Keith Johnstone's involvement with the theatre began when George Devine and Tony Richardson, artistic directors of the Royal Court Theatre, commissioned a play from him. This was in 1956. A few years later he was himself Associate Artistic Director, working as a play-reader and director, in particular helping to run the Writers' Group. The improvisatory techniques and exercises evolved there to foster spontaneity and narrative skills were developed further in the actors' studio then in dem...

A leading figure in the theatre, Keith Johnstone lays bare his techniques and exercises to foster spontaneity and narrative skill for actors. These techniques and exercises were evolved in the actors' studio, when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court and then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called The Theatre Machine.Divided into four sections, "Status", "Spontaneity", "Narrative Skills" and "Masks and Tran...

In this landmark work Keith Johnstone provides a revelatory guide to rediscovering and unlocking the imagination. Admired for its clarity and zest, Impro lays bare the techniques and exercises used to foster spontaneity and narrative skill for actors. These techniques and exercises were evolved in the actors' studio, when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court and then in demonstrations to schools and colleges and ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called ...

"Impro is the most dynamic, funny, wise, practical, and provocative book on theatre craft that I have ever read." (James Roose-Evans, British theatre director, priest, and writer)Keith Johnstone's involvement with the theatre began when George Devine and Tony Richardson, artistic directors of the Royal Court Theatre, commissioned a play from him. This was in 1956. A few years later, he was associate artistic director, working as a playreader and director, in particular hel...

Just after ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ author Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker for ‘Wolf Hall’, she fell gravely ill. This is her remarkable hospital diary.Originally published in the London Review of Books, this diary by the acclaimed author Hilary Mantel explores in forensic detail her loss of dignity, her determination, the concentration of the senses into an animalistic struggle to get through, and the attendant hallucinations she was plagued by during her stay in hospital.Wi...

A revised and updated edition of the New York Times–bestselling classic on understanding body language from the author of Subtext.Body Language helps you to understand the unconscious body movements and postures that provide intimate keys to what a person is really thinking and the secrets of their true inner selves. You will learn how to read the angle of shoulders, the tilt of a head, or the tap of a foot, in order to discern whether an ...

A thought-provoking collection of columns and essays from Nikki Gemmell'Gemmell certainly knows how to be controversial' - DAILY tELEGRAPHCelebrating a year of thought-provoking and fascinating columns in tHE AUStRALIAN WEEKEND MAGAZINE, HONEStLY is a collection of writing on a diverse range of subjects such as motherhood after 40, the end of a close friendship, the joy of a handwritten letter, connecting with nature, the necessity of tweezers, meeting the Queen and oral sex. Includ...

Depression: The Way Out of Your Prison gives us a way of understanding our depression which matches our experience and which enables us to take charge of our life and change it. Dorothy Rowe shows us that depression is not an illness or a mental disorder but a defence against pain and fear, which we can use whenever we suffer a disaster and discover that our life is not what we thought it was.Depression is an unwanted consequence of how we see ourselves and the world. By u...

Written by one of the country's leading experts on the short story, Write Short Stories - And Get Them Published is ideal if you want to write creatively in a genre that is increasingly attracting attention from publishers, and which offers plenty of competition and festival opportunities for you to showcase your work.It will help unlock your imagination and creativity, and to discover stories you didn't know you had. It will help you to observe the world around you more sharply, a...

When Miles Franklin-shortlisted novelist Brenda walker became sick she turned to two healers: doctors and books.This is the story of how she recovered.Packing her bag for hospital after being diagnosed with breast cancer, Brenda wondered which book to put in. As a novelist and professor of literature, her life was built around reading and writing. Books had always been her solace and sustenance, and now choosing the right one was the most important thing sh...

Crafted around twenty-six extraordinary erotic encounters, this highly charged work is a powerful meditation on the pursuit of pleasure. In each chapter, titled after a letter of the alphabet, an anonymous narrator details his experiences, travelling to cruising grounds and sex clubs, exploring the boundaries of sex, desire, pleasure, and the body, while reflecting on the limits of language and the act of writing. In the tradition of Georges Bataille, Kathy Acker and Jean Genet, these piec...

When translator Edgar Logan arrives from his home in Paris to work in Edinburgh he anticipates a period of enlightenment and calm. But when he is befriended by the philosopher Harry Sanderson and his captivating artist wife, Edgar's meticulously circumscribed life is suddenly propelled into drama and crisis. Drawn into the Sandersons' troubled marriage, Edgar must confront both his own deepest fears from the past and his present growing attraction to the elusive Carrie.Moving, witt...