HOW TO SPEAK VERSE IN SHAKESPEARE (Acting Coaches NYC) 

Dear Sir, you have just read Shakespeare... No, not read, interpreted it better than many and many actors have done in theatres lots of times until now. I suppose I can't express how amazed I am not only for your pronunciation but for your marvelous acting skills. Simply wondeful.

Windsor-Cunnigham, that's a British name if I ever saw one.

Haha i love the very end...that says it all! I am sure we have all fell silent, smiled and sighed, then said "Shakespeare!"

As a teacher and (very) amateur actor, I am so pleased to have discovered your channel! And so very sympathetic to how you end this video - there is no writer in the English language who is perfect... other than the Bard. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your love with the world through these videos!

This guy is a fucking badass.

This really helped me and gave me a lot of information on how to preform my monologue. Thank you!

His videos and so captivating. His voice is amazing

lovely; thank you very much for your work. I am showing this to a group of home school students to help them understand Shakespeare & iambic pentameter, however your explanation of verse is so much more concrete and beautiful.

that was beautiful- i teared up.i think you were close to speechless.

LOVE this!!!

I love love love your videos! Very clear, to-the-point, amusing, and knowledgeable!

thank you for your service, that was great!

I clicked on this video to help me preform sonnet 18 better for my poetry outloud competition! I was pleasantly surprised to see it here.

Really love and enjoy all your beautiful and intelligent videos

I find all these videos incredibly helpful. Thank you

very charmingly done to light up the blossoms of mankind and pattern them together to give lifes's meaning back over to the human race again, the sunshine in these days our souls need, Cheers Mucka

Great reminder sir, thank you!

I truly love and appreciate this video. I watched it because I enjoy writing poetry, but have always been too intimidated to try sonnets. However I've recently become inspired so I wanted a refresher on iambic pentameter, and not only did your video do this for me, it actually really helped me understand it more than I ever have. It was also incredibly helpful to get an actor's perspective on reading verse, as opposed to a literature teacher or something of the like. 🤗🙏🏻

Goosebumps

Such an engaging and captivating \ commanding voice. Would have thoroughly treasured him as my drama professor back in the day. Would love to watch his work on stage for sure!

Thank you for this inspiring video. This is the first video of yours I have watched and so have subscribed and will look for more. I am directing our school's production of 12th night soon and am hoping to do the best I can with very little experience. We are a primary school in Cape Town, South Africa and expose our students to Shakespeare from our youngest students (4 year old's) who listen to the narrative story and learn to recite a sonnet to our Grade 7's (13 year old's) who will perform an abridged version of the play. I am amazed to see how their understanding of Shakespeare grows over their years with us. Sorry to babble on but I really am grateful to you for freely sharing your knowledge and passion.

Shakespeare indeed. One cannot improve on perfection.

Ahhh Shakespeare. Perfect as it is.

I love this video

thank you for this!

I tend to miss these things. But the pregnant pause at the end. It was absolutely riveting.

Thank you.

Wasn't expecting to be brought to tears. A wonderful video.

Some fantastic comments here, John, though I would hesitate before saying that verse and rhythm are the same: part of what gives Shakespeare's speeches their force is how the rhythm (of the clauses and sentences) plays with or against the verse. But maybe that's a topic for another video!

There is a video I'd love to get your take on. I've loved the rhythm, flow and vocabulary in the show but I'm not sure how to identify it, could you help me?

I did not expect you to mention lady gaga

Young pretty starlett: "What THIS thing called Luv?" Benny Hill: "No, no, no! It's, what's this THING, called LOVE?"

He blew🤯 his own mind in the end 😂

Hi John I'm into Shakespeare I want to study Shakespeare, I will collect his plays so I can study theatre. I want to learn the characters , how to memorize the lines, I want to learn acting skills/ techniques more often which its my hopes, I look forward to acheive

He in fact pronounces ‘brilliant’ with 3 syllables - just like ‘wonderful’.

Smart

What Shakespeare monologue would you suggest for a drama school audition for a female aged 19? Thanks !

That is interesting)

Brilliant is also 3 syllables.

Does the word/ letter I, as in, I am,or I will be have one or two syllables? it rather sounds like Aaa-Eee. Maybe it's supposed to be pronounced as Aaa, as in, Aaa am, or Aaa will be.

Speaking verse is always a form of interpretation. If you were to read the line "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" in isolation, you would indeed follow the obvious metre and put the first beat on 'I', as you suggest. The problem is that the very next line (indeed, the rest of the poem) makes it clear that the speaker is questioning that idea: Thou art more lovely and more temperate, therefore it’s not a good comparison. A much better idea is to put the first beat on ‘shall’: “SHALL I compare thee to a summer's day? (implying: I think not).” Shakespeare’s sonnets enter into imaginary dialogues. If I were to say “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (‘mistress’ has only two syllables), with default iambic stressing, it sounds like a pointless truism, like saying “My bicycle is nothing like a truck’. If, on the other hand, you say “MY mistress’ eyes are NOthing like the sun” you are implicitly arguing with some other poet who has declared “My mistress’ eyes are like the brilliant sun”, and the poem becomes more engaging. See Rhythm and Meaning in Shakespeare: A Guide for Readers and Actors (Melbourne: Monash University Publishing, 2013) www.publishing.monash.edu/books/rms-9781921867811.html.

I'm auditioning for a movie character who speaks in a shakespearean accent. any advice on how to speak like that and how to become "fluent" in it??

Have you considered learning/teaching Shakespeare in Original Pronounciation rather than RP? I think it would make your rythym flow more naturally without such effort or intent to make it so.

Ngl i can picture him telling off potter and weasly for forgetting the eye of newt

But 'brilliant' has 3 syllables as well doesn't it?

That is an accent.