Inventing the Truth - Devising and Directing for the Theatre

This book begins by exploring the process of devising a play by working intensively through character and improvisation with a group of actors

NB : To aid the reader’s understanding of this process, included in the book are the full texts of Mike Bradwell's play A Bed of Roses and Jack Thorne’s When You Cure Me

Using A Bed of Roses as an example, Bradwell shows how the actors set about inventing their characters, whether within a pre-determined framework or with no strictures whatsoever

He explores how actors can then ‘grow’ their character, both through solo work and through interaction with the other characters

He also examines the role of the director in moulding and shaping the individual scenes, the overall action of the play, and the development of the characters within it

The second half of the book describes in detail how the nuanced work involved in devising characters from scratch can be applied to a pre-existing text

Bradwell explains the techniques by which he encourages the actor to take possession of his or her character by investigating or inventing their whole history up to the moment the action begins

Taking as his template Jack Thorne’s play When You Cure Me, he demonstrates the meticulous work on the text that is needed to keep the characters alive and truthful in every moment of the action

All together, Inventing the Truth offers practitioners a unique account of the techniques involved in devising or directing plays to the highest standard

"There is a special sense of care about a Mike Bradwell production, in dramas that penetrate deeply into the secret corners of the human heart" ~ Daily Telegraph

See also, Mike Bradwell’s previous book The Reluctant Escapologist - Adventures in Alternative Theatre, winner of the 2011 Theatre Book Prize

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