We are all a complex mixture of the elemental energies identified by many different cultures throughout history: Earth, Air, Fire, Water – and a fifth element called Quintessence or Spirit. As an actor, you need to be able to access each of them, so that you can draw on whichever element you need to bring your role fully into life.In The Elemental Actor, Mel Churcher explores these deep, primal drives, and gives you practical tools to harness them to make your work more po...

A comprehensive training course in screen acting by an internationally renowned teacher and acting coach who has worked with actors of all backgrounds and experience – from drama school students at the start of their careers to Hollywood stars, including Daniel Craig, Angelina Jolie and Keira Knightley.Mel Churcher has developed a series of five workshops which take actors step by step through the process of creating, developing and delivering assured performances on screen. Accomp...

The author uses her wide experience as an acting and voice coach an major movies to offer insights into the film acting process. She provides tasks, techniques and tips that are designed specifically for film: there's advice to make the first-time film actor feel at home on set, tips on the casting process, how to cope with auditions, on-camera techniques, schedules and shooting order, as well as specific advice from film crews to help an actor's performance. This practical workbook combin...

Breath in Action looks at the significance of breath to human life - not just the simple fact that if we stop breathing, we die, but also the more subtle ways in which our breath interacts with our voice and our being. Written by experts in vocal and holistic practice, the book is divided into four sections: Breath and the Body; Breath and the Mind; Breath and Holistic Practice; Breath and Performance.It offers the latest theories from a variety of disciplines on how we can be taug...

There is no one quite like Brian Blessed. He's an actor, film star, trained undertaker, unlikely diplomat, secret romantic, martial artist and mountaineer. He's also a brilliant storyteller who will – and you must brace yourself – simply leap out of the pages at you.Ready? Then start Absolute Pandemonium and you'll be taken on a riotous journey from his childhood, growing up the son of a miner in Goldthorpe, to finding fame in Z-Cars. You'll see B...

'In recession-chastened, soddenly staycationing Britain, Foley may well have devised a new bestseller format: a how-to book offering a way of escape ... [a] lovely book' GuardianIt has always been difficult to appreciate everyday life, often devalued as dreary, banal and burdensome, and never more so than in a culture besotted with fantasy, celebrity and glamour. Yet, with characteristic wit and earthiness, Michael Foley - author of the be...

Since the Enlightenment, western culture has written off ecstatic experience as a form of mental illness. But why should rationality be considered the highest part of human nature when we are capable of so many more states of experience?Piecing together interviews, analysis of ancient and modern philosophy, and his own eclectic encounters with the sublime, philosopher Jules Evans mounts an investigation into what we can gain from mastering the art of losing control. From Aristotle ...

For over two decades, Stephen Jeffreys's remarkable series of workshops attracted writers from all over the world and shaped the ideas of many of today's leading playwrights and theatre-makers. Now, with this inspiring, highly practical book, you too can learn from these acclaimed Masterclasses.Playwriting reveals the various invisible frameworks and mechanisms that are at the heart of each and every successful play. Drawing on a huge range of sources, it deconstructs play...

A mother of small children trusts her 'gut feelings' and it saves her life.A young dad is able to grieve for his lost baby – using a song.What if there were parts of our minds which we never use, but if awakened, could make us so much happier, connected and alive? What if awakening those parts could bring peace to the conflicts and struggles we all go through?Here, one of the world's best-known psychotherapists and educators shows h...

This book brings together almost 200 of Sir Winston Churchill´s most striking quotations and thoughts, ranging from self-help and personal motivation to deeper considerations on knowledge, history and the future of humanity and, last but not least, his witty replicas and humorous confessions about his personal life.

Throughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of our place in the universe. Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are. He examines what we know about the universe into which we are propelled at birth and from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from, and the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of l...

Prince Rogers Nelson released his first album in 1978. In the almost 40 years that followed he became a superstar, a recluse, an inspiration, an enigma, a slave and a symbol. He was a master of reinvention, but the one constant in his astonishing career was his genius: as a singer, a songwriter, a performer and musician. He sold more than 100 million albums, won Grammys and an Oscar. His ability to fuse styles and genres made him one of the most unique, influential and beloved artists in m...