From Word to Play

From Word to Play draws on Cicely's extensive experience of working with theatre companies across the globe. It is her manifesto for a return to the words themselves: for moving away from and over-conceptualised, over-literal view of language and rediscovering the meaning in its sounds and rhythms. At the heart of this book is a concise, practical guide for directors in rehearsal, setting out work strategies that help bring out both the shape and the details within all kinds of text - whether verse or prose, seventeenth-century or contemporary.

This book also deals with issues such as working with space and vocal preparation and looks at Cicely involvement with the RSC, and her work with TFANA (Theatre for a New Audience) in New York and with other international ensembles.