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The Actor's Way
by Erik Exe ChristoffersenCan 'stage presence' be acquired? Why do some actors appear more dynamic in performance than others? In The Actors Way four experienced actors talk about the secrets and the practical realities of over twenty-five years of theatre training with Odin Teatret. Under the unique direction of Eugenio Barba, director of Odin Teatret, they have explored issues such as the connections between physical and mental work on stage, how to gain and control the spectator's attention, and intercultural performance techniques. The Actor's Way is a fascinating account of personal and professional development in the theatre. It will be vital reading for drama students and actors, but enjoyable and illuminating for anyone interested in the craft of acting.
The Actor's Way
by Erik Exe ChristoffersenCan 'stage presence' be acquired? Why do some actors appear more dynamic in performance than others? In The Actors Way four experienced actors talk about the secrets and the practical realities of over twenty-five years of theatre training with Odin Teatret. Under the unique direction of Eugenio Barba, director of Odin Teatret, they have explored issues such as the connections between physical and mental work on stage, how to gain and control the spectator's attention, and intercultural performance techniques. The Actor's Way is a fascinating account of personal and professional development in the theatre. It will be vital reading for drama students and actors, but enjoyable and illuminating for anyone interested in the craft of acting.
Othello's Secret: The Cyprus Problem (Shakespeare Now!)
by R M ChristofidesOthello's Secret uncovers the relationship between the play and the conflicts that have torn apart its Cypriot setting, providing a new and powerfully political reading. Exploring the domestic and military anxieties connected by Shakespeare, Christofides highlights the ways in which these issues resonate with current ideological and geographical divisions in Cyprus, divisions rooted in the 16th century struggles to control the island. Challenging the conventional view of Othello as a Venetian play, this book offers a fierce and personal example of how early modern literature can purposefully contribute to even the most complex geopolitical debates.
Othello's Secret: The Cyprus Problem (Shakespeare Now!)
by R M ChristofidesOthello's Secret uncovers the relationship between the play and the conflicts that have torn apart its Cypriot setting, providing a new and powerfully political reading. Exploring the domestic and military anxieties connected by Shakespeare, Christofides highlights the ways in which these issues resonate with current ideological and geographical divisions in Cyprus, divisions rooted in the 16th century struggles to control the island. Challenging the conventional view of Othello as a Venetian play, this book offers a fierce and personal example of how early modern literature can purposefully contribute to even the most complex geopolitical debates.
Shakespeare and the Apocalypse: Visions of Doom from Early Modern Tragedy to Popular Culture (Continuum Shakespeare Studies)
by R M ChristofidesBy connecting Shakespeare's language to the stunning artwork that depicted the end of the world, this study provides not only provides a new reading of Shakespeare but illustrates how apocalyptic art continues to influence popular culture today.Drawing on extant examples of medieval imagery, Roger Christofides uses poststructuralist and psychoanalytic accounts of how language works to shed new light on our understanding of Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. He then links Shakespeare's dependence on his audience to appreciate the allusions made to the religious paintings to the present day. For instance, popular television series like Battlestar Galactica, seminal horror movies such as An American Werewolf in London and Carrie and recent novels like Cormac McCarthy's The Road. All draw on imagery that can be traced directly back to the depictions of the Doom, an indication of the cultural power these vivid imaginings of the end of the world have in Shakespeare's day and now.
Shakespeare and the Apocalypse: Visions of Doom from Early Modern Tragedy to Popular Culture (Continuum Shakespeare Studies)
by R M ChristofidesBy connecting Shakespeare's language to the stunning artwork that depicted the end of the world, this study provides not only provides a new reading of Shakespeare but illustrates how apocalyptic art continues to influence popular culture today.Drawing on extant examples of medieval imagery, Roger Christofides uses poststructuralist and psychoanalytic accounts of how language works to shed new light on our understanding of Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. He then links Shakespeare's dependence on his audience to appreciate the allusions made to the religious paintings to the present day. For instance, popular television series like Battlestar Galactica, seminal horror movies such as An American Werewolf in London and Carrie and recent novels like Cormac McCarthy's The Road. All draw on imagery that can be traced directly back to the depictions of the Doom, an indication of the cultural power these vivid imaginings of the end of the world have in Shakespeare's day and now.
The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music (Oxford Handbooks)
by Christopher R. Wilson and Mervyn CookeThe Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music showcases the latest international research into the captivating and vast subject of the many uses of music in relation to Shakespeare's plays and poems, extending from the Bard's own time to the present day. The coverage is truly global in its scope, with ground-breaking studies of Shakespeare-related music in countries as diverse as China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, and the Soviet Union, as well as the Anglophone musical and theatrical traditions of the UK and USA. The range of genres surveyed is equally extensive, embracing music for theatre, opera, ballet, musicals, the concert hall, and film, in addition to Shakespeare's ongoing afterlives in folk music, jazz, and popular music. The authors take a range of diverse approaches in tackling their remits: some chapters investigate the evidence for performative practices in the Early Modern and later eras, while others offer detailed accounts of representative case studies, situating these firmly in their cultural contexts, or reflecting on the fascinating political and sociological ramifications of the music. As a whole, the Handbook provides a unique and impressively wide-ranging compendium of cutting-edge scholarship engaging with an extraordinarily rich body of music.
You For Me For You (Modern Plays)
by Mia ChungTrees don't have ears.How are you so sure?As they attempt to flee the Best Nation in the World, North Korean sisters Minhee and Junhee are torn apart at the border. Each must race across time and space to be together again – navigating the perilous Land of the Free and the treacherous terrain of personal belief.Food has learned to sprint. Money is so fast it doesn't wait to be printed. Gossip travels swifter than germs.You For Me For You was first presented in the US at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington D.C., in Autumn 2012 and received its UK premiere at London's Royal Court in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on 3 December 2015.
You For Me For You (Modern Plays)
by Mia ChungTrees don't have ears.How are you so sure?As they attempt to flee the Best Nation in the World, North Korean sisters Minhee and Junhee are torn apart at the border. Each must race across time and space to be together again – navigating the perilous Land of the Free and the treacherous terrain of personal belief.Food has learned to sprint. Money is so fast it doesn't wait to be printed. Gossip travels swifter than germs.You For Me For You was first presented in the US at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington D.C., in Autumn 2012 and received its UK premiere at London's Royal Court in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs on 3 December 2015.
MUSIC DIRECTION FOR STAGE C: A View from the Podium
by Joseph ChurchTheater music directors must draw on a remarkably broad range of musical skills. Not only do they conduct during rehearsals and performances, but they must also be adept arrangers, choral directors, vocal coaches, and accompanists. Like a record producer, the successful music director must have the flexibility to adjust as needed to a multifaceted job description, one which changes with each production and often with each performer. In Music Direction for the Stage, veteran music director and instructor Joseph Church demystifies the job in a book that offers aspiring and practicing music directors the practical tips and instruction they need in order to mount a successful musical production. Church, one of Broadway's foremost music directors, emerges from the orchestra pit to tell how the music is put into a musical show. He gives particular attention to the music itself, explaining how a music director can best plan the task of learning, analyzing, and teaching each new piece. Based on his years of professional experience, he offers a practical discussion of a music director's methods of analyzing, learning, and practicing a score, thoroughly illustrated by examples from the repertoire. The book also describes how a music director can effectively approach dramatic and choreographic rehearsals, including key tips on cueing music to dialogue and staging, determining incidental music and underscoring, making musical adjustments and revisions in rehearsal, and adjusting style and tempo to performers' needs. A key theme of the book is effective collaboration with other professionals, from the production team to the creative team to the performers themselves, all grounded in Church's real-world experience with professional, amateur, and even student performances. He concludes with a look at music direction as a career, offering invaluable advice on how the enterprising music director can find work and gain standing in the field.
Music Direction for the Stage: A View from the Podium
by Joseph ChurchTheater music directors must draw on a remarkably broad range of musical skills. Not only do they conduct during rehearsals and performances, but they must also be adept arrangers, choral directors, vocal coaches, and accompanists. Like a record producer, the successful music director must have the flexibility to adjust as needed to a multifaceted job description, one which changes with each production and often with each performer. In Music Direction for the Stage, veteran music director and instructor Joseph Church demystifies the job in a book that offers aspiring and practicing music directors the practical tips and instruction they need in order to mount a successful musical production. Church, one of Broadway's foremost music directors, emerges from the orchestra pit to tell how the music is put into a musical show. He gives particular attention to the music itself, explaining how a music director can best plan the task of learning, analyzing, and teaching each new piece. Based on his years of professional experience, he offers a practical discussion of a music director's methods of analyzing, learning, and practicing a score, thoroughly illustrated by examples from the repertoire. The book also describes how a music director can effectively approach dramatic and choreographic rehearsals, including key tips on cueing music to dialogue and staging, determining incidental music and underscoring, making musical adjustments and revisions in rehearsal, and adjusting style and tempo to performers' needs. A key theme of the book is effective collaboration with other professionals, from the production team to the creative team to the performers themselves, all grounded in Church's real-world experience with professional, amateur, and even student performances. He concludes with a look at music direction as a career, offering invaluable advice on how the enterprising music director can find work and gain standing in the field.
Rock in the Musical Theatre: A Guide for Singers
by Joseph ChurchToday's musical theatre world rocks. Now that rock 'n' roll music and its offshoots, including pop, hard rock, rap, r&b, funk, folk, and world-pop music, are the standard language of musical theatre, theatre singers need a source of information on these styles, their origins, and their performance practices. Rock in the Musical Theatre: A Guide for Singers fills this need. Today's musical theatre training programs are now including rock music in their coursework and rock songs and musicals in their repertoires. This is a text for those trainees, courses, and productions. It will also be of great value to working professionals, teachers, music directors, and coaches less familiar with rock styles, or who want to improve their rock-related skills. The author, an experienced music director, vocal coach, and university professor, and an acknowledged expert on rock music in the theatre, examines the many aspects of performing rock music in the theatre and offers practical advice through a combination of aesthetic and theoretical study, extensive discussions of musical, vocal, and acting techniques, and chronicles of coaching sessions. The book also includes advice from working actors, casting directors, and music directors who specialize in rock music for the stage.
ROCK IN THE MUSICAL THEATRE C: A Guide for Singers
by Joseph ChurchToday's musical theatre world rocks. Now that rock 'n' roll music and its offshoots, including pop, hard rock, rap, r&b, funk, folk, and world-pop music, are the standard language of musical theatre, theatre singers need a source of information on these styles, their origins, and their performance practices. Rock in the Musical Theatre: A Guide for Singers fills this need. Today's musical theatre training programs are now including rock music in their coursework and rock songs and musicals in their repertoires. This is a text for those trainees, courses, and productions. It will also be of great value to working professionals, teachers, music directors, and coaches less familiar with rock styles, or who want to improve their rock-related skills. The author, an experienced music director, vocal coach, and university professor, and an acknowledged expert on rock music in the theatre, examines the many aspects of performing rock music in the theatre and offers practical advice through a combination of aesthetic and theoretical study, extensive discussions of musical, vocal, and acting techniques, and chronicles of coaching sessions. The book also includes advice from working actors, casting directors, and music directors who specialize in rock music for the stage.
Churchill Plays: Softcops; Top Girls; Fen; Serious Money (Contemporary Dramatists)
by Caryl ChurchillSoftcops renders the philosophy of Foucault as a music-hall turn and Victorian freakshow "theatre and history combine to give such intelligent fun" (TLS); Top Girls brings five great and less-than-great women from history together for a dinner party and "has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert" (Sunday Times); Fen scrutinises the lives of the low-paid women potato pickers of the fens (in Eastern England) and "the playwright pins down her poetic subject matter in dialogue of impressive vigour and economy" (Financial Times) while Serious Money is a satirical study of the effects of the Big Bang - "Pure genius...the first play about the city to capture the authentic atmosphere of the place." (Daily Telegraph)
Churchill Plays: Owners; Traps; Vinegar Tom; Light Shining in Buckinghamshire; Cloud Nine (Contemporary Dramatists)
by Caryl ChurchillIn Traps, a set of characters meet themselves and their pasts to create "plenty of sinewy lines and joyous juxtapostions" (Plays and Players); Vinegar Tom "is set in the world of seventeenth-century witchcraft, but it speaks, through its striking images and its plethora of ironic contradictions, of and to this century..." (Tribune); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire is set during the Civil War and "unflinchingly shows the intolerance that was the obverse side of the demand for common justice. Deftly, it sketches in the kind of social conditions.. that led to hunger for revolution...The play has an austere eloquence that precisely matches its subject." (The Guardian) Cloud Nine sheds light on some of the British Empire's repressed dark side and is "a marvelous play - sometimes scurrilous, always observed with wicked accuracy, and ultimately, surprisingly, rather moving. It plunges straight to the heart of the endless convolutions of sexual mores...and does so with acrobatic wit." (Guardian) Owners:"I was in an old woman's flat when a young man offering her money to move came round, that was one of the starting points of the play" (Caryl Churchill).The plays in this volume represent the best of Churchill's writing up to and including her emergence onto the international theatre scene with Cloud Nine.
Churchill Plays: Softcops; Top Girls; Fen; Serious Money (Contemporary Dramatists)
by Caryl ChurchillSoftcops renders the philosophy of Foucault as a music-hall turn and Victorian freakshow "theatre and history combine to give such intelligent fun" (TLS); Top Girls brings five great and less-than-great women from history together for a dinner party and "has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert" (Sunday Times); Fen scrutinises the lives of the low-paid women potato pickers of the fens (in Eastern England) and "the playwright pins down her poetic subject matter in dialogue of impressive vigour and economy" (Financial Times) while Serious Money is a satirical study of the effects of the Big Bang - "Pure genius...the first play about the city to capture the authentic atmosphere of the place." (Daily Telegraph)
Churchill Plays: Owners; Traps; Vinegar Tom; Light Shining in Buckinghamshire; Cloud Nine (Contemporary Dramatists)
by Caryl ChurchillIn Traps, a set of characters meet themselves and their pasts to create "plenty of sinewy lines and joyous juxtapostions" (Plays and Players); Vinegar Tom "is set in the world of seventeenth-century witchcraft, but it speaks, through its striking images and its plethora of ironic contradictions, of and to this century..." (Tribune); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire is set during the Civil War and "unflinchingly shows the intolerance that was the obverse side of the demand for common justice. Deftly, it sketches in the kind of social conditions.. that led to hunger for revolution...The play has an austere eloquence that precisely matches its subject." (The Guardian) Cloud Nine sheds light on some of the British Empire's repressed dark side and is "a marvelous play - sometimes scurrilous, always observed with wicked accuracy, and ultimately, surprisingly, rather moving. It plunges straight to the heart of the endless convolutions of sexual mores...and does so with acrobatic wit." (Guardian) Owners:"I was in an old woman's flat when a young man offering her money to move came round, that was one of the starting points of the play" (Caryl Churchill).The plays in this volume represent the best of Churchill's writing up to and including her emergence onto the international theatre scene with Cloud Nine.
Churchill Plays 1: Owners - Traps - Vinegar Tom - Light Shining In Buckinghamshire - Cloud Nine (PDF)
by Caryl ChurchillIn Traps, a set of characters meet themselves and their pasts to create "plenty of sinewy lines and joyous juxtapostions"?Plays and Players Vinegar Tom "is set in the world of seventeenth-century witchcraft, but it speaks, through its striking images and its plethora of ironic contradictions, of and to this century?"?Tribune Light Shining in Buckinghamshire is set during the Civil War and "unflinchingly shows the intolerance that was the obverse side of the demand for common justice. Deftly, it sketches in the kind of social conditions. . that led to hunger for revolution?The play has an austere eloquence that precisely matches its subject. "?The Guardian Cloud Nine sheds light on some of the British Empire's repressed dark side and is "a marvelous play - sometimes scurrilous, always observed with wicked accuracy, and ultimately, surprisingly, rather moving. It plunges straight to the heart of the endless convolutions of sexual mores'and does so with acrobatic wit. "?Guardian Owners:"I was in an old woman's flat when a young man offering her money to move came round, that was one of the starting points of the play"?Caryl Churchill The plays in this volume represent the best of Churchill's writing up to and including her emergence onto the international theatre scene with Cloud Nine. ISBN: PB: 9780413566706 ePDF: 9781472536730 ePUB: 9781472536747
Serious Money (Modern Classics)
by Caryl Churchill"A breathless, exhilarating crash course in the low morality of high finance" (Independent)Serious Money is perhaps Caryl Churchill's most notorious play. A satirical study of the effects of the Big Bang, it premiered at the Royal Court in 1987 and transferred to the West End. Since then, it has prompted city financiers the world over to applaud and decry its presentation of their lives. British Telecom refused to provide telephones for the Wyndham's production, writing to say that "This is a production with which no public company would wish to be associated".
Serious Money: Softcops - Top Girls - Fen - Serious Money (Modern Classics)
by Caryl Churchill"A breathless, exhilarating crash course in the low morality of high finance" (Independent)Serious Money is perhaps Caryl Churchill's most notorious play. A satirical study of the effects of the Big Bang, it premiered at the Royal Court in 1987 and transferred to the West End. Since then, it has prompted city financiers the world over to applaud and decry its presentation of their lives. British Telecom refused to provide telephones for the Wyndham's production, writing to say that "This is a production with which no public company would wish to be associated".
Top Girls (Modern Classics)
by Caryl ChurchillMarlene hosts a dinner party in a London restaurant to celebrate her promotion to managing director of 'Top Girls' employment agency. Her guests are five women from the past: Isabella Bird (1831- 1904) - the adventurous traveller; Lady Nijo (b1258) - the mediaeval courtesan who became a Buddhist nun and travelled on foot through Japan; Dull Gret, who as Dulle Griet in a Bruegel painting, led a crowd of women on a charge through hell; Pope Joan - the transvestite early female pope and last but not least Patient Griselda, an obedient wife out of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. As the evening continues we are involved with the stories of all five women and the impending crisis in Marlene's own life. A classic of contemporary theatre, Churchill's play is seen as a landmark for a new generation of playwrights. It was premiered by the Royal Court in 1982."Top Girls has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert. You can smell life, and at the same time feel locked in an argument with an agile and passionate mind." (John Peter, Sunday Times)
Top Girls (Modern Classics)
by Caryl ChurchillMarlene hosts a dinner party in a London restaurant to celebrate her promotion to managing director of 'Top Girls' employment agency. Her guests are five women from the past: Isabella Bird (1831- 1904) - the adventurous traveller; Lady Nijo (b1258) - the mediaeval courtesan who became a Buddhist nun and travelled on foot through Japan; Dull Gret, who as Dulle Griet in a Bruegel painting, led a crowd of women on a charge through hell; Pope Joan - the transvestite early female pope and last but not least Patient Griselda, an obedient wife out of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. As the evening continues we are involved with the stories of all five women and the impending crisis in Marlene's own life. A classic of contemporary theatre, Churchill's play is seen as a landmark for a new generation of playwrights. It was premiered by the Royal Court in 1982."Top Girls has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert. You can smell life, and at the same time feel locked in an argument with an agile and passionate mind." (John Peter, Sunday Times)
Top Girls (Student Editions)
by Caryl Churchill Sophie BushMarlene thinks the eighties are going to be stupendous. Her sister Joyce has her doubts. Her daughter Angie is just frightened. Since its premiere in 1982, Top Girls has become a seminal play of the modern theatre. Set during a period of British politics dominated by the presence of the newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Churchill's play prompts us to question our notions of women's success and solidarity. Its sharp look at the society and politics of the 1980s is combined with a timeless examination of women's choices and restrictions regarding career and family.This new Student Edition features an introduction by Sophie Bush, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK prepared with the contemporary student in mind. METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself, this volume contains:· A chronology of the play and the playwright's life and work· an introductory discussion of the social, political, cultural and economic context in which the play was originally conceived and created· a succinct overview of the creation processes followed and subsequent performance history of the piece· an analysis of, and commentary on, some of the major themes and specific issues addressed by the text· a bibliography of suggested primary and secondary materials for further study.
Top Girls (Student Editions)
by Caryl Churchill Sophie BushMarlene thinks the eighties are going to be stupendous. Her sister Joyce has her doubts. Her daughter Angie is just frightened. Since its premiere in 1982, Top Girls has become a seminal play of the modern theatre. Set during a period of British politics dominated by the presence of the newly elected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Churchill's play prompts us to question our notions of women's success and solidarity. Its sharp look at the society and politics of the 1980s is combined with a timeless examination of women's choices and restrictions regarding career and family.This new Student Edition features an introduction by Sophie Bush, Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK prepared with the contemporary student in mind. METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself, this volume contains:· A chronology of the play and the playwright's life and work· an introductory discussion of the social, political, cultural and economic context in which the play was originally conceived and created· a succinct overview of the creation processes followed and subsequent performance history of the piece· an analysis of, and commentary on, some of the major themes and specific issues addressed by the text· a bibliography of suggested primary and secondary materials for further study.
What Is Lighting Design?: A Genealogy of People and Ideas
by Michael ChybowskiWhat Is Lighting Design?: A Genealogy of People and Ideas explains what lighting design is by looking at the history of ideas that are a part of this craft and how those ideas developed. Lighting design began in the West with the Renaissance, and each historical period since then has modified how and why light is used in performance, the methods for producing light, and the consensus around what its purpose is. Exploring each lighting design era and the basic components of lighting design, the book discusses how the central ideas of this craft developed over the past 500 years, what today’s lighting designers are concerned with, and how lighting design contributes to performances. This book is designed as a main course text for History of Lighting Design university courses and a supplementary text for and Introduction to Lighting Design, Stagecraft, and Scenography courses. It will also be of interest to directors, choreographers, and working lighting designers who wish to explore the history and meaning of their craft.