journey. In these pages, co-author Damon DiMarco vividly re-creates Esper’s second-year course, again through the experiences of a fictional class. Esper’s training builds on Sanford Meisner’s legendary exercises, a world-renowned technique that Esper further developed through his long association with Meisner and the decades he has spent training a host of distinguished actors. His approach is flexible enough to apply to any role, helping actors to create characters with truthful and compelling inner lives.
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£10.60£14.20 -
The Actors’ Crucible: Port Talbot and the Making of Burton, Hopkins, Sheen and All the Others
The town of Port Talbot has long been seen (quite literally) as synonymous with the steel industry. Yet it also has another claim to fame as the actorsx27 capital of Wales. It has produced a remarkable number of actors since the inter-war years. Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Sheen head the glittering cast but there are many others including early stars such as Ronald Lewis and Ivor Emmanuel, more recent figures like Rob Brydon and Di Botcher as well as a cluster of exciting young actorsstarting to make their names in the West End and on the big and small screen.This book suggests explanations for this phenomenon. Its author is a historical biographer who hails from Port Talbot and has done extensive research including numerous interviews. It explores the provision of educational and cultural facilities for young people over the years and demonstrates a commitment to drama that is deeply embedded in the townx27s history. It tells in some depth the stories of the super-stars but in a novel way, focusing on how they emerged and on those who nurtured their talent, presenting the actors as part of a tradition that was set in motion even before Richard Burton began to make his mark. It surveys the careers of fifty actors from Port Talbot and it considers what its most famous stars have put back into their community, culminating in the spectacular three-day event of Easter 2011 when Michael Sheen resurrected Port Talbotx27s pride and hopes through the immersive theatrical experience of The Passion.Written at a time of mixed fortunes for actors when funding for training is threatened yet opportunities for theatre and film work are expanding within Wales, this book puts centre-stage a town, its actors and those who guide them and so offers a new kind of cultural history. Such an approach also raises wider questions about the importance of the arts and of drama in particular to the wellbeing of communities.Read more
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The Anywhere Voice Actor: Voiceover Handbook on Remote Voice Acting
Are you an aspiring voice actor looking for their chance to dive into the wild world of the voiceover industry but don’t live near Los Angeles and have no idea where to start? The Anywhere Voice Actor was made for you!In recent years, the voiceover industry has become an exceedingly different landscape to navigate. Many voice actors have since adapted to remote, at-home recording spaces, making home studios as much of a staple as professional studios. This transformative divergence from what was once perceived as the norm in the industry has led to an entirely new path that brings possibility and accessibility to voice actors worldwide through, at-home remote recording.
In The Anywhere Voice Actor, professional voice actress Sara Secora reflects on her years of experience—from recording on the floor of her closet to becoming a full-time professional. She identifies and outlines clear-cut methods fresh voice talent can use to find their start and carve a career pathway that is uniquely their own.
What You’ll Find Inside:
• Basics: Genres, Rates, Training, Acting, Preparation
• Technical: Demos, Home Studios, Terminology
• Business: Unions, Agents, Auditioning, Networking
• Fortitude: Rejection, Imposter Syndrome, Community
And much, much more!Read more
£19.40 -
The Circus Professor’s Guidebook: A Performance Development Course for Kids
Discover a thrilling journey that empowers parents, teachers, and kids alike to unlock the world of captivating stage performances—introducing “The Circus Professor’s Guidebook,” a groundbreaking curriculum designed to transform children into confident and skilled performers through the exciting realm of circus arts.
Delve into “The Circus Professor’s Guidebook,” as it illuminates the fascinating relevance of circus arts in nurturing essential performance development skills. Unveil a world of excitement where imagination takes center stage, and watch as young minds embark on a gripping adventure toward becoming remarkable performing artists.
With 60 games throughout the book, each chapter immerses kids in engaging exercises meticulously crafted to foster creativity and ignite their imaginations. From mime to clowning, each activity provides hours of immersive play and exploration, ensuring endless delight for kids and inspiration for instructors, parents, and teachers.
As the program unfolds, witness the seamless progression from one chapter to the next, building upon acquired skills and experiences. The Circus Professor’s insightful reflections, laced with humor and intellect, add a charismatic flair to the learning process.
“The Circus Professor’s Guidebook” isn’t just about circus arts – it’s a gateway to a world of dramatic performing arts. Each week’s treasure trove of ideas and learned performance skills contribute to a central goal: cultivating talents directly applicable to the vast realm of stage performance.
Enroll your children in this transformative journey and witness them blossoming into burgeoning performing artists with professional-level skills. As their abilities flourish, parents and teachers can relish the satisfaction of nurturing extraordinary talents and creating lasting memories. Experience the magic of “The Circus Professor’s Guidebook” and open the curtain to a future brimming with confidence, creativity, and spectacular stage performances.
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£7.80 -
The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit (new edition): Revised Edition
A revised and updated edition of Bella Merlin’s essential guide to Stanislavsky.The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit collects together for the first time the terms and ideas developed by Stanislavsky throughout his career.
It is organised into three sections: Actor-Training, Rehearsal Processes and Performance Practices. Key terms are explained and defined as they naturally occur in this process. They are illustrated with examples from both his own work and that of other practitioners.
Each stage of the process is explored with sequences of practical exercises designed to help today’s actors and students become thoroughly familiar with the tools in Stanislavsky’s toolkit.
‘Bella Merlin magically converts her extensive knowledge into real-world practice and on-the-floor technique. This new edition is a necessary and lively resource for any theatre practitioner.’ David Chambers, Professor of Directing, Yale School of Drama
‘One of the essential books about acting for both professionals and students… brings new clarity to unlocking what Stanislavsky means for actors today.’ Michael Earley, Principal, Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance
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£11.40£12.30 -
The Elemental Actor: How to Release Your Hidden Powers
We are all a complex mixture of the elemental energies identified by many different cultures throughout history: Earth, Air, Fire, Water – and a fifth element called Quintessence or Spirit. As an actor, you need to be able to access each of them, so that you can draw on whichever element you need to bring your role fully into life.
In The Elemental Actor, Mel Churcher explores these deep, primal drives, and gives you practical tools to harness them to make your work more powerful and alive. Her unique approach combines elements of actor training, voice work and movement to increase your range and help you bring depth, specificity and intensity to your performance.
The book includes over one hundred games and exercises to help you explore each of the elements, incorporate this work into your practice, and apply it to the world of your role. There are also tips for preparing for auditions and dealing with performance anxiety, as well as advice on how to stay healthy in body, voice and mind.
Offering an everlasting palette that will enrich any performance, whether on stage or screen, The Elemental Actor will help you release the wellspring of your imagination, and put elemental power into your work.
Mel Churcher is an international acting, dialogue and voice coach who has worked with companies including the Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Young Vic, Royal Court Theatre and Graeae Theatre Company. She is one of the top acting and dialogue coaches in TV and movies, and has worked with some of the biggest stars of stage and screen.Read more
£14.20 -
The English Actor: From Medieval to Modern
The English Actor charts the uniquely English approach to stagecraft. In thirty chapters, Peter Ackroyd describes, with superb narrative skill, the genesis of acting – deriving from the Church tradition of Mystery Plays – through the flourishing of the craft in the Renaissance to modern methods that followed the advent of film and television. The biographies of the most notable and celebrated actors are also explored, right up to the present day. In this book, Ackroyd gives us an original and superbly entertaining appraisal of how actors have acted – and how audiences have responded – since the medieval period, and what we mean by the ‘magic of the stage’.Read more
£7.10 -
The Final Curtain: Obituaries of Fifty Great Actors
Michael Coveney has been writing theatrical obituaries alongside reviews for several decades and makes a telling, sometimes surprising, selection of the best performers of our time, from Laurence Olivier to Alan Rickman, Peggy Ashcroft to Helen McCrory, Richard Briers to Ken Dodd. Most of these obits appeared in the Guardian, several in the Observer, the Financial Times and the Evening Standard.
The fifty articles are arranged in chronological order of each actor’s demise and constitute a vivid history of postwar theatre through the lives of the actors, ‘the abstract and brief chronicles of the time’ as Hamlet called them. There are happy/sad juxtapositions of shooting stars Robert Stephens and Alan Bates; tragic niece and aunt, Natasha Richardson and Lynn Redgrave; classical queens Diana Rigg and Barbara Jefford; and versatile showtime hoofers Una Stubbs and Lionel Blair.
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£24.60£28.50The Final Curtain: Obituaries of Fifty Great Actors
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The Intent to Live: Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor
“I call this book The Intent to Live because great actors don’t seem to be acting, they seem to be actually living.”
-Larry Moss, from the IntroductionWhen Oscar-winning actors Helen Hunt and Hilary Swank accepted their Academy Awards, each credited Larry Moss’s guidance as key to their career-making performances. There is a two-year waiting list for his advanced acting classes. But now everyone-professionals and amateurs alike-can discover Moss’s passionate, in-depth teaching.
Inviting you to join him in the classroom and onstage, Moss shares the techniques he has developed over thirty years to help actors set their emotions, imagination, and behavior on fire, showing how the hard work of preparation pays off in performances that are spontaneous, fresh, and authentic.
From the foundations of script analysis to the nuances of physicalization and sensory work, here are the case studies, exercises, and insights that enable you to connect personally with a script, develop your character from the inside out, overcome fear and inhibition, and master the technical skills required for success in the theater, television, and movies.
Far more than a handbook, The Intent to Live is the personal credo of a master teacher. Moss’s respect for actors and love of the actor’s craft enliven every page, together with examples from a wealth of plays and films, both current and classic, and vivid appreciations of great performances. Whether you act for a living or simply want a deeper understanding of acting greatness, The Intent to Live will move, instruct, and inspire you.
From the Hardcover edition.
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£16.40 -
The Invisible Actor (Bloomsbury Revelations)
The Invisible Actor presents the captivating and unique methods of the distinguished Japanese actor and director, Yoshi Oida. While a member of Peter Brook’s theatre company in Paris, Yoshi Oida developed a masterful approach to acting that combined the oriental tradition of supreme and studied control with the Western performer’s need to characterise and expose depths of emotion. Written with Lorna Marshall, Yoshi Oida explains that once the audience becomes openly aware of the actor’s method and becomes too conscious of the actor’s artistry, the wonder of performance dies. The audience must never see the actor but only his or her performance. Throughout Lorna Marshall provides contextual commentary on Yoshi Oida’s work and methods. In a new foreword to accompany the Bloomsbury Revelations edition, Yoshi Oida revisits the questions that have informed his career as an actor and explores how his skilful approach to acting has shaped the wider contours of his life.Read more
£13.90 -
The Invisible Actor (Bloomsbury Revelations)
The Invisible Actor presents the captivating and unique methods of the distinguished Japanese actor and director, Yoshi Oida. While a member of Peter Brook’s theatre company in Paris, Yoshi Oida developed a masterful approach to acting that combined the oriental tradition of supreme and studied control with the Western performer’s need to characterise and expose depths of emotion.Written with Lorna Marshall, Yoshi Oida explains that once the audience becomes openly aware of the actor’s method and becomes too conscious of the actor’s artistry, the wonder of performance dies. The audience must never see the actor but only his or her performance. Throughout Lorna Marshall provides contextual commentary on Yoshi Oida’s work and methods.
In a new foreword to accompany the Bloomsbury Revelations edition, Yoshi Oida revisits the questions that have informed his career as an actor and explores how his skilful approach to acting has shaped the wider contours of his life.
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£13.20 -
The Jobbing Actor: A Coaching Programme for Actors
‘The book all actors need – a vital manual to help you stay balanced in an increasingly demanding industry’ Miranda Hart
The Jobbing Actor is an innovative six-week coaching programme designed by accredited coaches to help you achieve your acting ambitions. It’s not just another ‘how to’ guide telling you what you already know; it’s a professional self-development programme that’s high on impact and low on bullshit.
Week by week, it will guide you through a structured series of industry-focused and holistic exercises and challenges. Full of uplifting advice and practical hints and tips, it covers every aspect of building and sustaining a career – from auditions and self-taping, through dealing with rejection and other trip-ups, to networking, branding and diversifying. Also included are daily journal pages in which you’ll set your targets and goals, and track your progress.
Inspiring, empowering – and fun! – The Jobbing Actor is your own personal coach in handy paperback form. It’ll empower you to take stock of where you are personally and professionally, instigate long-term, positive change, and reclaim ownership of your career.
Anita Gilbert and Letty Butler (aka Bert & Butler) have between them over forty years’ experience in the business. Anita has worked as a professional actor, as well as a theatrical agent, and is now a full-time voice and accent coach. Letty is a jobbing actor and comedienne, with extensive credits for stage and screen. She’s also an award-winning writer and professional life coach.
‘Brilliant. A godsend to actors!’ Eleanor Tomlinson
‘No-nonsense, practical advice delivered with humour, warmth and a real desire to help actors succeed’ Peter Hunt (Head of Casting, Lime Pictures)
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£11.00 -
The Master Key to Acting Freedom: Getting Ready for the Theatre of Life
Graham Dixon has been involved in the work of Michael Chekhov as a professional actor, director and teacher for nearly 50 years, having studied with and met many of Chekhov’s original students. As the director of the Michael Chekhov Studio London, he’s recognised internationally as one of the most important teachers in this imaginative approach to acting.
In The Master Key to Acting Freedom, Graham explores the basic principles of Michael Chekhov’s approach to a new way of acting. Over the course of a four-day workshop with twelve participants from varying backgrounds, he shows how Chekhov’s approach is radically different from many of the practices currently taught to actors and directors. Chekhov’s approach is an ‘open system’ enabling the actor to access directly – ‘to tap into’ – an objective, creative world by using a heightened ability to imagine and sense. The resultant feelings, thoughts and will impulses are natural, unforced, true and joyous!
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The Methuen Book of Duologues for Young Actors (Audition Books) (Audition Speeches)
Selected by Anne Harvey, an experienced actress, director, writer and adjudicator, these scenes are suitable for performance at auditions, solo acting classes, festivals and examinations. Ranging from Renaissance to contemporary literature, the pieces are varied in content, tone and style and are equipped with an introduction setting the context. Writers include: Edward Bond, Ken Campbell, David Crampton, Caryl Churchill, Noel Coward, Monica Dickens, Lisa Evans, Dario Fo, John Ford, David Hare, Jonathan Harvey, Lillian Hellman, Adrian Henri, Robert Holman, Moliere, Willy Russell, Diane Samuels, G B Shaw, David Storey, Frank Wedekind and many more…Read more
£11.00£12.30 -
The Methuen Drama Book of Monologues for Young Actors
Selected by Anne Harvey, an experienced actress, director, writer and adjudicator, these dramatic monologues are suitable for performance at auditions, solo acting classes, festivals and examinations. Ranging from early Elizabethan to contemporary literature, the pieces are varied in content, tone and style and are equipped with an introduction setting the context. Writers include: Alan Ayckbourn, Enid Bagnold, David Campton, William Congreve, Sarah Daniels, Charles Dickens, Athol Fugard, Lucy Gannon, Graham Greene, John Godber, David Hare, Stanley Houghton, Henrik Ibsen, Shaman Macdonald, David Mercer, Iris Murdoch, Dennis Potter, Tom Stoppard, CP Taylor, Hugh Whitemore and many more.Read more
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The Outstanding Actor: Seven Keys to Success (Performance Books)
Drawing on Ken Rea’s 35 years’ teaching experience and research, as well as interviews with top actors and directors, The Outstanding Actor identifies seven key qualities that the most successful actors manifest, along with practical exercises that help nurture those qualities and videos to demonstrate them.Featuring contributions and insights from Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Judi Dench, Al Pacino, Lily James, Rufus Norris and many more, The Outstanding Actor gives you techniques that you can immediately put into practice in rehearsals, classes or private preparation. It also shows you how to increase the chances of having a more successful career.
This new edition covers topical issues such as the #MeToo movement, gender balance and race issues, and how these affect working conditions and careers. There are also brand new links to video resources that bring the valuable exercises to life.
The book also includes forewords by Damian Lewis and Lily James.
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The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes
This is the ultimate anthology of theatrical anecdotes, edited by lifelong theatre-lover Gyles Brandreth in the Oxford tradition, and covering every kind of theatrical story and experience from the age of Shakespeare and Marlowe to the age of Stoppard and Mamet, from Richard Burbage to Richard Briers, from Nell Gwynn to Daniel Day-Lewis, from Sarah Bernhardt to Judi Dench.Players, playwrights, prompters, producers―they all feature. The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes provides a comprehensive, revealing, and hugely entertaining portrait of the world of theatre across four hundred years.
Many of the anecdotes are humorous: all have something pertinent and illuminating to say about an aspect of theatrical life―whether it is the art of playwriting, the craft of covering up missed cues, the drama of the First Night, the nightmare of touring, or the secret ingredients of star quality.
Edmund Kean, Henry Irving, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Ellen Terry, Edith Evans, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren―the great ‘names’ are all here, of course, but there are tales of the unexpected, too―and the unknown. This is a book―presented in five acts, with a suitably anecdotal and personal prologue from Gyles Brandreth―where, once in a while, the understudy takes centre-stage and Gyles Brandreth treats triumph and disaster just the same, including stories from the tattiest touring companies as well as from Broadway, the West End and theatres, large and small, in Australia, India, and across Europe.
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£11.60£12.30The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes
£11.60£12.30 -
The Power of the Actor: The Chubbuck Technique — The 12-Step Acting Technique That Will Take You from Script to a Living, Breathing, Dynamic Character
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 today’s 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 Chubbuck’s 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.
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£19.30 -
The Stars of Hollywood Remembered: Career Biographies of 81 Actors and Actresses of the Golden Era, 1920s-50s: Career Biographies of 82 Actors and Actresses of the Golden Era,…
Biographies and filmographies of 81 actors and actresses who had passed from the scene by September 1996 are presented in this reference work. The filmography lists all the films in which they appeared, along with the studio and year of release.Read more
£28.50£35.10 -
Trish Arnold: The Legacy of a Movement Training for Actors: The Legacy of Her Movement Training for Actors
A unique guide to Trish Arnold’s pioneering movement training for actors, focusing on both the context and the practice.Trish Arnold (1918 – 2017) was a pioneer in the field of movement, her work quietly influencing international theatre, film and drama school training. In stature, she stands alongside more famous movement practitioners such as Jacques Le Coq, Rudolf Laban and Litz Pisk.
As the first and only recorded collection of her work, this book offers the reader a clear and concise explanation of movements developed by Arnold throughout her career and looks at where these came from and how they have been passed on to the next generation of practitioners.
The book documents Trish Arnold’s journey into theatre from a classical ballet background and is supplemented throughout by beautiful illustrations of her movements by Ben John, original notes and sketches of Arnold’s, and quotes from fellow movement director Jane Gibson, Arnold’s first apprentice, as well as teacher of voice production Kristin Linklater, whose voice work was hugely influenced by Arnold’s movements.
Through this book, we come to understand the foundations of Arnold’s practice – both its origins and how to implement it – and its legacy in theatre making today.
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£22.20£24.70 -
Trusting the Actor: New Techniques for Actor Training
This revolutionary book is more than just a dry theoretical study of acting techniques. Against a background of Apartheid South Africa it tells the story – both humorous and moving – of how teacher/director Brian Astbury – founder of South Africa’s legendary Space Theatre – and hundreds of actors and acting students both in production and at Britain’s top drama schools developed a set of exercises over two decades to help actors overcome problems not addressed in other methods.These teach how to be ‘in the moment’;
to gain access to the inexhaustible storehouse of the imagination;
to access, integrate and properly use the emotions of the character;
to overcome difficulties with learning lines;
to recreate performance without conscious thought.“An idiosyncratic, challenging and practical guide to the craft of acting, crammed with anecdotes and humorous insights”
Richard E. Grant Actor/director/writer (Withnail and I, The Player, Wah-Wah and many others)“A truly inspirational teacher”
Julie Hesmondhalgh Actor (Hayley, Coronation Street)“A unique figure in British theatre. Provocative, controversial, doggedly inspiring. He has been the pivotal teacher, enabler and mentor for me and countless others.
Rufus Norris Director (Festen, Cabaret, Market Boy, Tintin, Vernon God Little, Blood Wedding)“I cannot recommend it highly enough”
Stephen Moyer Actor (True Blood, NY-LON, Prince Valiant, the RSC)“A conversational (almost chatty) love story, a tale of a theatre company’s struggle against Apartheid, an irreverent look at life”
Alexander Siddig Actor/director (Deep Space Nine, Syriana, Un Homme Perdu, 24, Primeval, Hannibal)“Brian Astbury was, without a doubt, the biggest influence on me. His teachings are still what I go to in trouble”
Jason Flemyng Actor (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Quatermass Experiment, Drum, the RSC)Read more
£2.80 -
Voice And The Actor
Voice and the Actor is the first classic work by Cicely Berry, Voice Director of the Royal Shakespear Company and world-famous voice teacher. Encapsulating her renowned method of teaching voice production, the exercises in this straightforward, no-nonsense guide will develop relaxation, breathing and muscular control – without which no actor or speaker can achieve their full potential.
Illustrated with passages used in Cicely Berry’s own teaching, Voice and the Actor is the essential first step towards speaking a text with truth and meaning. Inspiring and practical, her words will be a revelation for beginner and professional alike.
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£11.30£14.20Voice And The Actor
£11.30£14.20 -
Voice Over Artist – You’ve Probably Heard Me Before: Calendar & Daily Planner For A Voice Actor Or Actress
Grab this awesome planner for a voice actor or actress to help you get an overview of your weekly and daily goals.Read more
£5.10 -
Voice-Over Voice Actor: The Extended Edition
Interested in Pursuing a Career in VO? Curious what goes on behind the scenes in a business where people talk funny for money? This updated edition of the award-winning first book offers a fun and comprehensive look at what it takes, what goes on, and what it’s like behind the mic from two (still) working pros who started from scratch. In this book you will discover: • The ins and outs of auditioning • Vocal warm-ups and exercises • Tips for reading copy to maximum effect • Hints to help you stand out • Advice for setting up your own home studio • Keys to marketing yourself: demo > agent > job • What to expect when you book the job • A bonus workbook to hone your skills • Performance capture, podcasting, & more!Read more
£17.50 -
What Actors Do: Advice to the Players in Seven Paradoxes and a Manifesto
‘Only what is open and searching is active and alive. You, the actor, must learn to find security in insecurity, certainty in uncertainty, to trust that this will lead to discovery and growth.’
In What Actors Do, revered theatre director Mike Alfreds explores the wellspring of the actor’s craft, tracing a pathway to creative freedom through the thickets of competing methodologies and confusing paradoxes that you will face throughout your training and career.
How do you give life to a character that both is and isn’t yourself? How can you be childlike and open in your work without becoming childish? How, when you know what’s coming next, can you still be spontaneous?
Frank, uncompromising and full of sharply focused insights, this book will help you strip away the inhibitions and habitual thinking that can shackle our imaginations. It will show you how to generate truthful performances by trusting your inner creativity and remaining radically open, responsive and present in every moment.
Mike Alfreds has been directing plays for more than seventy years. In the 1970s he founded Shared Experience, and has since worked for the National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and also extensively abroad. He is hugely respected within the profession, and is the author of two previous books, Different Every Night and Then What Happens?
‘If I was allowed to train again to be an actor, but I was only allowed one teacher, it would have to be Mike Alfreds. To me he is a genius when it comes to acting and storytelling’ Mark Rylance
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£10.50£12.30 -
Working with Actors: Meisner Technique for Directors and Actors
Working with Actors provides the key to unlocking the honest, dynamic performance every actor has within them. It offers a well-articulated formulation of the Meisner Technique easy for directors and actors to use within a working context. Through setting out an accessible training programme for practitioners working across stage and screen, this book establishes a clear-cut route to building a three-dimensional character in an organic, non-intellectual fashion, based squarely on the character’s objectives. Few books in this field venture out of the training studio, while in this book – alongside offering an intense and concentrated Meisner training programme – the focus is more on the ‘pay-off’: the collaborative act of developing the role and how that plays out in rehearsal and performance. Beyond that, the books uniquely offers: > a new modality for script reading, analysis and rehearsal through which the character is born in relation to other characters; > a prioritisation of the key skills for coming alive in the moment – listening and putting one’s attention wholly on the other character/actor; > a historical perspective on how Meisner’s methods have evolved and why they provide the basis of truthful acting; > for directors, a format for analysis of the complete work based on Stanislavskian principles; > for actors, complementary methods, such as Uta Hagen’s ‘endowment’, to enhance the ‘reality of doing’Read more
£47.50 -
You Are An Amazing Actor Simply Fantastic All the Other Actors Total Disasters Everyone Agree Believe Me: Donald Trump Notebook/Journal Homebook To … 120 pages | Lined | Gift…
Funny Donald Trump with American Flag Actor Notebook University Graduation gift a 120 pages Notebook featuring You Are An Amazing Actor Simply Fantastic All the Other Actors Total Disasters Everyone Agree Believe Me a Matte-finish cover.
Perfect gift for parents, grandparents, kids, boys, girls, youth and teens as an Actor journal gift.
- 120 pages
- 6″”x9″”
- White-color paper
- Matte Finish Cover for an elegant look and feel
Are you an Actor ? Are you looking for a gift for your parents or relatives that works as an Actor ? Then you need to buy this gift for your brother, sister, Auntie and celebrate their birthday. Great Actor gift for graduation .
Are you looking for an Actor Gift ? Actor journal ? Actor Notebook ?
Then click on our brand and check the hundreds more custom options and top designs in our shop!”Read more
£5.40
