Acting & Performance

The Outstanding Actor

Seven Keys to Success Ken Rea, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, UK This new edition of The Outstanding Actor teaches how to have the seven key qualities the most successful actors manifest alongside topical issues such as the #MeToo movement, gender balance and race issues, and how these affect working conditions and careers. There are also brand new links to video resources that bring the valuable exercises to life.

UK January 2021 • US January 2021 • 272 pages • 4 bw illus PB 9781350152359 • £19.99 / $26.95 • HB 9781350152366 • £65.00 / $90.00 ePub 9781350152380 • £17.99 / $22.16 ePdf 9781350152373 • £17.99 / $22.16 Series: Performance Books • Methuen Drama

Clown

The Physical Comedian Joe Dieffenbacher, Independent scholar, UK Offering an extensive and hugely diverse compilation of tried-and-tested exercises and games, the book is for students, teachers and practitioners to aid ensemble-building, character development, devising theatre, physicalizing text and vocalizing movement, plus creating cabaret acts, clown routines and adding physical play to scripted scenes. It offers advice on subjects such as developing presence onstage; increasing strength, flexibility and physical expression; developing partner and trio relationships; understanding the power of the mask; and working with an audience - in particular, turning a performance into a conversation with the audience and increasing the actor’s ability to connect with a crowd.

UK February 2021 • US February 2021 • 304 pages • 40 bw illus PB 9781350141407 • £24.99 / $34.95 • HB 9781350143098 • £75.00 / $100.00 ePub 9781350141421 • £22.49 / $28.32 ePdf 9781350141414 • £22.49 / $28.32 Methuen Drama

And This is My Friend Sandy

Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend, London Theatre and Gay Culture Deborah Philips, University of Brighton, UK This book situates the production of The Boy Friend and the Players’ Theatre in the context of a postwar London and reads The Boy Friend, and Wilson's later work, as exercises in contemporary camp. It argues for Wilson as a significant and transitional figure both for musical theatre and for modes of homosexuality in the context of the pre-Wolfenden 1950s.

Voice into Acting

Integrating Voice and the Stanislavski Approach Christina Gutekunst, University of Essex, UK & John Gillett, Independent scholar, UK The authors unite their depth of experience in voice training and acting to create an integrated and comprehensive approach informed by Stanislavski and his successors – the acting approach widely taught in drama schools throughout the world. This new edition has been expanded to include: · a new chapter on vocal embodiment of actions · new findings from neuroscience as evidence of the science behind the approach · more exercises throughout · warm-up routines for training, pre-rehearsal and pre-performance · a new glossary of key terms

UK February 2021 • US February 2021 • 336 pages • 58 bw illus PB 9781350064911 • £24.99 / $34.95 • HB 9781350064928 • £75.00 / $100.00 ePub 9781350064942 • £22.49 / $28.32 ePdf 9781350064935 • £22.49 / $28.32 Series: Performance Books • Methuen Drama

Performance in an Age of Precarity

40 Reflections Maddy Costa, Independent scholar, UK & Andy Field, Independent scholar, UK An anthology of critical essays that draw on a decade of the authors thinking, writing about and working within contemporary performance as critics, producers, dramaturgs, makers, archivists and more. Together, the 40 essays sketch a map of the contemporary performance landscape from avant-garde dance to live art to independent theatre, tracing the contours of its themes, aims, desires and relationship to the wider worlds of mainstream theatre, art and politics. Each essay focuses on a particular artist and these include Bryony Kimmings, Dickie Beau, Forced Entertainment, rashdash, Scottee, Selina Thompson, Tania El Khoury and Uninvited Guests.

UK February 2021 • US February 2021 • 208 pages PB 9781350190641 • £19.99 / $26.95 • HB 9781350190634 • £65.00 / $90.00 ePub 9781350190665 • £17.99 / $22.16 ePdf 9781350190658 • £17.99 / $22.16 Methuen Drama

World English

UK March 2021 • US March 2021 • 208 pages • 5 bw illus HB 9781350174214 • £75.00 / $100.00 ePub 9781350174221 • £67.50 / $83.76 ePdf 9781350174238 • £67.50 / $83.76 Methuen Drama

Talawa Theatre Company

A Theatrical History and the Brewster Era David Vivian Johnson, Independent scholar, UK This study — the first of its kind — examines the history, performance work and achievements of Talawa under the tenure of its co-founder and artistic director from 1986 until 2003, Yvonne Brewster. The book provides a historical context for Talawa's performance work, presenting a chronology of the company's performance roots that are shown to begin in Africa, develop in Jamaica and end in the UK. It examines its history between 1986 and 2001 and draws out aspects of Talawa's performance work thematically, focusing on their Caribbean, American and English plays.

UK January 2021 • US January 2021 • 272 pages HB 9781350107977 • £80.00 / $110.00 ePub 9781350107984 • £72.00 / $89.92 ePdf 9781350107960 • £72.00 / $89.92 Methuen Drama