Soliloquy!: The Shakespeare Monologues - Women (Applause Acting Series) (Paperback)

by Michael Earley (Author), Philippa Keil (Author) "Performing a speech by Shakespeare-in an audition, rehearsal, or production-is on e of the touchstone experiences of the stage..." (more)
Key Phrases: thy country, Lady Macbeth, Queen Margaret, Lady Anne (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Your one-stop classical workshop! At last, over 175 of ShakespeareÕs finest and most performable monologues taken from all thirty-seven plays are here in two easy-to-use volumes (Men and Women). Selections travel the entire spectrum of the great dramatistÕs vision, from comedies, wit and romances, to tragedies, pathos and histories.

Soliloquy! is an excellent and comprehensive collection of ShakespeareÕs speeches. Not only are the monologues wide-ranging and varied, but they are superbly annotated. Each volume is prefaced by an informative and reassuring introduction, which explains the signals and signposts by which Shakespeare helps the actor on his journey through the text. It includes a very good explanation of blank verse, with excellent examples of irregularities which are specifically related to character and acting intentions. These two books are a must for any actor in search of a ÕclassicalÕ audition piece.Õ- Elizabeth Smith, Voice Director, Juilliard

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books; annotated edition edition (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936839791
• ISBN-13: 978-0936839790
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #229,874 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for actors, January 31, 2004

By	tahl2 "tahl2" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soliloquy: The Shakespeare Monologues--The Men (Applause Acting Series) (Paperback)

This compact little book, and its companion volume (same editors) of Shakespeare monologues for women, are wonderful resources for anyone who likes to memorize poetry.

Learning verse, rather than just reading verse, is tremendously rewarding: think of it like stocking a pond with fish so you've got food for thought for the rest of your life.

The book is thin, covers all the "best bits" of Shakespeare for memorization, and has all the explanatory & interpretive notes you need to understand them. Highly, highly recommended.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HELPFUL, July 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Soliloquy: The Shakespeare Monologues--The Men (Applause Acting Series) (Paperback)

This book is very helpful in the memorization of the Monologues. It has full footnotes and even guidelines on how to act out the lines. If it weren't for this book I highly doubt I would have gotten as many Shakespearean parts as I have.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good guide to the most popular Shakespeare for women, March 4, 2002

By	Margaret P Harvey (Charlottesville, Va United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book explores many of the most widely-know and popular monolouges for Shakespeare for female characters and a few select monolouges for male characters. The best part about this book is that the monolouges not often comprised of smaller speeches, cut up and pasted. Most of these monolouges are classic, tried and true and really useful for Shakespearen auditions and readings. An adequate amount of plot explanation and scene information is provided, as are explanations for the Elizabethan terminology. Nothing is left unsaid as far as preparation, meaning and suggestions on how a scene should be done. But the lack of variety and the absence of many well-known and good monolouges made me give this book only four stars. I would only recommend this to an actress just starting out in Shakespeare, who dosen't know a lot of Shakespeare plays and would be unable to go direct to the source for a monolouge, or have a certain play in mind. This gives a nice sampling of plays and characters to start out with. But for actresses who know and have experience with Shakespeare, it would probably be even more useful to go to the actual play to find your monolouge.