Word: gielgud
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...pretending to be an intellectual where the theatre is concerned," Sir John Gielgud writes in his introduction to Stage Directions. "I am, I hope, a professional." His book bears that claim...
...Where Gielgud's first book, Early Stages, Jeans toward autobiography and family history, this sequel is simply an objective appraisal of past performances and possible roles. He begins with a chapter on acting--"Art or Craft"--in which he discusses preparation, makeup, the question of "business," and The Method...
...analyses and reminescences of famous and less famous roles in his experience. His quick studies of Hamlet, Richard II, Cassius, Leontes,. The School for Scandal, and Chekhov are both practical and perceptive, helpful cribs for students as well as for actors. Particularly useful for this Loeb Shakespeare Festival is Gielgud's discussion of Lear, including in an appendix Granville-Barker's notes on the play, from the Old Vic production...
Burton's voice is fine, but his Hamlet lacks nobility. He is all surface; at best Gielgud's puppet. When he soliloquizes, he is not a distressed man deliberating a painful dilemma, but an actor delivering, with some embarrassment, a difficult soliloquy. He acts the part well, but he never becomes...
...acting, Richard Burton's performance is a technician's marvel. His voice has gem-cutting precision and he can outroar Times Square traffic, though he lacks the liquid melody that Gielgud supplies as the voice of Hamlet's father's unseen ghost. His hands punctuate the speeches with percussive rhythm and instinctive grace. He is virile, yet mannerly, as sweet of temper as he is quick to anger, and his wary eyes dart from foe to friend with the swiftness of thought...