The Psychophysical Actor at Work: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski - Softcover

Zarrilli, Phillip B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415334586 ISBN 13: 9780415334587

Publisher: Routledge, 2008

Synopsis

Psychophysical Acting is a direct and vital address to the demands of contemporary theatre on today’s actor. Drawing on over thirty years of intercultural experience, Phillip Zarrilli aims to equip actors with practical and conceptual tools with which to approach their work. Areas of focus include:

• an historical overview of a psychophysical approach to acting from Stanislavski to the present
• acting as an ‘energetics’ of performance, applied to a wide range of playwrights: Samuel Beckett, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Kaite O’Reilly and Ota Shogo
• a system of training though yoga and Asian martial arts that heightens sensory awareness, dynamic energy, and in which body and mind become one
• practical application of training principles to improvisation exercises.

Psychophysical Acting is accompanied by Peter Hulton’s interactive DVD-ROM featuring exercises, production documentation, interviews, and reflection.

About this title

Review:

'Being taken step-by-step through these highly evocative and fascinating exercises and concepts of actor training by a master such as Zarrilli certainly qualifies as essential reading.' – David Zinder, Tel Aviv University, Israel

'The book proposes a radical paradigm shift within undergraduate and graduate acting and directing training and should be required reading for performers, directors, and theatre educators. It has the potential to transform the field in significant ways by offering a new understanding of what constitutes engaging performance and actor training in the 21st century' – Rachel Bowditch, The Drama Review

About the Author:

Phillip Zarrilli is internationally known for training actors in psychophysical process through Asian martial arts and yoga, and as a director/actor. He is the founding Artistic Director of The Llanarth Group based in West Wales, UK. He is also Professor of Performance Practice at Exeter University. His many publications include Acting Reconsidered (2002), Kathakali Dance-Drama (2000), and co-author of Theatre Histories: An Introduction (2006).

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0415334586
• ISBN 13: 9780415334587
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 258