Speaking Shakespeare

Speaking Shakespeare
Author: Patsy Rodenburg
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2023-08-24
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 1350161675

From A Midsummer Night's Dream's Puck to Othello's Desdemona, this new edition of Speaking Shakespeare gives you all the necessary tools to bring any of Shakespeare's eclectic characters to life. Patsy Rodenburg uses practical exercises and textual analysis to hone in on your dramatic resonance, breathing and placement in order to unlock your potential for playing these iconic characters. Speeches and scenes such as Mark Antony's 'O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth' and the bloody scene in which Macbeth admits to Lady Macbeth that he has 'done the deed' are placed in context and discussed in depth. Combining clear practical, textual and imaginative work with a brilliant analysis of scenes and speeches from the whole range of Shakespeare's plays, this is an essential and inspiring guide for anyone working on his plays today. It brings a renewed focus on the language of power, so frequently spoken in the worlds of politicians and company directors, which will give readers insight into the potency of clear, direct communication, specifically in the context of Shakespeare. Each chapter has been revised following the author's 20 additional years of experience as a voice coach and includes techniques necessary for a clear and convincing performance.

Shakespeare on Toast

Shakespeare on Toast
Author: Ben Crystal
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2015-12-24
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 178578031X

Actor, producer and director Ben Crystal revisits his acclaimed book on Shakespeare for the 400th anniversary of his death, updating and adding three new chapters. Shakespeare on Toast knocks the stuffing from the staid old myth of the Bard, revealing the man and his plays for what they really are: modern, thrilling, uplifting drama. The bright words and colourful characters of the greatest hack writer are brought brilliantly to life, sweeping cobwebs from the Bard – his language, his life, his world, his sounds, his craft. Crystal reveals man and work as relevant, accessible and alive – and, astonishingly, finds Shakespeare's own voice amid the poetry. Whether you're studying Shakespeare for the first time or you've never set foot near one of his plays but have always wanted to, this book smashes down the walls that have been built up around this untouchable literary figure. Told in five fascinating Acts, this is quick, easy and good for you. Just like beans on toast.

How to Speak Shakespeare

How to Speak Shakespeare
Author: Cal Pritner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2001
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9781891661181

This classroom and theater-tested program teaches amateur and professional actors alike how to understand and effectively communicate the poetry of Shakespeare. Organized around passages from Romeo and Juliet, a simple, three-step process is presented. In the first step, Test Your Understanding, readers learn the value of looking up words in the Oxford English Dictionary and paraphrase passages to ensure that they truly understand the words they are speaking. The second step, Stress for Meaning, presents essential tools for speaking Shakespeare effectively, including iambic pentameter and correct rhythm, and explains how to syncopate for meaning. The final step, Celebrate the Poetry, honors the poetry of Shakespeare through a discussion of the use of punctuation, repeated sounds, and connecting key words and phrases. Exercises bring all the elements of these steps together.

This Is Shakespeare

This Is Shakespeare
Author: Emma Smith
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2020-03-31
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1524748552

An electrifying new study that investigates the challenges of the Bard’s inconsistencies and flaws, and focuses on revealing—not resolving—the ambiguities of the plays and their changing topicality A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no other. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality, and literary mastery. A man who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else. Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of. But it doesn’t tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant. In This Is Shakespeare, Emma Smith—an intellectually, theatrically, and ethically exciting writer—takes us into a world of politicking and copycatting, as we watch Shakespeare emulating the blockbusters of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd (the Spielberg and Tarantino of their day), flirting with and skirting around the cutthroat issues of succession politics, religious upheaval, and technological change. Smith writes in strikingly modern ways about individual agency, privacy, politics, celebrity, and sex. Instead of offering the answers, the Shakespeare she reveals poses awkward questions, always inviting the reader to ponder ambiguities.

Speak the Speech!

Speak the Speech!
Author: Rhona Silverbush
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 1089
Release: 2002-09-18
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 0571211224

A detailed guide to approaching Shakespearean text, Speak the speech! contains everything an actor needs to select and prepare a Shakespeare monologue for classwork, auditions, or performance. Included herein are over 150 monologues. Each one is placed in context with a brief introduction, is carefully punctuated in the manner that best illustrates its meaning, and is painstakingly and thoroughly annotated. Each is also accompanied by commentary that will spark the actor's imagination by exploring how the interrelationship of meter and the choice of words and sounds yields clues to character and performance. And throughout the book sidebars relate historical, topical, technical, and other useful and entertaining information relevant to the text. In addition, the authors include an overview of poetic and rhetorical elements, brief synopses of all the plays, and a comprehensive index along with other guidelines that will help readers locate the perfect monologue for their needs.

Freeing Shakespeare's Voice

Freeing Shakespeare's Voice
Author: Kristin Linklater
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
Total Pages: 225
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 1559366389

A passionate exploration of the process of comprehending and speaking the words of William Shakespeare. Detailing exercises and analyzing characters' speech and rhythms, Linklater provides the tools to increase understanding and make Shakespeare's words one's own.

Speaking in Shakespeare's Voice

Speaking in Shakespeare's Voice
Author: Linda Gates
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2019-05-15
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 081013991X

Speaking in Shakespeare's Voice: A Guide for American Actors is a book for undergraduate and graduate students of acting as well as for the professional who would like to perform Shakespeare with the skill of a classical actor. It is also valuable for European actors interested in performing Shakespeare in American English and British actors who would like to explore Shakespeare from an American perspective. This guide focuses on the technical elements of voice and speech, including breathing, resonance, and diction, as well as providing an introduction to verse speaking and scansion and to Shakespeare’s rhetorical devices, such as antithesis, alliteration, onomatopoeia, irony, metaphor, and wordplay. These topics are annotated with examples from Shakespeare’s plays to demonstrate how an actor can apply the lessons to actual performance. The book also explores the history of Shakespearean performance in the United States and provides guidance on current editions of Shakespeare’s text from the Folio to online Open Source Shakespeare. A helpful appendix offers examples of two-person scenes and contextualized monologues.

Speaking the Speech

Speaking the Speech
Author: Giles Block
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Acting
ISBN: 9781848421912

The most authoritative, most comprehensive book yet written on the practicality of speaking Shakespeare.

The Actor Speaks

The Actor Speaks
Author: Patsy Rodenburg
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 461
Release: 2015-11-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1250102944

In The Actor Speaks, Patsy Rodenburg takes actors and actresses, both professional and beginners, through a complete voice workshop. She touches on every aspect of performance work that involves the voice and sorts through the kinds of vexing problems every performer faces onstage: breath and relaxation; vocal range and power; communication with other actors; singing and acting simultaneously; working on different sized stages and in both large and small auditoriums; approaching the vocal demands of different kinds of scripts. This is the final word on the actor's voice and it's destined to become the classic work on the subject for some time to come.

Playing Shakespeare

Playing Shakespeare
Author: John Barton
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2010-11-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0307773914

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.