Tools and Techniques for Character Interpretation: A Handbook of Psychology for Actors, Writers, and Directors (Limelight) Review

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(More customer reviews)In his preface, Blumenfeld explains how his book "takes from the science of behavior tools and techniques that will be useful to the actor in practicing the art of behavior, to the writer in creating characters with depth, and to the director in interpreting scripts."This handbook is fairly heavy reading, but is still accessible to people who are not very familiar with the world of psychology. Thankfully, Chapter 8 is nearly 50 pages of alphabetized psychology terms and topics.Blumenfeld covers basic psychological principles and theories with examples from film and television.

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A must for both the aspiring and seasoned artist. Uniquely geared to the work of theatre and film artists, this book, for the first time, sets out clearly and concisely the ideas, principles, and character typology of various psychological schools from Freudian, Kleinian, and Jungian to contemporary developments. The practical uses and applications of their theories are graphically demonstrated throughout the book by means of numerous examples and in-depth analyses drawn from classic and contemporary theatrical and cinematic literature. Stanislavskian methods are also discussed. An immensely useful, essential tool for character creation and analysis. Features a foreword by noted acting teacher Alice Spivak.

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Using the Stanislavsky System: A Practical Guide to Character Creation and Period Styles (Limelight) Review

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(More customer reviews)As a young acting student years ago, I read and reread the work of Stanislavsky and found it truly relevatory: I used my feelings to bring the actor's words and actions to life. Now that I have gone from actor to historical novelist, I understand one must know the period well in which the play is set....but that is a daunting task for actors who are not historians. Where do you begin?

"Using the Stanislavsky System" is an amazingly rich overview of historic periods from the ancient Greek through the 20th century and the cultural, intellectual, moral, spiritual, sociological and economic realities of daily life. How would you carry yourself if you were a young girl in 1300 whose virginity was her most precious possession? How would the complexity of your hair arrangement and your clothing affect your walk? What songs or prayers ran through your head? How did what you ate affect your body? What was your relationship with God? Reading a relevant section of this book will give you a very good idea, but even more, the author suggests hundreds of movies, period diaries, period literature, novels, and history books to help you understand the feelings and actions of an Elizabethan actor, an 18th century English parson, a Victorian upper middle class woman.

This is the book to own to begin period character creation and the author's further directions for enriching that character are so thorough that you may walk out on stage as truly another person who lived centuries before and make his life and world come intensely to life before your audience.

I am also recommending this book to writers of historical fiction.

Stephanie Cowell, author of MARRYING MOZART and THE PLAYERS: A NOVEL OF THE YOUNG SHAKESPEARE

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This book is a must for all professional and student actors, and for acting teachers as well. A concise, clear explanation of exactly how to create a character in plays of any period, using the Stanislavsky system. Known for his detailed approach to the art of acting and for the authenticity of his historical productions, Stanislavsky believed that actors should immerse themselves completely in the era in which a play or film is set. The chapters provide inspiring cultural, social, and historical introductions to the periods from ancient Greece through the end of World War Two. Each chapter covers the way men and women moved, stood, and sat in the clothing they wore; the use of accessories such as fans, swords, snuffboxes, gloves, and hats; greetings, bows, and curtsies; table manners; and the etiquette, civility, and automatic habits of thinking and of social intercourse depending on social class. All these things that people took for granted as the background of their lives, as part of their conscious and unconscious mental world, are the essential components of building a character with real, organic behavior associated with a specific era. Literature, music, painting, and other graphic arts are all discussed as well, and the sections on films and television programs, as well as bibliographies of books and recordings, will guide your further research.

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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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William Goldman: Five Screenplays (Applause Screenplay) Review

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(More customer reviews)Just go ahead and try to write a screenplay like William Goldman and you'll get slammed!
Yet despite the "flowery phrasing" the author of some of cinema's greatest screenplays is a master at getting you to play the movie in your head! It's the great ones that get to break the rules.
Every script is an enjoyable read, instantly and visually compelling, and a real lesson for writers on how to use language to give Actors, Directors, Cinematographers, and Script supervisors what they need to know as poetically and economically as possible.
I particularly enjoyed reading about the decisions that went into the making of The Great Waldo Pepper. As a kid, this movie really turned me around. It was a life affirming tragedy and it painted an emotional picture of a man's life using every color on this writer's pallette. Worth the price for this one alone!
All the essays prefacing the screenplays are a fascinating read, and a window into a facet of film history.

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A collection of five screenplays by this Academy Award-winning writer. Includes: All the PresidentÕs Men ¥ Magic ¥ Harper ¥ Maverick ¥ The Great Waldo Pepper. Also features essays by Goldman: "Getting Even or Creative Accounting," "Sneak Previews, or Why Did She Have to Die?," "Hype or Consequences: A Brief History of the Future," "Shooting from the Hip: DonÕt You Know Anything About Screenwriting?," and "Nothing for Me to Steal: The Secret Life of an Adaptation."

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The Perfect Monologue: How to Find and Perform the Monologue That Will Get You the Part (Limelight) Review

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(More customer reviews)I expected more from this book.I don't know who all of Mrs. Friedman'sstudents have been but I do know that Willem Dafoe trained with her.Ididn't feel that I needed 200 pages or so to show me how to lift amonologue from a scene.The way she composed most of the monologues waspretty bad also.
I do, however, think that it is important to showbeginning actors how to compose a monologue from existing material.Also,her personalization exercises(i.e. words and pictures) were fairly weak.Ithink that The Monologue Workshop by Jack Poggi is a bit of a better book.The bad thing about books like this is that they try to cram imformationabout monologue work and an entire course on acting into one book.Thatjust doesn't work.Another book that's pretty good is Larry Silverburg'sbook Loving to Audition.

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In this companion volume to her highly successful Callback, Ginger Howard Friedman, a veteran casting director, playwright and teacher, reveals her winning formula for a monologue audition that lands you the part. She explains her essential rules for a successful audition, then selects scenes from 16 plays and adapts them into monologues, comic and serious, for men and women of all ages.

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