The Actor, The Audience and Shakespeare
(or, Death by 1,000 Directors!)

In addition to our Workshops in Performance, the touring company occasionally offers an alternative 45-minute workshop called "The Actor, The Audience and Shakespeare" (affectionately known as "Death by 1,000 Directors").

After greeting the audience and introducing themselves, the company performs several scenes. Following each scene, the actors engage the audience in a discussion about the scene they have just witnessed. After gathering audience reactions and observations, the students are invited to be directors. They may suggest the actors speak more slowly or request that they shift their physicality in some way. Often they seek more clarity, especially having been presented with a scene out of context.

We steer students away from judgments and more towards interpretations. One of the side benefits of this workshop is that by seeing the same scene performed multiple times, the students begin to hear Shakespeare's language much more clearly than they might when watching a full play. More than anything, "The Actor, The Audience and Shakespeare" gives students a great sense of what it means to rehearse a play and teaches them that there is no "right way" to perform theater.

Audience Size: Unlimited, but works best for under 200 students.

Links:

• The Actor, The Audience, and Shakespeare Workshop
• Workshops in Performance
• Technical information about Julius Caesar

Macbeth – Spring Tour 2007