Acting In Restoration Comedy

by Simon Callow, Maria Aitken (Arranger)

The art of acting in restoration comedy, the buoyant, often bowdy romps which celebrated the reopening of the English theatres after Cromwell's dour reign, is the subject of Simon Callow's bold investigation. There is cause again to celebrate as Callow, one of Britain's foremost actors, aims to restore the form to all its original voluptuous vigor. Callow shows the way to attain clarity and hilarity in some of the most delightful roles ever conceived for the theatre.

Genres: Theatre, Nonfiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1990

About the author

Stage and screen actor

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant and informative discussion of how to make restoration comedy work on the modern stage. This style of drama needs to be presented in a way that meets its needs, maximises its pleasures, and works for modern audiences that are accustomed to quite different theatrical conventions. You don't have to be an actor or a theatrical professional to benefit from and enjoy this book, just someone who cares about theatre and/or enjoys reading restoration comedies. All drama is meant to be performed not just read, so thinking about the performative qualities of these plays can help make sense of them for audiences, students, and scholars. Highly recommended if you have any interest in theatre or in the literature of the seventeenth century.

The play he uses as his example text is The Relapse, by John Vanbrugh, in which he played Lord Foppington.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I read a review of this book somewhere and decided to pick it up. This book is a companion to a BBC series on acting, a master class. Simon Callow writes lucidly and concisely about so many subjects in this short book: the history of the Restoration period in England, the history of English theater of this period, what a soliloquy does in a play and how the actor should approach it, how actors should approach their roles, how to perform Restoration comedies for modern audiences, and many other topics. Mr. Callow elucidated the clearest, most helpful ideas about soliloquies I have read in all my years of acting and attending plays, and did it in only two or three pages. I highly recommend this little book, not just to actors, or even theater-goers, but anyone interested in the intersection between entertainer and audience.

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stab me vitals!