Resulting from workshops at Shakespeare's Globe between leading critics, performance theorists and theatre practitioners such as Greg Doran of the RSC, Nicholas Hytner of the Royal National Theatre, Ann Thompson of the Arden Shakespeare and W.B. Worthen of the University of California, Berkeley, Shakespeare Language and the Stage breaks down the invisible barrier between scholar and practitioner.Topics discussed include text and voice, playing and criticism, gesture, language and the body, gesture and audience and multilingualism and marginality. The book provides fresh ways of thinking about the impact of Shakespeare's language on an audience's understanding and interpretation of the action and examines how a variety of performances engage with Shakespeare's text, verse and language. As such it is a unique and invaluable resource for students, scholars and theatre practitioners alike.