'An actor is like a sculptor: before you can start shaping an expressive figurine, you need to soften the clay - which, in this case, is your body...'

This new book from Bella Merlin makes the work of one of our greatest acting gurus accessible to teachers, students, actors and directors through accessible explanation and dozens of practical exercises. Thanks to Nick Hern Books for permission to publish these extracts.

'...Once you're in a state of RELAXATION, your body is much more likely to be at your creative beck and call, and (looking at it from the other way round), if you're physically relaxed you'll probably be psychologically open. Which is why Stanislavski placed RELAXATION at the foundation of his 'system'. He believed that if you could free your body of every sort of tension, your inner life would respond accordingly, and then you could more readily and accurately 'reflect the life of the play in which [you're] appearing...'

'...If your body is relaxed, your mind usually opens, and then you can lock your focus into the onstage action without any effort whatsoever. Then your juices can generously flow. And when those creative juices are flowing, you no longer judge your own performance. You simply get on with the action and allow yourself to exist honestly and naturally in the performance space. Your sense of playfulness is acute and your emotions are increasingly accessible to you.'

The book is an invaluable practical and theoretical introduction to the work of this fascinating director. The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit by Bella Merlin is published by Nick Hern Books at £10.99.

Price £10.99

ISBN 9781854597939