Reading Poetry.?

Question

Hello. I'm a drama student in London. I'm just about to finish a three year course in acting at one of London's best drama schools. My agent has just let me know I'm reading poetry at a prestigious charity event. My fellow readers ARE experienced & include 2 other male actors and one female. I am by far the youngest & the least experienced. The topic of the evening and the poetry is war. I must first say (without sounding arrogant) - i am very experienced with Shakespeare,Shakespeare's sonnets & other verse and prose. However, i am new to straight poetry.

My question - Are there any, despite the obvious (volume, diction, pace etc) notes or tips i should know about reading poetry?

The audience will most likely be comprised of many older citizens who personally experienced the terrible things i'm reading about so its important i get it right.

Of course, i will work the text thoroughly as i would a part in a play, but its defiantly new territory for me.

Thanks for your help

Answer 1

COOL LONDON=)

thats interesting that you can read Shakespeare well and trouble with straight, most people are opposite.

ok, if you can read shakespeare, you CAN do this.

you just need to practice. you know how if you read a book, and you can't get into it at firstbecause the language is different. but if you keep reading, you understand after a while. then, if you go back to the beginning, you understand all that stuff completely now.

how much time have you got? dont waste any of it!

Answer 2

A good first thing to do is to take the piece and pretend like there are no lines and stanzas. Write it out in sentence form so that when you read it, you don't pause when it doesn't make any sense. Once you do that, it's really no different from performing anything else. Just make absolutely sure you don't go off into a sing-song rhythm-y voice. Nothing is more annoying than that lol. It may be written in iambic pentameter, but don't read it like it is.