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Review
'Its greatest virtue is not so much that you can't put it down but that you have to put it down - in order to try it out.' - Research in Drama Education
'To the Actor is by far the best book that I have read on the subject of acting. Actors, directors, writers and critics will be grateful for it.' - Gregory Peck
'There's this need to continue growth; to expand. For me, Chekhov's system is the most complete.' - Robert Davi, interviewed on the set of his TV series, 'The Profiler'
Product Description
How does an actor learn to:
* Call up emotion?
* Develop a character?
* Strengthen awareness?
These are essential techniques for every actor, and Michael Chekhov's classic work To the Actor explains, clearly and concisely, how to develop them. Chekhov's simple and practical method - successfully used by professional actors all over the world - trains the actor's imagination and body to fulfil its potential.
This handbook for actors (and directors) has been revised and expanded by Mala Powers. It includes: a previously unpublished chapter on 'Psychological Gesture', translated into English by the celebrated director Andrei Malaev - Babel; a new biographical overview by Mala Powers; and a foreword by Simon Callow.
* Call up emotion?
* Develop a character?
* Strengthen awareness?
These are essential techniques for every actor, and Michael Chekhov's classic work To the Actor explains, clearly and concisely, how to develop them. Chekhov's simple and practical method - successfully used by professional actors all over the world - trains the actor's imagination and body to fulfil its potential.
This handbook for actors (and directors) has been revised and expanded by Mala Powers. It includes: a previously unpublished chapter on 'Psychological Gesture', translated into English by the celebrated director Andrei Malaev - Babel; a new biographical overview by Mala Powers; and a foreword by Simon Callow.
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First Sentence
Our bodies can be either our best friends or worst enemies. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Our bodies can be either our best friends or worst enemies. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I will be eternally grateful to the stranger (whose name I forget) at an Isadora Duncan workshop that suggested this book to me. The subject is training the actor's imagination and body to fulfil its potential. But the same techniques are applied in dance. Or can even be applied in life generally.
Have you ever asked yourself, what is the point to all this? Why do I take dance, film, or whatever area of the arts I am working in or writing about, so seriously? Chekov takes us to a place where, instead of making the art form meaningful, you take what is meaningful and find it in the art form. Written in 1953, it is as valuable and relevant, both to dance and movies, now as it was then.
Accolades for Chekov's techniques are quoted on the inside flyleaf from Anthony Quinn, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Marilyn Monroe and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Gregory Peck called it, "by far the best book that I have ever read on the subject of acting. Actors, directors, writers and critics will be grateful for it." I could add the present writer, who has used the merest smidgen of Chekhov's psychological techniques to bring about quite miraculous results to bear on the problems facing himself and his friends in some areas of work.
Chekhov uses transformational imagery. The way he empowers an actor is the way that he can empower a dancer. The same energy that creates new ways of using a camera. But, unlike Stanislavski and the other theorists that are central to the development of new cinema and new dance, Chekov is easy to follow. It's like having a master psychologist sitting on your shoulder, showing you how to approach things differently and opening up more possibilities than you could have ever dreamt of. And each step is totally practical.
Chekhov tells you not about film or about the dance, but he tells you about the creative energy you need to understand and get to grips with both. It's this crossover that makes it an invaluable book for looking at dance film.
Have you ever asked yourself, what is the point to all this? Why do I take dance, film, or whatever area of the arts I am working in or writing about, so seriously? Chekov takes us to a place where, instead of making the art form meaningful, you take what is meaningful and find it in the art form. Written in 1953, it is as valuable and relevant, both to dance and movies, now as it was then.
Accolades for Chekov's techniques are quoted on the inside flyleaf from Anthony Quinn, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Marilyn Monroe and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Gregory Peck called it, "by far the best book that I have ever read on the subject of acting. Actors, directors, writers and critics will be grateful for it." I could add the present writer, who has used the merest smidgen of Chekhov's psychological techniques to bring about quite miraculous results to bear on the problems facing himself and his friends in some areas of work.
Chekhov uses transformational imagery. The way he empowers an actor is the way that he can empower a dancer. The same energy that creates new ways of using a camera. But, unlike Stanislavski and the other theorists that are central to the development of new cinema and new dance, Chekov is easy to follow. It's like having a master psychologist sitting on your shoulder, showing you how to approach things differently and opening up more possibilities than you could have ever dreamt of. And each step is totally practical.
Chekhov tells you not about film or about the dance, but he tells you about the creative energy you need to understand and get to grips with both. It's this crossover that makes it an invaluable book for looking at dance film.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I stumbled upon this book while looking in my college library. From reading the forward by Simon Callow: I was hooked. The book Frees The Actor from the simple, dull acting of this materialistic age we live in and it shows The Actor In a simple way, how to unlock the many tresures hidden in Their sub-concious. This book as changed my life and has opened my eyes. To The Actor puts the power back into the actor's hands and gives him a sense of worth. It never doubts the actor's talent. It frees it.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you are interested in the true art of acting then this is with out doubt the book to buy. The Michael Checkov technique is absolutely mind blowing, it enables you to harness your true creative self using simple yet powerful techniques. If you are an amateur actor or director with a theatre group who is looking to make the performances go beyond an amateur level this is the book that will enable you to do that. 5 Stars.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A guide from the GURU of acting
Whoever believes he is a good actor but haven't red this book yet - they just miserably pretend they have got it :-)
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Alenska Limited
A SEMINAL BOOK FOR ALL ACTORS
THIS BOOK WAS UNFORTUNATELY OUT OF PRINT BUT NOW IS BACK ON THE SHELVES WITH MORE GREAT INFORMATION FOR ACTORS ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL GESTURE. Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2003 by Lisa Dalton
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