In one of the most eloquent handbooks
I've ever had the pleasure to peruse,
Kristin Linklater guides you through a rich
and expertly constructed path designed
to help you give your voice to Shakespeare's text.
For her, the body and the voice are one:
an instrument that needs each part to work.
To speak the speech, you start with how it sounds -
the open vowels and clear consonants
each bring a unique bodily sensation.
Then you progress to what it actually means -
the content, the "emotional", the life -
and later bring this to poetic form.
Ms.L insists you also understand
Th' Elizabethans and their take on life -
her explanations always held me rapt.
Her methods are direct; each chapter builds
upon the one that came before. However,
this shouldn't mean the structure is rigid:
there's lots of room for your experiments.
This book is one of my best purchases.