Andr Antoine [Paperback]

This book investigates Antoine's exploration of the possibilities and limitations of stage realism.This book investigates Antoines exploration of the possibilities and limitations of stage realism, his concept of a workshop theatre for new writing and acting, his experiments and achievements in the mise en scene at the Th??tre Libre and Th??tre Antoine, in the classics at the Od?on and in the early silent film.This book investigates Antoines exploration of the possibilities and limitations of stage realism, his concept of a workshop theatre for new writing and acting, his experiments and achievements in the mise en scene at the Th??tre Libre and Th??tre Antoine, in the classics at the Od?on and in the early silent film.Andr? Antoine, founder of the Th??tre Libre in 1887, was one of the initiators of the modern theatre. This full-length study of Antoine's work in English for more than sixty years is notable for its attention to the variousness of Antoine's remarkable career. It explores the power and some of the inherent contradictions of Antoine's stage realism, his creation of a repertory theatre noted for its ensemble playing, and his innovatory work in directing Shakespeare and the French classics. In the final section, Antoine's encounters, c.1918, with the new medium of film are discussed. The book will be of interest to students and teachers of drama, theatre history, film studies and literature, and to the general reader. It includes a chronology of Antoine's productions and theatre career and is generously illustrated with drawings and photographs.List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Who would give the signal?; 2. The fourth wall: Antoine and the new acting; 3. Extending the repertoire; 4. Some experiments with the mise en sc?ne; 5. Playwrights' theatre; 6. Director's theatre: 'a hundred plays a year'; 7. Staging the classics; 8. A national theatre; 9. Antoine and the cinema; Appendices; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.