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The third of John Abbott's essential guides to acting introduces young actors to the best performance techniques, old and new.
John Abbott, author of The Improvisation Book, explains how theatre directors at every level can use improvisation in the rehearsal room. Foreword by Mark Rylance. 'Improvisation can be used as part of the creative process of rehearsing a play. It can be a fabulous tool for exploration and discovery. It can strengthen the actor's commitment to their character. And it can create an environment of confidence and spontaneity.' Packed with useful exercises and improvisation scenarios, and examples from a wide variety of plays, Improvisation in Rehearsal reveals how improvisation enriches and enlivens the creation of characters, back-stories, relationships, shared histories and emotional lives. The book also demonstrates how improvisation can be used as a powerful tool in the foundation of a strong company, and when searching for the hidden depths and dynamics in a scene. Building on his own experience as an actor, director and teacher, Abbott writes with clarity and an infectious enthusiasm which will motivate directors to try the techniques for themselves. As Mark Rylance says in his Foreword, this book 'will inspire and delight its readers'.
Improvisation is recognized as a key ingredient in drama teaching.
Phil, a downtrodden journalist, is rested and ready to move on to the next village. When the proprietor of the inn hands him a mysterious envelope and asks him to open it only after he leaves town, Phil stuffs it into his glove compartment without another thought. Phil has no idea that in a short time, the innkeeper and his wife will be dead and his own life will have changed forever. In a village nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, John Abbott has just captured a dark force that had wreaked a terrible vengeance upon the town’s unlucky population. As the residents celebrate their victory over evil, they have no idea of the tumultuous events that had been set in motion. Meanwhile, Phil becomes entangled in a series of attacks that baffle police. While struggling with his own inadequacies, he unwittingly becomes the target of evil intent. No one knows if it is just bad luck or fate, but one way or the other, the Devil is determined to get his way. In this gripping thriller, events quickly escalate until a cataclysmic showdown becomes inevitable. Turns out, Phil may just be the only one who can stop the Devil—before it is too late.
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Long before John James Audubon published his celebrated studies of birds, naturalist painter John Abbot was producing intricately detailed and vibrantly coloured studies of flora and fauna. These fascinating drawings, now part of the collection of the Natural History Museum in London, have rarely been seen in colour.
A visionary book in the repertoire of prison literature. When Normal Mailer was writing The Executioner's Song, he received a letter from Jack Henry Abbott, a convict, in which Abbott offered to educate him in the realities of life in a maximum security prison. This book organizes Abbott's by now classic letters to Mailer, which evoke his infernal vision of the prison nightmare.