The BBC Acting Series: Jonathan Miller - Acting In Opera

The BBC Acting Series has surpassed all other video acting programs in its influence on the acting profession and in the high standard it has set for arts education. While each program is targeted towards a particular realm of acting, an abundance of general wisdom is offered in each which easily applies to a diversity of acting challenges.

Jonathan Miller addresses topics as diverse as duets: singing reactively, opera as musical theatre, vocal rendering, when singers know their parts, the recitatif - where the drama is, and ready-made bits of stage business.

Jonathan Miller studied natural sciences at Cambridge and worked as a hospital doctor upon graduation. His associations with the Cambridge Footlights diverted him to the Edinburgh Festival, where he helped write and produce Beyond The Fringe, which launched the careers of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. His career thereafter has been inextricably linked with the stage, including his direction of Olivier's Merchant Of Venice. He was artistic director of The Old Vic and has recently directed A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Almeida Theatre.

In the 1970s he began directing and producing opera at Glynebourne, with a new production of The Marriage Of Figaro for the English National Opera in 1978. He has now become one of the world's leading opera directors, with over fifty operas to his credit at the world's great venues, including the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala.

Most of his television work has been for the BBC, starting with a series of twelve Shakespeare plays. He also wrote and presented several documentary series drawing on his experience as a physician, including The Body In Question, States Of Mind, and The Question Of Language.

His books include The Human Body, Nowhere In Particular, and Subsequent Performances.