The Most Practical Damn Little Acting and Directing Book

By Lee Samuel Wilson

This eBook has been completed after working for twenty-nine years in the professional theatre. Acting & directing are two careers that demand constant doing.
It is often hard for new and established actors and directors to get those "golden nuggets" about the craft unless you are lucky enough to get into those rehearsal rooms with the great artists. It is rare to find a book on acting and directing that gives practical notes that can impact your work immediately as an artist - advice and guidance from those at the top of their profession and working every day. Notes and tips that are short, direct, easy to interpret and that can be implemented immediately into your craft. The following simple observations come from my personal conversations with some of the greatest Western theatre artists who, unfortunately, are no longer with us. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Samuel Wilson
• Release date: Jun 12, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227645074

Book preview

Author Biography

Lee Wilson is an actor, artistic director, corporate coach, director, dramaturge/professor/voice coach, and writer. Lee is an assistant professor in acting at the University of Windsor, School of Dramatic Art, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Wilson holds Canadian, British, and Irish citizenship. In 2023, Lee started training with Patsy Rodenburg, OBE, who is widely regarded as the world’s leading voice teacher and coach.

He is the founding artistic director of Resurgence Theatre Company in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, where he directed critically acclaimed productions of Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and Romeo and Juliet. He was nominated by his peers for the Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award for his outstanding contribution to the classics and Shakespeare performance in Canada. This award is administered by the Globe Theatre in England (Globe Centre in Canada) and recognized Lee as one of the most exciting young directors of Shakespeare in his native home of Canada.

Having directed in numerous theatres across Canada, his Canadian work includes being one of a handful of directors who participated in the inaugural Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directors at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. As part of this program, he was the resident director for Des McAnuff on The Who's Tommy and The Tempest film and stage production starring Christopher Plummer. Other credits at Stratford include assistant director to Antoni Cimolino on As You Like It and to Leon Rubin on Measure for Measure. He was the apprentice artistic director and artistic associate at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, Canada (2008–2009 season). In 2008, Lee was invited to The Old Vic in London, England, to participate in a directing and writing workshop with the Peter Hall Company. He was an intern director at the Shaw Festival during the 2005/2006 season in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, and the resident director in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2004/2005. In 2003/2004, he was awarded the Urjo Kareda Residency Grant to study directing and artistic direction with Richard Rose at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Lee started off his professional career as a member of the inaugural Soulpepper Training Company, studying acting, design, and directing with his mentor Robin Phillips.

In Ireland, he directed the world premiere of A Fear and Loathing Actor in Dublin by Mark McCauley, which premiered at Theatre@36 in Dublin and went on to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In addition, he directed the world premieres of Running with Dinosaurs by Nadine Flynn (The New Theatre); The Eurydice Project by Joanna Crawley (The Project Arts Centre Main Space); Fray by Margaret Perry; Pork by Nadine Flynn (Smock Alley); and The Sea Brothers by Padraig Colum and Joanna Crawley (O’Reilly Theatre). In addition, his critically acclaimed production of East of Berlin by Canada’s Hannah Moscovitch played to sold-out houses at The Project Arts Centre in 2014/15. Lee was the Associate Director to Joe Dowling on Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at The Gate Theatre, Dublin, for the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2015. He has taught acting and directing at numerous schools in Canada, Ireland, and the United States and continues to coach professional actors by appointment. Lee is an associate member of the ADA (Association of Drama Adjudicators) in Ireland and holds an MFA in Directing from The Lir, Ireland's National Academy of Dramatic Art, Trinity College, Dublin, and a BFA in Acting from Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada.

Introduction

I have been extremely lucky with my access to great artists over the course of my career. I have sought to pick their brains for close to twenty-nine years whenever I was given the opportunity.

I began my journey as an actor at a very young age. When I was ten years old, I asked my father if I could take acting classes. I knew I wanted to be an actor, and I knew even then that it was a craft you needed to practice. Practice is the key. Acting and directing are two careers that demand constant practice. It is often hard for aspiring actors and directors to get those golden nuggets about the craft unless they are lucky enough to get into those rehearsal rooms with the great artists. It is rare to find a book on acting and directing that gives practical notes that can impact your work immediately as an artist. I know because I have read many. Advice and guidance from those who are at the top of their profession and working every day—the type of notes and tips that are short, direct, easy to interpret, and that can be implemented immediately into your craft. These are the notes and tips I sought to see and hear in the work.

The following simple observations come from these twenty-nine years working in the theatre and listening to and watching those artists that, unfortunately, are no longer with us. They are ideas I have developed and tested, and I did not want them to die with these brilliant artists. I must pay tribute to those who, in our personal conversations and work together, took my work to the next level