Intended for actors, directors, teachers and researchers, this book
offers an exceptionally clear and thorough introduction to the renowned
acting technique developed by Michael Chekhov. Sinéad Rushe's book
provides a complete overview of the whole method, and includes
illuminating explanations of its principles, as well as a wide range of
practical exercises that illustrate, step by step, how they can be
applied to dramatic texts.
Part One provides an outline of the ideas that underpin the work,
which help to prepare practitioners to become responsive and receptive,
and to awaken their imagination. Part Two charts a journey through
the foundational psychophysical exercises that can both orient an
actor's training routine and be applied directly to the development of a
role. Part Three focuses on more specific and elaborate methods of
scene work, characterisation and the art of transformation.
Drawing on the full range of Chekhov's writing in English and French,
this book also examines unpublished material from the Dartington Hall
archives and features interviews with actors who have worked with the
technique, including Simon Callow and Joanna Merlin. It illustrates
Chekhov's approach by referring to Rushe's own productions of Nikolai
Gogol's short story Diary of a Madman and Shakespeare's Othello, as
well as characters and scenes in Sarah Kane's Blasted and the
contemporary American television series Breaking Bad.
Michael Chekhov's Acting Technique is an accessible, comprehensive and
contemporary point of reference for those already trained in the method,
as well as an initiation and toolkit for practitioners who are just
beginning to discover it.
