Acting Narrative Speeches: The Actor as StorytellerMeriwether Pub., 2002 - 445 pages Narrative speeches, both classical and contemporary, are used to reveal how an actor can discover the inherent energy, the essence and the subtextual colours of every word and sentences of a dramatic speech. This book clearly demonstrates that any memorable performance needs far more than acting technique alone. In eighteen chapters actor/director/teacher McDonough defines in depth how an actor can find the often overlooked subtleties that create characters with dimension and moments of heightened reality. |
From inside the book
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Page 205
... moments for which there has been no preparation . There are certainly moments in life and on stage when emotions and actions erupt out of the blue , but it is more often the case that events and energies evolve and develop in ...
... moments for which there has been no preparation . There are certainly moments in life and on stage when emotions and actions erupt out of the blue , but it is more often the case that events and energies evolve and develop in ...
Page 267
... moments , one after the other , in any order that comes to you : • a gesture from your score without text ; • · • a movement with text ; your last moment with text ( hold the freeze frame : one Mississippi , two Mississippi , three ...
... moments , one after the other , in any order that comes to you : • a gesture from your score without text ; • · • a movement with text ; your last moment with text ( hold the freeze frame : one Mississippi , two Mississippi , three ...
Page 345
... moments and sections that strike you as especially A or Z , but stay interested in what happens if you play them as part of the opposite layer . When a moment doesn't seem to work one way , play it the opposite way in the next work ...
... moments and sections that strike you as especially A or Z , but stay interested in what happens if you play them as part of the opposite layer . When a moment doesn't seem to work one way , play it the opposite way in the next work ...
Common terms and phrases
acceleration acting action actor Agamemnon Appendix Athi audience beginning body build caesura central moment chair character character's choices circumstances climax Clytemnestra conjure create deceleration develop draft E.E. Cummings emotional emphasize endwords energy example explore expressive eyes fade father feel feet from/to gesture Gus Edwards Hamlet hand happened hear Hotspur I'm Not Rappaport Imagine implicit scene impulses indirect quote inner conflict inside the story Juliet language layered look metaphor moments Monologues move movement narrative speeches onomatopoeia onomatopoetic opposites performance phrase physical play point of view possible pullback Puntila rehearsal reliving rhythm rhythmic Romeo Romeo and Juliet Sam Shepard seam sentence set the scene Shakespeare shape single image slow snake handling sound sense space specific spondee stage syllables talk tell the story telling a story theater Titania transition trochee Tybalt voice Wesley Weston words