Shakespeare on Stage

Thirteen leading actors take us behind the scenes, each recreating in detail a memorable performance in one of Shakespeare's major roles.

Brian Cox on Titus Andronicus in Deborah Warner's visceral RSC productionJudi Dench on being directed by Franco Zeffirelli as a twenty-three-year-old JulietRalph Fiennes on Shakespeare's least sympathetic hero CoriolanusRebecca Hall on Rosalind in As You Like It, directed by her father, Sir PeterDerek Jacobi on his hilariously poker-backed Malvolio for Michael GrandageJude Law on his Hamlet, a palpable hit in the West End and on BroadwayAdrian Lester on a modern-dress Henry V at the National, during the invasion of IraqIan McKellen on his Macbeth, opposite Judi Dench in Trevor Nunn's RSC productionHelen Mirren on a role she was born for, and has played three times: CleopatraTim Pigott-Smith on Leontes in Peter Hall's Restoration Winter's Tale at the NationalKevin Spacey on his high-tech, modern-dress Richard IIPatrick Stewart on Prospero in Rupert Goold's arctic Tempest for the RSCPenelope Wilton on Isabella in Jonathan Miller's 'chamber' Measure for MeasureThe actors discuss their characters, working through the play scene by scene, with refreshing candour and in forensic detail. The result is a masterclass on playing each role, invaluable for other actors and directors, as well as students of Shakespeare - and fascinating for audiences of the plays.

Together, the interviews give one of the most comprehensive pictures yet of these characters in performance, and of the choices that these great actors have made in bringing them thrillingly to life.

Each interview is also available as an individual ebook as part of the

Shakespeare on Stage series.

'These passages of times remembered contribute vividly to the sense of a teemingly creative period when Shakespeare seemed to have been rediscovered.' Trevor Nunn, from his Foreword

'absorbing and original... Curry's actors are often thinking and talking as that other professional performer, Shakespeare himself, might have done'

TLS