Containing over a hundred interviews conducted over the last fifteen years with leading directors, actors and playwrights at the National Theatre, Buzz Buzz! is a fantastic compendium that offers unrivalled insight into the work and practice of the best theatre talent.

Actors' Yearbook is a comprehensive reference guide to acting for television, film and theatre. It lists contact names and addresses for all sections of the acting world, from agents to production companies. Articles and commentaries provide a valuable insight into the profession. This edition includes many new articles including: The Essentials of Screen Acting by international acting and voice coach, Mel Churcher; and Physical and Mental Fitness for Actors by Alex Caans. This edition also includes far more contacts in the tv and film industry. This is an essential resource for actors and anyone involved in the industry, from those just embarking on a career, to experienced actors who may be unfamiliar with certain areas of the profession.

'A uniquely charming and enticing journey through a remarkable life. Coward's own record is made all the more delightful by the wise and helpful interpolations of Barry Day, the soundest authority on the Master that there is.' Stephen Fry

Biography and Autobiography

A delightful and revealing collection of quotations from the master wordsmith, Noel Coward. In his plays, verse, song lyrics, stories and everyday life, he chose his words to uniquely stylish and truthful effect.

Intended for students and children taking part in speech and drama competitions and exams, this book contains a range of audition speeches. It includes female, male and unisex speeches selected from both plays and children's books. Where relevant the author has indicated how a speech could be shortened for younger children. There is also an introductory section with contributions from Alan Ayckbourn, Carol Schroder (teacher and examiner for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art), Richard Carpenter (TV writer)and Margo Selby (actress in Grange Hill').'

Six Ensemble Plays for Young Actors, published to coincide with YPPT International Conference in Liverpool (Capital of Culture) July 2008, will appeal to a wide and varied audience for young peoples work within the age range 1125 years old.

This book offers innovative analyses and inspiring ways of developing ne approaches to writing drama

This work deals with the media of stage, radio, television and film, giving plenty of practical advice. It includes examples of the most recent scripted dialogue. Chapters deal with how conversation works, naturalistic and stylized dialogue, pace and variation, scripted narration, comic dialogue and presentation. As well as highlighting the ways in which dialogue varies from one medium to another, this work shows how many of the skills of writing dialogue may in fact be applied to all the script media.

An essential tool for actors needing to develop an accent at a moments notice. Top voice coach, Penny Dyer, voice coach to Helen Mirren on The Queen and who has worked with Audrey Tautou, Bob Hoskins, Rachel Weiss, Michael Sheen and Cate Blanchett, and actress Gwyneth Strong (Cassandra, Only Fools and Horses) present an hour long voice coaching session on CD.

New technologies have made lighting more prominent in live performances of all kinds, not just stage theatre, and in many courses lighting has been subsumed into `performance lighting. Performance Lighitng Design is a practical guide to the art and technique of lighting for the stage, concerts, exhibitions and live events. The book will also cover the use of projected images in performance including projected scenery on the West End stage, in fringe shows, and on the stadium 'rock' stage, as well as the use of images from live camera and from other sources as 'performers'. The book will serve students of lighting design and will also be accessible to anyone with an awareness of technical theatre. Practical knowledge is combined with aesthetic and theoretical considerations. The book will also address the difficult area of getting inspiration and evolving design ideas through a broad range of performance genre. The author will use case studies of top professional practitioners, discuss the pros and cons of several computer based techniques, and incorporate 25 years of his own professional experience in the UK and Europe.

An inspiring and technically thorough practical book for actors that sets down a systematic and coherent process for organic (from the `inside-out'/experienced emotion) acting. The author offers a step-by-step, Stanislavski-based approach to text, role and performance to be used in everyday work and gathers together in one volume, the essential tools that serve to recreate human experience. A nuts-and-bolts practical guide with exercises for the actor to work through sequentially.

At the Sharp End is a critical examination of the work of five leading dramatists who have made an indelible mark on today's theatre. Peter Billingham introduces and analyses the work of David Edgar, Mark Ravenhill, David Greig, Tanika Gupta and Tim Etchells of Sheffield-based experimental theatre group, Forced Entertainment, and combines his analysis with interviews with each of the dramatists.

Actors' Yearbook is a comprehensive reference guide to acting for television, film and theatre. It lists contact names and addresses for all sections of the acting world, from agents to production companies. Articles and commentaries provide a valuable insight into the profession. This edition includes many new articles covering topics such as 'The World of Children's Television', 'Musical Theatre Cattle Calls', 'Finding Funding for Projects' and 'Effective Audition Speeches'. This is an essential resource for actors and anyone involved in the industry, from those just embarking on a career, to experienced actors who may be unfamiliar with certain areas of the profession.

The Worst It Can Be is a Disaster is the autobiography of Braham Murray, founding director of the Royal Exchange Manchester which in 2006 celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. Born into a Jewish family, Braham Murray struggled against his parents' expectations that he should follow them into the world of commerce; instead he became at twenty-two the youngest artistic director in the country when he took over Century Theatre, a theatre company based in Manchester. From his formative years at school, where he first experienced the thrill of directing, and subsequently University College Oxford, where as the president of the Experimental Theatre Club his future as a theatre director was launched, the story of Braham Murray is an inspiring account of one man's pursuit of their dream. Detailing his relationships and the theatrical successes and flops along the way, the narrative takes us through his early years with Century Theatre, with the 69 Theatre Company, and the birth of the Royal Exchange Manchester in the heart of Manchester in 1976. Twenty years later, the theatre rose from the ashes of the IRA bomb brilliantly opening a new production on time just ten days after the bomb had destroyed the city centre. The role and influence of the author's Jewish heritage and of his key collaborators - including Caspar Wrede and Michael Elliott - are explored in this illuminating and inspiring account of one of English theatre's great directors.

explains the theory behind breathing and vocal techniques, and goes on to recommend proven exercises to ensure improvement in voice and speech

Drawing on an unrivalled wealth and range of expertise in the fields of acting, directing and training, Yoshi Oida and Lorna Marshall provide an authoritative and fascinating study of the art of the actor. In scrutinising the process of performance from the twin perspectives of the actor and director, An Actors Tricks is filled with hints, insights and stories from productions with Peter Brook and from around the world. Beginning with the daily preparation to train the body, it moves to the process of rehearsal for a performance right up to the moment when the actor steps onstage. Throughout practical exercises are included for the actor to follow. The books combines principles and techniques from both Western and Eastern disciplines of acting to provide a masterful study essential for every actor and director.

For a decade, Martin Crimp has been in the vanguard of writing for the British stage. This work is the study of Martin Crimp's work for stage and radio. Arguing that he is one of the most acute satirists of contemporary British society, it provides an account of the playwright's work, as well as an account of each of Crimp's plays.

'A vivid, nuanced and intimate account of the National Theatre s only true ensemble, Bill Bryden's Cottesloe Theatre company. Playwright Keith Dewhurst and actor Jack Shepherd tell an inspiring story of the company they helped to make. Anyone who cares about popular theatre, Britishness, the alchemy of theatrical space, acting as a group process and performance as a midfield football match, needs this book.' Michael Kustow. Bill Bryden s Cottesloe Company, which flourished at Peter Hall's National Theatre, was the English theatre's only true ensemble of the last thirty or so years. Impossible Plays tells the story of the company and the many actors and musicians connected to it. Co-written by Keith Dewhurst, author of eight plays for the group, and Jack Shepherd, a founder-actor, it explains the ideas behind the company's work and how the work was staged, and provides an idiosyncratic, lively and deeply personal take on the company.

Finding good, interesting audition pieces is a demanding and difficult process. This revised edition contains over 40 speeches and includes a wide selection of pieces taken from plays written or produced recently. There are speeches for a variety of accents, taken from both classical and modern plays, to suit young people. There is also an ntroductory section containing advice from directors and casting agents.

A Guide To The Plays Of Brecht by Stephen Unwin

This unique book is a practical guide to exploring the singing voice and will help to enhance vocal confidence in a range of styles including Pop, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Country and Gospel. Both singers and voice teachers will benefit from the authors clear analysis of these styles and advice on how to improve performance. Popular Singing provides effective alternatives to traditional voice training methods and demonstrates how these methods can be used to create a flexible and unique sound. A free CD of voice demonstrations is included.

Presents over thirty extracts from the plays for radio and stage. Designed as a resource for actors working in radio, theatre or television, this collection of extracts is helpful for audition and performance work. It is divided into three sections of duologues: male/female; male/male, and female/female, and features introductions to each piece.

A simple, no-nonsense guide to researching, planning and performing more truthful and realistic characters. It describes 16 easily followed steps designed to simplify Stanislavskis teachings, with practical exercises to follow. The book considers key elements of communication and the characteristics of human behaviour, and shows how you can harness these behaviour types to sharpen skills and awareness through the use of body, voice and speech. A Character Profile Sheet helps you plan your character as you build up your research. Boxed sections introduce new theories and concepts at a clear, introductory level.

Presents essays by leading writers and academics examining the staging of Greek drama. This book presents a collection of twelve essays by leading academics, writers and theatre practitioners examining the representation of ancient Greek heroines in their original contexts.