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 40
... break of day arising . " The sentence overruns the verse - line there . " Like to the lark at break of day arising " : end of line . And then the new line begins with " From sullen earth , sings hymns at heaven's gate . " Sheila Hancock ...
... break of day arising . " The sentence overruns the verse - line there . " Like to the lark at break of day arising " : end of line . And then the new line begins with " From sullen earth , sings hymns at heaven's gate . " Sheila Hancock ...
Page 175
... break off betimes , And every man hence to his idle bed ; So let high - sighted tyranny range on Till each man drop by lottery . But if these , As I am sure they do , bear fire enough To kindle cowards and to steel with valour The ...
... break off betimes , And every man hence to his idle bed ; So let high - sighted tyranny range on Till each man drop by lottery . But if these , As I am sure they do , bear fire enough To kindle cowards and to steel with valour The ...
Page 197
... break into your couplet . I think that's what Shake- speare's after here . The second couplet is meant to break in on the first . So if you say callously , " Women , they don't last , " it's up to Judi to make the melancholy comment and ...
... break into your couplet . I think that's what Shake- speare's after here . The second couplet is meant to break in on the first . So if you say callously , " Women , they don't last , " it's up to Judi to make the melancholy comment and ...
Contents
The Two Traditions Elizabethan and Modern Acting | 3 |
Using the Verse Heightened and Naturalistic Verse | 27 |
Language and Character Making the Words Ones Own | 56 |
Copyright | |
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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 question rehearsal rhythm Richard Pasco Roger Rees scene sense Shake Shakespeare's text Sheila Hancock Shylock soliloquy sonnet sooth I know sounds speak speare strong stresses talking tell theater thee there's thing thou thought Tony Church Troilus Tubal verse line verse-line VIOLA words