Recommended Actors Reading & Podcast List
Peter’s recommended reading list for actors. Don’t forget facebook marketplace and the library are your friend when finding these books.
We’ve also included some great podcasts.
Acting Books:
Uta Hagen – Challenge for the Actor – Essential Reading
Judith Weston – Directing Actors – 25 year edition
Ivana Chubbuck – Power of the Actor
Athene Sayler – The Craft of Comedy
Self-Development Books:
The Inner Game of Tennis: The classic guide to the mental side of peak performance
The Artists Way – Julia Cameron
Podcasts:
Some of these recommendations are a bit lighter and more entertaining but still informative for actors – we can’t always be serious!
David Tennant Does a Podcast – Terrific interviews with some amazing people (not always actors). I’m always listening for tips and tricks that come up to make my work better. There are loads here.
Off Camera with Sam Jones. I’ve recently discovered this one. Amazing conversations with wonderful artists. You get a strong feeling of what made them who they are and what they bring creatively to the world. Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass are my favourite interviews so far.
Dead Eyes – Still amazing, still life-changing. When I recommend it I get a text a week later thanking me.
Shrink the Box –
Ever wondered why Tony Soprano’s therapist stuck with him? Why Fleabag is obsessed with sex or why Walter White is always in his underpants?
‘Shrink the Box’ is where actor comedian Ben Bailey Smith and psychotherapist Sasha Bates put their favourite fictional characters such as Shiv from Succession, Omar from the Wire and Ross from Friends on the couch to analyse why their behaviour causes them so much drama. Sasha and Ben explore why these characters make certain decisions, what would happen if they made different ones and what we can learn from their mistakes. The perfect combination of psychology, self-help and the best TV since the birth of the box-set.
