Description
Conference Paper Presentation.Abstract
Due to the demands of Shakespeare’s verse and prose Stanislavsky’s “system” cannot be directly applied to Shakespeare’s texts without modification and adaptation, a conclusion which Stanislavski ultimately arrived at (Stanislavski, 1952: 350). Through my Practice as Research 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 Stanislavsky’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 contextualises the research and provides a more detailed examination of two of the tools developed. Firstly, Pushing and Pulling a tool which simplifies the characters’ objective by positioning it in two physical actions- pushing or pulling. During the tool the learner’s text is fed to them in sections of the thought being expressed. This is dictated by the punctuation of the First Folio as it proved a framework fort thought construction (Basil, 2006: 64-78). The second tool addressed is Logical and Psychological Pauses which utilises Stanislavsky’s (2008: 417-422) two categories of pauses in combination with First Folio punctuation to provide learners with an action-based approach to addressing the demands of performing verse, rooted in character motivation.
| Period | 13 Jul 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Stanislavsky and Shakespeare: Speaking to the “Two Traditions” in the 21st Century |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | London, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |