Providing Czertok’s own, highly personal account of his trajectory in the global scene of theatre-making over the past half-century, this is a book about the theatre of exile – a theatre of streets, prisons, hospitals, open to direct and unexpected encounters with audiences and their life-experiences.

List of illustrationsForewordIntroductory notePreface - Fahrenheit revisitedPART I – THEATRE IN OPEN SPACESA new beginningFerrara: meeting Antonio SlavichPedagogy and theatre practice: the groupThe school of the streetParallel livesA dramaturgy for street theatreFrom the character to the themeThe non-audience of street theatreFrom non-audience to audienceTime robbersA Prussian General at the service of the theatrical artsStrategy and moral strengthBoldnessPerseveranceSurpriseStratagemConcentration of forces in a spaceKnowing the terrainCommunications systemsThe street as a theatrical placeFrom the city to the touring village: Mir CaravaneQuijote!Emigration and theatrePART II – THE EDGE OF THE COINThe third sideTheatre workshop and techniquesThe reasons of the heartPleasure and creativityTheatre and mental healthThe shaman in the universityTheatre in prison: dignity restoredReading the body like a bookThe actor: a professional liar?Teacher and pupil – a drama in many actsThe humility of the minerThe art of observingObservations on observationBaudelaire's "pilot"On the language of the gestureGesture and maskOrganic gesture real gestureThe invisible gestureTheatre and magicA look at primordial stupiditiesOther ways of seeingMagic and everyday life"God laughed,The voice of the wolfFirePART III – THE METHOD OF EXILE Theatre, storytelling and experienceConflict as a an investigative techniqueFrom the everyday to the out-of-the-everydayThe legend of the MethodFrom legend to practice: the improvisation exerciseExercise preparation planFrom Maria's working diaryIndividual preparationWorking with imagesThe role of remembranceRelationshipsThe social relationshipThe emotional relationshipThe ethical-philosophical relationshipThe environmental relationshipThe motives: the becausesCharacteristics of the requestWhat a because isThe secret reason, or the chameleon strategyThe reasons for the becausesThe urgency in the becausesThe curtainThe situation: The need for surpriseThe dynamic of the exerciseThe activityAttention and concentration: being or doingThe ten commandments of the activityThe reason for comingThe costumeThe moodConditions of the moodThe doing of the exerciseRules and aims of the gameThe criticism of the exerciseThe practice – some examplesThe subconscious and characterEpilogue