Muka Literature 06
“Stop Acting, Live A Life!” is the sixth volume in the Muka Literature Series. This book records the author Dr. Deric Gan’s 15-year acting and directing training courses from 2007 to 2021. The book is divided into four chapters: the first chapter consists of pieces of Deric’s memory along the years of teaching; the second chapter is the performance course in the novel style. In the story, the essence of performance is revealed through the working process between students and their drama teachers. The writing format of this chapter is an adaptation of the style of the book “An Actor Prepares” by Russian drama master Stanislavsky, which is lively and interesting the third chapter is an interview with the students, and the students would share their post-lesson experience with the author; the fourth chapter is the author’s very own summed up experience in the field of performing arts. The author shared his many interpretations of performance in the article, helping readers identify the common mistakes made during performance, and it is an easy-to-understand performance theory lesson. This book is suitable for new actors as well as seasoned ones. The author combines the Russian and American performance systems and put them into simple words, so that the art of performance is no longer mysterious. It is an one-of-a-kind performance book in Malaysia.
Author
Dr. Deric Gan
The author, Dr. Deric Gan, is a stage director based in China and Malaysia, and a doctoral tutor at the School of International Education, New Era University College. In 2022, the author is named as one of the most influential directors of Chinese contemporary experimental theatre in this recent 40 years.