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Shakespeare and Meisner
A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers
Shakespeare and Meisner
A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers
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Description
This practical handbook is invaluable for anyone performing, teaching, studying or simply wanting a new way to enjoy Shakespeare. It provides an outline of Meisner's work and legacy, a discussion of that legacy in the light of the enduring global popularity of Shakespeare, and a wealth of practical exercises drawn from Meisner's techniques.
Shakespeare writes about the truth in human relationships and human hearts. Sanford Meisner's work unlocks truthful acting. They would seem a perfect match. Yet, following Meisner's note to his actors that 'text is your greatest enemy', Shakespeare and Meisner are often considered 'strange bedfellows'.
The rhetorical complexity of Shakespeare's text can often be perceived as rules an actor must learn in order to perform Shakespeare 'properly'. Meisner's main rule is that 'you can't say ouch until you've been pinched': in other words, an actor must genuinely feel something in order to react in a performance which is alive to the moment. This book explores how actors can use Meisner's tools of 'acting is reacting' to discover the infinite freedom within the apparent constraints of Shakespeare's text.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1: Introduction
Part 1: Sanford Meisner and his work
Chapter 2 - Meisner's influences
Chapter 3: The Reality of Doing
Chapter 4: Repetition
Chapter 5: Independent Activity and Knock on the Door
Chapter 6: Given and Imaginary Circumstances
Chapter 7: Preparation and As Ifs
Part 2: Bringing in text
Chapter 8: Learning Lines
Chapter 9: Paraphrasing, Breaking the Back and Soliloquies
Chapter 10: The strengths and limitations of Meisner for working with Shakespeare
Part 3: Aileen Gonsalves in conversation with Tracy Irish about how Butterfly theatre company use Meisner's technique
Chapter 11: Taking Meisner's principles into the practice of Butterfly Theatre Company's 'Five Conditions'
Chapter 12: Taking Meisner's principles into the practice of Butterfly Theatre Company's work with Shakespeare's text
References
Product details
| Published | Apr 22 2021 |
|---|---|
| Format | Paperback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 152 |
| ISBN | 9781350118393 |
| Imprint | The Arden Shakespeare |
| Dimensions | 9 x 5 inches |
| Series | Arden Performance Companions |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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