The actor and his body - Hardcover

Litz Pisk

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0245527079 ISBN 13: 9780245527074

Publisher: Chambers, 1975

Synopsis

Litz Pisk was widely regarded as the finest and most influential teacher of modern theatre movement. Her seminal book The Actor and His Body is the direct result of her unique dual both as a professional director of movement at the Old Vic, the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the English National Opera, and in television and films -- including the movement for Vanessa Redgrave's film role in Isadora; and as a teacher in drama schools. She was Director of Vienna's School of Art and Movement, and has worked at the Old Vic School, the Bath Academy of Art, RADA, and the Central School of Speech and Drama throughout the Sixties and Seventies. Litz Pisk's subject, in her teaching and in this book, is a search for and awareness of the emotional and psychological impulses that should, quite literally, motivate an actor in his or her role on the stage. It is totally unrelated to choreography or prettified posturing. 'For her', writes Michael Elliott in his Foreword, 'the step comes last, and only as the final and outward expression of an inner impulse.' Pisk's theory is illuminated by her comments on specific texts, the relationship between meaning and movement and her own line-drawings used throughout the book.The Actor and His Body is also a practical manual for keeping the body physically fit and responsive - in Litz Pisk's terms, fully 'tuned'. There are suggested workouts for 15-, 30- and 60-minute periods as well as a complete weekly programme concentrating on different parts of the body each day.

About this title

About the Author

Litz Pisk taught movement to generations of actors at RADA, the Old Vic Theatre School and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She movement directed productions at the Old Vic, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and English National Opera. Litz also worked on television and films, most notably movement directing Vanessa Redgrave in Isadora. As a pioneering movement director her legacy is felt in the current growth of movement direction. First published in 1975, the Actor and His Body continues to be a seminal guide to movement practice.
Ayse Tashkiran trained at L'Ecole International Jacques Lecoq for two years in Paris and spent twelve years as a physical theatre performer. She has taught movement in a conservatoire setting for ten years and works as a Movement Director for a variety of professional theatre productions and companies.

Review

Those of us who were fortunate enough to be taught by Litz will never forget the inspiration she gave us. Through her movement work Litz made an extraordinary contribution to the theatre... A unique teacher of movement, an inspiring movement director, this book gives an insight into the seminal work of Litz Pisk -- Jane Gibson, former Head of Movement, National Theatre No one who worked with the movement teacher Litz Pisk, either as actor or student, will ever forget the sheer theatrical impact of her own movement, at once dynamic and sculptural, intense and totally possessed. -- George Hall, former Head of Acting, Central School of Speech and Drama Litz Pisk was a theatre visionary who introduced to the field of actors' movement a startlingly new approach, which remains ground-breaking to this day. With her background in the visual arts, Litz Pisk viewed the actor's body as a piece of dynamic sculpture capable of expressing to the audience people and places they had never known. However, a special kind of physical training was necessary before the actor could reach `a state of readiness' where the body could respond totally to the imagination. In these pages, we begin to gain an insight into how Litz Pisk went about achieving this. * Sue Lefton, Movement Director and Teacher *

Edition details

• Publisher: Chambers
• Publication date: 1975
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0245527079
• ISBN 13: 9780245527074
• Binding: Hardcover