This module focuses on the actor's approach to performing Shakespeare and other classical plays from the 17th and 18th centuries. We will be exploring three plays from a practical perspective: one play by Shakespeare and two others in contrasting styles and genres from the Jacobean, Restoration or 18th century theatrical canon. Students on the module will take a series of practical performance workshops, combined with academic lecture-seminar sessions, culminating in work towards an assessed performance of a short scene from one of the three plays studied.
The practical workshops will include acting approaches, voice-work, rehearsal exercises, approaches to verse-speaking, breath and movement when working on a classical text, as well as characterization, comedy, imagery, and conveying meaning in performance. We will look at how directors can support an actor towards their best performance, and we will examine directing choices in design, setting, concept, costume, lighting and staging.
Lecture-seminars will offer an introduction to each play and ways into understanding the historical and theoretical contexts of each play, as well as its contemporary resonances and performance histories.
- Module Supervisor: Nora Williams