Customer Reviews

The Actor and the Text (Applause Acting Series)

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The book, The Actor and the Text, by Cicely Berry, is an excellent book which opens actors up to the idea of studying the text of the play rather than the action. Ms.Berry's book specifically focuses on the text of William Shakespeare's plays. She gives detailed examples of exercises that can be very useful to actors attempting to decipher the language of Shakespeare. Personally as an actor, I found this book to be extremely helpful not only for Shakespeare, but for all plays. The book really made me look at plays entirely differently. In the past when first reading a play, I would simply read through it and think about where my character starts out in the beginning of the play and where he would end up at the end of the play. When I read a play now I really pay a lot more attention to the words and the language that the author chose. Once again, Cicely Berry's book is an excellent reference for all actors who are looking to make a personal improvement towards their acting skills and also their interpretation of language.

Cicely Berry, Voice Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has written an exemplary book for actors, particularly those performing works by Shakespeare. She somehow finds the words that express the elusive feel for Shakespeare's language that any good Shakespearean actor must develop. Her descriptions, examples and exercises provide a comprehensive training program for actors that recreates the work she has done with some of the world's great Shakespearean actors of our day: an essential book.