Analysis Through Action For Actors And Directors

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Analysis through Action for Actors and Directors is a comprehensive view of an innovative and exciting process for making new theatre. As well as an understanding of how Analysis through Action has developed over time, this book also demonstrates how it can be put into practice in today’s theatre. The first part of this book traces the exciting genealogy from Stanislavsky’s unfinished experiments, through the insights of geniuses Maria Knebel and Georgii Tovstonogov, down to today’s avant-garde auteurs. The second part is a practical manual based on extensive field testing by the author and colleagues. Here, two key components of the process are elucidated: Text Actions – ten interwoven text analysis steps – to be twinned with the thrilling rehearsal process using focused and joyful improvisations called Études. Written for new or experienced theatre students and practitioners, this book will enrich the technique of any theatre artist and anyone else interested in the theatre and its future.

Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers applies directly to the experience of theatrical production. You will immediately be able to inforporate the concepts and processes you learn into both your practical and creative work. Whether you are an actor, a director, or a designer, you will benefit from clear and comprehensive examples, end-of-chapter questions, and summaries meant to stimulate their creative process as they engage in production work. Based on the premise that plays should be objects of study in and of themselves, Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers teaches an established system of classifications that examines the written part of a play. This fourth edition will include in-depth analysis of unconventional plays, which are more frequent on amateur and professional stages. These plays present unique analytical challenges that the author teaches you the unusual ways in which the subject matter operates in unconventional plays.

Based on the premise that plays are objects of study in and of themselves, this title details the Konstantin Stanislavskis method of action analysis, expanding the scope of analysis to includes both inductive and deductive methodologies.

The work done on a play before the first rehearsal, the first group reading or even the before the cast have met, can be crucial to the success of a production. Directors and dramaturgs must know how to analyze, understand and interpret a play or performance text if they hope to bring it to life on the stage. This book provides a broad range of tools and methods that can be used when reading a text, including: Lessons from the past. What can we learn from Aristotle, Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Vakhtangov, Brecht and Harold Clurman? This section establishes the models and methods that underpin much of a director’s work today. A survey of current practices in Western theatre. A combination of research, interviews and observation of practical work addresses the main stages in understanding a play, such as getting to know characters, sharing ideas, mapping the action and grappling with language. A workbook, setting out twenty one ways of breaking down a play, from the general to the particular. Contributions, reflections and interjections from a host of successful directors make this the ideal starting point for anyone who wants to direct a play, or even devise one of their own. This wide range of different approaches, options and techniques allows each reader to create their own brand of play analysis.

Directing film or television is a high-stakes occupation. It captures your full attention at every moment, calling on you to commit every resource and stretch yourself to the limit; it's the white-water rafting of entertainment jobs. But for many directors, the excitement they feel about a new project tightens into anxiety when it comes to working with actors.In the years since the original edition of Directing Actors was published, the technical side of filmmaking has become much more easily accessible. Directors tell me that dealing with actors is the last frontier--the scariest part and the part they long for--the human part, the place where connection happens.Weston's books help directors scale the heights of the actor-director dynamic, learn the joys of collaborating with actors--and become an "actor's director."

A Director's Guide to Stanislavsky's Active Analysis describes Active Analysis, the innovative rehearsal method Stanislavsky formulated in his final years. By uniting 'mental analysis' and 'études', Active Analysis puts an end to the problem of mind-body dualism and formalized text memorization that traditional rehearsal methods foster. The book describes Active Analysis both practically and conceptually; Part One guides the reader through the entire process of Active Analysis, using A Midsummer Night's Dream as a practical reference point. The inspiration here is the work of the Russian director Anatoly Efros, whose pioneering work led the way for a reawakening of theatre in post-Soviet Russia. Part Two is the first English translation of Maria Knebel's foundational article about Active Analysis. Knebel was hand-selected by Stanislavsky to carry his final work forward in unadulterated form for succeeding generations of directors and actors. A Director's Guide to Stanislavsky's Active Analysis provides the first detailed explanation of Active Analysis from the director's perspective, while also meeting the needs of actors who seek to enhance their creative involvement in the process of play production.

This authoritative and highly respected classic text and "workbook" explores all aspects of directing plays in live theatre, including working with actors, playwrights, and designers. Thoroughly revised and updated, Play Directing, Fourth Edition, outlines for readers a technical method for examining the structure of ALL playscripts in order to show how plays are made and how directors can prepare. Author Francis Hodge focuses on the various methods a director can use in communicating with actors and designers. In addition, Hodge illustrates how to bring out the actor through visual stimulations and through the development of oral-aural expertise.