Phenomenology for Actors: Theatre-Making and the Question of Being (Intellect, 2021) by Daniel Johnston 

This book gives new insight into acting and theatre-making through phenomenology (the study of how the world shows itself to conscious experience). It examines Being-in-the-world in everyday life with exercises for workshops and rehearsal. Each chapter explores themes to guide the creative process through objects, bodies, spaces, being with others, time, history, freedom and authenticity. Key examples in the work are drawn from Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, Sophocles’ Antigone and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Practical tasks in each section explore how the theatrical event can offer unique insight into Being and existence. In this way, the book makes a bold leap to understand acting as an embodied form of philosophy and to explain how phenomenology can be a rich source of inspiration for actors, directors, designers and the creative process of theatre-making.

Daniel Johnston is the author of Phenomenology for Actors: Theatre-Making and the Question of Being (2021) and Theatre and Phenomenology: Manual Philosophy (2017). He is an Honorary Associate at the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, The University of Sydney. Previously, he was a Principal Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, UK., and also lectured at The University of Notre Dame, Australia, The University of Sydney, the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), and Macquarie University. He holds a PhD in Performance Studies (University of Sydney) and MA (Cantab) in Philosophy (University of Cambridge).