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She Speaks!

What Shakespeare's Women Might Have Said

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She Speaks!

By: Harriet Walter
Narrated by: Harriet Walter
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About this listen

 New parts for thirty of Shakespeare's women, letting them speak their minds, written by famed stage and screen actress, Dame Harriet Walter DBE
'It is STUNNING and I simply sat and read it right through, and shall start again at once. I had no idea that she is such a sensationally fine poet. Astonishing' JOANNA LUMLEY

'Bold and original . . . Anyone who cares about Shakespeare will want to own and share this book'
JAMES SHAPIRO

'With her gravitas, empathy, intellect and absolute belly laugh wit, the unheard voices soar. A real celebration of her life and art' PHYLLIDA LLOYD

Dame Harriet Walter, renowned for her wonderful portrayals in Succession and Killing Eve among others, is one of Britain's most esteemed Shakespearean actors. Now, having played most of the Bard's female characters, audaciously she lets them speak their minds.

Written in 'Shakespearean' verse and prose, Harriet Walter goes between the lines of the plays to let us hear what she imagines - sometimes playfully and sometimes searchingly - these women were really thinking.

Gertrude tells Hamlet the unvarnished truth; Lady MacBeth has her regrets; Kate, the Shrew, challenges us; Juliet's nurse challenges the nobility; Cleopatra's handmaiden reveals her mistress's secrets; Ariel is frightened of freedom; Ophelia surprises us; Olivia surprises herself; and the Witches have a good old rap.

Harriet Walter herself says, 'I worship Shakespeare. His psychological insight is second to none but the mirror that he held up to nature reflected a predominantly male image of the world. I pondered the long shadow of his genius and tried to think of ways to let a little sunlight in on some of his women's stories. I like to think he wouldn't mind'.

'Harriet Walter's years of inhabiting and imbibing so many of those great roles gives her a special licence to speak for them' GREG DORAN, former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company

'Harriet Walter unpicks and re-centres the inner life and journey of these women as only one of our most talented and celebrated classical actors could. A must read!' MAXINE PEAKE

'Effortlessly witty, charming, surprising, delightful. Clearly, Harriet Walter should have been in the
writers' room with us for Succession' FRANCESCA GARDINER

'An incisive, funny, mischievously subversive homage to Shakespeare's heroines, written by one of mine' MEERA SYAL

'With characteristic wit, compassion and fierce intelligence, she gives tantalising voice to the Bard's female greats' TAMSIN GREIG©2024 Harriet Walter (P)2024 Hachette Audio UK Drama & Plays Gender Studies Literary History & Criticism Shakespeare Social Sciences Celebrity Royalty

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All stars
Most relevant  
I’m by no means a Shakespeare expert - I have seen/read all of his plays - but this is a brilliant book that puts a different spin on his characters and gives you the context you need to understand the author’s new ideas.

Simply brilliant

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This playful book provides insight in to acting, how much it involves play, how an actor inhabits a role and the impact that process has long after the play is complete. Walter relishes the opportunity to revisit female roles with an unforced, unpretentious wit and word play, nicely performed in the audio book

Genuine fun

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This book tell you all you have ever wanted to know what could of what should been said by all those amazing women I all those amazing plays and read and writes by the perfect Harriet Walters Brava !

Wonderful just wonderful book of Shakespeare’s women’s missing words

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A wonderfully refreshing and creative new way to experience the richness of Shakespeare.
Beautifully read by the author.
A real delight.

Imaginative and insightful

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This is an audible I’ll listen to again and again. I wish I’d had it when studying Shakespeare, especially ‘measure for measure’, which I hated for its anti women stance.

Wonderful narration

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