Brecht: A Practical Handbook

A bold and exciting new approach to Bertolt Brecht, making his theories and ideas about theatre accessible to a new generation of actors, directors, students and theatre-makers, and showing how they can be put into practice. Theatre practitioner and academic David Zoob demystifies Brecht's theories, and offers an approach to study and performance that can be applied to a wide range of texts and theatre styles. With close analysis of texts by writers including Shakespeare, Chekhov, Miller, Pinter, and of course Brecht himself, the author demonstrates how Brechtian techniques can provide practical pathways to exploring plays across the canon, as well as non-traditional forms of theatre. Also included are dozens of exercises to help turn theory into practice, and explore what Brecht's ideas mean for actors and directors, both in training and rehearsal. Whether you're a student, a teacher, an actor or a theatre-maker, this book will change the way you view and work with Brecht. 'Zoob has engaged with Brecht's many and varied principles for a politicised theatre and channelled them into a wide range of novel and innovative exercises that are applicable to a great many dramas and can equally interrogate devised material... Excellent?' David Barnett, Professor of Theatre, University of York, and author of Brecht in Practice

David Zoob is Head of Acting at Rose Bruford College. He has worked in theatre since the mid-1980s as a performer, deviser, director and teacher. He has been Associate Director at the Royal Theatre Northampton and at Theatre Clwyd. He is Artistic Director of Sacred and Profane, a company that creates new work integrating processed live sound with dramatic narrative, and he is an Associate Artist with Chaskis Theatre. He is the author of Brecht: A Practical Handbook.