You're in the theater watching your favorite Shakespeare play. The words are powerful and evocative.

The actors are performing them beautifully, drawing you into the play.

And in the back of your mind, there's something you wonder, a question you can't put aside.

Actors take this language that's centuries old and they make it sound so real and

immediate. How do they do it? Is there a secret? Well, it turns out there is.

From the Volger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.

I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folger's director.

Breathing life into Shakespeare's texts and directing actors so that they make that happen

requires artistic skills not all of us can master, but that all of us can appreciate.

A few years back, Barry Edelstein, the Erna Finci Viterrabee,

artistic director at the Old Globe in San Diego, had an idea.

To help audiences more fully connect with Shakespeare, he'd stage a rehearsal right there in front of them.

Pull back the curtain on the process of creating a Shakespeare production so that theater

goers can see exactly how the sports car gets built. Twice a year, the Old Globe holds an event

called Thinking Shakespeare Live, a master class where you get to watch Actors Act

and one of the nation's most experienced Shakespeare directors direct.

Barry agreed to go through a very abbreviated version

of Thinking Shakespeare Live for us in the studio.

When he does it in San Diego,

Barry generally uses three actors. For us, he's working with

Barbara Bogave. We call this podcast, Speak the Speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it.

Barry, I am so thrilled that you've agreed to come on our podcast and turn me into a Shakespearean

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