Piece Comment

Review of Speak The Speech: Acting Shakespeare.


For those of you who still can't picture Michael York, he is Basil from the Austin Powers movies. It sounds like Mr. York loves to hear his own voice. And why not? He can read the ingredients from the back of a cereal box and make you stand up straight and love the language of English. This lecture stands out because Mr. York expertly mixes humor, performance techniques, and appropriate references on a subject literary critics have read way too much into. It helps to understand Shakespeare's plays from an acting point of view. After all, plays are meant to be performed. This piece should be a necessary study guide for acting students. One will find, perhaps not too surprisingly, that it will make reading Shakespeare a whole lot more enjoyable too. If I may suggest: Listeners may want to check out the wonderful book/TV series by John Barton on acting Shakespeare as well. Mr. Barton begins with, "The first rule for studying Shakespeare is...don't". Mr. York would agree.