Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5790 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 158 pages

Synopsis
A vital companion for actors in rehearsal - a thesaurus of action-words to revitalise performance Actors need actions. They cannot 'act' adjectives, they need verbs: they need an aim to achieve, an action to perform. 'Actions' are active verbs. 'I tempt you.' 'You taunt me.' In order to perform an action truthfully and therefore convincingly, an actor needs to find exactly the right action to suit that particular situation and that particular line. That is where this book comes in...It is a thesaurus of active verbs, with which the actor can refine the action-word until s/he hits exactly the right one to help make the action come alive. It looks like this: taunt insult, tease, torment, provoke, ridicule, mock, poke, needle tempt influence, attract, entice, cajole, coax, seduce, lure, fascinate It is well known in the acting community that random lists of action-words circulate rehearsal rooms in dog-eared photocopies - as a sort of actor's crib. This book makes them available for the first time in an organised and comprehensive form.

Customer Reviews

Essential rehearsal kit.....
I am a acting and voice teacher in a London drama school. I trained in Stanislavski about 25 years ago, worked as an actress till I stopped liking it and have been teaching and directing with great enthusiasm ever since. And ...(big confession).....I didn't get it till I worked with this book.
You see.......
You only need to play the actions. Just play actions. Any actions.
And preferably weird, wonderful wacky actions. Let your imagination run wild........and this little book will help you to do that, even when you have run out of steam, energy and ideas, even when you think that finding an action to play on this line is impossible and you've thought about it for hours and hours........hear come Maggie and Marina, riding over the brow of the hill like the cavalry, full of the most delicious, particular, cheeky, sparky, whimsical words. All playable. All there in your back pocket (if you've any sense)

I will never go to work without it.

A lot of knowlege in a small book
This book obviously took a huge amount of work, the editing alone I can see and must assume, had to have been a gargantuan undertaking. It is the perfect book of its kind, and a 'must have' for actors at all stages of their career, be they Garsides (unknown) or Gambons. My heart felt thanks to the authors for their efforts, and I hope it will bring me closer to my goals of treading the boards in better surroundings that the local amateur dramatics productions.

Nutshell acting
The idea behind this book is a wonderful one for a lot of actors. Others will feel got at and resist it. It suggests an acting tool which if you firmly hold onto the idea that it IS a tool, ie at YOUR disposal, is a brilliant one. If you could write a 100% successful book about how to act there'd be no need for more. Of course, reassuringly there is no such thing; it'll always be down to the individual actor to 'do' the actual acting. Don't feel got at. Read it for inspiration. not as a judgement or a limitation.