A SHAKESPEAREAN ACTOR PREPARES

While some nonfiction doesn't survive the transition to audio, A SHAKESPEAREAN ACTOR PREPARES is a recording that's hard to imagine as a book--and yet that's how it started out. Written by two veteran actors, it looks at past and current approaches to staging and interpreting Shakespeare's plays and presents the authors' critiques of these methods. Pretty conventional so far, but the unique dimension is added by York's demonstration of his ideas by narrating dramatic passages. Occasionally the arguments are belabored, but on the whole this is an entertaining blend of history, craft, literature, and performance. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 02]