Showing titles in Acting & Auditioning

Weaving a latticework of different strands, moving back and forth through time, Josh Brolin captures a life marked by curiosity, pain, devotion, kindness, humor. He recounts an unconventional childhood far from Hollywood. Raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, he was surrounded as a child by the wolves, cougars and other wild animals gathered by his fearless and explosive mother, Jane Agee Brolin. Her tragic, early death haunts this book, and the force of her unforgettable personality is felt throughout.

Kelly Bishop’s storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing, but it is probably her role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy. Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future, sharing some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey.

Growing up in Liverpool as the entertainer of the family, impersonating neighbours to the delight of her friends and playing pranks on her unwitting mother (from which the poor carpet never recovered), the young Alison Steadman could never have imagined what the future had in store. But when she snuck off to London to audition for drama school in secret, Alison set in motion a series of events that would see her become one of the greatest character-actors of the age, and a national treasure to boot.

In Toast on Toast - part memoir, part "how to act" manual - Steven Toast draws on his vast and varied experiences, providing the reader with an invaluable insight into his journey from school plays to RADA and from "It's a Right Royal Knockout" to the Colony Club. Along the way he reveals the secrets of his success. He discloses how to brush up on and expand your technical and vocal skills, how to nail a professional voiceover, and how to deal with difficult work experience staff in a recording studio....

Have you ever realised that your voice could make you money? Working as a voiceover artist can give you a good, solid income, doing a fun and rewarding job, mostly working from your own recording studio at home! You may find yourself a natural at documentary or corporate narrations, TV and radio commercial scripts, or longer projects such as audiobooks or eLearning. The world of media production is ever expanding, and there are opportunities for English-speaking voice artists of all ages and types of voices.

Stella Adler was one of the 20th Century's greatest figures. She is arguably the most important teacher of acting in American history. Over her long career, both in New York and Hollywood, she offered her vast acting knowledge to generations of actors, including Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro. The great voice finally ended in the early 1990s. But, her decades of experience and teaching have been brilliantly captured and encapsulated by Howard Kissel, in the 22 lessons you'll hear in this audiobook.

The door to magic is closed, but it’s not locked. And now Joshua Jay, one of the world’s most accomplished magicians, not only opens that door but brings us inside to reveal the artistry and obsessiveness, esoteric history, and long-whispered-about traditions of a subject shrouded in mystery. In 52 short, compulsively listenable essays, Jay describes how he does it, whether it’s through the making of illusions, the psychology behind them, or the way technology influences the world of magic.

Interested in pursuing a career in VO? Curious what goes on behind the scenes in a business where people talk funny for money? This updated edition of the award-winning audiobook offers a fun and comprehensive look at what it takes, what goes on, and what it's like behind the mic from two (still) working pros who started from scratch.

Pippa Evans is an expert in saying 'Yes' - and 'No'. She's a master of thinking on her feet but has also had to learn how to go with the flow. In this book she's passing on everything she's learnt from her award-winning improv career, as both a performer and teacher, so you can take centre stage in your own life.

Screen Acting Trade Secrets is the definitive guide for the screen actor in the 21st century. From your first awakening as an actor to the end of your first day on a movie set, Screen Acting Trade Secrets walks you through it all with humor, priceless information, eye-opening revelations, helpful exercises, real-world examples, tales from the trenches, insider secrets, and a boat load of genuine inspiration. You won’t be able to put it down. Then, you’ll start again with a highlighter.

Instead of starting with what is real and trying to wrestle that onto the screen, Patrick Tucker explains how to work with the realities of a shoot and work from there toward the real. His step by step guide to the elements of effective screen acting is an extension and explanation of a lifetime of work in the field, containing over 50 acting exercises and the tried-and-tested screen acting checklist.

Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, also taught acting for more than 40 years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, remains a best seller in print. In this brand new audio edition of her second classic book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher.

The casting director for Chicago, Pippin, Becket, Gypsy, The Graduate, The Sound of Music, and Jesus Christ Superstar tells you how you can find your dream role! Absolutely everything an actor needs to know to get the part is here: What to do that moment before; how to use humour; how to create mystery; how to develop a distinct style; and how to evaluate the place, the relationships, and the competition. In fact, Audition is a necessary guide to dealing with all the "auditions" we face in life. This is the bible on the subject.

Star of stage, screen and television, and one of only two people to be awarded two Knighthoods, Sir Derek Jacobi is one of Britain’s most distinguished actors. ‘If you want to be an actor, don’t. If you need to be an actor, do.’ The world of theatre could not have been further from Derek’s childhood: an only child, born in Leytonstone, London. With his father a department store manager father and his mother a secretary, his was very much a working class background.

Divided into four sections - Status, Spontaneity, Narrative Skills, and Masks and Trance - and arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them, the audiobook sets out the specific techniques and exercises which Johnstone has himself found most useful and most stimulating. The result is both an audiobook of ideas and a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity.

Access Accents bring the highly sought-after voice techniques of top voice coach Penny Dyer to the actor's audio device. They offer a unique opportunity to prepare for auditions at short notice.

This comprehensive course is designed for actors aiming to master the diverse range of accents found across the United Kingdom and Ireland, offering an extensive foundation in both technical and cultural aspects of accent work, while maintaining accessibility for the novice learner. With an emphasis on authentic performance, the program provides step-by-step guidance on dialect production, using a wide variety of oral posture guidance, pronunciation exercises, and practical lexicon that actors can apply directly to their work.

Essential warm-up exercises for anyone who wants to use their voice more effectively. An accompaniment to The Voice Exercise Book, the accessible and straightforward guide to good voice production. If you're using your voice in a professional capacity - as a performer, a public speaker, a teacher, or even for long hours over the telephone - then warming up is an essential part of ensuring best practice and vocal health. In this audiobook, Jeannette Nelson provides three complete and easy-to-use voice warm-ups that she uses with actors and non-actors alike.

On stage and screen, we know a great performance when we see it. But how do actors draw from their bodies and minds to turn their selves into art? What is the craft of being an authentic fake? More than a century ago, amid tsarist Russia’s crushing repression, one of the most talented actors ever, Konstantin Stanislavski, asked these very questions, reached deep into himself and emerged with an answer.

Since its original publication in 1973, Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting has remained a durable classic for all students of acting. As an acting instructor at the Herbert Berghof Studio, Hagen helped to develop the talents of world-class actors like Robert DeNiro, Matthew Broderick, Gene Wilder, Amanda Peet, Austin Pendleton, Whoopi Goldberg, and more. This updated edition illuminates Hagen's original text with a new foreword written by Katie Finneran, retaining the David Hyde Pierce foreword, along with added background on HB Studio.