Acting in Person and in Style

Jerry Crawford's ACTING IN PERSON AND IN STYLE is an excellent acting text for students attempting to re-create roles from classical plays that are vital, relevant to the historical period in which they were written, and relevant to audiences viewing them in the 21st Century. The lessons are based on sound acting theories gleaned from a wide range of acting traditions.Part One covers a personalized approach to acting that encourages the actor to use one's own qualities in order to "personalize" a role. The basic acting topics covered include Relaxation, Concentration, Movement Dynamics, Sensory Awareness, Roots of Feeling: The Body and Emotion,Imagination and Improvisation, and the Voice in Action. Each area includes a discussion of basic acting principles supported by acting exercises. Elements of effective scene study, auditioning, rehearsal techniques, role analysis, and performance considerations are also treated.Part Two treats the development of a performance style that is appropriate for effectively performing in classical plays. Classical periods covered include Classical Greek, Commedia Dell' Arte, Elizabethan/Jacobean/Shakespearean, Seventeenth Century French Neoclassicism, Restoration Comedy, Nineteenth Century Realism and Naturalism, Early Twentieth Century Nonrealism, Brecht/Epic, Absurdism, and Eclectic Intermingling. Each style is discussed in terms of its historical context and how basic stylistic elements can be effectively "translated" into a performance style that can be effective for an audience in the twenty-first century.Taken in total, Crawford successfully demonstrates that although all effective acting shares some common elements, the actor who must perform roles written in various historical periods faces some special performance problems in terms of voice, language, movement, theatrical conventions, and various historical/social/cultural contexts. He is able to demonstrate ways in which these performance problems may be successfully addressed in a modern context.I highly recommend this text as an important resource in developing a workable approach to creating classical roles with an effective sense of style and clarity.