Performing Shakespeare's Tragedies Today The Actor's Perspective

A collection of essays by major Shakespearean actors on playing particular roles in Shakespeare's tragedies.

What does it mean to perform Shakespeare's Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedies in the modern theatre? This book brings together the reflections of a number of major classical actors on how these works can most powerfully be realized for today's audiences. Concentrating on the 'great' tragedies - Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear - the actors offer unique insights into some of the most demanding and rewarding roles in world drama, by showing what it is like to play them on stage. Ten perceptive and articulate performers reflect on their experiences of ten major roles: the Ghost, Gertrude and Hamlet; Iago, Emilia and Othello; Lady Macbeth and Macbeth; Lear's Fool, and King Lear. Together, these essays provide a peculiarly intimate set of trade secrets about what techniques, ideas and memories actors may use when approaching tragic roles in Shakespeare's most challenging plays.

Introduction Michael Dobson; Hamlet: The Ghost Greg Hicks; Gertrude Imogen Stubbs; Hamlet Samuel West; Othello: Iago Sir Antony Sher; Emilia Amanda Harris; Othello Nonso Anozie; Macbeth: Lady Macbeth Sian Thomas; Macbeth Simon Russell Beale; King Lear: Lear's Fool John Normington; King Lear David Warner.

What does it mean to perform Shakespeare's Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedies in the modern theatre? This 2006 book brings together the reflections of a number of major classical actors, including Sir Antony Sher, Samuel West and Imogen Stubbs, on how these works can most powerfully be realized for today's audiences.

Michael Dobson is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.