Jean Benedetti's "Stanislavski" is the clearest and most succinct explanation of Stanislavski's writings and ideas, especially those in the Stanislavski's acting trilogy - "An Actor Prepares," "Building a Character," and "Creating a Role" - a staple of every actor's library. Now thoroughly revised and available in an attractive new edition, "Stanislavski: An Introduction" provides the perfect guide through the Master's writing.
In Stanislavski and the Actor , Stanislavski scholar and biographer Jean Bendetti has recovered materials that can stand as a final, last work by the great director and teacher. In this volume readers will find the first English text of Stanislavski s notes and practical exercises from these last sessions. This is a major rediscovered work by Stanislavski, full of new ideas and insights about his working method. To the original materials Jean Benedetti adds his own analysis of Stanislavski's approach to acting and rehearsal methods.The master's own summary of a lifetime of theatrical experience, Stanislavski and the Actor will quickly become an essential tool for actors, students, and teachers everywhere.
Stanislavski was the first person to develop a cogent and practical system of acting. Throughout his life he sought the answers to such fundamental questions as: "What is great acting?" and "How can you find inspiration in every performance?" Stanislavski remains the most important influence on actor training today, and yet many of his ideas are little known, or even misunderstood. Stanislavski For Beginners charts the development of the Stanislavski system. It includes a clear exposition of the key elements of the system and explores his Method of Physical Actions, which he worked on in the years before his death, and which he called “the result of my whole life’s work.”
"A manual full of enabling, easing exercises - it will enable you to analyse any scene. The cry of the actor at sea `I don't know what I'm doing' should, with this book, become a thing of the past' Sam West "I'd recommend this book to anyone wanting an introduction to Stanislavksi or Michael Chekhov or acting in general." Matt Peover, LAMDA trainer and theatre director. "Contains all the important things that need to be said about learning to act...in an extremely logical and sensible manner." Simon Dunmore, Editor Actor's Yearbook An inspiring and technically thorough practical book for actors that sets down a systematic and coherent process for organic, experienced acting. The author offers a step-by-step and demystifying Stanislavski-based approach to text, role, rehearsal and performance to be used in everyday work, and gathers together in one volume the essential tools for recreating human experience. A nuts-and-bolts practical guide with exercises for the actor to work through sequentially. Contains a Foreword by Sam West. John Gillett builds on his experience of teaching at drama school level as well as many decades of acting. This book, by an actor for actors, is a comprehensive, clear and inspirational guide to creating a truthful, dynamic and audience-captivating performance.
Stanislavski: The Basics is an engaging introduction to the life, thought and impact of Konstantin Stanislavski. Regarded by many as a great innovator of twentieth century theatre, this book examines Stanislavski's: life and the context of his writings major works in English translation ideas in practical contexts impact on modern theatre With further reading throughout, a glossary of terms and a comprehensive chronology, this text makes the ideas and theories of Stanislavski available to an undergraduate audience.
Stanislavski’s ‘system’ has dominated actor-training in the West since his writings were first translated into English in the 1920s and 30s. His systematic attempt to outline a psycho-physical technique for acting single-handedly revolutionized standards of acting in the theatre. Until now, readers and students have had to contend with inaccurate, misleading and difficult-to-read English-language versions. Some of the mistranslations have resulted in profound distortions in the way his system has been interpreted and taught. At last, Jean Benedetti has succeeded in translating Stanislavski’s huge manual into a lively, fascinating and accurate text in English. He has remained faithful to the author's original intentions, putting the two books previously known as An Actor Prepares and Building A Character back together into one volume, and in a colloquial and readable style for today's actors. The result is a major contribution to the theatre, and a service to one of the great innovators of the twentieth century. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Foreword by the director Richard Eyre.
Signs of Performance provides the beginning student with working examples of theatrical analysis. Its range covers the whole of twentieth century theatre, from Stanislavski to Brecht and Samuel Beckett to Robert Wilson. Colin Counsell takes an historical look at theatre as a cultural practice, clearly tracing connections between: * Key practitioners' ideas about performance * The theatrical practices prompted by those ideas * The resulting signs which emerge in performance * The meanings and political consequences of those signs It provides an understandable theoretical framework for the study of theatre as a an signifying practice, and offers vivid explanations in clear, direct language. It opens up this fascinating field to a broad audience.
