Credit Points: 30
Study Time: 300 Hours

During the course of the unit you will investigate Shakespeare‟s text, (or other Elizabethan/Jacobean playwrights), through practical performance, research and presentations. Although the main attention will be on Shakespeare and Renaissance writers, you may work on other classical texts.

This unit is an intensive period of study, requiring you to develop further the skills an actor requires – intellectual, imaginative, vocal and physical, with the focus on the demands of acting truthfully within a heightened, classical text.

Finally, you will be assigned a role, (or roles), in a scene. You will explore the character(s) and the text through a rehearsal process designed to enable you to fulfil the requirements of the complex language and densely coded scene/play in performance. The workshop concludes with an internal showing to an invited audience which provides the main basis for assessment of your work.

Outline Syllabus

• The differences between Realistic and Narrative theatre forms 
• The Sixteenth Century 
• Shakespeare‟s World 
• Actions not Intentions
• Text not Subtext 
• Sustaining the Through-line of Action 
• Iambic pentameter and poetic structures and forms 
• Spoken word as „Living Thought‟ 
• The actor‟s relationship with the audience 
• Character as function 
• Different methodological approaches to acting in Shakespeare

Method of Delivery
Studio practice, seminars, individual and group research, student presentations, interactive student learning, independent learning, showings, self and peer evaluations.

Aims

A1 To introduce you to the concept of style and its implications for the actor.
A2 To introduce you to the requirements and demands of Narrative Theatre.
A3 To identify and to explore the tools the actor requires to fulfil the textual and performance demands of a play by William Shakespeare.
A4 To develop your investigative skills to include an examination and consideration of the social, political and ideological issues that may inform the dramatic event.
A5 To extend your performance skills intellectually, imaginatively, vocally and physically in order that you may communicate successfully with an audience.

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this unit you will be able to:

LO1 Demonstrate your understanding of style in a Shakespeare play in your execution of the role or roles assigned to you.
LO2 Incorporate the demands of Classical Theatre into your acting process.
LO3 Utilise the tools required by a heightened, narrative or epic text to produce an emotional connection with character.
LO4 Utilise your developing investigative skills in the rehearsal process and apply these to the realisation of a performance.
LO5 Demonstrate performance skills that enable you to communicate your performance more effectively in relation to the demands of the text and the needs of the audience.

Reference Material

Key
Barton, J. (1984). Playing Shakespeare. London: Methuen.
Linklater, K. (1992). Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
Rodenburg, P. (2002). Speaking Shakespeare. London: Methuen.
Shakespeare, W. The Complete Works.

Recommended
Berry, C. (2000). The Actor and the Text. London: Virgin.
Berry, C. (2001). Text in Action. London: Virgin.
Dunmore, S. (1997). Alternative Shakespeare Auditions for Women. London: A&C Black.
Early, M & Keil, P. (ed) (1988). Soliloquy! The Shakespeare Monologues (The Women / The Men). New York: Applause Theatre Books
Ford Davies, O. (2007). Performing Shakespeare. London: Nick Hern Books.
Hall, P. (2003.) Shakespeare’s Advice to the Players. London: Oberon.
Kermode, F. (2004). The Age of Shakespeare. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Nicholson, C. (series ed.). Actors on Shakespeare. London: Faber & Faber.
Shakespeare, W. (1997) Shakespeare’s Sonnets. London: Arden Shakespeare.
Wells, S. (2002). Shakespeare for All Time. London: MacMillan.