In Performing Opera: A Practical Guide for Singers and Directors Michael Ewans provides a detailed and practical workbook to performing many of the most commonly produced operas. Drawing on examples from twenty-four operas ranging in period from Gluck and Mozart to Britten and Tippett, it illustrates exactly how opera functions as dramatic form.

Grounded in close analyses of performances of thirty scenes and five whole operas by first-rate singers and celebrated directors, Performing Opera provides readers with an appreciation of the unique challenges and skills...

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.

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Theatre is at its best when it is disobedient, when it argues back to society. But what enables it to achieve this impact? What makes it a force to be reckoned with? What are the principles and the tools of the trade that shape it to be effective, powerful and resonant? Drawing from both theory and practice, and informed by conversations with recognized practitioners from across the UK, this book provides answers and makes an impassioned call for artists to reimagine, question and disrupt.
Divided into two parts, 'In the World' and 'In the Room', the book presents a rounded picture of...

Theatre is at its best when it is disobedient, when it argues back to society. But what enables it to achieve this impact? What makes it a force to be reckoned with? What are the principles and the tools of the trade that shape it to be effective, powerful and resonant? Drawing from both theory and practice, and informed by conversations with recognized practitioners from across the UK, this book provides answers and makes an impassioned call for artists to reimagine, question and disrupt.
Divided into two parts, 'In the World' and 'In the Room', the book presents a rounded picture of...

The Improv Handbook is the most comprehensive, smart, helpful and inspiring guide to improv available today. Applicable to comedians, actors, public speakers and anyone who needs to think on their toes, it features a range of games, interviews, descriptions and exercises that illuminate and illustrate the exciting world of improvised performance.

First published in 2008, this second edition features a new foreword by comedian Mike McShane, as well as new exercises on endings, managing blind offers and master-servant games, plus new and expanded interviews with Keith Johnstone,...

The Improv Handbook is the most comprehensive, smart, helpful and inspiring guide to improv available today. Applicable to comedians, actors, public speakers and anyone who needs to think on their toes, it features a range of games, interviews, descriptions and exercises that illuminate and illustrate the exciting world of improvised performance.

First published in 2008, this second edition features a new foreword by comedian Mike McShane, as well as new exercises on endings, managing blind offers and master-servant games, plus new and expanded interviews with Keith Johnstone,...

Rooted in performance and performance criticism Comedy Acting for Theatre is a textbook which offers a detailed examination of how comedy works, along with advice for the actor sending a comic message, allowing them to better understand the communication of comedy from the point of view of both the performer and the audience. Applying the twin perspectives of theory and performance, the authors analyse a variety of plays, both modern and classic, from writers including Harold Pinter, Oscar Wilde, Tom Stoppard and Neil Simon, as well as an extensive exploration of acting in...

Rooted in performance and performance criticism Comedy Acting for Theatre is a textbook which offers a detailed examination of how comedy works, along with advice for the actor sending a comic message, allowing them to better understand the communication of comedy from the point of view of both the performer and the audience. Applying the twin perspectives of theory and performance, the authors analyse a variety of plays, both modern and classic, from writers including Harold Pinter, Oscar Wilde, Tom Stoppard and Neil Simon, as well as an extensive exploration of acting in...

This book offers the first comprehensive collection of interviews, critical overviews, and detailed analysis of Ivo van Hove's internationally acclaimed work as the foremost director of theatre, opera, and musicals in our time. Stunning production photos capture the power of van Hove's directorial vision, his innovative use of theatrical spaces, and the arresting stage images that have made his productions so popular among audiences worldwide over the last 30 years. Van Hove's own contribution to the book, which includes his director's notes for some of his most popular shows, makes this...

This book offers the first comprehensive collection of interviews, critical overviews, and detailed analysis of Ivo van Hove's internationally acclaimed work as the foremost director of theatre, opera, and musicals in our time. Stunning production photos capture the power of van Hove's directorial vision, his innovative use of theatrical spaces, and the arresting stage images that have made his productions so popular among audiences worldwide over the last 30 years. Van Hove's own contribution to the book, which includes his director's notes for some of his most popular shows, makes this...