Library

Performance art is now at the forefront of contemporary art world-wide and the desire for direct engagement with today’s most prominent artists explains its wide appeal to the expanding audience for new art. Artists such as Mariko Mori, Paul McCarthy, Matthew Barney and Forced Entertainment can now be seen in the context of previous innovators, from the Dadaists to Laurie Anderson. First published in 1979, now extensively updated and expanded, this pioneering book has been supplemented by the definitive account of the current technological, political and aesthetic shifts in performance art.

A Sourcebook on Naturalist Theatre provides essential primary sources which document one of the key movements in modern theatre. Christopher Innes has selected three writers to exemplify the movement, and six plays in particular: * Henrik Ibsen - A Dolls House and Hedda Gabler * Anton Chekhov - The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard * George Bernard Shaw - Mrs Warren's Profession and Heartbreak House. Innes' introduction provides an overview of naturalist theatre. Key themes include: the representation of women, significant contemporary issues and the links between theory, play writing and stage practice. The primary sources explore many aspects of naturalism, giving information on: * the playwrights' intentions when writing plays * contemporary reviews * literary criticism * political and social background * production notes from early performances of the plays.

The way in which Shakespeare's plays are studied has undergone considerable change in recent years. The new edition of this bestselling guide, aimed quarely at the student new to Shakespeare, is based on the exciting new approaches shaping Shakespeare studies. This volume provides a thorough general introduction to the plays and a refreshingly clear guide to:

• Shakespeare's language
• The plays as performance texts
• The cultural and political contexts of the plays
• Early modern theatre practice
• New understandings of the major genres

 

A workshop guide of 42 creative training exercises and projects.

Looking for fresh, contemporary monologues? The Oberon Book of Modern Monologues for Men collects over fifty speeches selected from the unique roster of one of Britain's leading publishers.

The merging of still photography with mechanized projection instruments in the late nineteenth century gave us what became the rich and exciting art of cinema. Here is its story, starting with the Lumiere brothers in Paris and Thomas Edison in America. Early experiments evolved into film classics such as The Great train Robbery (1903), the Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton comedies, the expressionist films of Fritz Lang and Sergey Eisenstein, and the early "talkies". A century of film-making is reviewed in words and pictures that cover the comedies, musicals, and drama. Readers learn how film-making technique has changed over time, from the magic lantern to advanced methods of computer animation, rear projection, Technicolor, 3D, special effects, camera panning and perspective, script-writing and directing.

Eugene O Neill was the first American playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He completed The Iceman Cometh in 1939, but he delayed production until after the war, when it enjoyed a long run of performances in 1946 after receiving mixed reviews. Three years after O'Neill's death, Jason Robards starred in a Broadway revival that brought new critical attention to O Neill's darkest and most nihilistic play. In the half-century since, The Iceman Cometh has gained enormously in stature, and many critics now recognize it as one of the greatest plays in American drama. The Iceman Cometh focuses on a group of alcoholics and misfits who endlessly discuss but never act on their dreams, and Hickey, the traveling salesman determined to strip them of their pipe dreams.

Embodying the entire system of Robert Henri's teaching, The Art Spirit contains much valuable advice, critical comment, and inspiration to every student of the arts.

Translations of Tape-recorded sessions of Lee Strasberg at the Actor's Studio

This book lays out an entire course of training exercises in a most explicit, practical down-to-earth manner for an easy to read understanding of those techniques and procedures used in Method acting.