Education

Workshop Structure

(Offered separately or in conjunction with TOUR performances)

Designed to introduce students to a specific play and/or Shakespeare and his works in general. Since plays--especially Shakespeare’s--were not created as literature, i.e., words on a page, but as a “live” art, these workshops engage students “on their feet," designed for first hand discovery rather than passive lecture. To that end, workshop size is limited. Suggested size is 20 students per actor-instructor.

Structure of Workshops

In The Classroom - Furniture is cleared to the sides and back of the room. Students sit around edges of class, facing the center---for action. The workshops are customarily team-taught by two actor-teachers, occasionally three. The text below refers to two actor-teachers.

• Introduction of the actor-teachers, description of company
• Discussion: What are the students' attitudes toward Shakespeare and why do those attitudes exist?
• Illustration of Shakespeare's writing as intended for certain effect when played on the stage. Students asked to watch not only the characters' needs and actions, but also the actor's. What choices is the actor making? Actors perform.
• Performance blends into Shakespeare's Insults (Getting the words in their mouths.)

Topics covered: Language development and the effects of sound on usage, the effects of sound on the human body--audience and actor alike. Introduction to Elizabethan performance techniques and stages, connection to how Richmond Shakespeare performs the way we do (limited set, often just 5 actors, audience on three sides, universal lighting whenever possible), introduction to Shakespeare's writing intents--his need to create scripts for vital, visceral and exciting use in performance.

• Class divided into groups and each student is given a sheet of paper with phrases ('lines') from the play being studied (or at the discretion of the teachers, if applicable).
• Each student is to select (and memorize if possible) one line from the page, and choose a sculpture or "pose" that somehow connects their line to a physical sculpture, using their own limbs and expressions.
• When each group 'performs' their sculpture, they form a line. The group leader announces their Sculpture; they all step forward and "strike a pose." Then, in succession, each participant (while holding their pose) speaks their line.
• Much laughter and applause ensues for all, and the students have literally embodied the language of Shakespeare---physically connecting to the words and the play. (Getting the LINES into their LIMBS.)
• Students discuss from the sculptures and the lines what kind of play they're reading, describing their understanding based on what they just accomplished.

Topics covered: Focus on the plot of the play being considered. Actors often tell anecdotes about performing the play. By the end of the exercise (game), the students know the whole plot of the show--a terrific way to recall what happens in a lengthy work with many names and events.

• Students stand in a circle and each is "cast" as a character in the play being discussed. Their character name and relationship to others in the play is repeated out loud to the group--we go around several times so that everyone knows their role. Eventually each student "owns" their character.
• The author (Actor Teacher #1) "reads" the action of the play in “sound bite” mode, while the master of play (Actor Teacher #2) positions the “characters.” Each will move to the center of the circle and mime action while the “master of play” adds color commentary.
• After all action is read, the action is repeated, double time! Hilarious yet extremely effective.

Topics covered: Focus on the plot of the play being considered. Actors often tell anecdotes about performing the play. By the end of the exercise (game), the students know the whole plot of the show--a terrific way to recall what happens in a lengthy work with many names and events.

Grades 4-8 (Call for info on grades 9-12, junior & undergrad. programs)

• Using mostly simple scenes on handouts, dialogue is read aloud, "round-robin," stopping at all punctuation.
• Discussion follows as to what is going on in the scene, who the characters are.
• Dialogue is read again---character by character, with more intent in mind.
• More discussion follows. What did the students find in the second reading?

Topics covered: Prose vs. Verse (especially significant when a character switches suddenly from one to another, "thee/thou" vs "you/your" (it's a stage direction to the actors!), unfamiliar contractions, rhythm, figures of speech, and much more.