Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide

NowinitsfirstAmericanedition,PlayingShakespeareisthepremierguidetounderstandingandappreciatingthemasteryoftheworld’sgreatestplaywright.TogetherwithRoyalShakespeareCompanyactors–amongthemPatrickStewart,JudiDench,IanMcKellen,BenKingsley,andDavidSuchet–JohnBartondemonstrateshowtoadaptElizabethantheaterforthemodernstage.ThedirectorbeginsbyexplicatingShakespeare’sverseandprose,speechesandsoliloquies,andnaturalisticandheightenedlanguagetodiscovertheessenceofhischaracters.Inthesecondsection,BartonandtheactorsexplorenuanceinShakespeareantheater,fromevokingironyandambiguityandstrikingthedelicatebalanceofpassionandprofoundintellectualthought,tofindingnewapproachestoplayingShakespeare’smostcontroversialcreation,Shylock,fromTheMerchantofVenice.Apracticalandessentialguide,PlayingShakespearewillstandforyearsastheauthoritativefavoriteamongactors,scholars,teachers,andstudents.