Books in the Performance Books series

Speaking with Skill marks a fundamental change in the pedagogy of speech training for actors and speakers. The method employed in this book is already and increasingly being used by instructors on major actor training programs in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland and the UK.

Dance composition is an important part of dance education because it is the discipline that translates ideas into dances. Revised, redesigned and expanded, and now with a new DVD, this seminal book explores essential guidelines and thus contributes to a greater understanding of dance composition as a discipline.

Training for Performance: a Meta-disciplinary Account is an innovative contribution to the field of work on contemporary actor and performer training.

Getting the Joke 2nd edition sets out to re-examine the world of stand-up comedy in the internet age, analysing the roles of the performer and audience, and the dramatic changes to how stand-up is done in recent years.

A thorough study of contemporary dramaturgical practices which draws on many examples from the work of leading theatre practitioners from the UK, Europe and North America. It maps the various ways in which a dramaturg may work in the theatre-making process and provides a theoretical framework to aid the reader in their own practice.

A classic work for actors and students on understanding and playing Shakespeare. In the first half of the book, Barton attempts an objective analysis of how Shakespeare's text actually works; in the second half he concentrates on the more subjective areas such as irony and ambiguity, passion and coolness.

Musical Theatre Song is a handbook for musical theatre performers, providing them with the wide-ranging skill set they need for success in today's competitive musical theatre environment. Breaking down the process into knowing how to select your song material based upon your individuality and how to prepare and perform it in a manner that best highlights your attributes, Stephen Purdy provides a succinct and personalized trajectory toward presentation, taking the reader through a series of challenges that is designed to evoke original, personal and vibrant song performances. Written by renowned Broadway and West End vocal and audition coach Stephen Purdy, Musical Theatre Song is a must-have guide for all performers who are looking to succeed in the musical theatre industry.

Actor Movement with DVD is an essential resource to help explore existing movement techniques with actors, enabling them to interpret and understand these techniques, and ultimately to fully own them. It combats issues that actors may have struggled with and allows the actor to question and critique the existing practices of movement.

The Stanislavski "system" is still the only comprehensive method of actor training we posses. This text traces the growth of the "system" from its roots in the tradition of Russian realism, and charts the various phases it went through until the final emergence of the Method of Physical Action.

Between 1935 and 1938, Stanislavski did his final work in Moscow with a group of 11 young actors and directors trained in his special "system". This volume contains a full translation of verbatim transcriptions of Stanislavski's notes and practical exercises from these sessions.

"He taught us to be artists" Steven Berkoff. Jacques Lecoq, one of the most inspirational theatre teachers of our age and founder of the International Theatre School, Paris shares his philosophy of performance, improvization, masks, movement and gesture.

The first book to attempt to define and analyse the nature of ensemble theatre with case studies and contributions from companies and practitioners around the globe.

What is it to be a stand-up comedian? To be funny, solo? You have no character-role, no double-act partner, and nowhere to look but out into the darkness, with just a microphone, an audience and your imagination. This is a job without an annual appraisal; a job where you are publicly appraised every ten seconds. The results are harsh and obvious: if the audience isn't laughing, you 'died'; if they can't stop, you 'killed'. Deborah Frances-White and Marsha Shandur unpack the inner-workings of the minds of comics, sharing their secrets, insecurities and successes; their bêtes noires and their biggest fears. Featuring interviews with a host of comedians including Eddie Izzard, Moshe Kasher, Sarah Millican, Jim Jeffries, Stewart Lee, Lewis Black, Jenny Eclair, Todd Barry, Richard Herring, Marc Maron, Stephen K Amos, Rich Hall, Zoe Lyons, Marcus Brigstocke, Phill Jupitus, Gary Delaney, Mark Watson, Greg Davies and many more, this excellent book lets you in to the hearts and minds of celebrated comedians, away from the stage and off the mic.

Drawing on examples from his clients' work and his own, Harold Guskin presents acting as a constantly evolving exploration rather than as a progression toward a fixed goal. He also offers sound and original advice on adapting to the particular demands of television and film.

"Many high school theatre teachers do not have access to intensive voice instruction. Rena's book will fill that void. It is instructive, concise, easy to understand, and most importantly for the high school student, fun. All high school theatre programs should have Voice and the Young Actor as a textbook." Kim Moore, High School Teacher

Seventy percent of a conversation is conveyed through body language while only 10 percent is the meaning of the words. Here, an expert RADA trainer shows how to use our body so that it will speak more effectively and how to recognize and lose unwanted physical inhibitions.