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Overview
A practical guide to training as an actor, helping you get the most out of drama school - and survive in the world beyond.
Are you thinking of applying to drama school?
Do you have a place already and want to get the most out of your training? Are you seeking to make the best possible start in the world beyond drama school?
Becoming an Actor takes you, step by step, technique by technique, through everything you can expect to encounter at drama school, and in your first year as a professional actor. Stuffed with exercises and full of practical advice, it is the ideal handbook to accompany your training.
Thomasina Unsworth teaches at Rose Bruford College, one of the UK's leading drama schools. Here she shows what acting classes at an accredited drama school are actually like, and offers guidance and support through what is a critical time in any actor's career.
With many different exercises to help actors explore the techniques they need to master, Becoming an Actor is also an invaluable resource for those teaching acting, and for those seeking to refresh their training.
'Clear, bright, accessible and above all useful... offers young actors a valuable insight into the demands and rewards of professional training, while providing a sequence of practical exercises which can be used by performers, students and teachers across a much broader range of contexts.' - Stanislavski Studies
'Entertaining and informative... students and potential students will find Unsworth's readable book invaluable.' - ReviewsGate.com
'Ideal for anyone interested in vocational training... includes lots of classroom exercises to show the reader exactly the sort of thing that they can expect to be doing [in drama school]' - Teaching Drama Magazine
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781780011929 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Hern, Nick Books |
| Publication date: | 10/09/2014 |
| Sold by: | Bookwire |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| File size: | 633 KB |
| Age Range: | 12 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
Auditioning 5
Part 1 First Year
You Are Enough 17
You Are Enough 18
Building Blocks 20
I Want You to Believe Me 23
Putting It Together 26
Responding Not Instigating 33
Sharpening Your Senses 34
Trusting Your Senses 35
Seeing What is There 37
Responding to What is There 38
Basic Repetition 39
Making It Personal 40
Noticing the Behaviour 41
Adding Layers 44
Another Layer 45
High Stakes 48
The Significance of Objects 52
Don't Touch 52
Endowment 54
Taking Action 57
Overcoming the Obstacle 58
The Obstacle Within 65
Pulled in Two Directions 65
Working with Text 72
Unpacking the Narrative 72
Changing Chairs 75
Applying Transitive Verbs 81
Making Choices 84
Free Association 87
Freedom to Play 92
Breathing the Text 94
Character 97
Multiple Personalities 97
Rhythms 100
Hot-seating 103
Fifty Questions 104
Private Moments 108
The Power of Music 111
Written Work 115
Writing Your Essay 117
Part 2 the Second Year: Beyond the Self
Beyond the Self 127
Extending Naturalism 129
The Nature of the Texts 130
A Different Approach 135
Making the Text More Concrete 138
Points of Concentration 141
Uniting by Subject Change 144
Clarifying the Subject Changes Further 147
From One Extreme to Another 148
Combining the Private with the Public 150
Shakespeare 159
Problems for the Modern Actor 161
Making It Your Own 163
Write Your Own 165
Finding the Stresses 166
Listening to the Language 169
Exploring without Words 170
Lifting the Line 171
Vowels and Consonants 172
Drawing the Text 174
Landing the Thoughts 175
Marking the Punctuation 176
Taking the Punctuation Away 176
Release 178
Distractions 179
Freedom to Express 179
Rapping 180
Responding 181
The Words Have Been Chosen 182
Staying Alive 183
Part 3 From Second to Third Year: Professional Preparation
Making Contact with the Outside World 191
Headshots 191
Curriculum Vitae 194
Getting an Agent 199
Acting for Camera 209
Radio 212
The Showcase 214
Competitions 219
Independent Research Projects 223
Life Planning 224
Part 4 Life After Drama School
Agents 232
Useful Websites 232
Marketing Yourself 237
Student Films 239
Equity 240
Castings 240
Audition Technique 248
Learning Lines 253
What to Do When You Can't Get Acting Work 256
Surviving Hard Times 262
Appendices
Further Reading 266
Bibliography of Plays 271
Endnotes 272