Following on from the widely acclaimed The Actor and the Text - which was addressed directly to the actor - Text in Action is drawn from Cicely's group work experiences, encompassing the viewpoint of the director as well. To begin with, the author explores language from a cultural and personal perspective. In these days of management jargon and internet technology are we losing touch with the ability to communicate fully?' Is the deeper imaginative world being left unexpressed? The main body of the book contains detailed, practical exercises for actors and directors during the rehearsal process. All exercises will be tied to specific scenes, leading to a fuller exploration of the rext. Text In Action analyses the imagery of plays, speech structures, the physicality of language and emphasises the importance of finding a collective voice. Cicely's guidance on the matter of voice will help actors find relationships and situations through the text in a unique way, in order to make it more dynamic and creative.
Cisely Berry, Voice Director of the Royal sahkespeare Company, is world famous for her voice taching. Text in Action contains the insights she gleaned from 50 years of working with actors and directors across the globe.
Following on from the widely acclaimed The Actor and the Text, Cicely Berry draws on her group work to emphasise how actors and directors can use the rehearsal process to heighten their collective awareness of language.
Our first acquaintance with a play is from reading it, either alone or as part of a group. During this process we concentrate on making sense of it, which can prevent us from listening to what the sound and texture of the language are telling us. The world of a play is created by its language; the imagery, rhythm and speech structures all contribute to its represnetation of reality.
Focusing primarily on Shakespear, but with techniques that can be applied to modern texts too, Text in Action sets out language work that can be done by the whole group to uncover different layers of meaning within the text. It opens up new interpretations and possible reactions.
'"How we thing is how we breathe" Edward Bod said that to me one day - thje spaces between thoughts, the very choice and sound of the words themselves: all these lead us to the person in the play and to the play itself. Voice work shoud not be something that is done at the last minute to make the play "clear" and the actor communicate "better".'
