A dramatic recitation of selections from classic works of poetry, prose and plays, chosen from a vast repertoire to fit each separate venue, time allotment and given audience.
“The spoken word, read or recited, should be treated like music and should be delivered in such a way that it touches the soul. That’s what I strive to do. As an oral interpreter my job is to interpret and communicate the meaning of literature. I choose to present classic literature: words that have stood the test of time, words that are old but are rich and enriching for being so.”
Rickie Birran
“When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than you did before.” Cliff Fadiman
Material to choose from:
Prose
– Don Quixote’s Quest abridgement Don Quixote de la Mancha – Cervantes (2 min.) Full View
– Don Quixote and the Windmill adaptation Don Quixote de la Mancha – Cervantes (6 min.)
– Odysseus and the Cyclopes The Children’s Homer – Padriac Colum (8 min.) Full View
– Hamlet’s Soliloquy The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain (5 min.)
– Ben Gunn Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson (4 min.)
– Oz, The Great and Terrible The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. – Frank Baum (5 min.)
– A Trip to the Moon The Adventures of Baron Munchausen – Rudolph Raspe (4 min.) Preview
– The Tortoise and the Hare adaptation – Aesop’s Fables (5 min.) Preview
– Gabriel Grubb and the Goblins The Pickwick Papers – Charles Dickens (15 min.) Preview
– Ichabod & the Horseman The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington – Irving (3 min.) Preview
– Dr. Frankenstein and The Monster monologues Frankenstein – Mary Shelley (6 min.) Preview
– The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar – Allan Poe (17 min.) Preview
– Ozma of Oz – L Frank Boum (1 min.) Full View
Ballads and Narrative Poems
– The Highwayman – Alfred Noyes (5 min.) Preview
– The Lady of Shalott – Alfred Lord Tennyson (6 min.) Preview
– The Pied Piper of Hamelin – Robert Browning (6 min.) Preview
– Beowulf adaptation from the old English poem – Peter Pringle (4-5 min.)
– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from the middle English poem, Tolkien’s trans. (6 min.) Preview
– Eldorado – Edgar Allan Poe (One of his last poems.) (2-3 min.) Full View
– The Song of Wandering Aengus – William Butler Yeats (4 min.) Preview
– The False Knight Upon the Road English & Scottish Ballads – Francis J. Child (4 min.) Preview
– Jabberwocky Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll (4 min.) Preview
– Robin Hood. To a Friend – John Keats (2 min.) Full View
– Greensleeves traditional English folk song (2-5 min.)
– The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe (7 min.) Preview
– A Taste of The Raven abridgement The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe (3 min.) Full View
– The Spider and the Fly – Mary Howitt (5 min.) Preview
– The Hatter’s Song Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (3 min.) Preview
– The Village Blacksmith – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (3 min.)
– The Cremation of Sam McGee – Robert Service (7 min.) Preview
– The Night Before Christmas – Clement Clarke Moore (4 min.) Preview
– Scrooge and Marley original adaptation A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (5 min.) Preview
– Paradise Lost selections John Milton (3-7 min. each)
– Every Man Heart Lay Down – Lorenz Graham (3-5min. each)
– David, He No Fear
– How God Fix Jonah
Other Poems
– If – Rudyard Kipling (3 min.)
– Waiting – John Burroughs (3 min.) Full View
– Peace Prayer – Saint Francis (3 min.)
Plays
– The Witches of Macbeth abridgement Macbeth – William Shakespeare (4 min.) Preview
– The Ghost of Hamlet’s Father abridgement Hamlet – William Shakespeare (5 min.) Preview
– Hamlet’s Advice to the Players Hamlet – William Shakespeare (4-5 min.)
– Seven Ages of Man monologue As You Like It – William Shakespeare (3 min.)
(Note: All selections are performed from memory, not read from a book.)
To book a performance of Man of Words Theatre
or a workshop please Contact Us