To the Actor - On the Technique of Acting

This handbook for professional and amateur actors and directors is designed to train your imagination and body to quickly and effectively call up emotion, develop characters, and strengthen awareness. It includes new material on one of Chekhov's techniques, "psychological gesture".How does an actor learn to: Call up emotion? Develop a character? Strengthen awareness? These are essential techniques for every actor, and Michael Chekhov's classic work To the Actor explains, clearly and concisely, how to develop them. Chekhov's simple and practical method - successfully used by professional actors all over the world - trains the actor's imagination and body to fulfil its potential. This handbook for actors (and directors) has been revised and expanded by Mala Powers. It includes: a previously unpublished chapter on 'Psychological Gesture', translated into English by the celebrated director Andrei Malaev - Babel; a new biographical overview by Mala Powers; and a foreword by Simon Callow.