The Craft of Rehearsal: Further Reflections on Interpretation and Practice

Anatoly Efros (1925-1987), one of the most admired and original directors of post-war Russia, directed at the Central Children’s Theatre, Malaya Bronnaya Theatre, Lenkom Theatre, Moscow Art Theatre, Taganka Theatre, and elsewhere including the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis and the Toen Theatre in Tokyo. He taught directing at the State Institute for Theatre Training and wrote several influential books. His productions received numerous awards for creative excellence.
In The Craft of Rehearsal, his second work, Efros further illuminates the dynamics of the director’s creative work introduced in his first work, The Joy of Rehearsal (Peter Lang, 2006). He discusses the process of considering future plays, rehearsing them, and evaluating the results. Devoted to the principles of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Michael Chekhov, and inspired by the ideas of Bertolt Brecht. Additionally, Efros provides detailed examples of how he developed modern literary reconstructions from classic works, Othello and Turgenev’s masterpiece A Month in the Country. His productions of Shakespeare, Molière, Chekhov, and other classics were major events for those who looked to the theatre for social significance as well as aesthetic experience. Theatre students and professionals will benefit from the insights gained as Efros writes about his unique vision for the modern theatre.

The Translator: James Thomas is Professor and Director of the Ph.D. Program in Theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and Director of the Study Abroad Program with the Moscow Art Theatre School. He received his Ph.D. in theatre history and criticism from the University of Texas. He is the translator of The Joy of Rehearsal by Anatoly Efros and the author of The Art of the Actor-Manager: Wilson Barrett and the Victorian Theatre (1984), and Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers (2005).