Our Books
Our books have been highly acclaimed and adopted on the recommended reading lists of many drama schools and universities here and abroad. Both have gone into reprints and second editions.
John wrote Acting Stanislavski – A practical guide to Stanislavski’s approach and legacy (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2014, and available as an e-book) as a revised and updated version of Acting on Impulse – Reclaiming the Stanislavski Approach (2007)
Stanislavski was the first to outline a systematic approach for using our experience, imagination and observation to create truthful acting. Over one hundred and fifty years after his birth, his approach is more widely embraced and taught throughout the world – but is still often rejected and misunderstood. The book offers a comprehensive and insightful step-by-step account of Stanislavski’s whole approach from the actor’s training to final performance:
• Awareness, ease and focus
• The nature of action, interaction and objectives and obstacles
• The imaginary reality, senses and feeling
• Active Analysis of text, Stanislavski’s final rehearsal process
• Physical and vocal expression and embodiment of action and character
• The actor’s challenges in the context of training and the industry
I draw on Stanislavski’s major books and on records of his directing process and final studio classes,1935-38, in which he explored what has become known as The Method of Physical Action and Active Analysis. It is for actors from an actor’s point of view, and there are many practical exercises and examples as an integrated part of each subject.
“This is probably the single most useful and powerfully presented summation of Stanislavski’s approach to acting available. . . What sets this book apart from other recent studies is that the Stanislavskian approach has been filtered through a lifetime of practice – the ‘concentrate’ that emerges is crystal clear, an explication of the ‘system’ which makes absolute practical sense for the actor.” – Julian Jones, New Theatre Quarterly
“. . . more substantial, more comprehensive, and clearer than other recent studies of Stanislavski. . . It is also notable for the considerable attention it pays to Stanislavski’s legacy, through its consideration of other European and American practitioners . . . While this book is a fantastically expansive introduction for the uninitiated, it will also provide real nourishment and clarity for the many actors who have studied bits of Stanislavski here and there and are looking for something more comprehensive. Or one could simply dip into the book for some fresh studio exercises to use in the classroom. . . This balance between the practical and scholarly, as well as the book’s sensible, logical structure, would make it a great course book for the more technically-minded and historically-curious of acting students, while its glossary and index make it one the best reference books about acting on the market. A deep, authentic, and mature love of the theatre shines throughout the writing. This is the clearest, most comprehensive, and most ambitious book on Stanislavski in existence, from a writer who clearly has a lifetime’s experience of dedicated exploration as an actor, teacher, and director.” – Tom Cooper, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism
“John Gillett’s book is way out in front in that it offers both scholarship and really sound practical strategies based on both research and most importantly, his own experience as an actor, teacher and director. It should be on essential reading lists for 1st year students on Acting Courses. It takes its place as a core text as it does not dress anything up in theorising but is a combination of inspiration and practicality. This is not only an extremely insightful and practical book for actors but also a brave one. John Gillett is not afraid to set out his stall and the book goes far beyond simply correcting misunderstandings and distortions regarding Stanislavski’s work. He makes an inspirational claim for the actor as someone necessary to society, and for the vital importance of the ensemble. A terrific combination of practicality and a call to arms!” – Annie Tyson, former acting tutor at RADA and former Head of Acting at the Drama Centre
“Contains all the important things that need to be said about learning to act.” – Simon Dunmore, former Editor Actor’s Yearbook
In 2013, John also wrote the preface for the new Bloomsbury Revelations edition of Stanislavski’s Creating a Role.
He has also made contributions to three editions of the Stanislavski Studies journal, edited by The Stanislavski Centre and published by Taylor & Francis:
• Experiencing or pretending—are we getting to the core of Stanislavski’s approach? (Issue 1, 2012): http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XUS4TSMeiaxafjHNSh8D/full
• A panel discussion contribution recorded in Stanislavski on Stage: The Benedetti Legacy (Vol 3/Issue 2, 2014)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20567790.2015.1079046
• Experiencing through the voice in Stanislavski’s psycho-physical approach (Vol 4/Issue2016): http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/uBzDTEFPFukaARR4DvjR/full
In 2023, John contributed to a new book, Stanislavsky and Pedagogy, published by Routledge and edited by Stefan Aquilina.
His chapter opens the book and defines his own teaching and directing process: Teaching Stanislavsky’s Core Approach of Action, Imagination, and Experiencing : And Why it is still Relevant for Acting Students and Professionals.
John and Christina wrote Voice into Acting – Integrating Voice and the Stanislavski Approach in 2014, and it came out in its second edition in February, 2021
You can also get a taste of the book via one of these links to a ‘widget’, a selection of excerpts:
https://bloomsburycp3.codemantra.com/viewer/5fd8b3efe21b8400014cbf9d
https://bloomsburycp3.codemantra.com/widget/5fd8b3efe21b8400014cbf9d
The questions we raise in Voice into Acting are:
How can actors bridge the gap between themselves and the text and action of a script?
How do we make an imaginary world real, create the life of a role, and fully embody it vocally and physically so that voice and acting become one?
We offer an integrated and comprehensive approach informed by Stanislavski and his successors and supported by modern neuroscience – the acting approach widely taught to actors in drama schools throughout the world.
This involves a step-by-step guide to explore how voice can:
respond to our thoughts, senses, feelings, imagination and will
fully express language in content and form
communicate imaginary circumstances and human experience
transform to adapt to different roles
connect to a variety of audiences and spaces.
The book is now in its second enlarged and revised edition and features over fifty illustrations by German artist, Dany Heck. It is aimed both at the actor seeking full vocal identity in characterization, and the voice teacher who is open to new techniques or an alternative approach to harmonize with the actor’s process.
“Voice into Acting is an inspiring, comprehensive, and accessible guide to voice training, acting techniques, and body awareness for actors and performers. . . It is a rich resource for teachers and students, and for established actors wishing to refresh or revisit their training or get out of bad habits. It is excellent: a challenging and insightfully presented series of methodologies that demands an intellectual, instinctive, and physical understanding of the acting process.” – Naomi Paxton, New Theatre Quarterly
“A thoughtful, comprehensive guide packed with useful, practical exercises for joining voice pedagogy and the acting process. . . Voice into Acting is a complete guide that could be used to create a voice class, acting class or in a rehearsal process to synthesize both. . . the methods can be applied to any text, ranging from new plays to classics. The exercises provide a vast resource that could be used for an ensemble of actors in rehearsal, group of students in a classroom, or by an individual actor seeking to develop their skills.” – Saffron Henke, Voice and Speech Review
“Despite the authors’ intended focus on language and text through Stanislavski’s approach, this book can be also used by the reader in order to go beyond the spectrum of text-based acting. . . it provides a series of explorations that could support the actor’s fluid transition from non-voiced to voiced expression through improvisation and psychophysical awareness.” – Christina Kapadocha, Lecturer in Theatre and Movement, Theatre and Somatic Practitioner/Researcher
Christina also wrote a chapter, Organic Voice: Vocal Integration through Actor Training in a book for Routledge, Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond (edited by Christina Kapadocha, 2020)
