Customer Reviews

The Eloquent Shakespeare: A Pronouncing Dictionary for the Complete Dramatic Works with Notes to Untie the Modern Tongue

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This book is one of the most valuable resource for an actor studying and performing Shakespeare's texts. A classical actor's library is no longer complete without this book.

This book fills a major void for North American actors, directors, acting teachers and voice coaches who work on the plays of William Shakespeare.

The Eloquent Shakespeare gives all the essential information about the utterance of every word in Shakespeare, including authoritative pronunciation guidelines as well as helpful advice about the placement of stress when speaking the word within a verse line. The introduction alone is worth the price of the book and will help theatre practitioners approach the text with greater understanding and confidence. In addition, this book is very easy to use and light enough to carry to rehearsal!

Author Gary Logan, a master voice and speech coach, has accumulated sterling credentials working with the best actors at prominent North American theatre companies. He is obviously very good at what he does, but that would hardly ensure his book would be as practical and useful as it is. What Logan demonstrates here is that he is, in fact, a researcher of the first order. Scholars may well praise him for that, but it is theatre practitioners who will most appreciate his accomplishment and make best use of this indispensable resource.

Working on Shakespeare? Buy this book!

Full disclosure: Gary Logan is a longtime friend and colleague of mine. We taught together at Canada's National Voice Intensive and I recently directed Pericles for him at the Shakspeare Theatre's Academy for Classical Acting in Washington DC. That said, even if I had never met the man, I would still recommend The Eloquent Shakespeare with unchecked enthusiasm.

Rod Menzies
Coach and Director
Rod Menzies Studio
Los Angeles

As Head of Voice and Coaching for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (North America's leading classical repertory theatre), I am pleased to recommend this remarkable book. Since its publication, this resource has become a valuable tool in our rehearsal process - coaches, actors and directors all find it helpful. Mr. Logan has been a member of our coaching team several times since 1998 and I find this work reflective of his skill as a teaching artist: clear, concise and actor-friendly. Recommended with the greatest respect.

Janine Pearson
Stratford, Ontario, Canada.

This book is an absolute must-own for any actor's shelf. Not only does it pronounce every word in the canon, but it provides detailed explanations for different usage, as well as historical context for archaic phrases and words. It is easy to use, a knowledge of IPA is not needed, and valuable for many words and terms that are used in other classical texts as well. The Lexicon and Shakespeare A to Z now have a new addition in the required texts for Classical acting and instruction.

This book changes changes the whole game. Every North American theatre company who does Shakespeare (even just from time to time) needs to have this book. Every actor who does Shakespeare, or even just wants to have a classical monologue in their back pocket, needs this book. Before I had this book I would just have to fake my way through sections of text, and hope I wasn't messing it up. Just knowing that I'm pronouncing things correctly frees me up to ACT. And if you are interested in scansion and meter, this book is a gem; it tells you how many syllables, where the stress is, and even how it can be stressed differently or shortened/lengthened in certain circumstances (and lists those instances!). It is truly just as important, if not more important, than my lexicons. Word is just starting to spread, but one day this will be a book that every serious Shakespearean actor/director/theatre company/voice coach/etc will have. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity. Brilliant book.

I have used this non-stop since I picked it up! Colleagues are asking to use it. If you are a classical actor in North America you will use this book constantly.

This book is an invaluable resource for actors, directors, dramaturgs, etc., embarking upon a prodcution from the canon. Do NOT be decieved into thinking you know how something should be pronounced, no matter how long you've been performing/directing Shakespeare. Gary Logan has done all of the research (and it is EXHAUSTIVE) for you ... which means that all pronunciation guesswork is gone! By following his lead, you will speak perfect SASD without any question. And let's face it - if you're doing Shakespeare you know how rarely anything is "certain" ... so having an SASD expert at your fingertips is truly a treasure found.

As both an actor and the master of text for a classical company, I've looked at a lot of reference books. "The Eloquent Shakespeare" is the best and most thorough Shakespeare pronouncing dictionary available, and it comes with a terrific introduction that lays out the practices and problems of pronunciation in Shakespeare in ways both erudite and entertaining. In the rehearsal room, Logan settles all arguments. You want half a dozen pronouncing dictionaries? Fine, get this one and five others. Only want one? This is the one.

I honestly don't know how I managed before I had this book.
Every actor, teacher, director, coach should own this book.
Every lover of Shakespeare should own this book.
Buy it, buy it now. You won't regret it.

As a voice coach who teaches at a university that focuses on classical drama and coaches for Shakespeare companies around the country, I have probably every Shakespeare pronunciation dictionary available--in and out of print. Gary's book really brings the best of all of them together. It is thorough, clear, and easy to use.