Need for Words

Patsy Rodenburg, OBE, is Professor of Text and Poetry at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, UK, after serving as Head of Voice from 1981–2016. In 1981 she was appointed the Voice Coach for the Royal Shakespeare Company, responsible for the works of the Company in London, and in 1990 was appointed the first Head of Voice at the Royal National Theatre where she ran the department until 2006.She has worked with theatre companies across the UK including Theatre de Complicitè, Shared Experience, Cheek by Jowl and the Royal Court, having coached numerous West End and Broadway productions. Patsy has also worked at many major theatre companies all over the world, including Stratford Festival Theatre (Ontario, Canada), Kabuki Theatre (Japan), Indian National Theatre (Mumbai, Japan), Lithuania National Drama Theatre (Vilnius, Lithuania), Royal Dramatic Theatre (Stockholm, Sweden), The Market Theatre (Johannesburg, South Africa), Beijing Opera (China) and Verbier Festival (Verbier, Switzerland). She has been teaching storytelling to teachers and corporate leaders since 1976.www.patsyrodenburg.co.uk.

I know Patsy to be a gifted voice and speech coach. In The Need for Words she provides practical and imaginative means for getting to the heart of the text and making the necessity for the language to be strongly felt by audiences. I do recommend it to anyone who needs to use words with clarity and passion.

• About the Author Acknowledgements Foreword Antony Sher Introduction 1Let’s Consider Shakespeare! PART ONE The Need for Words 1 Connecting with Words The Speaking Act Distrust of Words Returning to Words In the Beginning was the Word The Power of Words The Importance of Oracy The Deeper Need for Words Lost Voices Not Empty Rhetoric Native Eloquence Words are Physical 2 The Breakdown of Words Family Education Conservation The Written Word vs the Spoken Word Speaking Your Way into Writing and Reading Discussion and Debate Training Young Actors Guarding Against Quick Fixes 3 Cultural and Physical Barriers The Age of Cacophony and Image Saturation Embodiment Role Models Speaking in Public The Inability to Listen Tensions and Physical Habits as Barriers Poetry Profanity Language of Gestures Wit and Wordplay Irony and Satire The Tyranny of the Intellectual Codes and Code Breaking The Media and Tabloid Thinking Solipsism Advertising Power Talk or Don’t Talk Back The Passion-Mongers Sentimentality Fillers and Clichés Sexual Politics Political Correctness RP or Not RP RP is a Choice Overcoming the Speech Barrier PART TWO Voice and the Text 4 Finding a Voice Releasing Physical BarriersGetting ‘In Voice’Focal Points Simple Voice Workout5 Voice into Words and TextConnecting to a Text Experimenting with Language Sounding Real Language Exercises 6 Working Further with TextsThe Marriage between Voice and TextClues from the Great Writers The Poetry Barrier The Structure of Verse The Way Words WorkStarting with ShakespeareSpeaking Shakespeare’s TextSonnets Shakespeare’s SpeechesShakespearean Prose The Verse Duet Medieval Verse Christopher Marlowe John Milton Jacobean Drama A Modern Jacobean Equivalent The Age of Pope and the Age of ReasonRestoration DialogueOscar WildeGeorge Bernard Shaw Styles in Speaking Texts Greek Tragedy Edward BondWilliam BlakeSamuel BeckettHarold Pinter Working with Song Lyrics Bad Texts Prologues and Epilogues Copyright and Permissions Acknowledgements Index