Reference

A complete guide for all who want to make more effective use of their voice. The goal of voice work, Linda Gates explains in Voice for Performance, is to reveal the mind and soul of the character through the words of the playwright so the audience can both hear and understand. She addresses key elements of voice and speech - Respiration, Vibration, Resonation, and Articulation - in a straightforward style and grounds her approach in the elimination of the separation between the actor's voice and speech. She also addresses how this relates to the voice of the actor/singer. For the first time, this book is now available in paperback and includes eight hours of exercises with Gates on two companion audio CDs.

This unique exploration of the principles and practice of physical comedy starts with a discussion of the various types of laughter that can be provoked by performance. It then presents graduated sequences of over a hundred games and exercises devised to demonstrate and investigate the whole range of comic possibilities open to a performer. The result is an intensely practical and thoroughly stimulating investigation of how comedy works in physical terms.

This book isn't about methods. It's not another how-to book. It's a revelation: a shared collection of actors' trade secrets - tricks of the trade divulged by professionals in an experimental workshop that lasted nearly a year. You'll discover what actually sells you more than talent. You'll find out how powerful body language can be, and even how influential color is in the audition room. You'll learn what keeps a photo on a casting director's desk and what keeps a casting director on your side. In short, you'll have 101 innovative ways to get what you've always wanted: more of the parts you deserve.

In 1984 Antony Sher, hailed as the most exciting actor of his generation by the Observer, made his debut - on homemade crutches - as the infamous Richard III in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play. He would go on to win the Laurence Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for best actor. In his own words and sketches, he chronicles his personal and professional journey to this award-winning performance, from the moment he was offered the role to opening night, in the critically acclaimed book Year of the King, now available in this special 20th anniversary edition. From his brainstorm to use crutches to bring the king's deformity to life, to his research for the role, which included watching interviews with psychopaths, reading about mass murderers, and speaking with doctors and physically challenged individuals, to his visit to his homeland of South Africa, to his experiences in working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the reader is given a front-row seat to Sher's physical and mental preparation - or rather transformation - for his landmark performance as the bottled spider.