David Wiles is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter. A British theatre historian, he specialises in classical and early modern theatre and has spent his career in departments of drama, where his teaching has always engaged with practice. His research interests include performance space and time, mask, acting and citizenship. This is his eighth book for Cambridge University Press.

• Introduction; 1. Hamlet's advice to the players; 2. Rhetorical performance in antiquity; 3. Acting, preaching and oratory in the sixteenth century; 4. Baroque acting; 5. Actors and intellectuals in the Enlightenment era; 6. Emotion; 7. Declamation; 8. Gesture; 9. Training.

David Wiles is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter. A British theatre historian, he specialises in classical and early modern theatre and has spent his career in departments of drama, where his teaching has always engaged with practice. His research interests include performance space and time, mask, acting and citizenship. This is his eighth book for Cambridge University Press.

• Introduction; 1. Hamlet's advice to the players; 2. Rhetorical performance in antiquity; 3. Acting, preaching and oratory in the sixteenth century; 4. Baroque acting; 5. Actors and intellectuals in the Enlightenment era; 6. Emotion; 7. Declamation; 8. Gesture; 9. Training.

David Wiles is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter. A British theatre historian, he specialises in classical and early modern theatre and has spent his career in departments of drama, where his teaching has always engaged with practice. His research interests include performance space and time, mask, acting and citizenship. This is his eighth book for Cambridge University Press.

• Introduction; 1. Hamlet's advice to the players; 2. Rhetorical performance in antiquity; 3. Acting, preaching and oratory in the sixteenth century; 4. Baroque acting; 5. Actors and intellectuals in the Enlightenment era; 6. Emotion; 7. Declamation; 8. Gesture; 9. Training.