Hamlet: A User's Guide
Description
An intensely practical account of the way Hamlet actually works on stage.
Writing with the benefit of inside experience of many productions, actor and director Michael Pennington takes us through Hamlet scene by scene, and character by character. He also gives a personal account of his own encounters with the play, and of its staging through the ages.
'A wonderful book' Ronald Harwood
'Racy, vivid, well informed, and continuously entertaining' Stanley Wells
'An insider's guide par excellence' Simon Callow
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Michael Pennington first played Hamlet when a student at Cambridge in 1964. He went on to play the part for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1980, amongst many other classical leads for the RSC, the National Theatre and the English Shakespeare Company, of which he was co-founder and joint Artistic Director from 1986-1992. He has also directed several productions of Shakespeare's plays, including Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The Action:
- Day One: Act 1 Scene 1 - Act 1 Scene 5
- Day Two: Act 2 Scene 1 - Act 2 Scene 2
- Day Three: Act 3 Scene 1 - Act 4 Scene 4
- Day Four: Act 4 Scene 5 - Act 4 Scene 7
- Day Five: Act 5 Scene 1 - Act 5 Scene 2
- 3. The Characters
- 4. Conclusion: State of Play
- Index
- About the Author
- Copyright Information
