Acting Narrative Speeches: The Actor as StorytellerMeriwether Pub., 2002 - 445 pages Narrative speeches, both classical and contemporary, are used to reveal how an actor can discover the inherent energy, the essence and the subtextual colours of every word and sentences of a dramatic speech. This book clearly demonstrates that any memorable performance needs far more than acting technique alone. In eighteen chapters actor/director/teacher McDonough defines in depth how an actor can find the often overlooked subtleties that create characters with dimension and moments of heightened reality. |
From inside the book
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Page 9
... hand , boy , raise your hand for us and I will say the oath " my hand goes up , I feel his heart beating at my back as my father with the thousands chants the solemn oath : " If I turn traitor to the Cause I pledge now , may this hand ...
... hand , boy , raise your hand for us and I will say the oath " my hand goes up , I feel his heart beating at my back as my father with the thousands chants the solemn oath : " If I turn traitor to the Cause I pledge now , may this hand ...
Page 101
... hand on Mavis ' arm . Use a piece of furniture ( in the play you might use another character ) to land this gesture , so that you are not miming the contact . As Mavis makes her request , she fiddles with a wisp of what little hair she ...
... hand on Mavis ' arm . Use a piece of furniture ( in the play you might use another character ) to land this gesture , so that you are not miming the contact . As Mavis makes her request , she fiddles with a wisp of what little hair she ...
Page 107
... hand . Try a version of this which starts and ends with the line , as if Cavale , deep in memory , were reliving in slow motion what happened in the other time and place . Gestures As Body English About Almost Anything Up to this point ...
... hand . Try a version of this which starts and ends with the line , as if Cavale , deep in memory , were reliving in slow motion what happened in the other time and place . Gestures As Body English About Almost Anything Up to this point ...
Common terms and phrases
acceleration acting action actor Agamemnon Appendix Athi audience beginning body build caesura central moment chair character character's choices circumstances climax Clytemnestra conjure create deceleration develop draft E.E. Cummings emotional emphasize endwords energy example explore expressive eyes fade father feel feet from/to gesture Gus Edwards Hamlet hand happened hear Hotspur I'm Not Rappaport Imagine implicit scene impulses indirect quote inner conflict inside the story Juliet language layered look metaphor moments Monologues move movement narrative speeches onomatopoeia onomatopoetic opposites performance phrase physical play point of view possible pullback Puntila rehearsal reliving rhythm rhythmic Romeo Romeo and Juliet Sam Shepard seam sentence set the scene Shakespeare shape single image slow snake handling sound sense space specific spondee stage syllables talk tell the story telling a story theater Titania transition trochee Tybalt voice Wesley Weston words