Delve deeply into Shakespeare's text, exploring a new speech each week based on the month's theme. This is the last of three months on rhythm and meter, and as always, newcomers are welcome! In this month we explore Shakespeare's most rhythmically sophisticated late-career plays, and the exciting acting choices that they offer. This is also our last month based in Seoul, before we move to London!
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Thursdays, October 6, 13, and 20, 7:00pm-9:00pm (Korean Standard Time, GMT+9)
$60 USD
6 hours total instruction
Registration deadline: Saturday, October 1st at 7pm (Korean Standard Time, GMT+9)
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Appropriate for adults and teens age 16 and over, of all experience levels.
Taught in English via Zoom.
Co-taught by Lauren Ash-Morgan and Michael Downey.
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Course Description
Acting Shakespeare's Text
Shakespeare embeds lots of keys and clues in his text to help the actor give performances that are complex, innovative, exciting, naturalistic, and action-driven. In this class we explore key ways to bring out the richness of Shakespeare's writing, in a visceral way, in order to reveal exciting possibilities in interpreting character, communicating clearly to the audience, getting at the meanings and intentions of a passage of text, and exploring language as moment-to-moment action. As with all things in acting, the aim is not to find one correct answer, but to find out new, inspiring possibilities for the text.
THIS MONTH’S THEME:
Rhythm & Meter, Part 3: Breaking the Rhythm (Shakespeare's Late Plays)
While in August we started with the more regular patterns of Shakespeare's early plays (iambic pentameter with caesuras, reversed feet, feminine endings, expansions and contractions), and in September we explored innovations in Shakespeare's mid-career plays, this month we conclude this series on rhythm and meter with examples from Shakespeare's late plays, exploring his most sophisticated and naturalistic era of verse-writing. We begin this month with Edmund's first speech from King Lear, then focus on enjambment with Hermione's first trial speech from The Winter's Tale, and finally we explore the final dialogue between the titular characters in Antony and Cleopatra.
In all of these speeches we will explore techniques that can be used in a range of similar monologues.
Based on David Carey and Rebecca Clark Carey's The Shakespeare Workbook and Video: A Practical Course for Actors, this class explores monologues specifically selected for this month's topic and utilizes techniques tailored to each monologue to bring out the text’s most salient features, with an eye toward how the discoveries made in these monologues can be applied to other texts.
This course is for actors and directors of all levels who wish to improve their understanding of Shakespeare’s text and performance possibilities.
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Participants will need:
A room with enough space to move around a bit (nothing fancy, just a space that allows you to walk around a little), and in which you can vocalize. Please make sure your space is reasonably free of background noise.
Note: In this class we generally get through one speech per week, but some speeches may take more or less time. Specific monologues used each month are likely to remain as stated in the course description, but may be subject to change at the instructors' discretion.
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Registration deadline: Saturday, October 1st at 7pm (Korean Standard Time, GMT+9)