‘Once you start working with someone like Litz you don’t ever want to stop if you can help it’ - Vanessa Redgrave Litz Pisk was widely regarded as the most influential teacher of modern theatre movement of the 20th Century. She innovated and advocated a physical training that sought to combine awareness, emotion and imagination specifically for the actor’s craft. Her seminal book, The Actor and His Body, is the direct result of her unique dual career as a professional movement director and as an actor movement teacher working in leading British conservatoires. Pisk’s quest was to find expression for the inner impulse that motivated actors to move. Her teachings, as outlined in this book, offer insight on the specific craft of the actor, and the relationship between movement, imagination and the ‘need’ to move. The Actor and His Body is also a practical manual for keeping the actor’s body physically and expressively responsive. In addition, there are a range of movement exercises, illuminated by her exquisite line drawings, and a complete weekly programme which concentrates on movement practice within different timescales. This fourth edition features the original foreword by Michael Elliot as well as a new introduction by Ayse Tashkiran, contemporary movement director and Senior Lecturer at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, which contextualises Pisk’s work. “Those of us who were fortunate enough to be taught by Litz will never forget the inspiration she gave us. Through her movement work Litz made an extraordinary contribution to the theatre… A unique teacher of movement, an inspiring movement director, this book gives an insight into the seminal work of Litz Pisk” ―Jane Gibson, former Head of Movement, National Theatre “No one who worked with the movement teacher Litz Pisk, either as actor or student, will ever forget the sheer theatrical impact of her own movement, at once dynamic and sculptural, intense and totally possessed.” ―George Hall, former Head of Acting, Central School of Speech and Drama “Litz Pisk was a theatre visionary who introduced to the field of actors' movement a startlingly new approach, which remains ground-breaking to this day. With her background in the visual arts, Litz Pisk viewed the actor's body as a piece of dynamic sculpture capable of expressing to the audience people and places they had never known. However, a special kind of physical training was necessary before the actor could reach 'a state of readiness' where the body could respond totally to the imagination. In these pages, we begin to gain an insight into how Litz Pisk went about achieving this.” ― Sue Lefton, Movement Director and Teacher Litz Pisk was widely regarded as the finest and most influential teacher of modern theatre movement. She was a director of movement at the Old Vic, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, English National Opera, and in television and films, including directing the movement for Vanessa Redgrave's film role in Isadora. She was director of Vienna's School of Art and Movement and a teacher at the Old Vic School, Bath Academy of Art, RADA and the Central School of Speech and Drama. The Actor and His Body , her seminal work, was first published in 1975. Ayse Tashkiran is a movement director, teacher and researcher in the field of actor movement. After graduating from the Drama Department at Bristol University, she trained with Lecoq at L'Ecole International Jacques Lecoq for two years in Paris. After a career as a physical theatre performer, she started to movement direct and teach. She joined Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2003 where she co leads the MA/MFA Movement: directing and teaching. She is the recipient of a Society for Theatre Research award for her research into the history of movement direction. Ayse Tashkiran practices as a movement director for a variety of professional theatre productions and companies including the Young Vic, the RSC and WNO max.