Hamlet, Act Three, Scene Two:

Speak the speech, I pray you,
as I pronounced it to you--trippingly on the tongue;
but if you mouth it, as many of your players] do,
I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines.
Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus,
but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say,
the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget
a temperance that may give it smoothness.

This Monologue is like a rite of passage for Theatre newbies. Techies and Actors alike- are made to learn it.

This is so because right in the monologue, everything you need to know about acting is presented. The Bard spells it out-albeit in Elizabethan English. I remember when I was 14, a freshman in Drama One, and Mr. Jordan made the learn it. Ah, those were the good times. Despite the fact he made me do it until I almost cried, it was good. It's still stuck in my head, and from that day on (5 years ago), I've been trained in Shakespeare. Some say he's highly overrated, but any true Thespian will tell you it's for a damn good reason.

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