Academic literature on the topic '1564-1616 Dramatic production'

This thesis represents the written portion of the Degree Requirements of the Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Design. The Thesis production of HAMLET, by Wm. Shakespeare (edited by Brian C. Parkinson), was the University of Lethbridge Department of Theatre and Dramatic Arts third show of the 2011 – 2012 Mainstage Theatre season, running February 14 – 18, 2012, performed at the University Theatre in the University of Lethbridge Centre for the Arts, Lethbridge, Alberta. HAMLET was directed by Brian C. Parkinson, with the assistant direction of L. Jay Whitehead and Yvonne Mandel. Contained within this written portion of the thesis is a discussion of the design concepts for this production, along with photographic records of models, technical drawings, and other pertinent information.
viii, 176 leaves : col. ill. ; 29 cm

The purpose of this project was to determine if it was possible to take Shakespeare's text and, preserving the language, present it in a way which would make it more accessible to a modern audience. It was also important to maintain the appropriate acting style and technique that distinguishes classical acting.

A focus on the clarity of the verse in the preparation and performance of Shakespeare's plays has been seen by some modem directors and teachers as an impediment to effective storytelling. Contemporary directors and actors in both film and theatre are focussing more on making the text sound 'natural', rather than formally structured, in order to improve the accessibility of the text for a modern audience that is more familiar with interpreting a visual world than an aural one, and more appreciative of a naturalistic acting technique rather than the heightened commitment required for Elizabethan text. Furthermore, many actors and directors have written and spoken about the lack of exposure young actors have to Shakespeare in performance, let alone to performances of these texts that are illuminating or inspirational. The plays do hold tremendous appeal as literature, but it is quite clear that they were never originally intended to be experienced in that form, just as the reading of · sheet music and performance of live music are two distinct experiences. Shakespeare lived and breathed and wrote for the theatre and it is within this environment that we can most fully understand and engage with his work. This is true for students of the text, for audiences, and most significantly for the actors whose job is to communicate the verse. Although. the teacher of Shakespeare in an acting course has to compete· for tuition time with many skills that seem more · immediately relevant to current industry demands, my belief is that the tools a student develops through learning to read and perform Shakespeare's text serve the overall growth of the ·professional actor. I also believe that a focus on the clarity and. confidence of the verse speaking will improve the quality of any Shakespeare play in performance, regardless of the other interpretive choices made by the creative team. This thesis aims to identify the most effective ways of training students of acting to work with Shakespeare's verse. I -will be documenting my verse work with students from the Acting course · at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts from 2006-2008, exploring and reflecting on three key components of the work conducted with the students during that time: practical voice and poetry classes; a full public production of Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale; -and a post-training workshop in 2007 .

Shakespeare has been performed on Australian stages for over two hundred years, yet despite this fact, in Australia we still treat Shakespeare as a revered idol. It seems that, as a nation of second-class convicts, consciously or not, we regard Shakespeare as a product of our aristocratic founders. However deeply buried the belief may be, we still think that the British perform Shakespeare ‘the right way’. As a result, when staging his plays today, our productions suffer from a cultural cringe. This research sought to combat these inhibiting ideologies and endeavoured to find a way in which Australians might claim ownership over Shakespeare in contemporary productions of his plays. The methodology used to undertake this investigation was practice-led research, with the central practice being theatre directing. The questions the research posed were: can Australian directors in the 21st century navigate and reshape Shakespeare's works in productions that give actors and audiences ownership over Shakespeare? And, what role can irreverence play in this quest for ownership? In order to answer these questions, a strong reference point was required, to understand what Shakespeare, with no strings attached to tradition and scholarly reverence, looked and felt like. Taiwan became an ideal reference point, as the country is a site for unrestrained and strongly localised performances of the Shakespearean tradition. The company at the forefront of such Taiwanese productions is Contemporary Legend Theatre (CLT). Wu Hsing-kuo, the Artistic Director of CLT, creates jingju (Beijing opera) adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, the most renowned of which is his solo King Lear, titled Li Er zaici. The intention of the practice-led research was to use the ideas gathered from an interview with Wu and through watching a performance of Li Er zaici, to form an approach to directing Shakespeare in Australia today, which was free from the restrictions commonly encountered by Australians. The practical project involved trialling this approach in a series of workshops and rehearsals with eight actors over eight weeks, which ultimately resulted in a performance of an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Wu’s approach generated a sense of ownership over Shakespeare amongst the actors and widened their dominant, narrow concept of Shakespeare performances in Australia to incorporate a wealth of new possibilities. Yet, from this practical experiment, the strength and depth of the inhibiting ideologies surrounding Shakespeare in Australia was made apparent, as even when consciously seeking to remove them, they formed unconscious impediments. Despite the initial intention, a sense of veneration towards Shakespeare’s text entered the rehearsal process for Romeo and Juliet. This practice-led research revealed that as Australians we have an almost inescapable attachment to Shakespeare’s text, which ultimately begs the contrary question: in order to stage an irreverent and owned production of Shakespeare in Australia, how much of Shakespeare and his traditions must we abandon?