Böcker av Jeannette Nelson

How the world's best actors communicate with gravitas - and how you can, too.'The theatre stars' voice guru' Daily MailActing is all about charisma. Whether you're an A-list star or an extra, when you're on stage you need to perform in a way that makes your audience listen.That stage presence is something we can all learn from. Every time you speak up in a meeting, recount an anecdote, or tell a joke, it's essential to communicate with gravitas.Jeannette Nelson knows a thing or two about gravitas. As Head of Voice at the National Theatre, she has spent three decades working with the world's leading actors - from Al Pacino to Benedict Cumberbatch to Juliette Binoche - teaching them to speak clearly and move confidently.Now, Nelson pulls back the curtain on the tricks that professional performers use to own the room. Starting with clear speech and good posture, before moving on to the art of rhetoric and overcoming stage fright, she outlines a holistic three-stage method to communicating with authority, authenticity and eloquence. Throughout, she peppers the book with stories of how world-renowned actors learnt to make themselves heard - and how you can, too.The result is a fascinating and eminently practical guide to the art of performance. If all the world's a stage, then this book will turn you into its lead actor.

Every time you open your mouth on stage you are trying to persuade somebody of something.Sometimes referred to as 'the art of persuasion', rhetoric means using language to communicate your ideas and intentions to other people - and to make sure you are heard, understood and believed. This clear and concise guide explains how it works in plays, and how actors can use it to bring their performances to life on stage.Drawing on her decades of experience working with actors on major productions, including as Head of Voice at the National Theatre, Jeannette Nelson introduces all the major rhetorical techniques and devices that playwrights use. She offers fascinating breakdowns of dialogue and speeches from across the theatrical canon - from Shakespeare and Ibsen, to Tennessee Williams, Lorraine Hansberry and Arthur Miller, right up to contemporary playwrights such as Helen Edmundson and Tanika Gupta. Each chapter also includes a series of practical exercises which combine spoken word with physical action to help you explore and understand these techniques, and harness their power in performance.Whether you're an actor, a director or a drama teacher, Keeping It Active will empower you with a greater understanding of the ways that language underpins all dramatic works, and will give you the tools you need to unlock the text, understand characters, connect with the audience, and perform with greater confidence, focus and authenticity.'As this excellent book outlines, rhetoric is everywhere. It's not simply in the parliament, the press conference and the court; it's in the workplace, the home and the family. There's no argument, classical or modern, in a play that isn't informed and helped by Jeannette's work' Josie Rourke, from her Foreword'A great resource for actors and directors' Ralph Fiennes'Jeannette Nelson's revelatory relationship to language is, quite simply, life-changing' Simon Godwin'Jeannette taught me so much... I felt like I could persuade anybody to do anything' Sophie Okonedo

Fall in love with your voice. Get to know how it works. You will soon feel how good it is to sound like you. The Head of Voice at the National Theatre, London, shares the voice exercises she uses with many of Britain's leading actors to help to keep their voices in shape.