Acting in Restoration Comedy

ACTING IN RESTORATION COMEDY, the buoyant, bawdy romps which celebrated the reopening of the English theatres after Cromwell`s dour reign, is the subject of 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. Callow`s lively speculations do not follow the familiar route of lace-trimmed interpretations and gratuitous pageantry. He rejects camp for camp`s sake, and embraces instead the magnificently perverse language as the primarily seductive force in Restoration Comedy. With the text as his inspiration, he shapes an actor`s sensibility, coaching his performance in the conventions of the age, including the politics and manners of props, the choreography of asides, the truth and burlesque of emotion, the flamboyant egotism of the age, the life of the costume, and the audience in performance. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.