THIS BOOK IS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN HOW actors prepare for performances.

 

For teachers it is a recipe book of techniques and processes.

 

For directors it could also be an insight into the way that actors think.

 

And for actors it is an introduction to some new techniques and a reminder of techniques they may once have learned but have long since forgotten.

This book is about the way we teach acting at ArtsEd, the drama school where I’ve worked for the past twelve years. It started life as a handbook for our students. A checklist of taught techniques. But people outside the school discovered it, found it useful and asked if they could have a copy. At that point it was simply a summary of the training, because the exercises were not described in detail. There was no need to do so because the students had been taught them in class. Then my publisher, Nick Hern, who described the handbook as ‘a fast-forward acting course’, asked me to retain the outline structure but fill in the detail. The result is this book.

Its main purpose is to describe how to support and strengthen an actor’s artistic intentions and build their confidence. It describes various ways to analyse a text, create a character and develop character relationships. It includes a range of rehearsal techniques and improvisations, and it introduces an assortment of exercises to stimulate the actor’s imagination.

 

But basically it is an outline of some of the things that actors can do to create memorable performances that will captivate their audiences.