Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2
Paperback, 336 pages ISBN: 9781848422469Publication Date:
16 Mar 2017
Size: 234mm x 156mm£14.99 £11.99You save £3.00 (20%)
Ebook, 336 pages ISBN: 9781780018799Publication Date:
16 Mar 2017
£14.99 £11.99You save £3.00 (20%)

Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2

Twelve Leading Actors on Twelve Key Roles

By Julian Curry Foreword by Nicholas Hytner

Paperback £14.99£11.99

Ebook £14.99£11.99

'This book gives some of the very best of Shakespeare's twenty-first-century colleagues an opportunity to share insights that can only come from playing him' Nicholas Hytner, from his Foreword

Twelve leading actors take us behind the scenes of landmark Shakespearean productions, each recreating in detail their memorable performance in a major role.

  • Roger Allam on his Falstaff in both Henry IV plays at Shakespeare's Globe
  • Eileen Atkins on Viola in two productions of Twelfth Night seventeen years apart
  • Simon Russell Beale on Cassius in Deborah Warner's modern-dress Julius Caesar
  • Chiwetel Ejiofor on his Donmar Warehouse Othello, directed by Michael Grandage
  • Sara Kestelman on Hippolyta and Titania in Peter Brook's iconic white-box Dream
  • Ian McKellen on one of Shakespeare's most demanding of roles: King Lear
  • Michael Pennington on stepping in at the eleventh hour as Timon of Athens
  • Alan Rickman on re-evaluating the melancholic Jaques in As You Like It
  • Fiona Shaw on Shakespeare's Shrew, Katherine, in Jonathan Miller’s production
  • Patrick Stewart on his Las Vegas-set Shylock, a role he has played many times
  • Harriet Walter on Imogen in Shakespeare's late romance, Cymbeline, at the RSC
  • Zoë Wanamaker on her National Theatre Beatrice, directed by Nicholas Hytner

Each actor leads us through the choices they made in rehearsal, and how the character works in performance, shedding new light on some of the most challenging roles in the canon. The result is a series of individual masterclasses that will be invaluable for other actors and directors, as well as students of Shakespeare – and fascinating for audiences of the plays.

Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2 was shortlisted for the 2018 Theatre Book Prize.

'Absorbing and original… Curry's actors are often thinking and talking as that other professional performer, Shakespeare himself, might have done.' Times Literary Supplement on Shakespeare On Stage: Vol. 1

Blog Post: Read extracts from the book, including insights into Othello, Beatrice, Lear and Katherine Read more >>

Downloadable Extract Shakespeare On Stage 2 extractShakespeare_On_Stage_2_extract.pdf
Press Quotes

'A remarkably rich collection... as well as the thoughtful step-by-step analyses of rehearsal and performance, the interviews abound in striking perceptions of the plays as a whole'

Shakespeare Survey

'[Gives the reader] that amazing, engrossing feeling of listening to someone who is an expert in their field… one of the other joys of this book is the reminder that it brings of how intellectual acting is. These actors talk about the roles with great knowledge and affection… give [it] to a student to read and be inspired'

Drama Magazine

'These thorough and penetrating interviews are greatly illuminating'

Word Matters - Journal of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama

'[This] is becoming a fascinating series... a good read for fans of the performers, Shakespeare or acting in general'

British Theatre Guide
Paperback,336 pages ISBN: 9781848422469Publication Date:
16 Mar 2017
Size: 234mm x 156mm£14.99 £11.99You save £3.00 (20%)
Ebook,336 pages ISBN: 9781780018799Publication Date:
16 Mar 2017
£14.99 £11.99You save £3.00 (20%)

Also by Julian Curry:

Judi Dench on Juliet
Patrick Stewart on Shylock
Roger Allam on Falstaff
Michael Pennington on Timon of Athens
Brian Cox on Titus Andronicus
Adrian Lester on Henry V
Ian McKellen on Macbeth
Harriet Walter on Imogen
Ian McKellen on King Lear
Eileen Atkins on Viola
Simon Russell Beale on Cassius
Chiwetel Ejiofor on Othello
Alan Rickman on Jaques
Shakespeare On Stage
Tim Pigott-Smith on Leontes
Ralph Fiennes on Coriolanus
Zoë Wanamaker on Beatrice
Rebecca Hall on Rosalind
Jude Law on Hamlet
Helen Mirren on Cleopatra
Penelope Wilton on Isabella
Patrick Stewart on Prospero
Fiona Shaw on Katherine
Sara Kestelman on Hippolyta and Titania
Derek Jacobi on Malvolio

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