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 3
... beget a temperance that may give it smoothness ... Be not too tame neither . But let your own discretion be your tutor . Suit the action to the word , the word to the action , with this The Two Traditions-Elizabethan and Modern Acting.
... beget a temperance that may give it smoothness ... Be not too tame neither . But let your own discretion be your tutor . Suit the action to the word , the word to the action , with this The Two Traditions-Elizabethan and Modern Acting.
Page 9
... give to modern actors : don't be too theatrical , don't saw the air too much , but think about the reality of the situation . What is modern about our approach however is the jargon that we use . As you've just pointed out ...
... give to modern actors : don't be too theatrical , don't saw the air too much , but think about the reality of the situation . What is modern about our approach however is the jargon that we use . As you've just pointed out ...
Page 10
... Give us the opening line of The Merchant of Venice . Ian McKellen : " In sooth I know not why I am so sad . " Now that simple line can be said in an infinite number of ways . On the one hand you could go for the mood and the quality of ...
... Give us the opening line of The Merchant of Venice . Ian McKellen : " In sooth I know not why I am so sad . " Now that simple line can be said in an infinite number of ways . On the one hand you could go for the mood and the quality of ...
Page 20
... gives an impression of ordi- nary everyday speech and behavior . We don't mean it in the more general sense of " being true to nature . " Ben Kingsley : Yes , it's a dangerous word and can be confusing . But I think if we're clear about ...
... gives an impression of ordi- nary everyday speech and behavior . We don't mean it in the more general sense of " being true to nature . " Ben Kingsley : Yes , it's a dangerous word and can be confusing . But I think if we're clear about ...
Page 28
... give us our phrasing . David Suchet : It's also full of acting hints if you know how to look for them . Ian McKellen : And because the verse is a more economical way than prose of saying something , it's likely to be more concise and ...
... give us our phrasing . David Suchet : It's also full of acting hints if you know how to look for them . Ian McKellen : And because the verse is a more economical way than prose of saying something , it's likely to be more concise 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