Dramatic Reading Tips and Examples

You have been asked to perform a dramatic reading of your work. There is a lot more involved than just opening the book and reading aloud. A little preparation can ensure that your reading of the story is as memorable as the story itself.

Instructions 

1. Make sure your script  is one that your audience can appreciate with a structure that will be easy to understand.

2. In order to convey the story to your audience, you must thoroughly know it. Read it several times.

3. Act each part. Each character with dialogue has a different way of speaking. The narrator also has a speaking style. Practice reading your story, acting the part of each character. Be excited when the character is excited, pause when the character would pause. Remember that it is a dramatic reading--it is your job to be dramatic!

4. Build toward the climax. Begin and end the story with low energy and make sure that your biggest gestures and loudest volume occur at the climax of the story.

5. Rehearse. You should know the story well enough that you can look up from the book without getting lost. Practice your gestures until they seem natural. You may want to record your rehearsal several times to see how you sound.

Here are some examples to help you:

1. Professional actor Chris Kipiniak (Law and Order, The Good Wife) puts the full weight of his dynamic gifts behind this interpretation of an online restaurant review. (Music is Erik Satie's Gnossienne #4)

2. Peter Sellers’s Shakespearian version of the classic Beatles pop song A Hard Day’s Night, first released in 1965.

3. Speak the Speech (Shakespeare Universal Broadcasting) 

Click HERE to listen to a dramatic reading of Romeo and Juliet.