Living Shakespeare

Intermediate/Professional

•  Intermediate/Advanced Santa Barbara

• 12 Thursday Afternoons 9/22 to 12/15

• Limit 8 participants. $660. total or 3 monthly installments of $220.

• 10% “Early Bird,” (8/31) Multi-class, and Couples Discounts are available

Only in Shakespeare can you trust the very sound of the text, to give you meaning and emotion. Will Shakes just had a better poetic ear than any other dramatist in the history of the English language, and so by digging into the consonants, vowels and rhythms of the lines, he offers major clues as to the emotional life and emotional progression of character. I call this specific work a “Sounding,” based on the innovative approaches of Kristin Linklater. 

It’s not a matter of speaking clearly, but rather experiencing the sound as a kind of “vocal mask” that affects your emotional life and delivery, sound by sound, word by word, phrase by phrase. The Sounding of the text is not a vocal exercise, but an emotional exploration.  As the great English director Peter Hall once said to Dustin Hoffman, “First comes the form and then comes the feeling.” 

The Sounding enables the actor to connect with Shakespeare’s characters in a visceral way, internalizing the needs and pains of his characters without sacrificing the elevated language or the impact of the work.

.Also covered are translation, tracing imagery, the intensity of elevated text, and, of course, the usual breakdown of needs, motivations and internal obstacles.  Class progresses from exercises to monologues to scenes.

N.B. All courses progress in a logical and consecutive sequence. Furthermore, students are frequently turned away once the maximum number of participants has been reached. For these reasons, students who begin the session agree to complete the entire session and are, therefore, financially responsible for that session.

Write to [email protected] or call 805.451.6789 to register, ask any questions or to schedule an interview