We will look at sonnets and speeches, verse and prose as we analyze text to reveal how Shakespeare creates remarkable opportunities for honest and vibrant human expression. You will be encouraged to explore your personal response to the material, accessing the visceral expression of your body, voice, creativity and imagination. This work will increase your kinesthetic and intellectual understanding of the material and help you perform Shakespearean text with vitality, spontaneity and confidence.
Shakespeare
This workshop provides a deep introduction to the art of speaking and performing Shakespearean language. Intended for actors who are newer to Shakespeare as well as those who want to refresh their skill, these six weeks will focus on developing tools that every actor needs to demystify and inhabit the meaning, imagery, sounds and rhythms of Shakespeare’s remarkable texts.
Course Overview
TRANSFORM
Meet Your Instructor
With over three decades of acting and directing under his belt, Jim Elliott has happily worked on 15 of Shakespeare’s plays. Some of his more memorable acting roles include Petruchio, Hamlet, Romeo, Malvolio and Cassio. He started his directing career with As You Like It, before moving onto critically successful runs of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night.
What You’ll Learn
PURPOSE:
To implement the students working approach to Acting Shakespeare with scene work. This course extends the work on self and character into classic scene study, with an emphasis on Shakespeare’s text and Acting Shakespeare. We will continue our work on text and the “music” of the language. We will continue exploring how to bring yourself to the role, while maintaining the understandability of the language. This is an organic and text-based approach to heightened language in which actor and character meet, and the tools for storytelling required for classic plays are honed. The material will be explored through rehearsing and showing assigned scenes throughout the class.
METHOD:
We will accomplish our goal through scansion work, detailed examination of textual idiosyncrasies, exploration of the Sounds of Spoken English, Work on Metaphor and Imagery and of course, Performance. During the class, you will perform One Scene. You will read multiple Shakespeare Plays.
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
•Further explore the technical aspects of approaching Shakespeare’s text.
•Deepening your understanding of Shakespeare’s text and seeing the unique
possibilities available to each performer.
•Perform scenes with a partner.
•Connect personally to Shakespeare’s text.
•Acquire confidence when approaching any classic material.
TKS Alumnus
Shakespeare student
“Jim is so clearly a master of his craft and I was so surprised with the passion with which he teaches. He set a standard for all of us where I felt like I wanted to be prepared for each class.”
Schedule a Discovery Call
Have questions? Book a one-on-one chat with our Director of Admissions and Enrollment. We’re here to help you determine if Terry Knickerbocker Studio is the right fit for you.