The English Actor, now in paperback, charts the uniquely English approach to stagecraft, from the medieval period to the present day. In thirty chapters, Peter Ackroyd describes, with superb narrative skill, the genesis of acting – deriving from the Church tradition of Mystery Plays – through the flourishing of the craft in the Renaissance, to modern methods following the advent of film and television. The biographies of the most notable and celebrated actors are explored, right up to the present day. Ackroyd gives us an original and superbly entertaining appraisal of how actors have acted, how audiences have responded and what we mean by the magic of the stage.
- 416 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Front Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Prologue
- One: In the beginning
- Two: The first playhouses
- Three: The art of playing
- Four: The early actors
- Five: The new styles
- Six: The female actor
- Seven: The changing audience
- Eight: Fickle fashion
- Nine: Damme, Tom, it’ll do!
- Ten: Wonders and ranters
- Eleven: Lights! Action!
- Twelve: Females in front
- Thirteen: Studies in contrast
- Fourteen: Management and melodrama
- Fifteen: The new styles
- Sixteen: Short and quick
- Seventeen: A quartet
- Eighteen: Female persuasion
- Nineteen: The enigmas
- Twenty: Female stars
- Twenty-one: The impossible players
- Twenty-two: A new breed
- Twenty-three: Quiet flows the style
- Twenty-four: All together now
- Twenty-five: Acting essentials
- Twenty-six: A new style
- Epilogue
- Further Reading
- Acknowledgements
- Index
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Yes, you can access The English Actor by Peter Ackroyd,Ackroyd, Peter in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & British Drama. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.