Authors: Rhona Silverbush, Sami Plotkin
ISBN-13: 9780571211227, ISBN-10: 0571211224
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Date Published: September 2002
Edition: 1ST
Rhona Silverbush studied theatre and psychology at Brandeis University and holds a law degree from Boston College Law School. She has acted with regional theatre and Shakespeare companies and has directed and taught drama and Shakespeare. Currently, she coaches professional actors, lectures, writes, and is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University’s Teachers College. She and her husband live in New York City with their two aging feline divas.
Sami Plotkin graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University with a double major in Theatre Arts and English Literature, and honed her stagecraft in London under the tutelage of Royal Shakespeare Company members. She later earned her M.F.A. at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Sami has performed Shakespeare in the United States and on tour in Europe and the former Soviet Union; she now works as an actor, screenwriter, and playwright. During the hours when the New York Public Library is closed, she lives with her husband in Chelsea.
The authors were awarded a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation for this book in 1999.
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.
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. (Aug.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Prologue: Why We Wrote This Book | ||
Acknowledgments | ||
The Play's the Thing Choosing a Monologue | ||
What is This Stuff? | ||
This Earth, This Realm, This England: Shakespeare's Life and Times | ||
The Lowdown on Punctuation, Spelling, Annotation, Commentary, and Line Numbering | ||
Monologues | ||
The Histories | ||
King John | ||
Philip the Bastard (Act I, Scene i) | 5 | |
Philip the Bastard (Act II, Scene i) | 11 | |
Constance (Act III, Scene i) | 17 | |
Constance (Act III, Scene iv) | 23 | |
Constance (Act III, Scene iv) | 29 | |
Lewis (Act V, Scene ii) | 35 | |
Philip the Bastard (Act V, Scene ii) | 40 | |
Richard II | ||
Duchess of Gloucester (Act I, Scene ii) | 46 | |
John of Gaunt (Act II, Scene i) | 50 | |
King Richard (Act III, Scene ii) | 55 | |
King Richard (Act III, Scene ii) | 60 | |
Bishop of Carlisle (Act IV, Scene i) | 66 | |
Henry IV, Part One | ||
Hotspur (Act I, Scene iii) | 72 | |
Hotspur (Act II, Scene iii) | 78 | |
Falstaff (Act V, Scene i) | 83 | |
Henry IV, Part Two | ||
Mistress Quickly (Act II, Scene i) | 87 | |
Lady Percy (Act II, Scene iii) | 91 | |
King Henry IV (Act III, Scene i) | 98 | |
Falstaff (Act IV, Scene iii) | 104 | |
Prince Hal (Act IV, Scene v) | 110 | |
Henry V | ||
Chorus (Prologue) | 116 | |
King Henry V (Act I, Scene ii) | 122 | |
King Henry V (Act IV, Scene iii) | 129 | |
King Henry V (Act V, Scene ii) | 137 | |
Henry VI, Part One | ||
Joan la Pucelle (Act V, Scene iii) | 143 | |
Henry VI, Part Two | ||
Queen Margaret (Act I, Scene iii) | 149 | |
Eleanor (Act II, Scene iv) | 158 | |
Henry VI, Part Three | ||
Queen Margaret (Act I, Scene iv) | 164 | |
Richard, Duke of York (Act I, Scene iv) | 171 | |
King Henry VI (Act II, Scene v) | 179 | |
Richard III | ||
Richard (Act I, Scene i) | 185 | |
Lady Anne (Act I, Scene ii) | 191 | |
Richard (Act I, Scene ii) | 197 | |
King Edward IV (Act II, Scene i) | 203 | |
Lady Anne (Act IV, Scene i) | 208 | |
Margaret (Act IV, Scene iv) | 212 | |
King Richard (Act V, Scene iii) | 218 | |
Bottom (Act IV, Scene i) | 359 | |
Snug (Act V, Scene i) | 364 | |
Much Ado About Nothing | ||
Benedick (Act II, Scene iii) | 368 | |
Benedick (Act II, Scene iii) | 373 | |
The Taming of the Shrew | ||
Petruchio (Act IV, Scene i) | 377 | |
Twelfth Night | ||
Orsino (Act I, Scene i) | 381 | |
Viola (Act II, Scene ii) | 386 | |
Malvolio (Act II, Scene v) | 392 | |
Olivia (Act III, Scene i) | 401 | |
The Two Gentlemen of Verona | ||
Julia (Act I, Scene ii) | 406 | |
Launce (Act II, Scene iii) | 413 | |
Launce (Act IV, Scene iv) | 420 | |
Julia (Act IV, Scene iv) | 425 | |
The Problem Plays | ||
All's Well that Ends Well | ||
Helena (Act III, Scene ii) | 433 | |
Measure for Measure | ||
Isabella (Act II, Scene ii) | 438 | |
Claudio (Act III, Scene i) | 443 | |
Troilus and Cressida | ||
Ulysses (Act I, Scene iii) | 447 | |
Cressida (Act III, Scene ii) | 454 | |
The Tragedies | ||
Antony and Cleopatra | ||
Cleopatra (Act I, Scene v) | 461 | |
Enobarbus (Act II, Scene ii) | 466 | |
Cleopatra (Act IV, Scene xv) | 474 | |
Cleopatra (Act V, Scene ii) | 481 | |
Cleopatra (Act V, Scene ii) | 485 | |
Cleopatra (Act V, Scene ii) | 491 | |
Coriolanus | ||
Menenius (Act II, Scene i) | 497 | |
Coriolanus (Act IV, Scene v) | 501 | |
Aufidius (Act IV, Scene v) | 506 | |
Volumnia (Act V, Scene iii) | 512 | |
Hamlet | ||
Hamlet (Act I, Scene ii) | 517 | |
Polonius (Act I, Scene iii) | 524 | |
Ophelia (Act II, Scene i) | 529 | |
Polonius (Act II, Scene ii) | 534 | |
Hamlet (Act II, Scene ii) | 542 | |
Hamlet (Act III, Scene i) | 552 | |
Ophelia (Act III, Scene i) | 559 | |
Hamlet (Act III, Scene ii) | 564 | |
King Claudius (Act III, Scene iii) | 570 | |
Hamlet (Act III, Scene iii) | 576 | |
Gertrude (Act IV, Scene vii) | 582 | |
Julius Caesar | ||
Cassius (Act I, Scene ii) | 588 | |
Brutus (Act II, Scene i) | 597 | |
Portia (Act II, Scene i) | 602 | |
Calphurnia (Act II, Scene ii) | 610 | |
Antony (Act III, Scene i) | 615 | |
Brutus (Act III, Scene ii) | 620 | |
Antony (Act III, Scene ii) | 625 | |
Antony (Act III, Scene ii) | 630 | |
King Lear | ||
Edmund (Act I, Scene ii) | 637 | |
Edmund (Act I, Scene ii) | 642 | |
Goneril (Act I, Scene iv) | 648 | |
King Lear (Act II, Scene iv) | 654 | |
King Lear (Act III, Scene ii) | 660 | |
King Lear (Act III, Scene iv) | 665 | |
Macbeth | ||
Lady Macbeth (Act I, Scene v) | 671 | |
Lady Macbeth (Act I, Scene v) | 677 | |
Macbeth (Act I, Scene vii) | 683 | |
Lady Macbeth (Act I, Scene vii) | 691 | |
Macbeth (Act II, Scene i) | 697 | |
Porter (Act II, Scene iii) | 704 | |
Macbeth (Act III, Scene i) | 710 | |
Othello | ||
Iago (Act I, Scene i) | 717 | |
Othello (Act I, Scene iii) | 722 | |
Iago (Act I, Scene iii) | 727 | |
Emilia (Act IV, Scene iii) | 731 | |
Romeo and Juliet | ||
Nurse (Act I, Scene iii) | 735 | |
Mercutio (Act I, Scene iv) | 742 | |
Mercutio (Act II, Scene i) | 749 | |
Romeo (Act II, Scene ii) | 756 | |
Juliet (Act II, Scene ii) | 762 | |
Juliet (Act II, Scene ii) | 766 | |
Juliet (Act II, Scene v) | 770 | |
Juliet (Act II, Scene ii) | 774 | |
Juliet (Act III, Scene ii) | 780 | |
Romeo (Act III, Scene iii) | 786 | |
Friar Lawrence (Act III, Scene iii) | 791 | |
Lord Capulet (Act III, Scene v) | 799 | |
Juliet (Act IV, Scene iii) | 806 | |
Timon of Athens | ||
Timon (Act IV, Scene iii) | 812 | |
Titus Andronicus | ||
Titus Andronicus (Act III, Scene ii) | 817 | |
Aaron (Act IV, Scene ii) | 822 | |
The Romances | ||
Cymbeline | ||
Iachimo (Act II, Scene ii) | 829 | |
Imogen (Act III, Scene ii) | 837 | |
Imogen (Act III, Scene vi) | 843 | |
Pericles | ||
Dionyza (Act IV, Scene vi) | 848 | |
The Tempest | ||
Ariel (Act I, Scene ii) | 852 | |
Trinculo (Act II, Scene ii) | 859 | |
Caliban (Act III, Scene ii) | 864 | |
Prospero (Act IV, Scene i) | 868 | |
Prospero (Act V, Scene i) | 874 | |
The Winter's Tale | ||
Hermione (Act III, Scene ii) | 880 | |
Paulina (Act III, Scene ii) | 885 | |
Shepherd (Act III, Scene iii) | 891 | |
Synopses | ||
The Histories | ||
King John | 899 | |
Richard II | 903 | |
Henry IV, Part One | 906 | |
Henry IV, Part Two | 908 | |
Henry V | 911 | |
Henry VI, Part One | 913 | |
Henry VI, Part Two | 916 | |
Henry VI, Part Three | 920 | |
Richard III | 924 | |
Henry VIII | 927 | |
The Comedies | ||
As You Like It | 931 | |
The Comedy of Errors | 935 | |
Love's Labour's Lost | 938 | |
The Merchant of Venice | 942 | |
The Merry Wives of Windsor | 946 | |
A Midsummer Night's Dream | 949 | |
Much Ado About Nothing | 951 | |
The Taming of the Shrew | 954 | |
Twelfth Night | 958 | |
The Two Gentlemen of Verona | 960 | |
The Problem Plays | ||
All's Well that Ends Well | 963 | |
Measure for Measure | 966 | |
Troilus and Cressida | 970 | |
The Tragedies | ||
Antony and Cleopatra | 975 | |
Coriolanus | 978 | |
Hamlet | 981 | |
Julius Caesar | 985 | |
King Lear | 988 | |
Macbeth | 991 | |
Othello | 993 | |
Romeo and Juliet | 998 | |
Timon of Athens | 1001 | |
Titus Andronicus | 1003 | |
The Romances | ||
Cymbeline | 1007 | |
Pericles | 1010 | |
The Tempest | 1012 | |
The Winter's Tale | 1014 | |
Glossary of Common Archaic Words, Verb Forms, Elisions, and Contractions | 1017 | |
Index to the Monologues | 1021 |