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Dance is the hidden language of the soul. Martha Graham

Selected Titles:
Taking Off - The Story of the Mull Little Theatre Taking Off - The Story of the Mull Little Theatre
Barrie Hesketh Foreword by Paul Scofield
New Iona Press 1st 1997

'Please bring your dining chair with you!'

The setting was a guesthouse on the Hebridean island of Mull, one summer evening in 1966. The line was addressed to the after-dinner guests. The scene then moved across to a tiny, converted byre. And a unique adventure took off — the Mull Little Theatre. This is the story of Barrie and Marianne Hesketh's life together — from their early acting careers and the steps that led them to Scotland — to the leap of faith that created the country's smallest professional theatre — through drama on and off stage, at home and on tour — and finally to Marianne's courageous struggle with terminal illness. A story of survival, told with spirit and humor.
‘...a story of artistry and perseverance and love' (Paul Scofield)
Barrie Hesketh was born in Birmingham in 1930. He and his wife Marianne ran the Mull Little Theatre from 1966 until 1984. His retirement, spent until recently in East Anglia, has been occupied with writing about Shakespeare. He now lives in the north-east of Scotland. He has three sons, Richard, Nicholas and James.

4to paperback 121 pages. Very, very minor bump to bottom right hand corner, otherwise VG++ 330 gms £7.50


Practical Stage Make-up

Philippe Perottet
Studio Vista/Reinhold rep 1968


Make-up is an important part of any stage production, whether amateur or professional, and there is a great need for a book that deals comprehensively with the subject in an up-to-date and professional manner. This is such a book. It sets out to describe the purpose of make-up, the basic equipment and materials needed, and exactly how to set about achieving a successful result.
The early chapters explain in detail how to apply a basic make-up, using various techniques. Eyes, eyebrows, noses, mouths, chins, shading and highlighting are dealt with separately, culminating in a summary of straight make-up. The author then describes character make-up, how to make the face look older or younger, and racial, stylised and fantastic make-up. He also discusses the use of putty, wigs and false hair, and how to apply a complete body make-up. He writes in terms that will be understood by the amateur, without being too simplified for the professional who wants to extend his range.
The practical text is illustrated with a number of line drawings by Motley, and by a series of close-up photographs showing the make-up of leading actors and actresses in a variety of roles.
The author, Philippe Perrottet, has had a great deal of experience in the theatre. He began as a dancer, and was opera-ballet master at Sadler's Wells from '97 to 1965, during which time he supervised the company's make-up and designed it for a number of productions. He is now teaching stage technique, including makeup, at the London Opera Centre.


4to. Very minor bumps to the boards, tape stains to endpapers + pastedowns, wear + minor creasing to edges of the dustwrapper, otherwise VG+ in a VG+ wrapper. 620 gms £8.00
 
Practical Stage Make-up

Scene Design and Stage Lighting
Scene Design and Stage Lighting

W Oren Parker, R Craig Wolf, & Dick Block
Thomson Wadsworth 8th edn 2003

An essential guide and resource for aspiring scene and lighting designers, Scene Design and Stage Lighting covers every facet of this exciting field. Oren Parker, Craig Wolf, and Dick Block begin by exploring theatrical and physical form, the physical stage, and scene design as a visual art. Progressing to the design process itself, these nationally praised authors take you step-by-step through creating, drafting, and realizing your design. You'll learn about stage properties; the role of color; and building, painting, and handling scenery. You'll also find eleven comprehensive chapters that cover all areas of lighting design, equipment, and control, as well as two chapters devoted to sound and sound systems.
Throughout this Eighth Edition, the authors focus on how new computer technologies are revolutionizing the design and production process—allowing for more control of complex physical movement of scenery and light, offering new ways of manipulating and re-creating sound, and changing the way designers develop and present their work.

In this Eighth Edition:
• Clear explanations of the design process, with even more illustrations of each step
• Expanded, comprehensive coverage of the lighting process, including the most recent information on lighting instruments, control, projections, and effects
• Entirely rewritten chapters on sound that cover the latest digital technologies, focusing on the increasingly important role of sound in theatre design
• Many new interviews with professional lighting designers, who offer valuable practical information on proper training and how to break into the field
• A new focus on how designers collaborate with directors and with one another • New photos and illustrations as well as Web URLs throughout
.

4to. Glazed pictorial boards 652 pages. Very minor damage to corners, previous owner's ex libris stamps to front free endpaper, otherwise VG++ 1745 gms £30.00


A Method to their Madness - the history of the Actors Studio

Foster Hirsch
Da Capo Press 2002


How do professional actors manage to create and embody wildly varied characters? How do their best performances resonate so strongly with audiences? Many of the most revered practitioners of the trade—Al Pacino, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Shelley Winters, Paul Newman, and dozens more—credit their greatest theatrical education to one small room on Manhattan's West 44th Street, the home of Lee Strasberg and his Actors Studio. There, in the 1950s and 60s, these legendary performers absorbed the Stanislayskybased 'Method' acting that was Strasberg's trademark, and launched unforgettable careers.
In his classic history of the Studio, A Method to Their Madness, Foster Hirsch studies the early years, remembering Strasberg's controversial exercises, and revealing how the Studio's most successful alumni forever shaped theatrical history. But he also goes behind the scenes, spending months observing its twice-weekly acting sessions, interviewing its longtime members, and piecing together its internal politics. Now featuring a new afterword profiling the Studio's evolution since the turn of the millennium—from its worldwide television series to its highly prized MFA program—A Method to Their Madness is an essential account of the most influential acting institution America has ever known.

"A lively, gossipy, perceptive, sometimes scathing study." — Publishers Weekly

"From the beginning... Stanislaysky's ideas have ignited the fire of controversy, and nowhere more so than at the Actors Studio, the famous New York workshop where [they were] transformed into `the Method."' — New York Times Book Review

"[A] richly detailed history."— Backstage

8vo paperback 373 pages Fine+. 515 gms £13.00

A Method to their Madness - the history of the Actors Studio

Create Your Own Stage Faces
Create Your Own Stage Faces

Douglas Young
Bell & Hyman 1st 1985


The "Create Your Own ..." series of books for the school and amateur theater
A series of books designed to cover every aspect of this fascinating subject that, though primarily for amateur actors and drama students, is sufficiently authoritative and comprehensive to be of considerable interest and help to the professional as well.
Each hook of the series tackles a different element of the theater and its complexities. There are detailed explanations on how to overcome particular problem: and how to achieve a professionaI effect at the lowest cost and with the minimum of effort. Also, step-by-step and well illustrated instructions are given for many specific projects, and the hooks themselves are an invaluable source of ideas.

Create Your Own Stage Faces
Douglas Young
Here, one of Europe’s foremost makeup designers details everything a performer must know to prepare a successful stage face.
Create Your Own Stage Faces explores bone structure, individual skin color, skin type, and character analysis. It demonstrates in detail the equipment and professional techniques that enable actors and actresses to devise a peronal soIution to the challenge of each new part - whether "straight”; ethnic or fantasy. To help you create a historically accurate look, the book ,also features a summary of makeup through the ages.
The book shows how to magically transform the face, using corrective make-up, light and shade modeling, special effects, false hair and wigs, false noses, beards and mustaches and many more ideas.

Also included are step-by-step make-up charts for many stage characters.

4to. Ex library. Remains of date slip to front free endpaper, minor bumps to boards, otherwise VG++ in a Fine wrapper.775 gms £25.00


Living Theatre - A History
Edwin Wilson & AlvinGoldfarb
McGraw Hill 4th edn 2004



Living Theatre provides a significant, scholarly coverage in a highly readable and accessible style. Students are provided a wealth of information in a manageable and accessible format.

New! Chapter 15, is now devoted entirely to developments in American Theatre Since 1975.

New! Chapter 16 covers the International Theatre world much more extensively than before. This new chapter includes material not only on Britain and Europe, but also Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and SouthAmerica.

New! more color inserts have been included, offering 16 pages of color photos, in order to fully demostrate the visual experience of the theatre.

New! Summary and review section at the end of each chapter. Included in this is an easy-to-understand Period Index. This will be an invaluable tool for both students and instructors in reviewing and reinforcing the material in each chapter.

4to. Glazed pictorial boards, tiny bump to rear board, otherwise F+ 1255 gms £70.00

Living Theatre - A History

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