His Dream of Passion: Reflections on the work of Lee Strasberg and his influence on British Actor Training (Part Two)

A previous article for Stanislavski Studies (Vol. 4, No 1, 47-62) explored and examined the impact of Lee Strasberg’s Emotion Memory technique and assessed its influence on contemporary approaches to British actor training. This second ‘companion’ article reflects on a much broader range of Strasbergian training techniques in order, initially, to examine their efficacy and to highlight the extent to which they have been absorbed and adapted by acting teachers working in a British training context. Often viewed as a controversial figure - both in the United Kingdom and in the United States - Strasberg’s approach has frequently been vilified and dismissed. This is particularly true of his interpretation of Stanislavski’s Emotion Memory technique. Whereas the earlier article sought to arrive at an informed and balanced view of his deployment of this technique, what follows is an attempt to review other aspects of Strasberg’s work so as to evaluate the coherence and credibility of the assumptions on which his approach was based and to test whether his work remains appropriate and viable in British training environments today. His work on Relaxation, Concentration and Sense Memory will be examined alongside his development of the Private Moment, Song and Dance and Animal exercises. What, if anything, can we learn from Strasberg’s Method-based approach to actor training and how might we begin to consider the impact and unity of his work as a whole as opposed to focusing almost exclusively on his early work on Emotion Memory

The institutional shaping of management: in the tracks of English individualism

Globalisation raises important questions about the shaping of economic action by cultural factors. This article explores the formation of what is seen by some as a prime influence on the formation of British management: individualism. Drawing on a range of historical sources, it argues for a comparative approach. In this case, the primary comparison drawn is between England and Scotland. The contention is that there is a systemic approach to authority in Scotland that can be contrasted to a personal approach in England. An examination of the careers of a number of Scottish pioneers of management suggests the roots of this systemic approach in practices of church governance. Ultimately this systemic approach was to take a secondary role to the personal approach engendered by institutions like the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but it found more success in the different institutional context of the USA. The complexities of dealing with historical evidence are stressed, as is the value of taking a comparative approach. In this case this indicates a need to take religious practice as seriously as religious belief as a source of transferable practice. The article suggests that management should not be seen as a simple response to economic imperatives, but as shaped by the social and cultural context from which it emerges

Working With the Tangible: Radiation, A Twenty-First Century Interpretation

The intangible means of expression was a topic of investigation across various disciplines when Michael Chekhov was developing his pedagogic practice. In the world of science, Harold Saxton Burr and Albert Szent-Gyorgi, were examining the body as a conductor of energy. Their research was relevant to Chekhov's approach regarding how the actor communicates with internal and external stimulus. This article begins with an analysis of Chekhov's theories on Radiation, it moves on to offer insights into science and energy work with reference to cell Biologist James Oschman and his concept of ‘the living matrix’ and Mae Wan Ho's critique of quantum cohesion. Examples of praxis demonstrate that contemporary science and body work can provide a greater understanding of how Radiation and the organisation of energy can enhance performance

Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of 13-cis-retinoic acid (isotretinoin) in children with high-risk neuroblastoma – a study of the United Kingdom Children's Cancer Study Group

The administration of 13-cis-retinoic acid (13-cisRA), following myeloablative therapy improves 3-year event-free survival rates in children with high-risk neuroblastoma. This study aimed to determine the degree of inter-patient pharmacokinetic variation and extent of metabolism in children treated with 13-cisRA. 13-cis-retinoic acid (80 mg m−2 b.d.) was administered orally and plasma concentrations of parent drug and metabolites determined on days 1 and 14 of courses 2, 4 and 6 of treatment. Twenty-eight children were studied. The pharmacokinetics of 13-cisRA were best described by a modified one-compartment, zero-order absorption model combined with lag time. Mean population pharmacokinetic parameters included an apparent clearance of 15.9 l h−1, apparent volume of distribution of 85 l and absorption lag time of 40 min with a large inter-individual variability associated with all parameters (coefficients of variation greater than 50%). Day 1 peak 13-cisRA levels and exposure (AUC) were correlated with method of administration (P<0.02), with 2.44- and 1.95-fold higher parameter values respectively, when 13-cisRA capsules were swallowed as opposed to being opened and the contents mixed with food before administration. Extensive accumulation of 4-oxo-13-cisRA occurred during each course of treatment with plasma concentrations (mean±s.d. 4.67±3.17 μM) higher than those of 13-cisRA (2.83±1.44 μM) in 16 out of 23 patients on day 14 of course 2. Extensive metabolism to 4-oxo-13-cisRA may influence pharmacological activity of 13-cisRA

Intelligence, reason of state and the art of governing risk and opportunity in early modern Europe

Drawing upon primary and secondary historical material, this paper explores the role of intelligence in early modern government. It focuses upon developments in seventeenth- and early-eighteenth-century England, a site-specific genealogical moment in the broader history of state power/knowledges. Addressing a tendency in Foucauldian work to neglect pre-eighteenth-century governance, the analysis reveals a set of interrelated processes which gave rise to an innovative technique for anticipating hazard and opportunity for the state. At the intersection of raison d’État, the evolving art of government, widespread routines of secrecy and a post-Westphalia field of European competition and exchange, intelligence was imagined as a fundamental solution to the concurrent problems of ensuring peace and stability while improving state forces. In the administrative offices of the English Secretary of State, an assemblage of complex and interrelated procedures sought to produce and manipulate information in ways which exposed both possible risks to the state and potential opportunities for expansion and gain. As this suggests, the art of intelligence played an important if largely unacknowledged role in the formation and growth of the early modern state. Ensuring strategic advantage over rivals, intelligence also limited the ability of England's neighbours to dominate trade, control the seas and master the colonies, functioning as a constitutive feature of European balance and equilibrium. As the analysis concludes, understanding intelligence as a form of governmental technique – a way of doing something – reveals an entirely novel way of thinking about and investigating its myriad (historical and contemporary) formations

Mapping Meisner – how Stanislavski’s system influenced Meisner’s process and why it matters to British Drama School training today

As the Meisner technique has increased in popularity in UK Drama schools over the last decade, it is important to understand its origin and where Meisner drew his own inspiration from during the development of his technique, especially when questioning its place within British conservatoire training. This article will give a brief outline of Meisner’s foundational training, such as the Repetition and Activity exercises, however the main purpose is to highlight the ideas behind the technique. This will include the training Meisner received within the Group Theatre, the inspiration he took from the Russian scholars and the areas of Stanislavsky’s system that were utilised as he developed his technique. The article also acknowledges the argument that the Meisner technique’s introduction outside the US has been subject to aform of misrepresentation as large parts of Meisner’s more analytical training have often not been adequately represented, and in some cases ignored entirely

Second asymptomatic carotid surgery trial (ACST-2): a randomised comparison of carotid artery stenting versus carotid endarterectomy

Background: Among asymptomatic patients with severe carotid artery stenosis but no recent stroke or transient cerebral ischaemia, either carotid artery stenting (CAS) or carotid endarterectomy (CEA) can restore patency and reduce long-term stroke risks. However, from recent national registry data, each option causes about 1% procedural risk of disabling stroke or death. Comparison of their long-term protective effects requires large-scale randomised evidence. Methods: ACST-2 is an international multicentre randomised trial of CAS versus CEA among asymptomatic patients with severe stenosis thought to require intervention, interpreted with all other relevant trials. Patients were eligible if they had severe unilateral or bilateral carotid artery stenosis and both doctor and patient agreed that a carotid procedure should be undertaken, but they were substantially uncertain which one to choose. Patients were randomly allocated to CAS or CEA and followed up at 1 month and then annually, for a mean 5 years. Procedural events were those within 30 days of the intervention. Intention-to-treat analyses are provided. Analyses including procedural hazards use tabular methods. Analyses and meta-analyses of non-procedural strokes use Kaplan-Meier and log-rank methods. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN21144362. Findings: Between Jan 15, 2008, and Dec 31, 2020, 3625 patients in 130 centres were randomly allocated, 1811 to CAS and 1814 to CEA, with good compliance, good medical therapy and a mean 5 years of follow-up. Overall, 1% had disabling stroke or death procedurally (15 allocated to CAS and 18 to CEA) and 2% had non-disabling procedural stroke (48 allocated to CAS and 29 to CEA). Kaplan-Meier estimates of 5-year non-procedural stroke were 2·5% in each group for fatal or disabling stroke, and 5·3% with CAS versus 4·5% with CEA for any stroke (rate ratio [RR] 1·16, 95% CI 0·86–1·57; p=0·33). Combining RRs for any non-procedural stroke in all CAS versus CEA trials, the RR was similar in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients (overall RR 1·11, 95% CI 0·91–1·32; p=0·21). Interpretation: Serious complications are similarly uncommon after competent CAS and CEA, and the long-term effects of these two carotid artery procedures on fatal or disabling stroke are comparable. Funding: UK Medical Research Council and Health Technology Assessment Programme