Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's GuidePlaying Shakespeare is the premier guide to understanding and appreciating the mastery of the world’s greatest playwright. Together with Royal Shakespeare Company actors–among them Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley, and David Suchet–John Barton demonstrates how to adapt Elizabethan theater for the modern stage. The director begins by explicating Shakespeare’s verse and prose, speeches and soliloquies, and naturalistic and heightened language to discover the essence of his characters. In the second section, Barton and the actors explore nuance in Shakespearean theater, from evoking irony and ambiguity and striking the delicate balance of passion and profound intellectual thought, to finding new approaches to playing Shakespeare’s most controversial creation, Shylock, from The Merchant of Venice. A practical and essential guide, Playing Shakespeare will stand for years as the authoritative favorite among actors, scholars, teachers, and students. |
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Page xv
... That is surpris- ing as he was an actor and a director , and a very fine one . Though he is basically right in what he urges , the way he puts it is more likely to affright an actor than to stimulate him : Let him rather acquire an ...
... That is surpris- ing as he was an actor and a director , and a very fine one . Though he is basically right in what he urges , the way he puts it is more likely to affright an actor than to stimulate him : Let him rather acquire an ...
Page xvi
... that is said here is obvious , yet I know from experience that it needs saying over and over . Much is crude or over- simplified . Much is either too narrow or too general . And some is probably plain wrong . But I must confess that I ...
... that is said here is obvious , yet I know from experience that it needs saying over and over . Much is crude or over- simplified . Much is either too narrow or too general . And some is probably plain wrong . But I must confess that I ...
Page 4
... that speech goes to the very heart of it. It's one of those utterances which seems a bit simple and limited at first, but if you live with it you will find that it begins to resonate and to open doors. I also believe that in the ...
... that speech goes to the very heart of it. It's one of those utterances which seems a bit simple and limited at first, but if you live with it you will find that it begins to resonate and to open doors. I also believe that in the ...
Page 4
... that speech goes to the very heart of it . It's one of those utterances which seems a bit simple and limited at first , but if you live with it you will find that it begins to resonate and to open doors . I also believe that in the ...
... that speech goes to the very heart of it . It's one of those utterances which seems a bit simple and limited at first , but if you live with it you will find that it begins to resonate and to open doors . I also believe that in the ...
Page 5
... that . But you may say , " All that's very fine , but what's so difficult about acting Shakespeare ? What's the problem ? " Or indeed " Is there a problem ? " Well , yes , I believe that there is . Two things need to come together and ...
... that . But you may say , " All that's very fine , but what's so difficult about acting Shakespeare ? What's the problem ? " Or indeed " Is there a problem ? " Well , yes , I believe that there is . Two things need to come together and ...
Contents
3 | |
27 | |
Language and CharacterMaking the Words Ones Own | 56 |
Using the ProseWhy Does Shakespeare Use Prose? | 83 |
S Set Speeches and Soliloquies Taking the Audience with You | 106 |
Using the SonnetsGoing Over Some Old Ground | 128 |
Subjective Things | 147 |
Irony and AmbiguityText That Isnt What It Seems | 149 |
Passion and CoolnessA Question of Balance | 167 |
Rehearsing the TextOrsino and Viola | 188 |
Exploring a CharacterPlaying Shylock | 211 |
Contemporary ShakespeareA Discussion | 227 |
Poetry and Hidden PoetryThree Kinds of Failure | 243 |
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Common terms and phrases
actor actually Alan Howard ambiguity antitheses Antonio audience Barbara Leigh-Hunt believe Ben Kingsley blank verse Brutus Caesar character COSTARD course Cressida David Suchet de-dum death Desdemona director Donald Sinden dost doth Elizabethan EMILIA emotional example FALSTAFF feel FESTE give Hamlet happens hath heightened language Henry honour Ian McKellen intention irony Jane Lapotaire Judi Dench King Kingsley Lisa Harrow listen look mean Merchant of Venice Michael Pennington Mike Gwilym naturalistic Norman Rodway once ORSINO Othello passage passion Patrick Stewart pause Peggy Ashcroft perhaps Playing Shakespeare poetic poetry PORTIA prose rehearsal rhythm Richard Pasco Roger Rees scene sense Shake Shakespeare's text Sheila Hancock Shylock soliloquy sonnet sooth I know sounds speak speare speech strong stresses talking tell theater thee there's thing thou thought Tony Church Troilus verse line verse-line VIOLA words