Selected Book
Acting: The First Six Lessons (Theatre Arts Book)
- Hardcover
- Edition: twenty-ninth printing
- Author: Ric Boleslavsky
- Publisher: Theatre Arts / Routledge
- Release Date: January 1987
- ISBN-10: 0878300007
- ISBN-13: 9780878300006
- List Price: $24.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryFor actors by an actor of rare subtlety and imagination; for directors by a brilliant versatile director. Richard Boleslavsky's knowledge of the theatre was based on wide experience. A member of the Moscow Art Theatre and director of its First Studio, he worked in Russia, Germany and America as actor, director and teacher. On Broadway, he produced plays and musical comedies and he was a leading Hollywood director. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Boleslavsky's Fables
Rating: 
Boleslavsky's book is a NYC Theatre Classic on "The Method" acting realism techniques pioneered by the Russian Konstantin Stanislavsky in late 1800s Moscow experimental theatre. Stanislavsky embellished actor training by including a psychological behavior component.
Fundamental understanding of physiology and psychological theories was pioneered by Ivan Pavlov, Ivan Sechenov and others in medical science which explained animal / human behavior as a system; eg, dog salivation when shown pictures of food.
Hence, Theatrical Directors and acting coaches would encourage actors to "get into the head" of the character that they are playing. This was radically different from the accepted acting methodologies of the day, where memorization of lines and clear projection of speech, monologues, rehersals, imitation, singing, dramatic body language, and roleplaying by rote were standard methods.
In additional theories by Sigmund Freud (Austrian / German) and Carl Jung (Swiss) who were pioneering the psychological nature of man. This critical mass of western theories all helped Stanislavsky solidify his revolutionary "The Method" style of actor training.
This Reviewer has already viewed the documentary film "The Stanislavsky Century (3hrs, 1993, Films Humanities & Sciences, filmsDotCom ffh)," which describes his life, why Stanislavsky's theory was so special, and the underlying styles of Russian theatre in the late 1800s thru early 1900s.
Utilizing Boleslavsky's book, in particular, picking the chief characteristics for identifying emerging actors who "get" "The Method" of getting into the psychological head of the character that they are portraying. The subconscience and dreams became key landmarks which signified that "The Method" was being incorporated into the actor's psych.
Now...Boleslavsky's book reduces all the above by have a few practical lessons. The lessons are like a series of fables with a sage. It is a conversation between "The Creature," a female wannabe actress and "I" (the author). The stories are quite humorous and are full of truths.
Lesson1 Concentration -- p27
Lesson2 Memory of Emotion -- p45
Lesson3 Dramatic Action -- p61
Lesson4 Characterization -- p83
Lesson5 Observation -- p111
Lesson6 Rhythm -- p129
No further pixs, drawings, references or index. Find it at a college library.
Sorry I bought it
Rating:
Sorry I bought it. Went by the reviews which are generally a good guide, but not in this case. Much better choices available.
Live it, Love it
Rating:
if you take your performing arts as seriously as i do, then this is the book for you... read it and you will understand why...
?
Rating:
I'm not sure why this book has so many positive reviews. I read it a few years ago for an acting class,and was neither engaged or inspired by this book. While some of the techniques are helpful you could find the same info in another acting book. I would advise going to a bookstore first and reading parts of it before you decide to buy it online.
Excellent Handbook
Rating:
This is an excellent book that I call a handbook because it must be returned to over and over. The lessons are in the form of dialogues/conversations between teacher and student.
The lessons are: Concentration, Memory of Emotion, Dramatic Action, Characterization, Observation and Rhythm.
This is a very basic yet infinitely deep series on the tools that an actor needs, which Boleslavsky draws out of his pupil, here called The Creature. The antiquated nature of the relationship seems of the time, 1933, and though that may distract from the substance, it rapidly becomes as much a device as the dialogue/conversation format used to express the lessons.
I could pick this up and open to any lesson and mine that for a time. These lessons are not mastered, rather they are practiced.
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