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by Donald MacKechnie (Author)
While some of the thirty-two speeches included here - those from Hamlet, Henry V and As You Like It, for example - are well known and favorites for audition purposes, most are less familiar and so provide challenging new opportunities for an actor to grow. The author, a producer, director and teacher for more than 40 years, carefully analyzes the meaning of each monologue as a whole and various sentences and phrases within it. He goes on to explain point by point everything the actor needs to know about that moment in the play when the monologue is delivered. In her foreword, Joan Plowright extols, "...he's done an excellent job of de-mystifying Shakespeare in his book...No actor attempting his first Shakespearean role (or even his second) should be without it."
