On Acting Shakespeare’s Plays
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Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach
Written by Patrick Tucker
Secrets of Acting Shakespeare isn’t a book that gently instructs. It is a passionate, yes-you-can guide designed to prove that anybody can act Shakespeare.
Patrick Tucker’s classic manual encourages trained and amateur actors alike to look to the original practices of the Elizabethan theatre for inspiration. He explores the ‘cue scripts’ used by actors, who knew only their own lines, to demonstrate the extraordinary way that these plays work by ear.
This updated second edition includes:
A section dedicated to the modes of address 'thee‘ and 'you‘
A brand new chapter on Original Practices and cue scripts
An expanded genealogical chart, showing the interrelations of 92 different characters from the history plays
A new discussion of Elizabethan acting spaces – balconies, gates, ramparts and even backstage areas
Secrets of Acting Shakespeare is a must-read for actors intrigued by the ‘Original Approach’ to acting Shakespeare, or for anyone curious about how the Elizabethan theater worked.
The Best Actors in the World: Shakespeare and His Acting Company
Written by David Grote
Shakespeare knew actors because he was one. The first book-length study of its kind, this volume investigates Shakespeare as a member of his acting company, dating and casting all the plays they presented from 1594 to 1614, and exploring the effects of actors on his writing. Much has been written about Shakespeare and a great deal is known about the Elizabethan theater. Yet little has been done to examine Shakespeare in relation to his acting company. This book casts light on Shakespeare's life in drama and the creation and staging of his plays. More precisely than any other work, it establishes the dates for his company's productions, exploring the varied and profound influences actors had on the works of Renaissance dramatists, and giving us a unique look at the man who knew his actors best of all.
As a member of the newly organized Chamberlain's Men, a company that rose to fame in the London theater, Shakespeare experienced the numerous crises, both personal and political, that nearly destroyed the company at the construction of the Globe. Grote describes the company's reorganization as the King's Men, which led to the writing of Shakespeare's great tragedies, as well as the trials of the plague years, Shakespeare's retirement from the stage, the development of writers to replace him, and the burning of the Globe.
Written by John Barton
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.
Shakespeare & Company: When Action is Eloquence
Written by Bella Merlin & Tina Packer
Shakespeare & Company: When Action is Eloquence is the first comprehensive insight into this internationally acclaimed company founded in 1978 in Lenox, Massachusetts, by actor-director Tina Packer and voice pioneer Kristin Linklater, with the transformative power of Shakespeare’s language at its heart.
Why act Shakespeare? What’s his relevance in the twenty-first century? Compelling answers to these questions lie at the center of this highly accessible journey into Shakespeare & Company’s aesthetics and practice. Drawing on hitherto unpublished material – including notebooks, lectures, interviews, rehearsal diaries – and the Company’s newly collated archive, this book provides insight into a working theatre company and sheds light on the role Shakespeare plays in our modern world. It also details:
Shakespeare & Company’s founding and early history
Its aesthetic based on the Elizabethan theatre’s principles of the Art of Rhetoric; Structure of the Verse; Voice and Movement; Clown; Fight; and Actor/Audience Relationship
Vocational components of its Training Intensives
Practical pedagogy of its Education programs
Insights into its unique approaches to Performance
Impact and legacy of its three lifetime founding members: Dennis Krausnick (Director of Training), Kevin G. Coleman (Director of Education) and Tina Packer (founding artistic director).
Actors, directors, students, educators, scholars and theatre-lovers alike will find practical acting strategies, inspirational approaches to theatre making and lively insights into the sustaining of a unique and robust theatre company that has been thriving for over 40 years.
Freeing Shakespeare's Voice: The Actor's Guide to Talking the Text
Written by Kristin Linklater
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.
Written by Antony Sher
A classic of theatre writing, a unique insight into the creation of a landmark Shakespearian performance.
Antony Sher's stunning performance for the RSC as Richard III on crutches won him both the Laurence Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actor. This book records - in the actor's own words and drawings - the making of this historic theatrical event.
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