Michael Chekhov Technique in the Twenty-First Century: New Pathways
- Submitting institution
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The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- TCOR3
- Type
- B - Edited book
- DOI
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10.5040/9781474273220
- Publisher
- Methuen Drama
- ISBN
- 9781474273183
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
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- Year of publication
- 2020
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- ‘Michael Chekhov in the Twenty-First Century’, co-edited by Tom Cornford and Cass Fleming, is a commissioned 8-chapter, 92,000-word, peer-reviewed volume exploring ‘new pathways’ for Michael Chekhov’s artistic technique beyond the sphere of actor-training for mainstream performance, which has framed the exploration and analysis of Chekhov’s work since its revival in the 1990s. Cornford and Fleming shared responsibility for devising the research project of which this volume is the culmination, which brought together the substantial archives of Chekhov’s practice in the Chekhov Theatre Studio (1936–1942) with contemporary practice research in theatre-making. Both editors guided the contributors to view the archival materials through strands of contemporary performance that have been substantially excluded from the consideration of Chekhov’s significance: devised performance, dramaturgy, scenography, voice, movement and dance, socially engaged performance and therapeutic practices. In so doing, they encouraged authors to focus on ways in which Chekhov’s technique may speak directly to these contexts, and on discontinuities and conflicts between its shaping assumptions and the ideological underpinnings of twenty-first century practices. The result is both a wide-ranging account of Chekhov’s practice beyond the narrowly conceived field of actor-training and a critique of it (particularly from feminist and anti-racist perspectives), as well as a set of research-led and practice-oriented proposals for its adapted use today. The volume and research project that gave rise to it are contextualized by Fleming’s 13,000-word introduction. The contributions are divided into three sections: Processes of Theatre-Making, Beyond Acting, Beyond the Theatre. Cornford contributed a 15,000-word chapter analyzing Chekhov’s technique as a form of dramaturgical training and re-framing contemporary dramaturgy through Chekhov’s conception of atmospheres. He also co-wrote with Fleming a 5,000-word conclusion exploring intersections between the volume’s mainly UK-based account of Chekhovian practices and contemporary work in Europe and the USA, as well as articulating the project’s major findings.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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