'Non-academic, highly practical and very effective ...A real delight' UK Theatre Web 'A very valuable preparation for the rigours of drama school training' British Theatre Guide 'Technical and refreshingly non-academic ...Clear and helpful pathways to guide the student actor' Sir Alan Ayckbourn 'This book offers graspable steps...to equip the actor with the technical tools necessary to be seen and heard in our crowded arena' Sir Ben Kingsley Paul Elsam's Acting Characters is an introductory handbook for the aspiring actor, compiled of twenty steps grouped into six sections to help create,...

A 1967 obituary in The Times labelled Stephen Joseph 'the most successful missionary to work in the English theatre since the second world war'. This radical man brought theatre-in-the-round to Britain, provoked Ayckbourn, Pinter and verbatim theatre creator Peter Cheeseman to write and direct, and democratised theatregoing. This monograph investigates his forgotten legacy.

This monograph draws on largely unsorted archival material (including letters from Harold Pinter, J. B. Priestley, Peggy Ramsay and others), and on new interviews with figures including Sir Alan Ayckbourn,...