Theatre
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Dance Nation (Modern Classics)
“”Barron paints a wholly plausible picture of teenage insecurity and ambition… a play that wittily shows how dance can be a source of liberation without ever quelling the tremulous terrors of adolescence.”” – GuardianSomewhere in America, a revolution is coming. An army of competitive dancers is ready to take over the world, one routine at a time. With a pre-teen battle for power and perfection raging on and off stage, Dance Nation is a ferocious exploration of youth, ambition and self-discovery. Winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and The Relentless Award, Dance Nation is Clare Barrons explosive play about the challenges of being young, and competitive dancing. Published for the first time in Methuen Drama’s Modern Classics series, this edition features a brand new introduction by Eboni Booth and Purva Bedi.Read more
£9.90£10.40Dance Nation (Modern Classics)
£9.90£10.40 -
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.
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£13.20 -
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 -
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 -
An Actor’s Handbook: An Alphabetical Arrangement of Concise Statements on Aspects of Acting (Performance Books)
“I have felt there was nothing for me to do except to devote my labour and energy almost exclusively to the study of Creative Nature…I have acquired a sum of experience in the course of long years of work and this is what I have sought to share with you.” (Stanislavski)Here in concise form is what Stanislavski said about acting, alphabetically arranged to aid students, professionals and lay people interested in the stage craft. These collected short statements on a variety of subjects cannot replace the full expression of Stanislavski’s ideas and discoveries in his other books, but they will serve to refresh the reader’s memory and pinpoint what Stanislavski has to offer enquiring minds both in and out of the theatre.Read more
£15.20 -
On Directing: Interviews with Directors
The profession of directing is barely a century old. On Directing considers the position of the director in theater and performance today. What is a director? How do they begin work on a play or performance? What methods are used in rehearsal? Is the directRead more
£1.80 -
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 -
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 -
Actor Movement: Expression of the Physical Being (Performance Books)
Actor Movement: Expression of the Physical Being is a textbook and video resource for the working actor, the student and all those who lead and witness movement for the actor, including movement tutors, movement directors and directors.Great actors are not simply great interpreters of text; they are also great interpreters of movement; able to ’embody all aspects of a character s life, with body and imagination as their instruments. In their work they are expected to become many bodies, all behaving differently from their own. Actors have to construct, inhabit and offer each character s body, with its multiplicity of known and unknown physical expression.
Featuring:
Over 155 exercises
Four full actor movement processes for creating character
Over 20 illustrations and images
Complementary online footage supporting 26 of the practical elementsInspiring confidence in the actor to make fully owned physical choices and develop a love of movement, this essential new textbook is ideal for those actors seeking to give to their movement all the complexity and range possible for great acting.
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£30.10£31.30 -
Acting: Face to Face 2nd Edition: The Actor’s Guide to Understanding How Your Face Communicates Emotion for TV and Film (Language of the Face Book 1)
Master your facial expressions…
… complete your on-camera training…
…. change your life.
Contrary to popular belief, the camera doesn’t magically place emotion or thought on your face – YOU do.
Here’s the thing about facial communication… your face speaks an emotional, cognitive and emblematic language. Knowing how to speak this language fluently and authentically is a skill and often the difference between booking the on-camera job or not.
Is this you?
- Are you often told your facial expressions are too big, too small, too messy?
- Does your face frequently fail to represent what you’re really feeling inside?
- Do your headshots fail to capture who you really are?
- Is your face uncontrollable – Can’t stop it from moving? Can’t get it to move?
- Are you unable to figure out how to get what you feel and think on your face the way you intend?
Mastering how your face speaks to the camera starts here.
Acting: Face-to-Face, the Actor’s Guide to Understanding How Your Face Communicates Emotion for TV & Film is the first book in a two-book series about speaking what I call, “The Language of the Face.”
Our journey begins with-
- Why only a small percentage of on-camera actors get the majority of the work
- What those actors do differently than the rest
- Why acting is an art of deception and why deception is the key to truthful acting
- Why your facial messages may not be expressed the way we intend.
Then we’ll take a deep dive into-
- The science of emotions –
- The 3 ways emotions are facially expressed
- How to identify your personal emotion creating and revealing strengths and weaknesses
- The 4 steps to achieving “Emotional Alignment”- The balance between what you feel and what your face reveals.
What’s new in the expanded 2nd edition?
- Updated “Myths and Misconceptions.” chapter.
- What we’ve learned from mask-wearing.
- Deeper dive into EYE COMMUNICATION – what the eyes can and can’t say.
- 35 new photos to illustrate specificity and subtlety of emotional expression.
Also added are 3 brand NEW chapters including a mini version of the proprietary Emotion Screen Test (EST).
The EST is a guided in-depth self-evaluation of your own facial expressions. Its main purpose is to help you clearly evaluate your emotion creating and revealing strengths and weaknesses.
Are ready to finally complete your on-camera training?
I’m pretty certain you’ll love this comprehensive book on facial communication because it’s easy to follow and the information you’ll take away may not only game-changing, it may very well be life-changing.
Let the journey begin…
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£6.10 -
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 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 -
Games for Actors and Non-Actors
The French edition of Jeux pour Acteurs et Non-Acteurs published in 1982 is currently in its seventh edition. For this first translation into English Boal has added new examples and fresh ideas to make it the most up-to-date introduction to the techniques of Image Theatre and Forum Theatre available.
Boal’s early work took place under the military regime in Brazil. During a period of exile in Portugal, France, Sweden, Germany, and the US he developed work on combating oppression through theatre. His methods transform theatre from a hierarchical structure where actors are active and audiences passive, to a democratic arena where the spectator becomes the `spectactor’, contributing ideas, taking over roles, and using theatre to confront everyday problems, such as sexual harassment, poor pay, homophobia, and racism and find ways of fighting them.
Games for Actors and Non-Actors is a handbook of methods, techniques, games, and exercises designed to help anyone – whether actor or non-actor – rehearse for real life: make the fictional real.Read more
£4.70 -
Laban’s Efforts in Action: A Movement Handbook for Actors with Online Video Resources
As an actor, awareness of your movement is the key to transformation. By making deliberate physical choices, you can fully and articulately embody different ways of being: you can come someone or something else. Laban’s Efforts give you a way of identifying and making these choices. Working with them helps the actor to create wholly present and physically ambitious performances.This book outlines Ewan’s practical process, which allows the actor to understand their own movement and that of others by exploring one key part of Laban’s work: the ‘Efforts of Action Drive’.
This complete, stage-by-stage, working process has been developed through more than thirty years of work with actors in the studio. Clear instructions for practical exercises are woven throughout the book, as well as exciting ways to apply the work in rehearsal, performance and on set. This allows the actor to learn and apply Laban’s Efforts for themselves. Full video and audio resources allow the reader to experience the practical work in action.
‘Vanessa Ewan’s work with Laban and the Efforts, as you will find in this inspired book, provides performers with an incredibly fertile foundation from which to create. She has found an astoundingly practical way of applying Laban’s work to the quest of being a fully embodied actor. You will find tools in this book that will open door after door to your own creativity and awaken you to the endless possibility of what you can create on stage and on screen.’ Andrew Garfield, actor
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£23.70 -
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 -
Motive – A dark monologue book for actors
“MOTIVE: 15 Unique Monologues for Aspiring Actors (Age 16+)”
Unlock your acting potential with “Motive,” an exceptional collection of monologues crafted for aspiring actors aged 16 and over. This extraordinary monologue book sets itself apart by presenting these dramatic pieces in the authentic style of a script, making it an essential resource for auditions, college performances, or anyone eager to enhance their acting skills.
???? Features:
15 Exceptional Monologues: “Motive” provides a diverse selection of 15 monologues, each with its own unique story, character, and emotional depth. This variety ensures that actors can explore a broad range of characters and themes to suit their preferences and strengths.
Script-Style Format: Unlike traditional monologue collections, these pieces are presented in a script-style format. This means you can immerse yourself in a more realistic acting experience, with stage directions and dialogue interactions that make your performance come to life.
Gender-Inclusive: While these monologues are originally written as female characters, they are intentionally crafted to be gender-inclusive. Actors of any gender can confidently perform these monologues without any limitations, offering flexibility and equal opportunities for all.
Mindful Content: Please be aware that some of these monologues explore darker themes and emotions. While they provide a powerful platform for actors to display their range and depth, we advise actors and directors to consider the appropriateness of certain monologues for specific audiences, ensuring that content aligns with the intended mood and atmosphere of the performance.
???? Benefits:
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Perfect for Auditions: Whether you’re trying out for a role in a theatre production, film, or drama school, these monologues will help you stand out and impress casting directors.
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College Performances: Ideal for drama students, these monologues provide a wealth of material for class assignments and college performances, helping you refine your skills and showcase your talent.
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Character Development: With each monologue, you’ll delve into the complexities of various characters, enabling you to hone your acting abilities and gain a deeper understanding of the human experience.
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Inclusive & Diverse: “Motive” is designed to celebrate diversity and inclusivity, allowing actors to explore characters from different walks of life, cultures, and backgrounds.
???? “Motive” is not just a monologue book; it’s a gateway to a world of diverse and compelling characters, each waiting to be brought to life on stage or screen. This collection is a must-have resource for actors looking to broaden their horizons, embrace diversity, and excel in the art of acting.
Unleash your acting potential and order “Motive” today. Your journey towards becoming a versatile and accomplished actor starts here, but remember to consider your audience when selecting and performing darker monologues.
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£4.80 -
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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 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
£13.60£16.10 -
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 -
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 -
British Cinema and the Cold War: The State, Propaganda and Consensus (Cinema and Society)
Cinema was one of the Cold War’s most powerful instruments of propaganda. Movies blended with literary, theatrical, musical and broadcast representations of the conflict to produce a richly textured Cold War culture. Now in paperback, this timely book fills a significant gap in the international story by uncovering British cinema’s contribution to Cold War propaganda and to the development of a popular consensus on Cold War issues. Tony Shaw focuses on an age in which the ‘first Cold War’ dictated international (and to some extent domestic) politics. This era also marked the last phase of cinema’s dominance as a mass entertainment form in Britain. Shaw explores the relationship between film-makers, censors and Whitehall, within the context of the film industry’s economic imperatives and the British government’s anti-Soviet and anti-Communist propaganda strategies. Drawing upon rich documentation, he demonstrates the degree of control exerted by the state over film output. Shaw analyses key films of the period, including High Treason, which put a British McCarthyism on celluloid; the fascinatingly ambiguous science fiction thriller The Quatermass Experiment; the dystopic The Damned, made by one of Hollywood’s blacklisted directors, Joseph Losey; and the CIA-funded, animated version of George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm”. The result is a deeply probing study of how Cold War issues were refracted through British films, compared with their imported American and East European counterparts, and how the British public received this ‘war propaganda’.Read more
£17.10 -
An Atlas of Es Devlin
An Atlas of Es Devlin, the first monograph on artist Es Devlin’s genre-defying practice, is an experiential publication encompassing art, activism, theatre, poetry, music, dance, opera and sculpture.Publisher’s note: Our first print run of The Atlas of Es Devlin has sold through in record time and we are currently reprinting. Further copies will become available in December with more stock then due in early 2024.
Devlin’s protean work is rooted in a life-long practice of reading and drawing. From sketches in the margins of texts, be they poetry, drama, song lyrics, opera libretti, climate reports or endangered species lists, emerge the technically advanced, collectively imagined universes for which she is globally renowned. Fragile miniature paintings, paper cuts and small mechanical cardboard models form the seeds of some of the most iconic, large-scale, multi-disciplinary cultural manifestations in recent times, from public sculptures and installations at Tate Modern, Serpentine, V&A, Barbican, Imperial War Museum and the Lincoln Center, to kinetic stage designs at the Royal Opera House, the Royal Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala and the National Theatre, as well as Olympic Ceremonies, Super-Bowl half-time shows, and monumental illuminated stage sculptures for Beyonce, The Weeknd, U2, Rosalìa, Dr Dre and Kendrick Lamar.
Devlin’s work is at once deeply personal and inherently collective. Over the past decade her art practice has engaged with biodiversity, linguistic diversity and collective AI-generated poetry. She views the audience as a temporary society and encourages profound cognitive shifts by inviting public participation in communal choral works.
Published in association with a retrospective exhibition opening at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York in November 2023, An Atlas of Es Devlin is a unique, sculptural volume of over 900 pages, including foldouts, cut-outs, and a range of paper types, mirror and translucencies, with over 700 colour images documenting over 120 projects spanning over 30 years, and a 50,000 word text featuring the artist’s personal commentaries on each art work as well as interviews with her collaborators including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Bono, Benedict Cumberbatch, Pharrell Williams, Carlo Rovelli, Brian Eno, Sam Mendes, Alice Rawsthorn and Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye. Each book is boxed and includes a die-cut print from an edition of 5000.
‘Es is like superstring theory, at least eleven dimensions.’
Hans Ulrich Obrist‘Es knows how to bend the mind around corners of our experience.’
Benedict Cumberbatch‘Es takes our inchoate aspirations and sculpts them into a stage.’
Bono‘I wish we’d had Es as a psychologist on some of our projects.’
Brian Eno‘Es’s mind is both forensic and associative. She is able to x-ray a play and then she starts to dream.’
Lyndsey Turner‘Es is a turning point for anyone she interacts with.’
Pharrell Williams‘Es creates moments in which we suddenly become aware of life and existing, and time.’
Carlo Rovelli‘With Es, there’s no “No”. She creates a whole universe.’
Abel ‘The Weeknd’ TesfayeRead more
£62.80£80.80An Atlas of Es Devlin
£62.80£80.80 -
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
£15.40 -
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 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 -
So You Want to be an Actor? (Nick Hern Books) (So You Want To Be…? career guides)
A handbook for aspiring actors, written by two of the best-known actors in the country. This informative and entertaining book offers practical advice and do’s and don’ts to anyone thinking of taking up acting. Both authors are passionate about actor training, know the profession inside out and, as they say in their intro, have more than a hundred years’ experience between them!Writing alternate paragraphs throughout the book – and frequently contradicting each other! – they cover the whole gamut from * Applying to drama school * Auditioning * Training * Working in unpaid productions * Doing ‘bits’ on telly etc etc and on up to * Getting an agent and * Enduring a West End run – should you be so lucky.
This handy but pleasantly unstuffy manual is essential reading – or an essential gift! – for any aspiring actor.
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£9.20£10.40 -
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: The Journey: Behind the Scenes of the Award-Winning Stage Production
The official behind-the-scenes book of the record-breaking, award-winning play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is one of the most celebrated stage productions of the past decade. Opening in London’s West End in 2016, on Broadway in 2018, in Melbourne in 2019 — and with more productions worldwide still to come (including San Francisco later this year) — the play has smashed records, collected countless rave reviews and awards, and captivated audiences night after night. Now readers are invited behind the scenes to experience the show’s journey to the stage — from the earliest phases of development with producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, to the crafting of the eighth Harry Potter story with J.K. Rowling, director John Tiffany, and playwright Jack Thorne, to the gathering of an extraordinary team of artists and actors together to bring this new part of Harry Potter’s story to life.With stunning photography, insightful interviews, and never-before-seen sketches, notes, candid backstage photos, and more, this full-color deluxe edition offers readers unparalleled access to this unique production, and is a beautiful gift for Harry Potter fans and theater lovers alike.
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£27.70£30.30 -
Is There Life Outside the Box: An Actor Despairs
His fans have spoken, but despite their requests, Peter Davison has gone ahead and written his autobiography anyway. It wasn’t the book they tried to stop – it was more like the book they didn’t want him to start.
Despite displaying unspectacular scientific aptitude at school – he even managed to fail CSE woodwork, eliciting a lament from his astonished teacher (‘All you have to do is recognise wood!’) – Peter has secured his place in science fiction history, becoming the fifth Doctor Who, although he nearly turned down the role. The Time Lord connection continued with the marriage of his daughter Georgia to Dr Who number ten, David Tennant.
The artist formerly known as Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett has also starred in a number of television series including Love for Lydia, A Very Peculiar Practice, At Home with the Braithwaites and The Last Detective and became a national treasure for having his arm up a cow in his role as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. He was also in a Michael Winner movie…
He made his first tentative steps on stage in true am-dram style, but the Byfleet Players’ loss was the West End’s gain, after appearing in Legally Blonde, Chicago, Spamalot and the record-breaking Gypsy, where he rubbed shoulders backstage with Dames Meryl Streep, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench – all asking for directions to Imelda Staunton’s dressing room. One thing is for sure: of all the British screen and stage actors of the last fifty years, Peter Davison is certainly one of them and, within these pages, intrepid readers will at last have the dubious honour of sharing in his life and times – as he despairs over whether there truly ever can be life outside the box.
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£9.50£10.40Is There Life Outside the Box: An Actor Despairs
£9.50£10.40 -
Book The Fucking Job!: A Guide for Actors
As the follow-up to his best-selling At Left Brain Turn Right and Alphabet Soup for Grown-Ups, Book The F*cking Job is fast becoming the how-to manual for working actors all over the world. To Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop, we created a variety colorful covers for the re-issue of Book The Fucking Job! Pick the color that fits your mood!For over 20 years, top Acting Coach Anthony Meindl has been demonstrating his unique approach to modern acting training to thousands of actors worldwide. The demands for today’s actors have changed and with it have emerged many new breakthroughs in understanding creativity.From science to the power of the moment; from consciousness and mindfulness meditation to the art of the “f*ck it,” Mr. Meindl describes how you can let go of your control of how you think a scene should be and instead let something much more powerful and creative happen for you. Discover the exciting possibilities that await you in your creative journey when you learn the science of surrender.Find answers to your questions about technique, the business, and life in Book The F*cking Job! A new guide for the next generation of artists.Read more
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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 -
Drama Games for Actors – Exploring Self, Character and Text
‘A mass of invaluable ideas for all ages and all types of actors, amateur or professional. It’s hard to imagine anyone involved in theatre who wouldn’t find it useful.’ Richard Eyre, from his ForewordFrom the bestselling Drama Games series, this dip-in, flick-through, quick-fire resource book offers dozens of games to serve as a rich source of ideas and inspiration for all actors – and those teaching or directing them.
This must-have companion is divided into three sections, each focusing on a different aspect of the actor’s process:
Self provides methods to deepen relaxation, sharpen focus, boost energy, expand imagination and enable a company of actors to work collaboratively
Character suggests strategies to aid the process of transformation, encouraging actors to explore characteristics that are distinct from their own
And Text offers exercises to unlock the words, allowing free and imaginative work within the structure of a script, without losing specificity
The games range from solo explorations which can be performed alone, to ideas for pairs and group work – making them suitable for a wide variety of scenarios and requirements. Overall, the book will serve as an essential foundation for every actor’s creativity, helping improve preparation, rehearsal and performance.
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£10.30£12.30 -
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER
This Christmas let Dame Judi Dench take you behind the scenes as she shares her life with, and love of Shakespeare.
‘A MAGICAL LOVE LETTER TO SHAKESPEARE’ Sir Kenneth Branagh
‘Companionable and compelling – it genuinely feels like you’re sitting at her kitchen table with her. If you love Judi Dench or Shakespeare (and most of us do), look no further’ Guardian
‘It swirls and dances with brilliance and mischief’ Daily Mail
‘Gloriously entertaining’ ObserverTaking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig…
Cavorting naked through the countryside painted green…
Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head…
These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.
For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra.
Here she reveals her behind the scenes secrets; inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans, all brightened by her mischievous sense of humour and striking honesty.
Witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi’s love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.‘An utterly delightful book… Shakespeare from a great actor’s perspective – that repeatedly strikes to the heart of the matter with a sharp instinctive intelligence that puts fancy-pants literary critics to shame’ Telegraph
‘A wonderful ode to the bard’ I
‘The book is pure enchantment. It swirls and dances with brilliance and mischief, so forget traditional Shakespearean criticism and analysis. Sack the Eng. Lit. professors. As never before, this book brings the subject to wild, authentic life.’ Daily Mail‘Riveting, revealing and witty’ Gazette and Herald
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£15.00£25.00Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent
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Marilyn Monroe: A Photographic Life
The camera loved Marilyn, and she loved it right back. In this luxurious volume, get to know the enigmatic star through iconic and rare photos, intimate stories, and removable memorabilia.Everyone knows the classic photographs of Marilyn Monroe: in the dress she wore to John F. Kennedy’s birthday, or leaning out of a balcony over the streets of New York City, or famously standing over the subway grates while shooting The Seven Year Itch. Behind the glamour, we’ve also heard the sad stories: her mother’s institutionalization, her three failed marriages, her own struggles with mental health, her surprising death that still leaves us with questions.
Marilyn Monroe: A Photographic Life delves into the life of the star—before, during, and after she became a “Blonde Bombshell.” Born Norma Jeane Mortenson (the Baker came later), she had a troubled childhood that culminated in her self-described “inferiority complex.” But all the while, she dreamed of something more.
Read the stories behind her first marriage (and why she kept it secret when she started modeling), her early roles with the studios (and the one exec who thought she didn’t have “it”), and her life as a budding actress that include humble anecdotes (at one point, she was so poor that she and a roommate shared one pair of high heels—and whoever had a date that night got to wear them).
Along with the stories are fabulous rare photographs and reproductions of frameable memorabilia, such as:
- Birth and marriage certificates
- Handwritten letters
- Certificate of conversion to Judaism before her marriage to Arthur Miller
- Screen Actors Guild membership card
- Picture of Marilyn sketched by Jane Russell
- Watercolor Marilyn painted for JFK
- Childhood photos
- Shots and ads from her earliest modeling days
- Wedding photos
- Images of those who knew her, including Groucho Marx, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and so many more
- Marilyn’s favorite image of herself, taken in 1956
Further chapters cover Marilyn’s marriages to Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, her time in England and New York, and her rise as one of Hollywood’s most sought after starlets. Through it all—the self doubts, the illnesses, the isolation—we see Marilyn triumph with the help of friends and confidantes and her own tenacious will of knowing what she wanted.
We see time and again the depths of Marilyn’s heart and her capacity to care for others. “I want to love and be loved more than anything else in the world,” she once said, and with Marilyn Monroe: A Photographic Life, you can’t help but oblige.
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£17.90£20.90Marilyn Monroe: A Photographic Life
£17.90£20.90 -
Last Man Standing: Tales from Tinseltown
In a career that spanned over seven decades, Roger Moore was at the very heart of the show-business scene.
We all knew him as an actor who starred in films that made him famous the world over, but he was also a tremendous prankster, joker and raconteur – in fact, he was well known as one of the nicest guys in the business, and someone who was always up for some fun.
In this fabulous collection of true stories from his stellar career, Roger lifts the lid on the movie business, from Hollywood to Pinewood. It features outrageous tales from his own life and career as well as those told to him by a host of stars and filmmakers, including Tony Curtis, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, David Niven, Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, John Mills, Peter Sellers, Michael Winner, Cubby Broccoli and many more.
Wonderfully entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny and told with his characteristic wit and good humour, Last Man Standing is vintage Moore at his very best.
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£8.60£9.50Last Man Standing: Tales from Tinseltown
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I, an Actor by Nicholas Craig: Another Great Actor Explores Himself
At last the memoirs of Nicholas Craig – theatrical eminence best known for his Truepate in The Cuckolde of Leicester and more popularly as Gob in Oh No! It’s the Neighbours! – are re-released for a grateful audience, updated with a wealth of new and controversial material. Startlingly truthful, unflinchingly illustrated, I, An Actor is a piton up the slope of creativity for theatre fans and aspiring actors alike, revealing everything that most theatrical autobiographies cravenly avoid. Should you sport a moustache in your publicity photo? How can you fix a prolapsed labial or a bad case of ‘blow-out’? What should you never call Alec Guinness during rehearsals? Is it true Brian Blessed only weighs 9 1/2 stone? And what should you do when Hollywood comes calling? This book blows the lid off the secrets of the profession, leaving no reputation safe.Read more
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Confessions of an Actor: The Autobiography
Laurence Olivier was a true legend. No classical actor had ever been such a dazzling star. No star had been such a magnificent actor. In this marvellous autobiography Laurence Olivier tells his own story: his brilliant career as actor, director, film-maker and producer; his role as husband to three women including Vivien Leigh and Joan Plowright; and his many friendships – with Sir Ralph Richardson, Noel Coward and Sir Winston Churchill, to name just a few. CONFESSIONS OF AN ACTOR is more than just a memoir. It is a deeply felt testament by one of the most astonishingly gifted artists of all time.Read more
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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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Harry Potter Crochet Wizardry: The official Harry Potter crochet pattern book
Immerse yourself in the Wizarding World with Harry Potter Crochet Wizardry, the deluxe guide to all things crochet from the iconic films.
Featuring over 20 official patterns for toys, keepsakes, and costume replicas inspired by the Harry Potter films, with projects ranging from beginner to more experienced.
Projects include:
Accio Amigurumi – The Sorting Hat; Fawkes; Professor McGonagall’s Animagus; Mandrake; Hedwig; Dobby; Harry’s stag Patronus
Conjuring Costumes – The Hogwarts Scarves; Ron’s Three Broomsticks cardigan; Hermione’s Godric’s Hollow Hat & Mitts; Luna’s Cardigan; Hermione’s Rooms of Requirement Jumper
Fantastic Fashion – Hogwarts Poncho; Bertie Botts’ Every Flavour Socks; The Dumbledore Hat; The Unbreakable Vow Jumper
Curios & Keepsakes – The Burrow Blanket; Hogwarts Letter Crossbody Bag; Lovegood Dirigible Plum Pillow; Hogwarts Crest Blanket; Potions Class Baskets; Golden Snitch Baby Blanket; Quidditch BannerA true fan must-have, this book also includes fun facts, original costume sketches, film stills and other behind-the-scenes treasures.
Harry Potter Knitting Magic:
‘The perfect guide for weaving some magic’ – Prima
‘A dream for members of the fandom’ – Mollie Makes
‘Knitting has never been so magical!’ – Let’s Knit!Lee Sartori’s book ‘Harry Potter Crochet Wizardry’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 30-08-2021.
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£14.20£19.00 -
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
£9.40£10.40
