Description
Conference Paper presentationAbstract
In the United Kingdom, approaches to Shakespeare’s plays within performer training typically position ‘the text as primary in the creative process, leading to the creation of character and emotion, rather than character and emotion being formed first’ (Simms, 2019: 123). Such approaches are situated within verbal reasoning and require learners to analyse the complexity of literary devices such as Shakespeare’s use of rhythm, language, metaphor and repartition. Hay and Dixon (2020: 45) identify that acting students struggle to engage with current approaches to Shakespeare and highlight the need for alternative approaches to be established. Through my Practice as Research (PaR) I have developed The Shakespeare Toolkit, a character-driven pedagogy for performing Shakespeare’s texts. It is comprised of twenty exercises (tools) which adapt aspects of Stanislavski’s ‘system’, Elizabethan acting practices and the First Folio editions of the plays to explore the demands of working with verse and prose through a practice first, character-driven approach to the text.
This paper explores how the third tool within the toolkit -Pushing and Pulling- begins the process of analysing the text through practice. This is achieved by breaking the characters’ thoughts down into their component parts and physically exploring the intentions behind the text through two limited physical tasks, pushing or pulling. Learners are fed their characters’ thoughts in manageable sections of text. These are dictated by the punctuation of the 1623 First Folio versions of the plays, as its punctuation guides the actor in the delivery of lines, providing a framework for how a character’s thought process evolves (Basil, 2006: 64-78). The tool then utilises a Hula Hoop to physically enact the characters’ intention behind the text through the actions of pushing or pulling. The findings of my PaR reflect Pushing and Pulling’s ability to clarify character intentions, relationships and literary devices such as repartition, whilst also increasing learners’ understanding of the text’s meaning.
| Period | 5 Sept 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Theatre and Performance Research Association 2024 Annual Conference |
| Event type | Conference |
| Conference number | 19 |
| Location | Newcastle , United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |