Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach (A theatre arts book) [Paperback]

Patrick Tucker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0878300953 | ISBN-13: 978-0878300952 | Publication Date: November 1, 2001 | Edition: 1

Secrets of Acting Shakespeare isn't a book that gently instructs. It's a passionate, yes-you-can designed to prove that anybody can act Shakespeare. By explaining how Elizabethan actors had only their own lines and not entire playscripts, Patrick Tucker shows how much these plays work by ear. Secrets of Acting Shakespeare is a book for actors trained and amateur, as well as for anyone curious about how the Elizabethan theater worked.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Any theater person or academic interested in understanding Shakespeare should read Tucker's remarkable book...this volume is highly recommended at all levels..
–R. Sugarman Ihoice

The book is a quite original and didactic look at Shakespeare, especially intriguing to the serious Shakespearean who is looking for new ideas.
–Michael Lazan Back Stage, September 2002

Tucker's Secrets of Acting Shakespeare is an important new book that offers much to a wide audience; a wealth of practical advice for students and makers of theatre and a great deal worth reconsidering for schlars of Shakespearean text and performance. Theatre Journal October 2003.

About the Author

Patrick Tucker is Director of London's Original Shakespeare Company. He is on the board of the Globe Theatre, London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878300953
• ISBN-13: 978-0878300952
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,034,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where was this book all my life!, April 23, 2003

By 

Christian Utzman (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach (A theatre arts book) (Paperback)

I really wish my teachers had this book when I was in school. It would have made Shakespeare so much more fun to study. Going back to Shakespeare after reading Secrets of Acting Shakespeare, you can actualy see the stage directions with every word Shakespeare writes. When you know the stage directions Shakespeare wrote into his texts, Shakespeare's works become so much more fun to read. Patrick takes you through the way Shakespeare's plays were performed when Shakespeare was still alive, and leads you through the discoveries Patrick's actors made when he and his theater company started performing Shakespeare's plays the way Shakespeare wanted it done. Needless to say, this book is the best book on Shakespearian Acting I've ever read, and would recommend it to anyone who's even slightly interested in the Bard's works. I would also recommend Patrick Tucker's First Folio Monologue books for men and women. They're a crash course in the work Patrick covered in Secrets of Acting Shakespeare, and a great way to sink your teeth into Patrick's ideas.

-Christian, Improvactor.com

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare, how it was in the beginning, March 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach (Library Binding)

This is an exciting book about how Shakespeare's plays actually got on to the stage. The actors then were hardworking, often doing a different play each night, and there was no time for rehearsal as we know it today.
The actors learnt their parts from cue scripts, long scrolls showing the last few words of the previous speech and then their own. They had to be extra attentive or they might miss their entry. The Book-holder, or prompt, was the only person to have the entire text (a valuable document you didn't want anybody else to steal, no copyright in those days) was prominently on stage to see that things went right and, if a prompt was needed, it was given openly. The audience accepted this as part of the performance though anybody needing too many prompts would doubtless get some barracking.
The author, who clearly has a science background and knows how to present a logical case, shows that all the information needed is in the First Folio which is an actors' tool, not a dead piece of Eng Lit. 'you', 'thou' and 'thee' are not interchangeable but actually tell the actor where to stand in relation to others on the stage. Modern editions of Shakespeare have tidied the text up to be read by students; the First Folio had lines, half lines, capital letters in odd places, strange commas; but all actually telling the actor what to do.
The author has been working as a director for the last forty years or so and has refined his theories on the job. He has run The Original Shakespeare Company with many successful productions using his methods. He is wildly popular with his actors and the few productions he was allowed to do at The Globe, London, were sold out and enthusiastically received.
The academic world and theatre establishment are not so happy to see their entrenched theories challenged; and it must be extra annoying that he writes so well and is such a pleasure to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes reading Shakespeare like a John Grisham Novel, December 4, 2003

By 

Nihal Mehta (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach (A theatre arts book) (Paperback)

This book explains how to "read" Shakespeare easily. (Actually, it's about how to act his plays, but the ideas can equally well be used to simply read the plays with greater appreciation.) The method presented is quite easy and it makes the plays come to life. I wish I had this book 25 years ago when I studied Shakespeare in school.

I have just started this book, but already I want to read Shakespeare's plays again to see what I missed - and I missed plenty. You also begin to understand why Shakespeare was a great play-writer, why his works have stood the test of time while the other writers of his age have withered away.

Some of the interesting observerations: Thee vs. You has real significance (the former is intimitate while the latter is formal), why he writes in prose sometimes, the significance of the iambic pentameter (di-dum, etc.).

The author also dispels a myth that English spoken in Shakespeare's time was hard compared to today. Rather Shakespeare's words were always harder than the common speak of the day, yet his plays were able to be well understood because of the "clues" presented in the writing, which made the actors act the part correctly, thus making the language easier to understand. Don't worry if you did not fully this last paragraph. The book will explain all.

And, soon you'll be able to turn the pages of a Shakespeare play faster than that of a John Grisham novel.