Will Power: How to Act Shakespeare in 21 Days

by John Basil

“Actor, director, producer, and teacher Basil (cofounder, American Globe Theatre) offers a three-week course that demystifies the English playwright and prepares actors to play Shakespearean roles with confidence. ...his practical instructions should benefit both students and working actors.” – Library Journal , starred review

Genres: Shakespeare, Education

374 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

Reviews

[Carolyn Page]

Any book that gives a time frame for completion of a task instantly makes me suck in my breath through my teeth, but this is my second time reading this book, and I think if you actually try, three weeks of following the advice in this book will give you a marked improvement in your acting.

John Basil starts the reader with the text... How to read it, pronounce it, extrapolate from meter and punctuation and vocabulary the directions you need for a good performance. The instructions are detailed, the ideas are clear and exciting.

If you want to apply the principles in this book to any sort of acting, I think you could, but if you just got your first Shakespearean role I'd give this book some serious consideration.

[Dennis]

Best acting teacher I have ever had!

[Susan]

I used this book to help teach a class on Shakespeare. It provided me with great insights into how to make the words of Shakespeare come alive. I used some of the exercises in class.

[Jess]

I try to read books about acting Shakespeare as well as ones about studying him, because you sometimes get new insights. This one was a little touchy-feely, but I do feel like the exercises gave me a new perspective.

[Anne-Marie]

The title tells it all - this book will help you to perform Shakespeare in 21 days. In his book, John Basil shares Shakespeare acting methods he's learned from Oxford.