Sessions Complete

It is all over now. Most of us have gone our ways. Some home. Some abroad. Some still in town. As I get ready to leave London there are so many things going through my brain that I cannot even organize. I am thankful that I no longer have to sleep on that cot of a "bed". I rejoice in knowing that I am no longer surrounded my Italian teenagers as I attempt to get into and out of my room. I am headed back to the states where coins are not worth much and I can throw them in the bottom of my bag without discovering later that I have a hoard of money. I am no longer on a real schedule. There are no longer 11 other people depending on me to show up so we can get started. And theoretically I will not walk out into the sun only to be soaking wet 10 minutes later after getting caught in a random down pour.

I loved this trip. I loved the program more than I can say. I have learned so much and enjoyed so much that it is hard to determine what the best part was. I am going to miss the wonderful people that I have met here in london. I am going to miss the fantastic shows that I have seen while in London. I am going to miss all the laughter and memories that were made at almost every turn. There is so much of this Academy that I will bring into my own classroom when I get home. I am going to try to encourage everybody I know to do the program so that the fabulous teachings can be shared. I am creating an entire Shakespeare unit for my Advanced Drama class and using many of the exercises in my other classes as well, including English.

I know I have made a number of professional contacts that I will be able to use throughout the rest of my career. Yet I have also made more friends than I can remember making since college.

This truly was an experience of a lifetime.

Chris' Email

Chris.s@Shakespearesglobe.com

Other books like the Macbeth one

So there's that book on Macbeth that is on sale at the Globe store, but I found the website where you can pre-order the rest:

http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/Schools/English/Globe-Education-Shakespeare.aspx

There's R&J, Midsummer, and Much Ado. Although, you will most likely be able to eventually get them on Amazon as well!

Warm-ups with Bill

Here are three very useful warm-ups Bill used with his group on "opening night":

Scare tactics

Objective: to develop ensemble awareness.

1. Form a circle.
2. All but the leader close their eyes.
3. Leader goes around the circle a few times and taps one person on the shoulder. No one else knows who has been tapped.
4. All open their eyes.
5. After about 30 seconds, the person who has been tapped shouts in a scary way, without warning. Everyone else must try to follow this person's lead as nearly as possible.

The Grand Old Duke of York

Objective: to develop reflexes, mental agility

1. Form a circle.
2. In unison, march in place to "The Grand Old Duke of York." (Lyrics below.)
3. Add hand motions: up, down, halfway.
4. Repeat, marching forward on up, backwards on down.
5. Repeat, dropping the word "up."
6. Repeat, dropping the word "down."
7. Repeat, dropping both "up" and "down."

Oh, the grand old Duke of York,

He had ten thousand men;

He marched them up to the top of the hill,

And he marched them down again!

And when they were up, they were up;

And when they were down, they were down;

And when they were only half way up,

They were neither up nor down!

Hurl Your Words

Objective: to develop greater precision and projection of lines

1. Form pairs.
2. Person A chooses an imaginary object to hurl at his/her partner, Person B. This can be a stone, a dart, a spear, a book, a box: anything that can be held in the hand.
3. Person A "hurls" this object at Person B, making an appropriate noise of exertion as he/she does so.
4. Person B reacts to the object appropriately: it should feel different to be hit with a boulder than with a book.
5. Person B now hurls an object at Person A.
6. After a few rounds with imaginary objects, partners choose key words from their lines to hurl at one another.

Don't Carry the Baggage!

When you are on stage and something goes wrong. You either forget a line or something. Don't flub it. Do not freak out and start going crazy because everything else will start to go wrong. Don't carry the baggage. It is a bit like driving. If you freak out about just missing a crash, you will crash. However, if you keeping looking ahead you can keep going and fix things.

If you mess up, don't carry the baggage. Keep going.

Respond to things in the moment.

~Speech given by Tom

Dance Resources

Nonsuch Early Music and Dance

http://www.nonsuchdance.co.uk/6.html

http://www.dancebooks.co.uk/

When you put in earlydance.co.uk you get:

http://baroquedance.co.uk/

More Vocal Tips

Never move the jaw from side to side for fear of dislocation. Also, do not have young girls try to drop their voice because it can cause damage. Instead, teach the girls to resonate by shaping vowels, consonants, and supporting their voice with proper breathing.

Voice with Charmian

Physical preparation: relaxation and alignment

Breathing: release, free, center

resonance: humming, vowels and singing

Pitch: range~story telling

Articulation: using poems and words from text

Books:

• Patsy Rodburg ~ The Right to Speak*
• Cicely Barry ~ The Voice and the Actor*
• Barbara Houseman ~ (can't remember name of book but has good exercises and pictures)*
• Kristin Linklater ~Freeing the Natural Voice

*Have worked specifically with Charmian

Phonetic book for consonants: need to get an American speech method and not British

• Clifford Turner
• Edith Skinner

How do you take care of your voice (especially before performances)?

• Steam off boiling water with towel over head
• Do not take strong medical sweets, herbal is ok as well as lemon and honey
• COMPLETE vocal rest- wear a sign
• During warm-up a lot of breathing and gentle humming to warm up resonance

For strained vocal cords do the above and ensure the actor that it is not going to be their best vocal performance ever. If you want to do it as a profession you don't want to continue straining the vocal cords.

**If you are desperate: turn up the mics so that the actor does not push it.

Wise sayings by Deni. . . .

Hey guys! I know it's been a late night, and we're all a little crazy right now. However, Deni said something on the way back from the Globe tonight that we can't forget tomorrow. . . .(Not her exact words but the sentiment is the same)

Don't worry about the lines and getting everything perfect. We need to remember this. . . .

HAVE FUN!!! You're doing a scene on Shakespeare's Globe Stage in London!!!

For those of us with tons of photos

The flickr group we've created. . . .I've realized something. For those of us with a TON of photos, you have a 300 MB limit on the amount of photos you can upload per month. Boo.

So the way around this is to create another e-mail account to upload photos to. Flickr will take a yahoo account or a gmail account. So if you need me to invite you to the group again for another account, please e-mail me at jschmelzer@eduhsd.k12.ca.us

Sorry! We'll get all those photos up there somehow!

Glynn's Email

Glynn@glynnmacdonald.com

Archetypes with Glynn

"Make sure you don't leave too many doors or windows open in your mind. You might just create a draft." ~C.S. Lewis

Sovereign, Magician, Warrior and Lover

• used to embody character within a text
• always related to the text

Sovereign:

• Stand tall, elbows back, tail dropped, hands straight on either side of head as "crown

Magician (can be trickster, but magician is broader and takes in infinite goodness):

• Twisting, turning, ducking and diving
• always repeats things

Warrior:

• Right arm sword of truth straight up, left hand cupped and protecting heart
• protector of self, truth, loved ones

Lover:

• Hands clenched in fists in font of heart, when meeting loved ones arms open wide and hug
• In the end there is nothing but love

Sencere (pronounced sin-cheer-eh): to be sincere, without the wax

• Honest statues were those without wax covering their cracks. Be honest and sincere on the stage to create an honest representation of the world.

PLEASE TAKE THE EGO OFF THE STAGE!!

"Only dead fish swim with the tide!" ~Malcolm Muggeridge

Elements with Glynn

Earth, Water, Fire, Wind

Earth: joints, bones, muscles, tendons

• warrior pose (yoga term), drop the tail down

Water: blood, sweat and tears

• hanging down, don't touch floor, drop head, use hackles to sense the other person

Fire: nervous system

• standing tall, hands above head, palms pressed together

Wind: breath

• reverse hand and bring down to side breathing out

do exercise alone first and then with a partner. With the partner you get to know them on a physical and elemental level. Warms up the body and connects the actors together.

More Yolanda

I stole Bob's post and added stuff. . .

Her warm-up activity to work with rhythms:
Atama 1 clap
Abaku 4 claps in rhythm "CLAP clap-clap-clap"
Laborenna 10 claps in rhythm similar to Abaku "CLAP clap-clap CLAP clap-clap CLAP clap-clap-clap

We then did "The Hacker." You stamp you right foot, then left foot, then bring your right hand to your left shoulder, then your left hand to your right shoulder, and then wave your hands in front of your, eventually pushing them out. The sounds go like this:
hoo-TAH hoo-TAH hoo-TAH hoo-TAH hoo-TAH

We first did with the hoo-tahs. Then we did it with lines from Romeo and Juliet:

"The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse."
"In half an hour she promised to return."
"Perchance she cannot meet him, that's not so."

We then did the same lines only clapping out every syllable. Pat your legs twice, clap twice, snap twice, pat legs twice, clap twice.

The reason why we wanted to really physically get into the rhythms was so that students could really feel the beat in their bodies.

We then were paired up and made up lines of our own to imabic pentameter. For example, "I danced all day and then I took a bath." However, one line that was made up didn't quite fit with the stress of the "Have you eaten breakfast today or not." The stress didn't quite fit with the word "eaten." We don't say "eaTEN." We say "Eaten." So this line was actually a trochee, where the stress is actually inverted.
Iamb: doo-DUM
Trochee: opposite iamb "DUM-doo"

Then we were given the Macbeth speech "Is this a dagger that I see before me?"

We then went through each line and saw which ones had more syllables, 10 syllables, and less syllables. We didn't worry about the stress. We then created a "heart chart" of the monologue. We also discussed those lines with less syllables possibly having pauses to fill the rest of the rhythm.

After this, we did this. . . .
Read speech; move at punctuation.
Read speech; move at end stops only.

We talked about how moving at all punctuation created the "frantic heartbeat" of the character, the inner life of them.

When we moved at the end stops only, it created the thought process of the character. You have to take both into consideration.

When then worked with trochee lines and iambic lines. We first stomped "12345." Then we said "sha-BOOM sha-BOOM sha-BOOM sha-BOOM sha-BOOM." We then said, "Shall I compare the to a summers day." We then said, "BOOM-sha BOOM-sha BOOM-sha BOOM-sha BOOM-sha." And then said, "Never never never never never"

We talked about how would stress the word "Never." We say "NEVer," not "neVER."

We then created "Metric feet." We did this through taking a step in two counts. the first count is foot up. count two is a foot stomp.

We used the following lines:
"Is this a dagger which I see right here" (ENDS ON FOOT DOWN)
"Is this a dagger which I see before me"" (ENDS WITH FOOT UP)
To be or not to be that is the point (ENDS ON FOOT DOWN)
To be or not to be that is the question (ENDS WITH FOOT UP)
In the original it sounds more uncertain because he is stuck with his foot in the air.

We talked about how you should really try to stick with the iambic unless it sounds perverse. For example we used a line from Richard III:

"Die in his you by like untimely violence."

Yolanda just said the line and asked us just front hearing it what word we felt that we should stress. We said "die." So when we stressed die, it sounded okay. . . .and that would make it a torchee line. However, if we stuck with the iambic, if stressed "IN his YOUTH," which is actually where it should be stressed. This is a GREAT lesson in looking at the stressed words in Shakespeare and seeing what the hidden meaning might be.

Yolanda's E-mail

yolanda.v@shakespearesglobe.com

Notes about Yolanda's last session with us

This is a really rough sketch of the notes i took during the session they leave out the cardiogram activity we did in the middle.

Atama 1 clap

Abaku 4 claps in rhythm "CLAP clap-clap CLAP"

Laborenna 10 claps in rhythm similar to Abaku "CLAP clap-clap CLAP clap-clap CLAP clap-clap CLAP"

hoo-TAH hoo-TAH hoo-TAH hoo-TAH hoo-TAH

Iamb: doo-DUM

Trochee: opposite iamb "DUM-doo"

Read speech; move at punctuation. Turning on all punctuation: frantic heart beat

Read speech; move at end stops only. Turning on full end stops: thought process

Stomping 12345

sha-BOOM sha-BOOM sha-BOOM sha-BOOM sha-BOOM

Shall I compare the to a summers day

BOOM-sha BOOM-sha BOOM-sha BOOM-sha BOOM-sha

Never never never never never

Chair stomp. Take a step in two counts. the first count is foot up. count two is a foot stomp.

"Is this a dagger which I see right here" (ENDS ON FOOT DOWN)

"Is this a dagger which I see before me"" (ENDS WITH FOOT UP)

To be or not to be that is the point (ENDS ON FOOT DOWN)

To be or not to be that is the question (ENDS WITH FOOT UP)

In the original it sounds more uncertain because he is stuck with his foot in the air.

DIE in his youth

Vs

die IN his YOUTH

Unless it sounds odd keep Shakespeare's stress.

More sayings by Bob

As he pointed to my bag that said "Stonehenge" on the bus yesterday, Bob asked, "Where did you get that?"

Reflection on Lively Action

Others (notably Brittney) have offered details about what took place in the workshops we observed on Thursday, July 8, where kids ranging in age from 7-16 were led to discover the "lively action" in short passages from various plays. I'd like to add some comments here about an insight I gained from the reflection/evaluation session which was held after we observed the workshops.

Our task was to evaluate the structure, delivery, and presentation of the workshop as conducted by the Globe practitioner who led it. These people are Globe actors who have been identified by the Globe Education staff as having great teaching potential, in addition to their acting abilities. The practitioner observed by my group (Jewel, Bob, me) was indeed a natural teacher, who effectively engaged a large class of 12-13 year-old kids from Suffolk in an activity based on Romeo and Juliet.

Certainly, I admired the effective scaffolding of the activities (very similar to the ones described by Brittney in a separate blog entry). Chris Nayak, who led the workshop, began with a simple set-up. After evaluating what the kids already knew about the play, Chris gave them a very lively action to perform: "Form lines of two rival gangs and fight each other! Use your finger as a sword and be sure to die out of the way!" Building one activity atop another, he was able to move the kids to working with lines in about 30 minutes, never losing them at any point.

Effective as the workshop was, my initial reaction was that as a teacher of adults, I might begin my lesson later in the series of building block activities than the Globe practitioner had done. To Bob I owe the insight that it is well worth beginning at the beginning: "If you're going to adopt a Globe practice, you have to do the whole thing, regardless of the age of your students!"

The National Portrait Gallery

If anyone out there didn't get a chance to spend more time at the National Portrait Gallery or didn't get to it. . . .GO! We spent just a little bit of time here as a group looking for the portrait of Shakespeare on our "scavenger hunt" for Shakespeare's image, and I'm so glad we went here.

After having a pint and some food at the pub, I decided I wanted to go back to the NPG to look around some more. PHEW! What an amazing place!

When I went back I started with the Tudor room. In this room you will find the famous portrait of Anne Boleyn (with that famous "B" necklace), pictures of other wives of Henry VIII and, of course, Henry VIII himself. It was interesting to look at his son's portrait, Edward. It was close to the portrait of Henry, and it talked about how Edward is positioned much like his father's portrait because they wanted to make him "look like a king," even though he was a very young boy.

In the room were also three different pictures of Elizabeth I at different stages in her life. One at her coronation, one when she's a bit older, and one very large one when she's much older.

Also, in the NPG you'll find the only portrait of Jane Austen made in her time. It's very small though. . . .still interesting.

On the first level you'll find what I returned for. . . .the famous portrait of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte painted by their brother, Patrick Branwell Bronte. If you've seen a picture of the Bronte sisters, you've most likely seen this one. What's so intersting about it is that obviously Branwell painted himelf into the portrait. For some reason though, he earsed himself from it. However, you can still see the faint outline of his image between Charlotte and Emily. Branwell Bronte has all kind of problems in his life, and he basically drank himself to death. So this portrait and I spent a lot of quality time together. I just sat there and took it in.

I also went back for another Charlotte Bronte portrait, but it was taken down and replaced with different painting done but the same artist. Boo. :-(

So there's so much more to see at the NPG if you didn't make it there! I highly reccommened it!! :-)

The British Library

Wow. Today we are working on the Shakespeare "scavenger hunt" (for like of a better way to explain it). Hillary and I have the Shakespeare statue in the foyer of the British Library to defend. Let's admit it though, really it is the best :).

While at the library we took the time to look around a bit and I am really glad we did. We could not look at everything so I am probably going to come back on one of my free days at the end of the program. I did get the chance to go into their "treasures" room. The entire room is filled with a variety of written documents that are seriously breath taking. I absolutely loved seeing Shakespeare's manuscripts and writings. His hand writing is impeccable. Everybody's handwriting seems to be unbelievable back then. Oscar Wilde, Jane Austin, and
Charlotte Bronte really caught my eye too. Virginia Wolfe also had a few manuscripts. I must say that I particularly enjoyed the collection of Beatles lyrics written on envelopes and the back of greeting cards. It amazes me the wonder of everything in this building and I only made it to a single room.

I was a little bummed to find out that Anne Boleyn's copy of Tyndale's book was not on display. The guard said that if I had a letter from a university saying that I needed to see it I would be able to make that happen; unfortunately, I have no such letter. I also tried to see the Magna Carta but the room was packed and little. I could not make it through the crowd, so we will try another day.

This was truly exceptional. The history that is contained in this museum is astounding. I enjoyed seeing the variety of King James' Bibles and the prayer roll from King Henry VIII (I think it was the VIII anyways).

Just wonderful.

Anne Boleyn

Tonight we went to see Anne Boleyn. This was honestly one of the BEST shows I have ever seen. I loved absolutely everything about it. The casting was phenomenal and the acting therefore was exquisite.

I feel in love with the costumes yesterday when I watched the technical rehearsal during the "kidshop". The stage was simple but well set up. The director/stage designer added an extra catwalk out from the center of the stage into the groundling area. This was highly effective in creating a versatile space to play variety of environments. Just masterful.

Although this is all true I think that the best part about the play was the blocking that allowed every seat in the house to have a good view. Now of course the dead center front was probably still the best seat, but unlike the Hamlet touring show, the blocking was specific for the Globe stage an utilized the corners and angels to include the ENTIRE audience. Of course there were times that things were staged between the two pillars and sight lines were cut off but it was not something that hindered the play i the least. I felt as though even though I didn't get to see every little thing I was still moved to tears by the performance.

Anne was absolutely exquisite. She commanded a stage presence and authority unlike most women. She was fantastic.

I really love that show. It was fantastic.

Much Ado on Film

We first watched a version of Much Ado from "Shakespeare Retold," a TV version on BBC. They have done updated versions on some of his most popular plays, including Much Ado, Shrew, Macbeth, and Midsummer. Interesting. . . .you apparently can get it on netflix.

P.S. Michael also told us about another series one night during drinks called "Slings and Arrows." Here's the description from netflix: A superior ensemble cast highlights this witty series about washed-up actor Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross), whose failing attempts to run the Shakesperean New Burbage Festival are rescued by his brilliant mentor, Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette), who happens to be ... a ghost. While staging "Hamlet," "Macbeth" and "King Lear," Tennant wrangles temperamental actors, demanding sponsors and his tempestuous relationship with an actress (Martha Burns).

Might be of interest to others.

Prof. Tony Howard also showed some different versions including a BBC version that gave us a lively debate about if it was good or not. He showed the "kill Claudio" scene. Personally, I felt like the Benedick and Beatrice didn't connect enough. Jewel commented that she couldn't feel the passion. Bob commented that Benedick's final monologue was a wonderful balance of wanted to appease Beatrice but not wanted to do it. . . .trying to see if she'll "give him an out." Prof. Howard mentioned this was the best scene in the whole version. They others are "rubbish," as they say out here!

He also gave an interesting tid-bit about looking for the "missing" scenes in Shakespeare. For example, the Don Pedro and Claudio being duped scene.

We also saw a very 70's version of it with Sam Waterston. It was a gay 90's version. Very strange. . . .perhaps others think differently.

Also watched the Branaugh version. Denzel Washington in a uniform. 'Nuf said.

He mentioned a couple of versions to look up on You Tube:

And East German musical version. Also, we should search "Maggie Smith" on you tube for another version. Oh, and he mentioned one that connected to Dr. Who. . . .something about robots or something. Not sure.

All in all, I was surprised how helpful this session was. I came up with an idea to try to compile a whole bunch of Much Ado clips and use it towards the beginning of a Shakespeare unit asking kids, "Just judging on what you see. . .costumes, body language, attitude, what they say and how they say it. . . .what relationships do you see? What archetypes?"

Now, we're off to see Anne Boleyn!!!!!

Deni and Jewelisms

"Shakespeare should be easily identifiable. High forehead, beard, jacket over coat. I should recognize him." ~Jewel

"Like Jesus." ~Deni

Cue Script Resources

You can order cue script packages for around 20 pounds from The Friendly Folio here:

http://friendlyfolio.com/

You can also download a free copy of a cue script from Midsummer there.

I also found some here:

http://www.folger.edu/edulesplandtl.cfm?lpid=741

Live Action Kidshop with Connor

• All students left bags and shoes in the hall. Gives space and safety.
• Sets out easy straight-forward rules about listening and working.
• High energy warm-up and ideas. Nothing complex.
• Warm up bodies and listening.
• Jump, clap, go, stop
• Used Romeo and Juliet not listening to switch rules.
• Gives examples of using your whole body with Love and Hate
• Uses lines from R&J to have kids doing Shakespeare
• “My only love sprung from my only hate”
• Connects line with individual feelings
• Has students elaborate on ideas and thoughts even in simple words
• Big movements and voices
• When kids get distracted they sat down to focus and quiet down
• Keeps reminding kids of speaking one at a time
• Always very encouraging too.
• Kids pair off: A & B
• Capulets vs Montagues~ intimidation with strength not volume
• “Do you bite your thumb sir?”
• “I do bite my thumb sir!”
• Kids face off to show a fighting stance
• clearly illustrates the opening scene of R & J as a fight to the kids
• Kids describe the feelings in the scene and why Shakespeare would create plays that started so fiercely.

• Kids beat out the lines on the floor to hear the cadence and rhythm
• Why are the words so short (one syllable): “They are shorter and more fierce.”
• Describe the characters and therefore describe the relationships between the characters.
• Tybalt is a firey character “Peace I hate the word…”
• If he sees Romeo across the room he will want to kill him
• Tactics ‘yes’ and ‘no’
• Body movement tactics only~ no words
• Moved on to using actual lines of text: “Uncle this is a Montague” “Gentle cus, let him alone.”
• Each activity is only a couple of minutes long or so
• Each student is then given a short peace of Shakespearean script in order to elaborate the scene
• Towards and away making big decisions with the text
• Kids explain why they chose the move towards or away
• Script text is short and print is big
• Tried scene with conflicting objectives
• Make eye contact, avoid eye contact ~ then switch
• Kids explained what the words meant and where they felt they HAD to make eye contact to create a “fierce moment”
• Kids translated text as well

Scene Rehearsal with Bill

Our scene is pretty much blocked! Bill works in a way where we really organically try to find the blocking in a scene, working with each other to balance the stage.

We did this interesting activity with the last speech of Benedick's in our scene, "This can be no trick/the conference was sadly born. . . ." Bille had all three of us say the lines at the same time (but not in sync with each other) and every time we came across punctuation, we changed direction. Our movements were to be swift and with purpose. It really created this interesting energy. . .a very frantic energy.

So we're slowly making our way through, solidly setting blocking soon.

Looking good, including the Benedick sandwich.

Friday, 7/9: Text Workshop

This morning's workshop with Head of Text Giles Block looked in detail at the language of Shakespeare's plays--the way in which blank verse simulates the natural rhythms of speech, the differences between verse lines and prose, and the division of speeches into units of thought.

Blank verse and prose

Some of these details are observable in the development of Shakespeare's language through the plays: for example, end punctuation decreases in the later plays.

The introduction of blank verse took the Elizabethan play-going audience by storm. It must have seemed edgy, a bit dangerous (the gangsta rap of the 16th century!). The lack of rhyme allows the words to seem like something we might actually say; the rhythm (like a heartbeat) carries a message about our own humanity.

But prose is also a powerful theatrical instrument! (Much Ado is one of the great "prose" plays.) Prose passages generally contain fewer stressed syllables, and (an important point for Much Ado) whereas verse reveals emotion, prose conceals it. The speaker of prose passages is hiding something. Prose tends to be out of control, to contain lists, to come from the head. Verse signals that something has changed: thought is suffused with emotion. Prose is often called for in social situations, which are marked by awkwardness, prevarication, interpersonal negotiation.

Working with a scene from As You Like It

We worked through Act 1 Scene 2, the point in the play where Orlando wrestles Charles--and where Rosalind falls in love. Each of us took lines in turn, round robin.

We then noticed where the speakers turned from prose to verse: after the fight, when Rosalind (and Celia) have been been overcome by emotion.

Units of thought in The Winter's Tale

Here, we worked through Hermione's speech in the trial scene, noticing how the speech can be divided (partly through end punctuation) into five units of thought--a useful exercise to perform with students. Notice the use of and at the end of line 2: earlier plays rarely attempt such a thing.

Some questions and answers:

The group had some questions for Giles:

Is our American pronunciation a problem? No! The King's English is not Shakespeare's dialect.

What is the biggest challenge to digging into Shakespeare's language? The way it looks on the page! Try dividing speeches into units of thought.

An interesting morning!

Scene Rehearsals with Tom

There are some sessions that move faster than others. Scene rehearsal is one of those. It is like when we begin rehearsing the scenes it feels like five minutes have passed at the end of two hours.

Tom's group has finished blocking our scene. We are now trying to perfect things and get timing down better. The hard part. Lines are starting to come more easily and feel more natural. The best part about the scenes is coming together with the characters. Feeling the link between actor and character is actually a bit difficult and I can feel that I am starting to build a kinship with Beatrice. I am hoping that all of my counterparts are beginning to feel this connection as well. I know that many of us are tired but I feel that when we are not over thinking, even do to exhaustion, real vulnerability comes to fruition.

Tonight we get to see Anne Boleyn. After seeing a bit of the tech rehearsals yesterday, I am very very excited. This is going to be good.

Notes about text from the lecture with Giles

The punctuation ends lines in early plays. In later plays ideas go on to other lines.

Blank verse --"strange rhythm"-- was a new style. It took the theatre world by storm. People began to hear players who sounded like them. It might have been thought dangerous like popular music is thought to be today. It is rather like a heartbeat; it is probably not far off from an energized person's heartbeat. The audience's heartbeat may beat in time with the words. The rhythm is a secret rhythm. It carries a message that is a comment about our own humanity. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Fourteeners are lines longer than ten syllables. Shakespeare would make fun of this by having certain character's speak in fourteeners. Fourteeners are longer than what humans naturally want to speak. Ten syllables fits our lung capacity.

Millions of years ago (sic) we learned how to speak. We had to learn to breathe differently in order to accomplish this amazing new task. We learned to breathe in quickly and to control the exhalation to facilitate this skill. 10 syllables is just about right to make this happen.

Much ado 70% is in verse. Only about 4 plays have as much prose in it. they are all comedies. Prose is not for the uneducated. You can find examples of educated characters speaking in both. It is more about situation than permanant status.

Shakespeare's English sounded a lot closer to an American accent than a contemporary English accent.

In modern productions we cut things that are duplicitous. This is a shame. They help an audience follow. We cut out pop-up thoughts. A lot of people came to the theatre and did not understand what was said. The groundlings would come to hear the story. The people in the seats would hear the words. They would be listening for the new words. You don't always get it all the first time.

Verse is the language of emotion. Act iv scene I of much ado is not in verse because Beatrice is not being direct with her feelings. She acts with split purpose. Thus, prose is used instead of verse.

Prose is the language of the head--of reason. Prose is a bit of a brainstorm. Prose is often clever or witty.

The way Shakespeare looks on the page is kind of scary. Break it up into thought units. It can turn a twenty line speech into five thoughts. Find a way to print it out to show the fragmented nature of a Shakespeare's speech. Many of the speeches are heavily fragmented. Do a divide and paraphrase activity. Use italics, parentheses, and bolding of words to stress certain words to focus in on key ideas.

Line and breath. A new line should be energized with a new breath.

Brilliant!

Brilliant thought by Giles Block, Head of Text: verse--"thought infused with emotion."

The picture of the tower bridge a couple asked for

I'm in the process of setting up a flickr account we can all upload our photos to so we can share photos!

More Yolanda Session

Here's the other part of the Yolanda session. . . .

We then did the status game where you put a card on your head without looking at it and socialize with the others, trying to figure out who you are according to how others treat you. There were a couple spins on this game I haven't used before though. One was that you were not allowed to talk. You just had to use your body language to show others how they should be treated. After doing this, we, of course, tried to guess who we were. The second variation on this game was to get a card, look at it, and then put it away so only you knew who you were. Then, again without talking, you were to look around and with y our body language portray who you were. You were then to try to find the other person who had the same card as you (there was only one other person who it could be).

After this status game, we played just an open scene where one of us was the teacher and one of us was the student. The student was coming in because they had bad grades and the teacher needed to talk to them about it. The teachers were always a "10." The students started as a "2." In the middle of the scene we were stopped and then the students became a "5." Then again we were stopped and they became a "10." We discussed the changes as the students raised in status. Then, we were given a script of The Tempest, a scene between Prospero and Ariel. The talked about status within the scene and played some status in the scene.

After this, we worked with the game we played before, which was the "probe, hook, block, and deflect" activity. We ran through this a few times, and then we were asked if we felt like anything was missing. Some suggestions were given like "to tease," "to raise up," "to humiliate." We then came up for actions with those and worked the scene again. Personally, I found the scene more interesting with more options. I felt like it had a few more dimensions to the characters.

Then we were given another script to The Tempest. It was a scene between Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban. We played kind of a version of "Sit, Stand, and Bend." One person always had to be sitting, one standing, and one on one knee or lying down. It was to work with levels and power within the scene.


Finally, we were given three different speeches of Caliban's. We were divided into three different groups. All you had to do was get the general essence of the speech. Then you were to create a silent movie to the speech. Everyone performed. Then you added in sounds but not words. Then you added in key words in the speech into your movie. This was a VERY cool exercise! It was interesting to see all t he speeches develop as more things were added.

Only part of the Yolanda Session

I promise I will type the rest up later, but I should get to sleep now! Here's part of the VERY VALUABLE session we did with Yolanda yesterday. More later. . . .

Rehearsals going well for our group as well. . . .despite the Benedick sandwich. Y'all not in our group will see. ;-)

We started with a quick warm-up
We did this warm up where we clapped once to these Italian or Spanish words, then clapped a short rhythm to another word, then a longer rhythm to another word. She could call out the word, we clapped. It was a nice quick and rhythmic warm-up!

After this, we started with "Playing the Globe Stage." She asked for a volunteer and had us all sit in chairs around that person. She then whispered in her ear a suggestion in how to play this monologue of Beatrice's. Obviously, she suggested that she perform the monologue with very little emotion, not moving, and not making eye contact with anyone. She would give the line to her, and she would repeate it. Then, Yolanda asked us what we would change about how she performed. We needed to be specific. She said if you asked this of students and they said, "She needs more emotion," we should ask them "What do you mean?" to get them to be specific. After suggestions were given, she performed again with the suggestions.

Now we were all given a cue script for Much Ado About Nothing. We were given four stage of doing the cue script:
1. Just read it
2. Just look at it for the movement suggested in the script
3. Do it
4. Refine it into a performance
Eventually we all performed and then she had volunteers from each of the groups perform the scene.

After we came back from our break, we opened with a couple of games.

The first was a simple game. You all wander about the room. The monitor claps one, you touch one person's shoulder and hold. You clap twice, you touch two shoulders and hold. You clap three times and you have to touch two shoulders and use your leg to attach yourself to another person. You clap four times and you have to tap as many shoulders as you can without having anyone touch yours.

Another warm up game: "The Tempest." One person is the caller in this game. They goal is for two people to create a house over one person in the house. If the caller says "People," all the people have to find a new house, including the caller. The odd many out becomes the caller. If they call "Houses," the houses have to find a new person and the people stay. If they call "Tempest," everyone changes as they spin around as if in a storm.

Exquisite Exhaustion!

We are learning so much. Rehearsals are going well. Notes are not yet typed for many of us...WE THANK YOU JENN IFER AND BRITTNEY FOR BEING OUR SCRIBES!!! Now, to get back to memorization.

Movement with Glynn

Pina Bausch~ "I don't care how you move, what interests me is what moves you."

Today movement was quite a trip. We tried to isolate each of our separate muscles. We also worked on proprioception (what your body is receiving from outside); we respond proprioceptively. When you see great acting it is the proprioceptive sense at work. Your feelings can often be wrong and your feelings should never be trusted. Your feelings are just an emotional gust. Spontaneity does not exist. Thoughts creates actions.

Discipline is the deciding of the truth.

Floor class: breath out on the movement, in on the rest. In through the nose and out through the mouth (sinks with lines when speaking)

• lift the head to look between the legs.
• star
• lift the butt
• cat/cow yoga position into "lizard on the rock" (cobra yoga position).

The order of muscle isolation is actually very important. Must move to music. Epilepsy can cause funny things to happen when focusing on specific spots.

• eyes~ keep the absolute physical link in the eyes
• touch~ my heart in my hand
• tails (pelvis and hips)~ swing your pelvis. Back as interesting as front.
• open hearts (tits and pecks)~ lift in the upper body. Sternum (dagger) protects you from everyone
• knees~ knees are flexible joints, no weight transfer (not side to side/lateral movement)
• divine chalice (receiving and sharing)~ lifting the upper body to give strength to arms and support. Fill up together with other people.
• contraction~ muscle only knows how to contract. Consciousness stops contraction.
• first memory of dance (first age you remember dancing)~ finding where your release lies.
• corporate movement (move as a single entity)~ move as a group. The body of work moves as one being.

Glynn is one of those individuals that is absolutely hilarious. This class made all of us laugh hysterically. It was like some of us literally could not breath because we were laughing so hard.

Sayings by Bob

"Never underestimate the ability of teenagers to ruin everything!"

What other other side did

Myself, Jennifer, Deni, Michael, Kathy, and Dona are all in a group together with Bill. Bill seems like he will be a great director and teacher.

At first Bill just got to know us a little better, asking us what we taught, etc. The usual we have been doing. We then didi some quick introduction activities. We first stood in a circle and one person started by looking at someone in the eye, saying their name, and started to walk slowly towards them. They then looks around, caught someone else’s eye, said their name, and walked towards them. It was more than just a “get to know your names” game. It was really about teamwork and supporting each other by giving the person who was “on the spot” your eye contact so they could say your name. It shouldn’t be fast. . . .a slow paced walk and take your time with it. Get to feel like a team.

We then paired up and had 30 seconds for “Person A” to learn as much as they could about “Person B” by asking them questions. Then we presented our person to the rest of the class. It was not only to get to know others in the room but also to try to remember as much as you could about the other person.
After this, we brought our chairs back in and Bill handed out two scenes. One was the first part of the wedding scene. The second was the Benedick overhearing Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonato scene. We read through both alternating parts from page to page. Bill said he wasn’t sure which scene he wanted us to do, but I believe by tomorrow he’ll be coming in with the Benedick overhearing scene. He wanted to balance what the other group was doing with a more comedic part of the play.

We also talked about the Globe stage and what challenges it presents as an actor. Obvious things. . . .the audience is all around you, there are two big pillars in the way, etc. So Bill did an exercise a bit about balancing the stage because with a space like the Globe, you have to be conscious of this.

We all stood in a big circle at first, and he put a water bottle in the center. He asked us to picture us all standing on the edges of a big plate that we had to keep balanced. He then asked two people to step more into the center of the plate. He had one person be the leader and the other be the “balancer.” After having us each try this one on one, we then did two against one. Interesting things happened. You would normally think that you would have to stay in a triangle type shape to balance, but sometimes we ended up in a straight line in the center. Interesting.

Eventually, he added in another person so it was three to one. Then four to one. And so on. Then we tried to balance with moving as little as possible. It had some interesting results. We felt as if the person who has the leader us speaking to us and we were listening. Conversations started to develop in my head. It would be interesting to take this activity to that level. Give the leader a starting line and have them improv from there. . . . .see how you balance the plate with the different lines. . . .or if it even stay in balance.

A day of Discovery

It will never cease to amaze me just how much I learn everyday here. It is almost like being a small child again and discovering the world. Here I am discovering the world of Shakespeare.

This morning we were broken up into 2 separate groups. Each group had 6 individuals. I was with Tom. The rest of my group is: Linda, Bob, Melanie, Hilary, and Jewel.

When we first got together we did a few warm-ups. I loved them. The first was called "Keepy Uppy" (Tom's cutesy name because he has a young son and finds himself referring to things in a cutesy kind of way). It is a game that most of us have played with a balloon. THe whole point was to keep the nerf ball up in the air with a single touch each time. We made it up to 22 consecutive touches before hitting the ground. Next we did 2 different rhythm exercises. One was simply to clap out the beat of our names. Example: Brit-tney Han-sen. Everybody in the group clapped out each name. We then put these names and rhythms to a walk, creating characters with each expression. Everybody tried each name. Lastly, we did an exercise in status. Using playing cards ace through ten. Ace being the losers and ten being God. Without looking at the card hold it up to our forehead and walk around noticing the interactions between "characters". After observing the reactions people have to each other we arranged ourselves in numerical order of what status we assumed we were. Some of us were right and others not so much. It was a great exercise to embody the essence of varying social classes.

Once we were warmed up we started looking at our scene! This was the best part in my opinion. My group is doing the scene where the Friar hashes out his plans on how to save Hero and then leads into Beatrice asking Benedick to kill Claudio. In a circle we chunked the lines into small groups and then translated it into our own words looking at why characters were doing and saying certain things. There were definitely a few disagreements about motives and such but all and all SUPER insightful. We haven't been told our roles yet and we only made it about half way through the scene, yet I felt like I learned so much about the characters and their personalities.

I am really excited to continue working tomorrow and getting deeper into the text and subtext of it all.

After scene classes we headed onto voice. I found this class to be SUPER relaxing and very educational as well. I am sure most of us have the problem of students dropping the ends of lines and so forth and this was one of the things that Charmian addressed. She talked about releasing breath through the end of each line and we practiced doing this with names, numbers, lines of plays and a beautiful poem. I loved it. It was like a relaxation and breathing class with a bit of annunciation and poetry. I wish that we had more time with each of these professors/practioners. They are all brilliant.

Now that I think about it, I actually don't remember whether we had voice or Theatre History lecture first. Not that it really matters the order. Our Theatre History lecture was very insightful too. Dr. Farah was a fountain of information and was able to talk freely without notes or references. Many of us took notes throughout. She even shared a few sketches and various other things for us to take back to our classrooms. She provided a wonderful basis for everything that the Globe is working on as well as the things that we are all attempting to teach.

The last chunk of our day was spent in the Shakespeare Exhibition. This is like and entire museum dedication to the wonder of Shakespeare, his works and the Globe. There was everything from scale replications to information about the society of the time. Very insightful.

Now most of us have had dinner and kind of retreated to individual areas. Some people are sitting around rooms and talking dorm style and some of us are catching up on writing and talking to loved ones. Tonight I have a grand excursion planned with Hilary to the depths of who knows where. I am hoping between the running, the long day and our evening walk that I might actually get to sleep the entire night through. I also hope that I am not going to be so tired I am falling over tomorrow. Only time will tell I guess.

Early Morning

Yesterday I fell asleep at the dinner table. It was bad. I was so tired. I was startled awake when Deni put her hand on my back. Once dinner was over at about 9 pm I went straight to my bed and fell asleep almost instantly. After having a couple bad dreams I woke up around 3 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I remembered what Chris said in a workshop we had yesterday. Something to the effect of that whenever he was in Davis he would always find himself catching up on emails at 3 in the morning. So I got up. Went to the edge of our building just outside Leon (a small cafe), stole their wifi in the dark and talked to my loved ones, both boyfriend and mom. It was only about 8 in California so the sun hadn't even gone down. In the course of talking, the sun came up here.

It is a bright sunny morning at 5 am now. My computer is almost dead and I am headed out for a run. Let's hope today I can stay awake (despite the small amount of sleep) and that the day brings a plethora of wonderful fun.

Introductions and Instructions

Today was all about this. . . .getting introduced to the place where we'll be working, who we'll be working with, and how exactly we get to do that. The nuts and bolts of it all really. . . .with a little Indian food thrown in!

So a few tid bits from the day as we wrap up day one to get down. . . .

The Globe that we have today is a faithful replica of the first Globe, not the second. The first Globe had a thatch roof. . . .hence the burning to the ground. . . .the second Globe theatre had a tiled roof. When we were led into the Globe for the first time, Yolanda asked us not to look at it through our camera lens but rather just through our eyes first. Good advice I need to take more often. She also asked us to give our first impression of the Globe.

My personal first impression was what an intimate space it was. It seemed like no matter where you are in that space, you are right there in the action. It was very ornate as well, not the typical "Tudor" style we think of the Globe being. Of course, I had seen the Globe in pictures, but if I never had, I'm sure this would have been the very first thing that struck me about it. It was colorful, ornate, and bold. Yolanda told us that she belives all the walls would have been painted like those on the stage.

Patrick took us on a "walkshop" around the South Bank with various bits of Shakespeare thrown in. The most interesting place we enountered was where the Globe Theatre used to stand. How cool to stand right in front of where Shakespeare produced his plays. . . .now between a couple of office buildings.

Patrick is so entertaining. He ranted and raved all about the new "sliver" they are building on the South Bank, what restaurants to hit and which to avoid, and other amusing things. It was nice even just to get some recommendations on places to eat, one of which we tried out later.

The rest of the day was a wine reception, free wifi in the cafe (YEAH!!), and a large group of us trying out Indian food at the place Patrick suggested. Note: The Chicken Vindaloo will make flames seriously jump out of your mouth. They don't mess around.

Tomorrow we start rehearsal!! EXCITING!!!

Chatham House Rules

What is said in the room needs to stay in the room. Feel safe to talk about what you want and reference what you need.

We are able to speak freely here.

Beginning the Fun

Things are going absolutely great. I am so tired but really, why wouldn't I be? I didn't get in until last night at 11 pm. It was strange walking through the streets of London completely alone. Slightly scary but nothing really happened. I got to my room, took a shower and just went to bed.

This morning things have gone well. I have noticed that if I stop moving for too long I literally fall asleep. We have met a lot of people and everyone has been so nice. We had a brief tour of the globe this morning and then came to the other education building to have a workshop.

Our workshop was all about movement and taught by one of the most interesting people I have ever encountered. She was a hoot. We worked with certain cross movement exercises. It was a lot of fun. Apparently being in band for so long was really helpful because I was able to stay on the beat really well. One of the things that we learned that was pretty interesting was about right and left ears. When speaking emotions you need to speak into the left ear, whereas when speaking about directions you need to speak into the right year...bizarre.

We also talked a lot about the Alexander Method which is all about knowing what your body is doing at all times. It also concerns how other people perceive us so that we can give a specific feelings and impressions. Very interesting. I am sure that some of the others in the group can probably explain more.

Once movement was over we had a break, which is what we are doing now. I had a very interesting sandwich. I doubt I will have it again but that is ok.

We have a couple more workshops today. I am so excited to be here and having so much fun. YAY!

"I take from the Heavens all that I need and I bring it inside me. I take from the Earth all that I need and I bring it inside me. And when I have it inside me, whoosh, I give it away." This was a prayer that we used at the end of our workshop. It was a great way to recognize that we take our creativity from elsewhere.