Acting Shakespeare Workshops in Paris

Keys to Performing and translating Shakespeare

For French actors with a good level of English and Anglophones wishing to extend their performance of Shakespeare’s verse.

2 sessions over 2 days
10am – 3pm
Next workshop 29/30 March.
€100.00 / participant - 20% reduction for intermittents/chômeurs
(max 10 participants)

For more information:
colindavidreese@yahoo.fr
01 45 28 01 70
06 63 79 63 30

Understanding for better performance.
Shakespearean verse presents many problems for actors both in comprehension and performance. By the application of a few simple techniques, the actor can make the verse work for him/her.
The techniques that will be acquired in these workshops include:
- Textual and verse analysis with a relation to performance;
- Corporal control and expression;
- Breathing;
- Articulation;
The participants will study and practice these techniques, applying them to monologues.

Finding the keys in Shakespeare’s text.
Shakespearean verse gives many indications of how to create character and the workshops will show how to use it. By referring to The First Folio for a return to the original texts and avoiding the literary and intellectual baggage that has accumulated over the centuries, the workshops combine the theatrical techniques of Jacques Lecoq with a practical approach to interpretation.

The Workshops:
For the workshop, each participant is requested to prepare a verse monologue in English, NOT to learn it by heart.
Soft shoes and track suits for the men and practice skirts for the women.
Please bring a “Complete Works” and a note book and pencil.

Session 1

- First contact with the text – each participant reads their prepared monologue.
- Movement analysis.
- Working with the “pointe fixe” and equilibrium and disequilibrium.
- How physicality affects characterisation.
- How to analyse movement, both one’s own and that of other people.
- Linking movement to breathing. How breathing affects movement and vice versa.
- Verse analysis. Explanation of Iambic pentameter and how Shakespeare exploits and deforms its structure, thereby giving indications to the actor concerning interpretation and characterisation.


Overnight work

The French participants will be asked to translate their chosen monologue, and the Anglophones to study theirs, both using the verse analysis tools/clues discussed during the workshop.


Session 2

Presentation of monologues in both English and translation showing results from overnight work. Criticism and direction from Mr. Reese, inviting comments from the other participants.

Taking a short section from each monologue – committing it to memory, adding movement and breathing pattern to take it to a performance level.