Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski

Description

Psychophysical Acting is a direct and vital address to the demands of contemporary theatre on today’s actor. Drawing on over thirty years of intercultural experience, Phillip Zarrilli aims to equip actors with practical and conceptual tools with which to approach their work. Areas of focus include: an historical overview of a psychophysical approach to acting from Stanislavski to the presentacting as an ‘energetics’ of performance, applied to a wide range of playwrights: Samuel Beckett, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Kaite O’Reilly and Ota Shogoa system of training though yoga and Asian martial arts that heightens sensory awareness, dynamic energy, and in which body and mind become onepractical application of training principles to improvisation exercises. Psychophysical Acting is accompanied by Peter Hulton’s downloadable resources featuring exercises, production documentation, interviews, and reflection. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Illustrations and Charts Acknowledgments Foreword A Preface in Three Voices Introduction: A Psychophysical Approach to Acting Part I: What is the Actor’s Work? 1: Historical Context 2: Beginning with the Breath 3: An Enactive Approach to Acting and Embodiment Part II: Work on Oneself 4: The Source Traditions: Yoga, Kalarippayattu, and Taiqiquan 5: The Psychophysical Actor’s “I can” 6: Exercises for “Playing” In-between: Structured Improvisations Part III: Production Case Studies 7: The Beckett Project 8: The Water Station (Mizu No Eki) by Ota Shogo 9: Speaking Stones: Images, Voices, Fragments . . . From That Which Comes After 10: 4:48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane 11: Attempts on Her Life by Martin Crimp Afterword Appendix 1: A. C. Scott and The Asian Experimental Theater Program Appendix 2: Yuasa Yasuo’s Body-Scheme Notes Bibliography Index