Synopses & Reviews
Theoretically, the actor ought to be more sound in mind and body than other people, since he learns to understand the psychological problems of human beings when putting his own passions, his loves, fears, and rages to work in the service of the characters he plays. He will learn to face himself, to hide nothing from himself -- and to do so takes an insatiable curiosity about the human condition. from the Prologue
Uta Hagen, one of the world's most renowned stage actresses, has also taught acting for more than forty years at the HB Studio in New York. Her first book, Respect for Acting, published in 1973, is still in print and has sold more than 150,000 copies. In her new book, A Challenge for the Actor, she greatly expands her thinking about acting in a work that brings the full flowering of her artistry, both as an actor and as a teacher. She raises the issue of the actor's goals and examines the specifics of the actor's techniques. She goes on to consider the actor's relationship to the physical and psychological senses. There is a brilliantly conceived section on the animation of the body and mind, of listening and talking, and the concept of expectation.
But perhaps the most useful sections in this book are the exercises that Uta Hagen has created and elaborated to help the actor learn his craft. The exercises deal with developing the actor's physical destination in a role; making changes in the self serviceable in the creation of a character; recreating physical sensations; bringing the outdoors on stage; finding occupation while waiting; talking to oneself and the audience; and employing historical imagination.
The scope and range of Uta Hagen here is extraordinary. Her years of acting and teaching have made her as finely seasoned an artist as the theatre has produced.
Review
Brooks Atkinson Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting is not only pitched on a high artistic level but also full of homely, practical information by a superb craftswoman. An illuminating discussion of the standards and techniques of enlightened stage acting.
Review
Library Journal Hagen adds to the large corpus of titles on acting with vivid dicta drawn from experience, skill, and a sense of personal and professional worth, Her principal asset in this treatment is her truly significant imagination. Her "object exercises" display a wealth of detail with which to stimulate the student preparing a scene for presentation.
Review
Harold Clurman Respect for Acting is a simple, lucid, and sympathetic statement of actors problems in the theatre and basic tenets for their training wrought from the personal experience of a fine actress and teacher of acting.
Review
Fritz Weaver Uta Hagen is our greatest living actor; she is, moreover, interested and mystified by the presence of talent and its workings; her third gift is a passion to communicate the mysteries of the craft to which she has given her life. There are almost no American actors uninfluenced by her.
Review
Publishers Weekly This fascinating and detailed book about acting is Miss Hagen's credo, the accumulated wisdom of her years spent in intimate communion with her art. It is at once the voicing of her exacting standards for herself and those she teaches, and an explanation of the means to the end. For those unable to avail themselves of her personal tutelage, her book is the best substitute.
About the Author
Uta Hagen was born in Germany, then she moved to the United States, where her father was head of the Art History Department at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Her first role was as Ophelia in Eva Le Gallienne's production of Hamlet. She then played the role of Nina in the Lunts' production of The Sea Gull. She has also appeared in Key Largo, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Country Girl, Saint Joan, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She has recently appeared on "American Playhouse" for PBS, and among her recent films is Reversal of Fortune. She was married for more than forty years to Herbert Berghof, the internationally known director, actor, and teacher. Uta Hagen lives in New York City.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS Acknowledgments, an Apology, and a Little Advice
Prologue: What Does It Take?
Part One: The Actor
1. The Actor's World
2. The Actor's Goals
3. The Actor's Techniques
The Outer Techniques
The Human Techniques
Part Two: The Human Techniques
4. The Self
5. Transference
6. The Physical Senses
7. The Psychological Senses
8. Animation
The Body
The Mind
Inner Objects
Listening
Talking
9. Expectation
Part Three' The Exercises
10. The Exercises
General Purpose
The Six Steps
For the Presentation
11. The First Exercise: Physical Destination
For The Presentation
12. The second Exercise: The Fourth Side
Communication
Primary Use of the Fourth Side
Subliminal Use of the Fourth Side
For the Presentation
13. The Third Exercise: changes of self
Part I
For the Presentation
Part II
For The Presentation
14. The Fourth Exercise: Moment to Moment
For the Presentation
15. The Fifth Exercise: Re-Creating Physical Sensations
Part I
For the Presentation
Part II
For the Presentation
16. The Sixth Exercise: Bringing the Outdoors On Stage
For the Presentation
17. The Seventh Exercise: Finding Occupation While Waiting
For the Presentation
18. The Eighth Exercise: Talking to Yourself
For the Presentation
19. The Ninth Exercise: Talking to the Audience
For the Presentation
20. The Tenth Exercise: Historical Imagination
Style
Historical Imagination
For the Presentation
21. Combinations
Part Four: The Role
22. The Play
23. Homework and the rehearsal
The Rehearsal
24. Scoring the Role
1. Who Am "I"?
2. What Are "My" Circumstances?
3. What Are "My" Relationships?
4. What Do "I" Want?
5. What's in "My" Way?
6. What Do 'I' Do to Get What "I" Want?
Epilogue
For the Teacher
Index