Advanced Acting: Style, Character, and Performance
McGraw-Hill, 2002

This newly revised and expanded second edition of Cohen’s distinguished work on Shakespearean acting (2005) is available in an inexpensive paperback with Smith and Kraus.

Cohen’s latest acting text extends the step-by-step lessons of authentic, realistic interactions from Acting One into the more broadly theatrical areas of style (period and literary) and characterization, with the goal of integrating all three into an aligned, focused, and compelling public performance.

Introductory exercises develop humanly authentic bases for what are often seen as merely literary or histrionic devices: rhyme, meter, rhetorical flourish, vocal and physical virtuosity. Subsequent chapters develop integrated but separate performance strategies for performing in classical Greek, Italian commedia, English Renaissance and English Restoration, neoclassic French, European Belle Époque, and contemporary American (Angels in America, Wit and The Piano Lesson) works.

Review Excerpts

“Robert Cohen's latest performance textbook, builds on the foundation of ideas and techniques outlined in some of his previously published works, including Acting One and Acting Power. In Advanced Acting, Cohen further develops fundamental principles, such as the actor's use of self, to tackle problems of acting in plays from a variety of styles, genres, and historical eras. Cohen approaches these new challenges through a carefully organized series of exercises that range from simple games and improvised explorations to detailed scene study from a variety of works, including Oedipus, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Misanthrope… This book has much to offer performers, directors, and teachers of performance… For those teachers looking for a method to introduce, discuss, and integrate issues of style into the acting process organically, this work is an extremely helpful guide."--Theatre Topics

”Advanced Acting will put the young actor on the right path.” --Backstage