Speak the Speech!: Shakespeare's Monologues Illuminated [Paperback]

Rhona Silverbush (Author), Sami Plotkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2002

The most comprehensive sourcebook of Shakespeare's monologues ever available in one volume.

A detailed guide to approaching Shakespearean text, Speak the Speech! contains everything an actor needs to select and prepare a Shakespeare monologue for classwork, auditions, or performance.

Included herein are over 150 monologues. Each one is placed in context with a brief introduction, is carefully punctuated in the manner that best illustrates its meaning, and is painstakingly and thoroughly annotated. Each is also accompanied by commentary that will spark the actor's imagination by exploring how the interrelationship of meter and the choice of words and sounds yields clues to character and performance. And throughout the book sidebars relate historical, topical, technical, and other useful and entertaining information relevant to the text. In addition, the authors include an overview of poetic and rhetorical elements, brief synopses of all the plays, and a comprehensive index along with other guidelines that will help readers locate the perfect monologue for their needs.

More than just an actor's toolkit, Speak the Speech! is also an entertaining resource that will help demystify Shakespeare's language for the student and theater lover alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Over 150 of the Bard's monologues are reprinted and explained for the aspiring actor or director in Speak the Speech! Shakespeare's Monologues Illuminated. The knowledgeable and breezy commentary ("Dial Lady M for Murder," reads one section heading) by acting coach Rhona Silverbush and playwright Sami Plotkin offers a brief context for each monologue, explains unfamiliar vocabulary and expressions, examines the relationship between mood and meter and even reminds readers what words to elide or expand. Boxed asides offer historical background and describe literary controversies over various lines and passages. There's also a general discussion of rhetorical elements.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This handbook provides easy access to information needed by actors or students preparing a monolog drawn from Shakespeare. Acting coach Silverbush and actor Plotkin offer synopses of Shakespeare's plays and cover his use of iambic pentameter, poetic and rhetorical elements, and historical and social context. They also include the full, modernized text of 150 monologs, arranged by genre. The monologs are identified by play title, act and scene, name of character speaking, character's gender and age range, and frequency of use in auditions. Brief introductions place the monologs in context, and extensive glosses of unfamiliar vocabulary are followed by an analysis aimed at helping an actor interpret the text. No other volume treating Shakespeare's monologs is as complete as this one. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Shana C. Fair, Ohio Univ. Lib., Zanesville
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1088 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; First Edition edition (September 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571211224
• ISBN-13: 978-0571211227
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great help for even a layman to understand Shakespeare, May 11, 2003

By 

Adam Bernstein "sixtiesuniverse" (Northwest, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speak the Speech!: Shakespeare's Monologues Illuminated (Paperback)

As a nonactor I'm in the midst of reading this book. Now for the first time I'm completely grasping the prose and verse. In the past I've tried to read Shakespeare cold, with no help, and as a modern English speaker you can pick up some things yes, but this book makes it all, and I mean all clear. We get well over 100 of his greatest monologues, and every unfamiliar word is fully explained, as well as multiple interpretations of the lines.

I recommend this book to students, actors, writers, and layman for it will unleash the magic of the verse. And when it does you can read or see a performance and grasp it all...and there is so much to grasp, and a good play requires a good reader, a good performance, a good audience, and this book will make you one.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For actors and teachers alike., October 17, 2002

By 

Cynthia A Dillon (Las Cruces, New Mexico USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speak the Speech!: Shakespeare's Monologues Illuminated (Paperback)

Although I know Speak the Speech is intended to be "an actor's tool kit," I have found it abundantly helpful as I teach my Shakespeare literature class this semester. The analysis and explication of speeches from As You Like It, Richard II and Henry IV have been a god-send as I work to have Shakespeare's characters jump off the page and live in the imaginations of my students.

I am also thrilled to be able to refer students in my Audition Techniques class to the book as they struggle with developing classical audition monologues. The wonder of this text is that it offers textual illumination of familiar passages for seasoned actors and scholars, and is at the same time written in a manner that is immediately accessible beginners.

I look forward with excitement to using this book in coming semesters as I teach my classes in acting Shakespeare.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How An Actor Prepares, November 13, 2002

By 

"rossbrodie" (Venice, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speak the Speech!: Shakespeare's Monologues Illuminated (Paperback)

Learn the Speech! Actors need tools for their acting toolkit and not a day goes by here at my Writers & Performers Garage in Los Angeles that I don't mention this great new tool. With over 150 monologues, it's an essential for actor preparation. I can't think of any recent book I've read that is more useful for actors working seriously at their craft.