Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide (Methuen Paperback)

Barton, John

ISBN 10: 0385720858 / ISBN 13: 9780385720854

Published by Anchor, 2001

About this Item

paperback The item is fairly worn but still readable. Signs of wear include aesthetic issues such as scratches, worn covers, damaged binding. The item may have identifying markings on it or show other signs of previous use. May have page creases, creased spine, bent cover or markings inside. Packed with care, shipped promptly. Seller Inventory # X-001-2598

Bibliographic Details

Title: Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide (...

Publisher: Anchor

Publication Date: 2001

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Acceptable

About this title

Synopsis:

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.

Review:

"One of the sanest, wisest, and most practical volumes I have ever read about Shakespeare."-Michael Billington, The Guardian (London)