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Acting: The First Six Lessons. (Theatre Arts Book)

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"One wants to quote any number of passages for their wit, the gayety of their instruction, the fineness of their perceptions, the good sense they show, their helpfulness and their ever-incisive clarity...The thing for actors to do, whether they are young or old, is to buy this book....It does more to explore the art of acting than any single volume for years." -- John Mason Brow

"Under their apparent simplicity and light-heartedness, (the lessons are) profound and to the point. Both beginners and established actors, who take their work seriously, will find stimulation in this book." -- Sir Alec Guinness

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Product Details

Author:	Richard Boleslavsky
Hardcover:	134 pages
Publisher:	Theatre Arts / Routledge
Publication Date:	January 07, 1987
ISBN:	0878300007
Package Length:	7.5 inches
Package Width:	5.2 inches
Package Height:	0.7 inches
Package Weight:	0.55 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 18 reviews

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 4.5

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Live it, Love it Jun 03, 2008
if you take your performing arts as seriously as i do, then this is the book for you... read it and you will understand why...

1 of 2 found the following review helpful:

? Jan 26, 2008
I'm not sure why this book has so many positive reviews. I read it a few years ago for an acting class,and was neither engaged or inspired by this book. While some of the techniques are helpful you could find the same info in another acting book. I would advise going to a bookstore first and reading parts of it before you decide to buy it online.

10 of 10 found the following review helpful:

Excellent Handbook Oct 07, 2004
This is an excellent book that I call a handbook because it must be returned to over and over. The lessons are in the form of dialogues/conversations between teacher and student.

The lessons are: Concentration, Memory of Emotion, Dramatic Action, Characterization, Observation and Rhythm.

This is a very basic yet infinitely deep series on the tools that an actor needs, which Boleslavsky draws out of his pupil, here called The Creature. The antiquated nature of the relationship seems of the time, 1933, and though that may distract from the substance, it rapidly becomes as much a device as the dialogue/conversation format used to express the lessons.

I could pick this up and open to any lesson and mine that for a time. These lessons are not mastered, rather they are practiced.

12 of 13 found the following review helpful:

Great Book for the Acting Student Aug 12, 2004
I recently took a scene study class, and the teacher used this book as our reading material for the course. This is a great book to get if you want to find out what it takes to be a serious actor. The book teaches the basic foundations of acting, for example Concentration and Characterization and more.

It is told in a story type format with the Teacher meeting "The Creature" and her aunt and other people in her life. The characters in the book talk about the fundementals of what it takes to act. Because it is told in this format, the ideas in the book are very easy to follow.

I did find that the Teacher refering to his student as "The Creature" was somewhat demeaning. But then you have to consider how long ago this book was written and the time period it was written in. This was probably typical of the period. Even though the actual book was written so long ago, it is a classic for the acting student. And the techniques and methods the Teacher speaks about are things even modern day actors must learn.

If you are interested in the Craft of Acting, this is definately a book you should read.

5 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Deceptively Simplistic Jun 26, 2004
At first, I thought this book would just skim the subject. Wrong! It is the nuts & bolts of acting without which you may as well forget it! This book truly is the "bible" of acting.