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Period Style: Acting

Print Sources

• Aitken, Maria. Acting in High Comedy. New York: Applause Books, n.d.
  Available in book form or as video.
• Albright, Hardie. Acting: The Creative Process. Belmont, CA: Dickenson Publishing, 1967.
• Barton, Robert. Style for Actors. New York: Mayfield, 1993.
• Boehn, Max von. Modes and Manners, 4 Vols.. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1932-1936.
  Antiquity to 1800.
• Callow, Simon. Acting in Restoration Comedy. New York: Applause, 1991.
  Available in book form or as a video.
• Cheshire, David F. Music Hall in Britain. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson, 1974.
  Music Hall 1843-1973. Stars, audience, atmosphere, law, finances.
• Chisman, Isabel and Hester E. Raven-Hart. Manners and Movements in Costume Plays. Boston: W. H. Baker, n. d.
• Clurman, Harold. “Actors in Style and Style in Actors,” New York Times Magazine. 7 December, 1952.
• Cox, Lee Sheridan. Figurative Design in Hamlet: The Significance of the Dumb Show. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1973.
• Crawford, Jerry L. and Catherine Hurst and Michael Lugering. Acting in Person and in Style. Dubuque, IA: Brown & Benchmark Publishers, 1995. 0-697-20133-3
• Delaumosne, Abbe. Delsarte System of Oratory. New York: E. S. Werner, 1893.
• Gerould, Daniel. Gallant and Libertine. New York: PAJ Publishers, 1983.
  Eighteenth century divertissements and parades.
• Glenn, Stanley L. The Complete Actor. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1977.
  Acting text with period notes.
• Goldovsky, Boris. Bringing Opera to Life. New York: Appleton, Century, Crofts, 1968.
  Brief sections on motivating movements for opera singers; chapter on operatic pantomimes detailing pantomimic sequences.
• Harrop, John and Sabin R. Epstein. Acting With Style. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990.
  Covers seven styles from Greek to Artaud. Includes physical exercises.
• Henshaw, N. “Graphic Sources for a Modern Approach to Acting Restoration Comedy,” Educational Theatre Journal, May 1968: 157-70.
• Kernodle, George. “Symbolic Action in the Greek Choral Odes,” Classical Journal, 53(October 1957).
  Choral pantomime in Greek drama.
• Knox, Bernard. Word and Action. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.
  Essays on ancient theatre.
• LeMee, Katharine. “Francois Delsarte, 19th Century Teacher of Vocal and Body Behavior,” Northeastern Modern Language Association, 1973.
• Mehl, Dieter. The Elizabethan Dumb Show. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966.
  Pantomime and intermezzi in Elizabethan plays.
• Moore, K. and S. The Use of Gesture in Victorian Melodrama. London: Inkshed, 1966.
• Northrup, Henry D. Delsarte Manual of Oratory. Chicago: n. p., 1895.
  Voice and gesture.
• Oxenford, Lyn. Playing Period Plays. Chicago: Coach House Press, 1966. 0-85343- 549-9
• Quilrey, B. May I Have the Pleasure? London: BBC, 1976. Reprint ed., 1987.
• Ramczyk, Suzanne. Delicious Dissembling: A Compleat Guide to Performing Restoration Comedy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003. 0-325-00375-0
  Suzanne Ramczyk offers both directors and actors the tools they need to perform these popular plays." (Heinemann blurb). Includes historical overview; period manners and movement; exercises; illustrations.
• Rockwood, Jerome. The Craftsmen of Dionysus. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman, 1966.
• Rolfe, Bari. Movement for Period Plays. Oakland, CA: Personabooks, 1985. 0-932456- 04-9
  Ancient Greece through Victorian/Edwardian; manners, social graces, movement in clothing, basic dance steps. Optional videotape shows salutations and basic dance steps. Good bibliography.
• Russell, Douglas. Period Style for the Theatre. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1980.
  Comprehensive on art, architecture, literature, culture, ideals, clothing, manners (not movement).
• Schreck, Everett M. Principles and Styles of Acting. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1970.
• Seyler, Athene. “Fans, Trains and Stays,” Theatre Arts, 31(November 1947): 21-24.
  How to approach work in period costumes.
• Styan, J. L. Restoration Comedy in Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
• Stebbins, Genevieve. Delsarte System of Expression. New York: Dance Horizons, 1977.
  First published 1886; revised 1902.
• Suzman, Janet. Acting in Shakespearean Comedy. New York: Applause Books, n. d.
  Available in book form or as video.
• Veltrusky, Jarmila. “Engel’s Ideas for a Theory of Acting,” The Drama Review, 24(December 1980).
  Johann Jacob Engel, writing in 1785-86 on the physical expression of actors.
• Wildeblood, Joan and Peter Brinson. The Polite World. London: Oxford University Press, 1965. Revised ed., London: Davis-Poynter, 1973.
  English manners and deportment, 13th to 19th centuries; 20th century in revised edition.
• Young, Stark. “Wearing Costumes,” Theatre Practice. New York: Scribner’s, 1926.
• Zora, John W. The Essential Delsarte. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1968.

Audio/Visual Sources

• Aitken, Maria. Acting in High Comedy. New York: Applause Books, n.d.
  Available in book form or as video.
• Callow, Simon. Acting in Restoration Comedy. New York: Applause, 1991.
  Available in book form or as a video.
• Cox, Brian. Acting in Tragedy. New York: Applause Books, n .d. 1-55783-114-9
  Video
• Miller, Jonathan. Acting in Opera. New York: Applause Books, n. d. 1-55783-036-3
  Video.
• Rolfe, Bari. Movement for Period Plays. Oakland, CA: Personabooks, 1985. 0-932456- 04-9
  Ancient Greece through Victorian/Edwardian; manners, social graces, movement in clothing, basic dance steps. Optional videotape shows salutations and basic dance steps. Good bibliography.
• Suzman, Janet. Acting in Shakespearean Comedy. New York: Applause Books, n. d.
  Available in book form or as video.

last updated 25 September, 2008