
The Question of Skill
Directing and Acting in Contemporary Theatre
Adam J. Ledger(Author)
Methuen Drama (Publisher)
Published on 30. October 2025
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-350-30026-2 (ISBN)
Description
The Question of Skill offers a re-thinking of how theatre-making might be understood as a skilled craft and process, exploring how contemporary, professional contexts allow skill to emerge in a multitude of ways, often as a result of collective knowledge and collaboration.
The book argues that notions of skill tend to be uncritically accepted to suggest abilities that are learnt and applied or associated with a particular and stable set of techniques. But skill is, instead, never a neutral term but suggests processes, values and systems.
This study covers topics such as training, rehearsing and performing with a focus on the roles of the actor and director. As well as interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives, especially drawn from cognitive studies, it also discusses examples of skill as virtuosic performance.
Throughout, the book draws on first-hand observations of international contemporary theatre-makers in rehearsal and performance, including the contemporary work of Katie Mitchell, Anne Bogart, Odin Teatret, the RSC, the National Theatre, and Encounter Productions. As well as diverse training, rehearsal and performance contexts, it includes Fevered Sleep's Men & Girls Dance (2016), Simon Stone's Phaedra (National Theatre, 2023) and Jan Fabre's Mount Olympus: To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy (2015). It probes how theatre is made as an always skilled, human endeavour, and, in a post-Covid age, what the future may bring.
The book argues that notions of skill tend to be uncritically accepted to suggest abilities that are learnt and applied or associated with a particular and stable set of techniques. But skill is, instead, never a neutral term but suggests processes, values and systems.
This study covers topics such as training, rehearsing and performing with a focus on the roles of the actor and director. As well as interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives, especially drawn from cognitive studies, it also discusses examples of skill as virtuosic performance.
Throughout, the book draws on first-hand observations of international contemporary theatre-makers in rehearsal and performance, including the contemporary work of Katie Mitchell, Anne Bogart, Odin Teatret, the RSC, the National Theatre, and Encounter Productions. As well as diverse training, rehearsal and performance contexts, it includes Fevered Sleep's Men & Girls Dance (2016), Simon Stone's Phaedra (National Theatre, 2023) and Jan Fabre's Mount Olympus: To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy (2015). It probes how theatre is made as an always skilled, human endeavour, and, in a post-Covid age, what the future may bring.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Illustrations
12 bw
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
455 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-30026-2 (9781350300262)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Adam Ledger is Professor of Theatre and Performance at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has published widely on directing, rehearsal, and acting, including The Director and Directing: Craft, Process and Aesthetic in Contemporary Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and Odin Teatret: Theatre in a New Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and a major, co-authored book section on Eugenio Barba for the 'Great European Stage Directors' series (Bloomsbury). He co-edited with Gianna Bouchard Making Interdisciplinary Performance: Processes and Practices in Collaboration (Bloomsbury, 2025). He is co-artistic director of The Bone Ensemble and has created performance internationally.
Content
Introduction: A Question of Skill
Chapter 1: Training
Chapter 2: Skill and rehearsal
Chapter 3: Skill in performance
Chapter 4: Display and the virtuosic
Chapter 5: The future of skill
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Chapter 1: Training
Chapter 2: Skill and rehearsal
Chapter 3: Skill in performance
Chapter 4: Display and the virtuosic
Chapter 5: The future of skill
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Bibliography
Index