Shakespeare tells the actor when to go fast and when to go slow; when to pause, when to come in on cue and when to accent a word. His text is full of such clues. He tells the actor when but never tells him why or how. That is up to the actor. It is much like making a musical score live; Shakespeare heard the lines as he wrote them. It is also a celebration of Peter Hall as the greatest living director of Shakespeare, from his early days at Cambridge, through founding the RSC at Stratford-upon-Avon, and later to his fifteen years as Director of the National Theatre.

Author Biography

Sir Peter Hall was one of the greatest theatre, film and opera directors of our time. At the age of 29 he founded the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1973 he became Director of the National Theatre and opened the new theatres on the South Bank. He later founded the Peter Hall Company, producing many West End and Broadway successes. He directed at many international opera houses, including Glyndebourne, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera and Bayreuth. He directed over two hundred productions, including the world premiere in English of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, and the premieres of most of Harold Pinter's plays.