Whatβs in it
Tap a tag: β€ = this matters to me Β· tap again β = donβt care Β· again to reset. The list below updates each time.
24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorBrecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic
Bertolt Brecht Β· 294 pages
Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama
David Mamet Β· 96 pages
Poetics
Aristotle Β· 144 pages
One of the first books written on what is now called aesthetics. Although parts are lost (e.g., comedy), it has been very influential in western thought, such as the part on tragedy.
The Theatre of the Absurd
Martin Esslin Β· 443 pages
"In 1953 Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot premiered at a tiny avant-garde theatre in Paris; within five years, it had been translated into more than twenty languages and seen by more than a million spectators. Its startling popularity marked the emergence of a new type of theatre whose proponents - Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Pinter, and others - shattered dramatic conventions and paid scant attent
The Empty Space: A Book About the Theatre: Deadly, Holy, Rough, Immediate
Peter Brook Β· 141 pages
Shakespeare: The Biography
Peter Ackroyd Β· 572 pages
Drawing on an exceptional combination of skills as literary biographer, novelist, and chronicler of London history, Peter Ackroyd surely re-creates the world that shaped Shakespeare--and brings the playwright himself into unusually vivid focus. With characteristic narrative panache, Ackroyd immerses us in sixteenth-century Stratford and the rural landscape--the industry, the animals, even the flow
The Golden Thread
David Clare, Fiona McDonagh, Justine Nakase Β· 344 pages
This two-volume edited collection covers three hundred years of Irish women's playwriting with forty-two essays written by leading and emerging Irish theatre scholars and practitioners. Volume One looks at the period from 1716 to 1992, exploring such varied themes as the impact of space and place on identity, women's strategic use of genre, and theatrical responses to shifts in Irish politics and
Bossypants
Tina Fey Β· 277 pages
Tina Feyβs new book *Bossypants* is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself). From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation. Some of the funnie
Backwards and Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays
David Ball Β· 96 pages
Using Hamlet as illustration, the author provides the tools for students and practitioners to use as they investigate plot, character, theme, exposition, imagery, motivation/obstacle/conflict, theatricality, and the other crucial parts of the superstructure of a play.
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
Stephen Greenblatt Β· 430 pages
"How did Shakespeare become Shakespeare? Stephen Greenblatt enables us to see, hear, and feel how an acutely sensitive and talented boy, surrounded by the rich tapestry of Elizabethan life - full of drama and pageantry, and also cruelty and danger - could have become the world's greatest playwright. Greenblatt makes inspired connections between an entertainment presented to Queen Elizabeth on a vi
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
Alan Alda Β· 247 pages
On the heels of his acclaimed memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, beloved actor and bestselling author Alan Alda has written Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, an insightful and funny look at some of the impossible questions he's asked himself over the years: What do I value? What, exactly, is the good life? (And what does that even mean?)Picking up where his bestselling memoir left off-
Shakespeare: The World as Stage
Bill Bryson Β· 208 pages
William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.Bryson documents the efforts of earlier scholars, from today's most respected a
Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh
John Lahr Β· 765 pages
Here, celebrated drama critic John Lahr gives intimate access to the mind of one of the most brilliant dramatists of his century, whose plays reshaped the American theater and the nation's sense of itself. This astute, deeply researched biography sheds light on Williams's warring family, his guilt, his creative triumphs and failures, his sexuality and numerous affairs, his misreported death, even
The Invisible Woman
Claire Tomalin Β· 352 pages
A portrait of nineteenth-century actress Ellen Ternan, the woman who was the mistress of Charles Dickens, describing her secret relationship with the author.
Respect for Acting
Uta Hagen, Haskel Frankel Β· 227 pages
The famed "object exercises" of Hagen are described here for the first and possibly only time. In fact, there are three divisions of the text: part one is The Actor, part two is The Object Exercises and part three is The Play And The Role. Hagen and Herbert Berghof practiced and taught these lessons at the Berghof school in New York (which produced at least a hundred Broadway and Hollywood house
Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History
Glen Berger Β· 370 pages
Playwright Glen Berger's hilarious memoir of a theatrical dream--or nightmare--come true with a cast of characters including renowned director Julie Taymor and two superstar rock legends U2's Bono and Edge.
Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway
Michael Riedel Β· 447 pages
"A revered and provocative theater observer presents a grand history of the producers, directors, actors, and critics battling for creative and financial control of Broadway"--Front jacket flap.
To the Actor
Michael Chekhov, Simon Callow Β· 201 pages
This handbook for professional and amateur actors and directors provides simple and practical methods to train actors to quickly and effectively call up emotion, develop characters, and strengthen awareness.
Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare, Vols. 1-2
Isaac Asimov, Rafael Palacios Β· 843 pages
Improvise.: Scene from the Inside Out
Mick Napier Β· 246 pages
Napier has been at the heart of the professional improvisation community for more than 25 years. Here, he gives you advice and tips for success in improvising. You'll learn the rules of improv-- and why they don't matter. You'll discover how to take care of yourself in a scene, as well as working in two-person or large-cast scenes. And you'll get tips on preparing and psyching yourself for an audi

