Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Thinking Shakespeare: A How-To Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable with the Bard” as Want to Read:

Thinking Shakespeare: A How-To Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable with the Bard

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Thinking Shakespeare: A How-To Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable with the Bard

Barry Edelstein

4.62 · Rating details · 106 ratings · 15 reviews

Thinking Shakespeare gives the actors practical advice about how to make Shakespeare's words feel spontaneous, passionate, and real. Based on Barry Edelstein's twenty-year career directing Shakespeare's plays, this book provides the tools that actors need to fully understand and express the power of Shakespeare's language.

...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 455 pages

Published August 31st 2007 by Sparknotes (first published August 2007)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Thinking Shakespeare, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Thinking Shakespeare

Lists with This Book

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

TEDxTemecula 2016

30 books — 3 voters

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

An Eclectic List of Favorites

101 books — 4 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.62 ·

Rating details

· 106 ratings · 15 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Thinking Shakespeare: A How-To Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable with the Bard

Oct 25, 2011 Cat rated it it was amazing

For anyone who wants to have a more clear understanding of Shakespeare, but especially for actors, Barry Edelstein's "Thinking Shakespeare" is the greatest resource I've found.

If you're an actor, you've probably received that folio packet which I think is public domain. It's full of all kinds of folio rules about iambic pentameter, punctuation, spelling and more. However, at around 15 pages, it's crude to say the least. I received this from directors or teachers at least three times in my strugg ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 20, 2011 Lisa McKenzie rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Henry McKenzie

The other night, I was helping my son to memorize the To Be or Not To Be soliloquy. The process was intense, because in order to speak Hamlet's words, my son had to think Hamlet's thoughts, and those are dark thoughts indeed. It was eerie to consider that these words, penned by one man hundreds of years ago, have been repeated somewhere on this planet perhaps every day since. Powerful stuff. Like a virus.
After witnessing this one manifestation of this one soliloquy, I was drawn to read, Thinkin ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 12, 2019 Niasaki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, shakespeare, theater

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, this brought to light so many interpretations and meanings in the Bards work that I had not seen before. I probably have to go over all the plays I've read again to check what I missed. It also gave tips and techniques to use during the acting process that I will surely us next time I preform in a productions. Also the writing felt more supportive than demeaning. It helped you through the methods with plenty of examples and explanations, instead of criticizing you ...more

flag Like · see review

Apr 10, 2015 Jennifer rated it liked it

Shelves: plays-and-short-stories, true-crime-and-essays

This book doesn't really fit any of the current shelves I use, but it sort of sneaks in on a couple because it deals with Shakespeare's plays, and it's pretty much a really long essay about how to read Shakespeare.

I would guess most of the people who come to this book have probably already read one or two (or a dozen) of Shakespeare's plays. If you're like me, and have to at least skim through (if not intensively read every word of) the forewords and prefaces, then you're probably already famili This book doesn't really fit any of the current shelves I use, but it sort of sneaks in on a couple because it deals with Shakespeare's plays, and it's pretty much a really long essay about how to read Shakespeare.

I would guess most of the people who come to this book have probably already read one or two (or a dozen) of Shakespeare's plays. If you're like me, and have to at least skim through (if not intensively read every word of) the forewords and prefaces, then you're probably already familiar with a lot of the material this book covers, because a lot of the basic information Edelstein covers and expands on is included as foreword material in any good, reputable edition of Shakespeare. I'm talking about the "Reading Shakespeare's Language/A Note on the Text" portions specifically--and I'm comparing Edelstein to the information in the single-volume editions from the Folger Shakespeare Library.

What the Folger editions do so wonderfully is provide context historically for the play, provide a brief summary that highlights a few of the more confusing or problematic themes that will appear in the play, and provide a resource for understanding the poetic phrasing and odd word choices and placement in Shakespeare. These three things seem to be the things that make most high school experiences reading Shakespeare unpleasant--we might be given one of these things, but we're never left to read the play as a cohesive unit, and we're rarely given all three. Edelstein doesn't touch too much on historical context, and he never focuses on a particular play for more than a chapter or two, so there isn't an in-depth analysis of themes and issues, but what Edelstein does is delve deep into the language of Shakespeare.

There were more than a few places where I found myself exclaiming to the book, "AHA, I was right! Take that, Mrs. Richards!" Edelstein's exhaustive study of how Shakespearean language works proved points I attempted to make to my high school English teacher but was shot down over, including that it doesn't make sense to pronounce the "ed" ending every time it occurs (remembered, followed, examined, etc.). However to make his points, Edelstein sometimes relies very heavily on scansion, meter, and understanding how poetry works. While I think that it's important for actors to understand how the poetic lines they may (or may not) have to speak work, there were a couple places where I felt like Edelstein's reliance solely on poetic scansion either marred the emotion or a line or scene, or suggested a different interpretation of a character than I had previously understood. The former is the more unforgivable of the two, in my opinion. New interpretations or understandings of characters is hardly ever a bad thing, but insisting on using line breaks as places to pick up a new thought--at least when I tried it while reading aloud--seemed to break up the emotive flow of a piece a little too much. In a lot of places, too, Shakespeare has punctuated line breaks, so it doesn't matter too much because there's a comma or a period or a semi-colon, but in cases where there was no punctuation I found his insistence on pauses, however miniscule, made the speeches choppy. However, this is a matter or personal preference, and I think Edelstein's point was that as actors we should think about what we're saying, and not just recite.

On the whole the book was very well put together, and I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone involved on any level with Shakespeare. ...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 01, 2017 Juliet the Book Slayer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

If you're serious about learning Shakespearian acting, this is THE book to read. (This comes from someone who's read quite a few!)

"Thinking Shakespeare" is currently out of print (??? I cannot for the life of me fathom why), so I ended up eBaying a precious copy for 125 bucks. I don't think I can give it more praise than to say that it was well worth it (and then some), and that it'll be an indispensable tool for the rest of my professional acting life.

"Thinking Shakespeare" made clear Shakespe ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 30, 2012 Nikki Gatlin rated it it was amazing

This book is FABULOUS thus far. It gives such remarkable and candid insight into working on a Shakespearean play and the advice and exercises are so great that they transcend being just applicable to plays by the Bard.

I recommend this to any actor. Period. I ESPECIALLY recommend this to any actor looking to perform Shakespeare. It really is a wonderful tool that I think EVERY actor should have not just on their shelf, but on their nightstand, within reach to refer to all the time.

flag Like · see review

Apr 10, 2015 Shaina rated it really liked it

Shelves: shakespeare

There were some wonderful points made by Edelstein in this book. However, sometimes he pounded the points out a little too much. I am an actress...some of the stuff he kept repeating I knew, and it made me feel like I was being treated like a child. However, I loved his examples and the concis ways he worded certain rules.

flag Like · see review

Aug 01, 2012 Ben rated it really liked it

Shelves: informational, classics

This resource provides strong strategies for approaching and understanding Shakespeare.

flag Like · see review

Aug 09, 2012 Melissa rated it liked it

Full of useful stuff, but not a page turner..

flag Like · see review

Jan 19, 2010 Magic rated it it was amazing

This book changed the way in which I approach acting Shakespeare. So amazingly useful, practical and well written. I must read for any actor working on Shakespeare

flag Like · see review

Jul 18, 2010 Mary rated it it was amazing

I'm marking this "read" because I have consumed all of the pages. But I am not finished with this book--not by a long shot. I expect to refer to it All The Time. Love it. ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 09, 2014 Casey rated it really liked it

Ugh. It took me waaay to long to read this. That being said, I did find this book to be well written and insightful. I actually do feel more comfortable with the Bard. Boom.

flag Like · see review

Jul 07, 2010 Denise rated it really liked it

This book helped me to understand Shakespeare's ingenuity in a different way than I am used to doing:namely, through acting. This is a very useful well-written book. ...more

flag Like · see review