“SHAKESPEAREAN, BUT ONLY INTERMITTENTLY HUMAN.”

January 7, 2008 · Literature, Shakespeare, Theater

“SHAKESPEAREAN, BUT ONLY INTERMITTENTLY HUMAN.” Charles Isherwood, in his review of CYMBELINE in the New York Times, found Martha Plimpton as Imogen to be “spunky and appealing”, but he also found mannerism in her delivery, saying, “She always sounds admirably Shakespearean, but only intermittently human.” Isherwood makes explicit the idea that Shakespearean acting is different from ordinary human speech, an idea that has prevailed over the centuries.