Words are power. They are alive and liberating. Yet so many people have lost their connection to spoken language. People fear metaphor, distrust eloquence, undervalue the ability to speak or to read aloud. Patsy Rodenburg takes up how people speak, what is spoken and the impact of spoken words in this companion volume to her The Right to Speak . Part one sifts through all the blocks that deny people access to language and shows how to release them. Part two contains a series of exercises, Working with the Text . The language of Shakespeare, Romantic poetry, contemporary prose and numerous other text examples are used to prompt the reader to find his or her own unique need for words. This book reaches out to performers, writers, students teachers, business people, politicians and to everybody who must speak in public.