THE BBC ACTING SERIES: THE COMPLETE 6 DVD SET

THE BBC ACTING SERIES: THE COMPLETE SIX DVD SET

The BBC Acting Series has surpassed all other video acting programs in its influence on the acting profession and in the high standard it has set for arts education. While each program is targeted toward a particular realm of acting, an abundance of general wisdom is offered in each, which easily applies to a diversity of acting challenges.

This specially priced 6 DVD set includes all six titles in this stimulating landmark series: Michael Caine's Acting in Film; Simon Callow's Acting in Restoration Comedy; Janet Suzman's Acting in Shakespearean Comedy; Brian Cox's Acting in Tragedy; Jonathan Miller's Acting in Opera; and Maria Aitken's Acting in High Comedy. Each DVD is available for purchase separately as well.

6 hours total running time.

ACTING IN FILM - An Actor's Take on Movie Making with Michael Caine

Mr. Caine gives you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rob him blind! The man who's hypnotized the camera lenses for a quarter of a century reveals in this master class for film actors the most closely guarded secrets on script preparation, working with the director, forming a character, voice, sound, and movement. Pearl by pearl he lays out the Caine wisdom on everything from set politics to set decorum, the film bureaucracy and more.

Among the subjects covered by Michael Caine:

Your Eyes; Your Mark; Your Focus The Camera Is Your Only Audience Don't Be Difficult-to-Edit Smoking Dialogue on Camera Shooting Out of Order Screen Tests Reaction Shots Special Effects Speaking to Someone Off-Camera Close-Ups Relax!

Acting in Opera with Jonathan Miller

“Through the climactic scene of La Traviata the good doctor clowned, interpreted, gestured and flung his eminently quotable metaphors at us and a performance began miraculously to take shape. The problem for singers is that opera is difficult enough as music, let alone as stagecraft. Miller cajoled, joked, visibly eased tensions between contending forces, provided props, explained nuances. By the end, drama had emerged from opera. Magic, underpinned by a great deal of hard work.” –The Listener

Acting in High Comedy with Maria Aitken

“A lively session on high comedy, with examples from Coward, Wilde, Sheridan, and Congreve revealing the spark that transforms a routine reading into a vibrant one in a scene from Private Lives which by the time Aitken has finished with it has attained something close to brilliance.” –The London Times

ACTING IN RESTORATION COMEDY with Simon Callow

“Taking scenes from The Relapse by John Vanbrugh as the text, Callow directs a workshop of young actors and subjects them to his own rigorous and scrupulous appraisal.” –Radio Times

The art of acting in Restoration Comedy, the buoyant, often bawdy romps which celebrated the re-opening 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 and directors, aims to restore the form to all its original voluptuous vigor. Callow shows the way to attain the clarity and hilarity in some of the most delightful roles ever conceived for the theatre.

ACTING IN SHAKESPEAREAN COMEDY with Janet Suzeman

Janet Suzman's portrayal of the Russian Czarina in Nicholas and Alexandra won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She became an established star of the London stage after graduating from LAMBDA in the late 1960s through her association with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Suzman distinguished herself in the RSC production of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, and praise for her acting was sustained for her Portia in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE and her Ophelia in HAMLET. She became one of the RSC's leading players, appearing opposite such major figures as Ben Kingsley, Patrick Stewart and Alan Howard. Suzman appeared with the RSC in BBC productions of THREE SISTERS, MACBETH, and HEDDA GABLER.

She starred opposite Alan Bates in the film A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG and triumphed onstage in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, which was filmed and aired in the USA on ABC. Ms. Suzman starred in a British TV adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's SAINT JOAN. She was the star of Peter Greenaway's THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT. She had the featured role in Federico Fellini's AND THE SHIP SAILS ON. She supported Michael Gambon in the Dennis Potter mini-series THE SINGING DETECTIVE. She played Donald Sutherland's wife in Euzhan Palcy's anti-apartheid drama, A DRY WHITE SEASON, and played Lady Edwina Mountbatten in the six-part biography, LORD MOUNTBATTEN: The Last Viceroy.

Ms. Suzman is also a distinguished stage director and teacher.

“Suzman is a major classical actress: she is also a born teacher... Beneath her flame colored hair, Suzman burned, and her students duly caught fire ... she persistently came out with striking, stimulating remarks with workshop snippets of Much Ado, As You Like It, and Twelth Night.” – Benedict Nightingale, The London Times

“Totally and incisively in charge, her unscripted preamble is a dramatic lesson in itself; with all the right places to create a dramatic effect you can cut with a knife. Her dissertation on the difference between tragedy and comedy is masterly.” – Sunday Times, London.

ACTING IN TRAGEDY with Brian Cox

In this terrific 60-minute master class, Brian Cox covers the fine points of tragic acting. The London Times calls this video, “Full of common sense ... In the end, it is we actors who are on the spot ... Scenes that start rehearsal as straightforward Shakespeare babble assume dramatic shape ...”

“Tragedy. A rollicking good time he has with it too – menacing whispers, daggers and blood obviously have their funny side, at least with his fascinated young audience. Among the young thespians taking note are Cathy Tyson and the late Lord Olivier's youngest daughter, Tamsin.” –The London Daily Mail