Alison Hodge is one of the most original actor-trainers working today. Founder of the international The Quick and the Dead ensemble, she has developed a uniquely embodied and relational approach to acting and live performance.
Core Training encourages a profound awareness of actors’ inter-relationships with each other and their audience through the lived body – leading to a powerful, almost luminous, expressivity in performance.
This beautifully produced DVD visually documents the key exercises, performed by the ensemble. It considers:
- ground and weight
- breathing and breath
- working with things
- working with others.
It then charts a sequence of creative exercises building towards a performance – The Rego Project, inspired by the artist of the same name. An accompanying booklet contains further insights into Hodge’s development of Core training in relation to her wider theoretical concerns.
Filmed by directors Peter Hulton and BAFTA award-winner Molly Dineen, Core Training for the Relational Actor is a landmark contribution to modern actor training for students, scholars and practitioners alike.
Biography
Alison Hodge is the Artistic Director of The Quick and the Dead. She leads workshops on Core Training at drama schools and universities in the UK and internationally. www.hodge-actortraining.co.uk
Her publications for Routledge include: Twentieth Century Actor Training (2000), Actor Training (second edition, 2010). She is an Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London.
'outstanding..... a fascinating approach to the physical training of the actor that emulates and utilizes dance techniques as well as concepts from acting. Its quality is very good and the explanatory material is clear and helpful in understanding the work depicted.....it might be possible for classes in acting, directing and dance, to adopt it.....a valuable addition to the range of methods available to contemporary actors.' Sharon Carnicke, University of Southern California
'outstanding.... highly desirable and an appropriate addition to the canon of Routledge work on contemporary approaches to performer training.....this is a pioneering format which will radically improve the way students and practitioners are able to engage with and understand practices of performer training.' Rebecca Loukes, University of Exeter
‘The quality of the DVD material is high....Probably very useful for students at all levels. The material is very accessible.' Phillip Zarrilli, University of Exeter
