Book Description

Building on her fundamental texts The Art of Acting and The Art of Speech, Dawn Langman shows how the great dramas of Western heritage illuminate the evolution of human consciousness – from the past and into the future – thus providing a context in which actors can consciously evolve their art. Having laid her foundation by exploring the Eleusis Mysteries – the seed point of Western drama – she moves to the end of the nineteenth century, when drama and performance practice prepared for its next great evolutionary leap. She explores the connection of this leap to the evolutionary threshold facing human beings at the end of what occult history calls Kali Yuga. Weaving back and forth between future, past and present – guided by the great cyclic themes of human soul and spiritual development – Langman shows how the inspiration of our greatest artists springs from a source of knowing that encompasses the high calling of the human being to mature beyond its biological inheritance, and to become a conscious co-creator with the macrocosmic powers that serve the evolution of the universe. In doing so, she clarifies the specific function drama has in our contemporary development within the spectrum of the arts. ‘Building on the first two books of this extraordinary series, Langman’s meta-historical analysis of drama lays the foundation for her ongoing explorations into an art of acting that takes fully into account the multidimensional nature of the human being. Here, she masterfully contextualizes the 20th century contributions of Rudolf Steiner and Michael Chekhov within the broad trajectory of the Western dramatic and theatrical tradition’. – Dr Diane Caracciolo, Associate Professor of Educational Theatre, Adelphi University, USA 'Mapping a meta-history of Western Drama, Langman unfolds a pathway for “future” actors and those who seek an understanding of the metaphysical in theatre. This work will inspire anyone interested in the psychic and spiritual evolution of human consciousness.’ – Dr Jane Gilmer, freelance theatre practitioner based in New Zealand, teaching internationally