{"product_id":"the-purpose-of-playing-modern-acting-theories-in-perspective-theater-theorytextperformance","title":"The Purpose of Playing: Modern Acting Theories in Perspective (Theater: Theory\/Text\/Performance)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Purpose of Playing providesthe first in-depth introduction to modern critical acting  enabling students  teachers  and professionals to comprehend the different aesthetic possibilities available to todays actors. The book presents a comparative survey of the major approaches to Western acting since the nineteenth century  their historical evolution  and their relationship to one another. Author Robert Gordon explores six categories of acting: realistic approaches to characterization (Stanislavski  Vakhtangov  Strasberg  Chekhov); the actor as a scenographic instrument (Appia  Craig  Meyerhold); improvisation and games (Copeau  Saint-Denis  Laban  Lecoq); political theater (Brecht  Boal); exploration of the self and other (Artaud  Grotowski); and performance as cultural exchange (Brook  Barba). The synthesis of these principal theories of dramatic performance in a single text offers practitioners the knowledge they need to contextualize their own practice within the wider field of performance  while encouraging theorists and scholars to be more sensitive to the material realities of artistic practice.  This analysis of major movements and figures from the early nineteenth century to the present is clear  thorough  and penetrating  and its scope across periods  countries  and styles is impressive. --Xerxes Mehta  University of Maryland-Baltimore County  Robert Gordon is Reader in Drama  Goldsmiths College  University of London.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44952370479157,"sku":"ByrdShop_0472068873","price":50.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780472068876.jpg?v=1770161184","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-purpose-of-playing-modern-acting-theories-in-perspective-theater-theorytextperformance","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}