Well-known scenes from "Hamlet," "King Lear," "Macbeth," "Romeo and Juliet," "Julius Caesar," and 15 other popular plays. Summaries, selections from the appropriate text, and captions accompany the illustrations. 30 black-and-white illustrations.

I have personally compiled and edited this collection of 33 Shakespearean scenes specifically for aspiring female actors to study as well as enjoy. The scenes within this book are most suited to older, teenage actors, who have already begun to acquire some of the technical skills necessary to perform Shakespeare's wonderfully drawn, young adult female characters. These scenes are suitable for a range of acting exams and awards as well as for auditions and festivals. I have tried and tested these scenes with numerous students over the years with great success and more importantly, they have thoroughly enjoyed working on them. I have not provided guidelines as to how to perform these scenes. This is something for the individual performer to explore and what is what will make your performance individual. However, I do strongly believe, it is crucial to play characters within ones' playing range. As a developing actor, in your late teens and beyond, now is the time to tackle the more demanding female characters which Shakespeare has so brilliantly created. Continue to build your vocal skills and acting technique systematically. In this way your performances will have the necessary depth and will be exciting to watch. Learn to discover your character's subtext and objectives. This will enable your characters to spring to life and hence, help your audience believe in you. Methodical preparation will pay dividends when exploring these fascinating characters. I hope you enjoy working on them.

Playing Shakespeare is the premier guide to understanding and appreciating the mastery of the world’s greatest playwright. Together with Royal Shakespeare Company actors–among them Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley, and David Suchet–John Barton demonstrates how to adapt Elizabethan theater for the modern stage. The director begins by explicating Shakespeare’s verse and prose, speeches and soliloquies, and naturalistic and heightened language to discover the essence of his characters. In the second section, Barton and the actors explore nuance in Shakespearean theater, from evoking irony and ambiguity and striking the delicate balance of passion and profound intellectual thought, to finding new approaches to playing Shakespeare’s most controversial creation, Shylock, from The Merchant of Venice. A practical and essential guide, Playing Shakespeare will stand for years as the authoritative favorite among actors, scholars, teachers, and students.

Graphic novel adaptation of Prince Hamlet's struggle to deliver justice on his own terms.