Shakespeare and Stanislavsky: A Practical Guide for Actors, Directors, Students and Teachers

This book provides actors, directors, teachers and students with a clear, practical guide to applying the work of influential theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavsky to Shakespeare.
Shakespeare and Stanislavsky provides a guide for actors, acting students, directors and teachers who want to apply the work of influential theatre practitioner, Stanislavsky, to the process of rehearsing and workshopping Shakespeare’s play texts. Acting tutor and director, Annie Tyson, makes applying Stanislavsky’s methods to Shakespeare simple and accessible. She rejects and dispels the myth held by some that Stanislavsky and Shakespeare are incompatible, showing instead how the Shakespearean text offers clues to specific acting choices that are intricately connected to action and character. Drawing on years of acting, directing and teaching experience at the Drama Centre London and RADA, Tyson’s guide is full of practical tips and humour. This guide also includes a series of interviews with actors and directors who explain their approach to applying Stanislavsky to Shakespeare.

Annie Tyson read Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University before training at the Drama Centre. She began her professional life as an actor in repertory theatre playing a wide variety of roles from Shakespeare to musicals and pantomime and moving into TV and radio. Her interest and curiosity about the actor’s process led her to working as an acting tutor at Rose Bruford College, at Drama Centre and eventually to her becoming the Course Director for BA Acting at Drama Centre where she continued to champion the European classical repertoire with a particular passion for Shakespeare. She now works at RADA and as a mentor for Open Door and is a Patron of the MonoBox. She has contributed to Directing - a handbook for emerging directors and a chapter in Approaches to Actor Training - International Perspectives. She continues to act, on occasion.