Kevin Hanssen

Audiobooks

He has also produced and edited many audiobooks whilst working as an audiobook producer in London. The majority of these were for Orion Publishing. Titles include Monty Python’s Autobiograpy, the Jason Bourne series (Bourne Ultimatum, Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Identity), The Somme, Leon and Cecile Fiszman’s Biography and many more.

In Zimbabwe he has produced and/or performed three audiobooks:

Books

In 2011 Kevin released his first publication: Jump Theatre, How To Make A Play. In 2017 he contributed as an editor to Practical Criticism for A-Level students of Literature.

Jump Theatre

Jump Theatre – How to make a play, is a book written by Kevin Hanssen, published by Africalia and Jump Productions.

See sample pages HERE

Theatre is about telling stories. Jump Theatre explores the many roles and processes required to create theatre, with examples from the author’s personal experience of professional and educational theatre production in Southern Africa and internationally. More than twenty years of practical, hands on experience of creating theatre are celebrated in the book. Beautifully illustrated with numerous photographs, tables, sample schedules and diagrams, Jump Theatre is particularly useful for schools, universities and theatre companies as a broad introduction to theatre production. Specific concrete examples help to make abstract ideas easier to understand, and there are plenty of references to further reading for those who wish to delve deeper into the different departments of theatre production.

Chapter headings

• Foreword by Bjorn Maes (Africalia)
• Introduction
• Creating a play – a brief overview
• Assigning roles
• Choosing a play
• Research and analysis
• A list of needs
• Choosing a company
• Auditions
• Read through
• The Rehearsal process:

1. Units and blocking
2. Warm up
3. Rehearsing small units
4. Games and experimenting
5. Rehearsing a musical

• The Design process:

1. Introduction to design
2. Set design
3. Costume, props and decor
4. Lighting design
5. Sound design
6. Using a PA system

• Promotion and Advertising
  
• Production management and the technical rider
• Running through the whole play
• Technical rehearsals
• Dress rehearsals
• Performances
  
• Move-out
• Last words and thank you
• About the author

Illustrations by Heather Cameron and Alex Fairlie. Photography by Laurie Macpherson.

Practical Criticism

This book is divided into three sections: Poetry, Drama and Narrative Prose. It offers students an experience of over 60 writers from Zimbabwe and the wider world, and will give them skills in literary appreciation.

Compiled by a team of experienced literature scholars and practitioners, Practical Criticism has been crafted to give the student practice in analysing poems and excerpts from drama and prose. The texts range from the classic to the contemporary.

Although designed with A-level students and their teachers in mind, the book will be of value to anyone interested in literature. In includes an introduction to practical criticism and a glossary of useful literary terms. In addition, a series of questions calculated to direct the reader’s attention to significant aspects of each text is provided together with suggestions about how they may be answered.

Practical Criticism is an essential resource for students who wish to learn how to ask the right questions of a literary text and to express their answers clearly, while at the same time being introduced to new and exciting works of literature.

Published by Weaver Press, Box A1922, Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe (2017)