Brutus and Other Heroines by Harriet Walter

This is a collection of Walter's notes on a range of Shakespearean roles she has portrayed during her acting life. Three of the ten chapters are previously published essays and the rest is new material.

From Juliet in 1980 at the Royal Court, where she was too inhibited to mention her ‘homework’, through to an all-female Henry IV in 2014 where she was deferred to as ‘an experienced Shakespeare speaker’, Walter contextualises each role, commenting on the production, the play's place in the canon, and her own career at the time.

Reflecting on the unique insights into character that prior roles and experiences can lend, Walter recounts how she builds an interpretation, focusing on language (‘my preparatory task is to read and read and read the text’, p.51). We learn about her take on each character's psychology, as well as the ‘gifts’ a director or production can provide in the form of props and costume.

The chapters are not organised consistently, and the sub-headings sometimes feel a little arbitrary. Single black and white photographs head up each chapter. I would prefer more images, but Walter's lucid style is good compensation.

Teachers and directors across all phases will be reminded to let actors bring their own views and tools to the table. Students at GCSE and beyond will be inspired to cross-reference the parts they've played, experiment with language, emphasis and tone, and become more confident translators of ‘the word, the thought, the motivation and the heart’.