The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stage Actors and Acting

With over 1,000 entries, this is the first comprehensive encyclopaedia.

Acting is widely acknowledged to be the central art of the theatre and has a long and vibrant history. With over one thousand entries, this is the first encyclopedia of stage actors and acting around the world. More than one hundred renowned international contributors provide biographical, historical and technical information about actors both familiar and obscure whose work has been crucial in the development of acting methods and traditions from classical theatre to the present day. Entries on key directors, theorists and teachers, and on the elements and genres of acting provide insights into the history of acting as an art and its current practice. Including a chronological list of actors that spans the past two thousand years and many diverse countries and cultures, this Encyclopedia offers a fascinating and unique overview of acting onstage that will be of interest to anyone who attends or practises theatre.

Preface; A-Z general entries; Appendix. Chronological list of actors; Bibliography; Index of actors and directors.

Simon Williams is a Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His book Shakespeare on the German Stage (Cambridge University Press, 1990) was a pioneering work that brought English-speakers' attention to a powerful but largely unknown tradition of Shakespeare performance. In addition to his scholarship in theatrical and operatic history, he has directed award-winning productions of opera and spoken drama in Santa Barbara and is a practising professional critic. His future research projects include the study of 'Romantic Virtuosity', which will examine from the point of view of performance theory the technically complex works of late Romanticism, and the history of acting in opera.