The Pulse Approach : Physical Improvisation for Theatre-makers and Directors / Tanya Gerstle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gerstle, Tanya, author.

Contributor:

Luckhurst, Mary, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Improvisation (Acting).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), 2026.

Place of Publication:

London : Methuen Drama, 2026.

System Details:

text file rdaft

Summary:

How can we effectively apply improvisation to train an ensemble of actors? Where is the method to create physically dynamic staging for text-based contemporary and classical plays? And how can a trainer and a director utilise improvisation to devise new work? The Pulse Approach answers these questions and more, captured here for the first time in a workbook to the practice. Pulse is an improvisational performance strategy that can be used by actors and directors to develop original text-based performance material and rehearse dramatic scripts. Director Tanya Gerstle has been developing the approach since 1989 and has used it to stage more than 25 theatre productions. Through step-by-step instructions for the student and practitioner; troubleshooting advice; case studies of productions directed using the Pulse Approach; and interviews with practitioners involved, this book is the first practical guide to this innovative methodology, which has its roots in the Australian actor-training scene. The Pulse Approach fuses improvisation and text-based theatre, too often disconnected, to offer up a methodology and rigorous practice for improvisation as a holistic process of development in classical and contemporary plays. It can be used to train any ensemble of actors in any context - inexperienced, professional, young, old and culturally and linguistically diverse. A companion website will include a video documentary of practitioners using Pulse in their work with the author.

Contents:

Foreword by Mary Luckhurst, University of York, UK 1. Introduction to the Pulse Approach 2. Pulse Training Workbook: An Approach to Ensemble Practice Introduction The Pulse Canvas Phase One: Developing Kinaesthetic awareness Phase Two: Making Connections Phase Three: Working Attitude Phase Four: Learning a Shared Language Phase Five: Expanding the Action Vocabulary Phase Six: The Pulse Sketch Phase Seven: Adding Sound to the Physical World Phase Eight: Speaking on the Canvas Performance Improvisation Case Study: Visions of Paradise (or you should have been here yesterday) 3. Directing Workbook: Working with Pulse on a Script Introduction Part One: Inner Life revealed Through Action Rehearsal Practice, Rehearsal Process, Rehearsal Concepts Part Two: Case Studies (The Mill on the Floss, Pericles Punished, Five Kinds of Silence, Stage Beauty and Manbeth: Macbeth Amplified) 4. In Conversation with Practitioners Introduction Pulse as a Framework Training Working with Pulse on a Script A 'Living Practice' Notes on Interviewees 5. Appendices Ensemble Practice Tasks Skill Focus Tasks Integrating Design Elements and Audience Alternative Applications Towards an Original Performance Text - Case Study: Invisible Stains Bibliography Index

ISBN:

1-350-52458-1

OCLC:

1564373335