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Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide Paperback – 21 August 2001

by John Barton (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars 126
See all formats and editions
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Playing Shakespeareis 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 Shakespearewill stand for years as the authoritative favorite among actors, scholars, teachers, and students.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Anchor Books
  4. Publication date
    21 August 2001
  5. Dimensions
    13.34 x 1.91 x 20.19 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    9780385720854
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0385720854
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

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

From the Back Cover

Now 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.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0385720858
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor Books; 1st Anchor books ed edition (21 August 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780385720854
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385720854
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.34 x 1.91 x 20.19 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 126

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Joseph A. Sebok
5.0 out of 5 stars Levels/Depth of Shakespeare for the aspiring actor
Reviewed in Canada on 20 June 2019
Verified Purchase
While I have fully read the book yet, I can tell you that I am not only enjoying reading it, but also how deep the Bards' work goes from the perspective of the actor.!

Get this book if you want to truly understand, and learn how to interpret/perform Shakespeare.!

P.S.: If you can, get the Video Documentary series as well. It'll give you a visually exampled tutorial of acting like you wouldn't believe.!
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Stefano
5.0 out of 5 stars Are you studying acting? Want you know how act Shakespeare? Buy it.
Reviewed in Italy on 1 March 2015
Verified Purchase
Libro in inglese. Da comprare se si vuole imparare a recitare davvero Shakespeare. Sì studia Shakespeare da un punto di vista pratico, in rapporto al teatro naturalistico, studiando il verso ecc...

Buy it if you want to really learn to act Shakespeare.
One person found this helpful
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Medea Dingo
5.0 out of 5 stars definitive toolkit
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 July 2006
Verified Purchase
i am a classicaly trained theatre director. having undergone a good classical training at a school of excellence (at MA level) an awful lot of what we were taught is reflected in this book. mind you - our course leader worked with barton at the RSC. there is a world of difference between reading/studying and playing shakespeare in professional practice - and to ignore verse form and to suppose there is no specific craft to acting it - well do that at your own peril: to do so is to underestimate shkspr. this is, in other words - a book for the professional practitioner. the only drawback with this book is that as a practitioner you'll probably see the sense of it AFTER you've put the text in the air in the way the barton suggests - and having someone outside of the rehearsal or exercise to help you is pretty important. for any actor or director who wants to deepen their understanding of how this stuff works - this is a much less prescriptive and 'thou shalt' book that Sir Peter Halls and gives you a good toolkit for performing shakespeare - if you can, however, watch the videos on which the book is based. for those of you who wish to study shakespeare critically - you may not see the value in this text. however, in this day and age critics are increasingly writing about practice and are beginning to see the value in it - (althoug a lot of their books, while based on practice critisism actually dont do the job) in terms of textual analysis and discovery on the text - this book is a good toolkit if you know how to unlock it.all in all, barton and hall reinvigorated and deepened our understanding of playing shkspr and are our 20th century pioneers for high end modern practice and you'd be hard pushed to match their knowledge and experience. in other words, it's worth more than a nod.
6 people found this helpful
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J. Walsh
5.0 out of 5 stars Peeking Under the Words
Reviewed in the United States on 8 December 2003
Verified Purchase
Though not an actor in the general sense of the word, as a teacher I often act a part in class to initiate attempts from my students. Hence, I am a frequent reader of the available works purporting to an understanding of Shakespeare's plays and the intents of the characters.
So it is with some experience that I award this book the five stars; it is simply the best unmasking of Shakespeare's characters and intentions that I've come across; and, because the reader must imagine adjustments players make to the author's suggestions as they work through the lines, it engages the reader actively in the interpretation of scenes from chosen works.
If you want to penetrate further into the work of this towering genius who somehow knew so much about the human condition, read this work. I cannot recommend it more entirely.
12 people found this helpful
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Marianne Bindig
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Way to Spend Your Money.
Reviewed in Canada on 20 December 2019
Verified Purchase
This is simply one of the most valuable resources I have! I use it when I teach all the time, and sometimes I just go over it again for my own pleasure. It has my highest recommendation to all teachers, lovers of Shakespeare, lovers of acting.
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