Introduction A Practical Handbook for the Actor is a book by Melissa Bruder and her team, where the ideas on how to strengthen actor’s skills, necessary acting techniques, and main concepts of acting craft are perfectly presented and improved by means of powerful examples. The peculiar feature of this book is that it is full of interesting and, what is more important, truthful ideas about what is expected from an actor. “An actor knows he must develop a body that will do whatever is asked of it” (Bruder et al. 4), this is why if a person makes a decision to become an actor, he/she mush be ready to different challenges, auditions, and disappointments. The authors of this book call all actors both professionals and beginners upon to define clearly their purposes and their duties. It is very important to comprehend what has to be done and what never has to be done. Only in case when a person is able to control words, actions, and even thoughts, the success of the career of an actor is possible. Discussion It is known that “the actor can do nothing without the target” (Donnellan 13), this is why one of the significant points of the book under discussion is Bruder’s desire to help an actor define his/her target and succeed in his/her job. The authors of this book explain properly that the purpose of this book is to teach the reader about acting craft and to provide several ideas on how to improve personal acting skills and not to be afraid of challenges and disappointments. First lesson: time cannot influence acting craft, A Practical Handbook for the Actor is a book of 1986, so, all those hints, helpful ideas, and experiences came from the past century. At first, it is possible to believe that these ideas cannot be used for our times, because our modern life requires considerable changes, and living conditions differ considerably from those of the previous century. However, from the first lines, it becomes clear that the suggestions of these sophisticated writers have to be taken into consideration anytime. “Acting requires common sense, bravery, and a lot of will” (Bruder et al. 6). In this book, each of the above-mentioned concepts and their possible usage are clearly explained. For example, the reader learns that the idea of common sense is helpful for those, who want “to translate whatever you are given into simple actable terms” (Bruder et al. 6). Bravery is also important “to throw yourself into the action of the play despite fear of failure, self-consciousness, and a thousand other obstacles” (Bruder et al. 6). Finally, any actor should keep in mind his/her own will in order to respect personal ideals. This lesson is one of the most important ones that may be learnt from the book. Second lesson: understanding of techniques is important for the craft . To succeed in acting, a person needs to comprehend the most significant techniques. The authors of the books focus reader’s attention on two major points: action and moment. An action is an actor’s object: you go on the stage in order to perform some action and complete your task. An actor has the right to become someone from a make-up team or operating team (Diggles 143) in order to improve the situation and use everything to present successful results. The actions of acto