Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's GuideNow in its first American edition, Playing 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. |
From inside the book
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Page 33
Look again at “ Disguise fair nature with hard - favoured rage " : there's not much doubt there about what the natural stresses are . Secondly , if you are in doubt there is a pretty infallible test : look for the long vowels .
Look again at “ Disguise fair nature with hard - favoured rage " : there's not much doubt there about what the natural stresses are . Secondly , if you are in doubt there is a pretty infallible test : look for the long vowels .
Page 165
Michael Pennington : There's also a third character in the scene , isn't there ? And that's the city . Which makes it possible for us not necessarily to be in contact . There's always the city to look at and to play off . That's true .
Michael Pennington : There's also a third character in the scene , isn't there ? And that's the city . Which makes it possible for us not necessarily to be in contact . There's always the city to look at and to play off . That's true .
Page 201
There's nothing particularly complex textually there , and you rightly played the professional fool . ... Within the general flipness there's suddenly , as so often with Shakespeare's fools , a very serious remark .
There's nothing particularly complex textually there , and you rightly played the professional fool . ... Within the general flipness there's suddenly , as so often with Shakespeare's fools , a very serious remark .
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Playing Shakespeare: an actor's guide
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictWalking the boards in a play by the Bard can be one of the most rewarding and frightening experiences of an actor's life. Drawing on 35 years' experience as associate director of the Royal Shakespeare ... Read full review
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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Common terms and phrases
acting actor actually Antonio audience balance become beginning believe better break Caesar called changes character clear comes course David Suchet death director don't doth easy Elizabethan emotional example eyes feel follow give goes happens hath hear heart heightened Henry hold Ian McKellen important intention irony it's John kind King language Let's Lisa Harrow listen live look mean Michael mind moved naturalistic nature never once ORSINO passage passion Patrick Stewart pause performance perhaps play poetry prose question reason rehearsal rhythm Richard scene seems sense sentence Shake Shakespeare Shylock situation soliloquy sometimes sonnet sounds speak speech stand stress strong sure talking tell That's theater thee there's thing thou thought tradition true verse VIOLA whole words wrong
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide A Methuen paperback |
| Author | John Barton |
| Contributor | Trevor Nunn |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Anchor Books, 1984 |
| ISBN | 0385720858, 9780385720854 |
| Length | 265 pages |
| Subjects | › › Drama / Shakespeare Performing Arts / Acting & Auditioning Performing Arts / Theater / Stagecraft Performing Arts / Theater / Stagecraft & Scenography |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |