Great Shakespeare Actors: Burbage to Branagh

Great Shakespeare Actors offers a series of essays on great Shakespeare actors from his time to ours, starting by asking whether Shakespeare himself was the first--the answer is No--and continuing with essays on the men and women who have given great stage performances in his plays from Elizabethan times to our own. Individual chapters tell the story of their subjects' careers, but together these overlapping tales combine to offer a succinct, actor-centred history of Shakespearian theatrical performance.Stanley Wells examines what it takes to be a great Shakespeare actor and then offers a concise sketch of each actor's career in Shakespeare, an assessment of their specific talents and claims to greatness, and an account, drawing on contemporary reviews, biographies, anecdotes, and, for some of the more recent actors, the author's personal memories of their most notable performances in Shakespeare roles.. They include both English and American performers such as David Garrick, Sarah Siddons, Charlotte Cushman, Ira Aldridge, Edwin Booth, Henry Irving, Elle

"Aimed at a broad readership, the book offers short biographies of "great Shakespeare actors" from Shakespeare's time to our own the book will very likely prove a helpful and entertaining resource for many." --Kevin Curran, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900

Stanley Wells, Honorary President, The Shakespeare Birthplace TrustStanley Wells, described by Roy Hattersley as 'Our greatest authority on Shakespeare's life and work', is honorary President of The Shakespeare Birthplace, Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies of the University of Birmingham, and Honorary Emeritus Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. His most recent books are Shakespeare For All Time, L

"All the world's a stage as this book provides the reader short essays on great Shakespeare actors from Burbage to Branagh" according to C. M Mills. Dr. Stanley Wells the author of Great Shakespeare Actors is an acknowledged expert on the works of the Bard William Shakespeare (156All the world's a stage as this book provides the reader short essays on great Shakespeare actors from Burbage to Branagh C. M Mills Dr. Stanley Wells the author of Great Shakespeare Actors is an acknowledged expert on the works of the Bard William Shakespeare (1564-1616).In this 308 page book he gives the reader a glimpse behind the drawn curtain to learn more about famous and great actors and how the prod. -1616).In this All the world's a stage as this book provides the reader short essays on great Shakespeare actors from Burbage to Branagh Dr. Stanley Wells the author of Great Shakespeare Actors is an acknowledged expert on the works of the Bard William Shakespeare (156All the world's a stage as this book provides the reader short essays on great Shakespeare actors from Burbage to Branagh C. M Mills Dr. Stanley Wells the author of Great Shakespeare Actors is an acknowledged expert on the works of the Bard William Shakespeare (1564-1616).In this 308 page book he gives the reader a glimpse behind the drawn curtain to learn more about famous and great actors and how the prod. -1616).In this 308 page book he gives the reader a glimpse behind the drawn curtain to learn more about famous and great actors and how the prod. 08 page book he gives the reader a glimpse behind the drawn curtain to learn more about famous and great actors and how the prod. A Bit of Dry Toast I found this to be extremely dull, given the exalted roster of its subjects. Some good stuff here and there, but there are better books out there, and, I hope, not so dryly written.. "Shallow scholarship and a disappointment." according to Theseus. I'm sorry to say this book is a huge disappointment to me. I respect Stanley Wells as a scholar of Shakespeare (not including text structure and the mechanisms of prosody) and even more as a scholar of Elizabethan culture, but it is sad to see that, like many critics and schol