Hello to all! I need some help finding the RIGHT Shakespeare monologue. Although I have studied Shakespeare a great deal from a text standpoint, I have never had the opportunity to perform it on stage. It is my goal for the next year to through myself into the study of Shakespeare, and book stage work. Therefore I need help getting started. What characters are right for my age group? I am 29 years old (but look about 24-25,) and I'm female. Is there a Shakespeare acting class that anyone would recommend here in New York? Books I could read? Anything else you can think of? I would really appreciate the help.

Playing Shakespeare was a BBC mini series with John Barton and members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. I think there were 9 episodes and they help guide actors to make intelligent choices when interpreting and acting in Shakespearean plays. There is a book and a set of DVDs. I have the DVDs, but didn't look at the book yet. So I'm not sure if there is different info in each.

Speaking Shakespeare is a great book that reads very easy.

The Arden Shakespeare is a series of books containing Bill's plays that have in-depth notes, translations, and commentaries.

Shakespeare Made Easy is a collection of books as well. I'm not familiar with them but they tend to get good reviews.


As for picking a monologue... it's tough to suggest one. I believe that a monologue should "speak to you". For a woman, I could suggest that you put The Taming Of The Shrew, Hamlet, and All's Well That Ends Well on the top of your reading list. Those will give you a terrific starting point in understanding Shakespeare's women.

Thank you so much! That was a lot of helpful information! I will look into all of it this week...and I'll get back to you as to how I'm liking it. You are a gem!

No problem!

I forgot to mention, the Playing Shakespeare DVDs are (or were) available on Netflix. Your public library may have them for checkout as well.