Milestones in Actor Training focuses on key developments across time in how actors prepare for performance.
Designed for weekly use on actor training and acting courses, the ten chosen milestones cover a wide range, culturally, historically, and geographically; from psychological realist acting in conventional plot-driven drama, through Commedia dell’Arte to the broader church of physical acting that overlaps with devising, mime, circus, contemporary dance, and other body-based genres, including Japanese Nō theatre. The book’s principal concern is the theatre actor in text-based drama, sonic, or movement structures, though the final milestone encompasses acting for film and new media. This volume concentrates mainly on conceptions of acting as emergent or as reformulated in the West, with the majority coming from the late nineteenth century onwards.
Milestones are a range of accessible textbooks, breaking down the need-to-know moments in the social, cultural, political, and artistic development of foundational subject areas.
Edited by:
Paul Allain (University of Kent UK),
Frank Camilleri
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781032632384
ISBN 10: 1032632380
Series: Milestones
Pages: 254
Publication Date: 12 November 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
List of Contributors Introduction Paul Allain and Frank Camilleri Chapter 1. Zeami, Nō, and Cross-cultural Training Histories Ashley Thorpe Chapter 2. Commedia dell’Arte: Training in the Troupe Olly Crick Chapter 3. Stanislavsky and the Rock Bella Merlin Chapter 4. French Foundations of Physicality Ellie Nixon Chapter 5. Brecht and the ‘Street Scene’ David Barnett Chapter 6. Grotowski and After: Embracing the Physical Dominika Laster Chapter 7. Voice Training: the Wolfsohn-Hart Approach Patrick Campbell and Margaret Pikes Chapter 8. Women in/and Actor Training Lisa Peck Chapter 9. Intercultural Training: Barba and Bogart Stephen Atkins Chapter 10. Technology and the Emergence of Performance Capture Boyd Branch Conclusion Paul Allain and Frank Camilleri Timelines Glossary Index
Paul Allain is Professor of Theatre and Performance at University of Kent, UK Frank Camilleri is Professor of Theatre Studies at University of Malta, Malta
