Craft of Rehearsal

The Translator: James Thomas is Professor and Director of the Ph.D. Program in Theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and Director of the Study Abroad Program with the Moscow Art Theatre School. He received his Ph.D. in theatre history and criticism from the University of Texas. He is the translator of The Joy of Rehearsal by Anatoly Efros and the author of The Art of the Actor-Manager: Wilson Barrett and the Victorian Theatre (1984), and Script Analysis for Actors, Directors, and Designers (2005).

«I remember well what an event the publication was of Anatoly Efros’s first book, ‘Rehearsal Is My Love’ (in English, ‘The Joy of Rehearsal’) at the end of the ’70s. Other than Michael Chekhov, I think that no one in Russia wrote so freely, unrestrainedly, and intelligently about the essence of theatre. This was theatre seen from within, from the viewpoint of a director, who, during his lifetime as well as now, is esteemed the most outstanding master of the post-war Russian stage. After several years, Efros published a second book, ‘Profession: Director’ (in English, ‘The Craft of Rehearsal’), in which he established the very possibility of a free literary reconstruction of important stage works. His writing was a new kind of director’s literature: ‘No day without writing a line.’ In this fashion he created books in which the shrewd observations of an experienced director are allied with the fleeting day-by-day insights of an artist, and he addressed it to everyone in the world of theatre. Efros’s books (all four of them) stand on my shelf next to those of Stanislavsky, Tairov, Meyerhold, and Brook. They are classics of the twentieth century, which is the century of the director in the theatre. It is wonderful that James Thomas has translated Anatoly Efros skillfully and sequentially, book after book, giving English-language readers the opportunity to share a special pleasure that we in Russia have already had for several decades.» (Anatoly Smeliansky, Rector, Moscow Art Theatre School; Associate Artistic Director, Moscow Art Theatre)«The impact of Anatoly Efros’s work in Russia is indisputable, and the manner in which James Thomas has brought this influence directly into the English language forum is invaluable and timely. ‘The Craft of Rehearsal’ is a marvellous contribution to acting processes and theatre studies, showing the way for the application of Stanislavsky’s ideas in the present day and even into the future.» (Bella Merlin, Lecturer in Drama, University of Exeter)