Directing the Action: Acting and Directing in the Contemporary Theatre (Applause Acting Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm reading this book now for the second time. Charles Marowitz has an interesting style of writing, the kind that you have to stop and think about it for a little while every other page or so. I often go back and re-read some sentences just to make sure I fully understood the whole meaning and the context. It's a very professional view on theatre in all it's aspects. It's not usual to find an author that does not mind sharing his point of view and breaking taboos (I like the way he disagrees with Method acting in some aspects ). This book has helped me in my work as an actor and director.

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Every actor and director who enters the orbit of Marowitz's major work will find himself challenged to a deeper understanding of his art and propelled into further realms of exploration on his/her own. Marowitz meditates on all the sacred precepts of theatre practice including auditions, casting, design, rehearsal, actor psychology, dramaturgy, and the text.

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The Playwright's Workbook (Applause Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been wrestling with playwriting for more than a decade.The last book I used was Playwriting in Process, which is excellent, but the exercises are too advanced for me."Write a scene in which two people have a secret but no one talks about it," for example.If I knew how to write a scene I wouldn't need to do exercises!
The Playwright's Workbook, on the other hand, deals in the very basics.Van Itallie explains how each scene needs a "who," "what," and a "where."His writing voice is notable for its simplicity and warmth.For the first time in my life I'm getting the sense that I can actually write plays.

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A series of 13 written workshops covering: conflict and character: the dominant image: Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller ¥ Overheard voices: Ibsen and Shakespeare ¥ The solo performance piece: listening for stories ¥ Terror and vulnerability: Ionesco ¥ The point of absurdity: creating without possessing: Pinter and Beckett ¥ and much more.

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The Life of the Drama (Applause Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book came out of a series of lectures on drama that Bentley gave at Harvard in 60/61.
It's broken down thusly -

Part I - Aspects of a Play
1. Plot
2. Character
3. Dialogue
4. Thought
5. Enactment

Part II - Different Kinds of Plays
6. Melodrama
7. Farce
8. Tragedy
9. Comedy
10. Tragicomedy

For each section Bentley uses a number and variety of examples, from the Greeks up to Brecht.

The book can be thought of as asking two questions - Why do we like drama? What makes for good drama?
Amongst the many answers -
We like to see an imitation of life.
We like the companionship, of the players and fellow audience members.
It's interesting to see other peoples take on the world and life.

Bentley presents some big ideas but at the same time it was a fun read. He's got some strong opinions but he makes good cases for them. Virtually every page had something that made me think. The overall tone is that of an intelligent man talking frankly and directly with someone he considers equally intelligent.

He's erudite, anti-pedantic, and controversial (maybe counter-intuitive is a better term).

Here's an example of Bentley's erudition, from page 348 of the paperback -
"At the end of Balzac's play Mercadet, a certain Godeau arrives with money to solve everyone's problems; and at the end of Beckett's play the God of the Old or the New Testament could arrive to solve everyone's problems. That would be a happy ending indeed. That "Godot" does not come is what makes the play a parable of life as seen by modern man."

Here's some controversial/counter-intuitive stuff:
"The head office of all the education systems in the world is in Madison avenue." pg 349.
"In Praise of Self-Pity" - section in Melodrama chapter.
"In Praise of Types" - section in Character chapter.
"Without violence, there would be nothing in the world but goodness, and literature is not mainly about goodness: it is mainly about badness." page 221.

In sum, this is a very accomplished book about drama that is highly readable and offers a banquet of food for thought.

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"Eric Bentley's radical new look at the grammar of theatre...is a work of exceptional virtue...CENTRAL, INDISPENSABLE...The book justifies its title by being precisely about the ways in which life manifests itself in the theatre...THIS IS A BOOK TO BE READ AGAIN AND AGAIN." - Frank Kermode, The New York Review of Books

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Paul Sills' Story Theater: Four Shows (Applause Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)Paul Sills' Story Theater: Four Shows is a compilation of four plays adapted for the stage by Paul Sills. The stories include "The Blue Light and Other Stories"; Charles Dickens' "A ChristmasCarol"; Rainer Maria Rilke's "Stories of God"; and Rumi in averse translation by Coleman Barks. Paul Sills' Story Theater is enhancedwith theater fames for story theater by Viola Spolin. Paul Sills' StoryTheater is a highly recommended addition to any school or community theaterreference collection.

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The creator of Story Theater, the original director of Second City, and one of the greatest popularizers of improvisational theater, Paul Sills has assembled some of his favorite adaptations from world literature. Includes: The Blue Light and Other Stories ¥ A Christmas Carol (Dickens) ¥ Stories of God ¥ Rumi.

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