Come and work a new speech, blow the dust off an old one, and speak your soliloquy from the heart.
A day-long intensive in Shakespeare monologue performance, looking at:
- Finding direction in the text
- Accessing the emotional stakes
- Plotting the journey of the speech
- Physical grounding
- As ever, RP accent absolutely not required…
All speeches are worked from the floor up, starting with text analysis, folio comparison, and emotional mapping, moving through to physicalising, stillness and not waving hands about needlessly.
Participants will need:
- a monologue off by heart
- loose, comfortable clothing
***Places limited***
COST
£45
DATE
19th January, 11-6pm
WHERE
Jacksons Lane Theatre, Highgate.
Interested participants please email your CV
Closing date for applications January 12th 2014
A day-long intensive workshop, exploring fresh and accessible approaches to Shakespeare.
- Unpick preconceived ideas of great verse-speaking
- Over the course of the day you will gain an easy fluency with Shakespearean text
- Discover a truthful and simple way of speaking verse in your own natural accent
Here we cover the basics:
- Finding stage direction in Shakespeare’s writing styles – from Sonnet to Scene
- Ensemble work and physicality
- Introduction to breaking down a speech or scene
- RP accent absolutely not required…
Participants will need to wear loose, comfortable clothing. No preparation required.
COST
£60
DATE
18th January, 12-6pm
WHERE
Jacksons Lane, Highgate.
Interested participants please email your CV by clicking here
A 5-day intensive in simple, honest Shakespeare performance.
Building a strong ensemble, driving towards an end showing. Over the course of a week, a mini-Company will be formed.
Looking at:
Accessing the emotional stakes of a text via the Sonnets
Establishing an ensemble & physical working method
Scenes throughout the canon, gaining a familiarity with Shakespeare’s style, direction and staging inherent in Shakespeare’s writing
Cue-script rehearsal techniques
Sessions on Shakespeare Clowns with Sean Garrett, and Sonnets with Will Sutton
Original Pronunciation, the accent Shakespeare and his Company spoke in
Participants will need:
A sonnet off by heart
Loose, comfortable clothing
Their natural accent
Cost
£250
Date
2nd-6th June, 10-6pm
Location
Studio 1, Jackson’s Lane, Highgate, Central London
Interested participants please email your CV
Participation in our Shakespeare 101 workshop preferred but not required.
Closing date for applications February 25th 2014
In November we ran our first one day Shakespeare 101 workshop at Jacksons Lane in Highgate. The workshop was led by Ben Crystal and Warren Rusher and had our largest attendance so far with 20 actors of all levels getting their teeth into some Shakespeare. The day was thoroughly enjoyed by all and was a great final workshop for 2013
September saw a workshop over the weekend of the 14th – 15th at MovingEast studios in Stoke Newington. The workshop was led by Ben Crystal and included a Sonnet Masterclass from Sonneteer Will Sutton. We continued our practice of mixing actors new to Ben’s work with previous workshop attendees.
Returning actors Warren Rusher, Diana Kashlan, Matthew Mellalieu, Natalie Thomas, Charlie Dupré and Sean Garratt were joined by Imogen Rodgers, Aslam Husain, Adam Webb, Martin Edwards, John Hogg, Thorvald Aagaard and all the way from Mexico, Josè Cremayer.
We looked at Original Practice, spending some time exploring Original Pronunciation and concluded the two days by trying out how to work from Cue Scripts.
In June 2013 we ran a week long workshop at Jacksons Lane (a multi-arts venue in a converted church) in Highgate, London. The workshop was led by Ben Crystal and was a further exploration of themes and techniques worked on previously.
Returning Passion in Practice actors Diana Kashlan, Jamie Harding, Jaskiranjit Deol, Natalie Thomas, Warren Rusher were joined by Owen Oakeshott, Anirudh Nair, Emma Pallant, Kate Burdette, Nana Amoo-Gottfried, Charlie Dupré and Sean Garratt. Will Sutton travelled over from Amsterdam to run his Sonnet Workshop at the end of the week.
Building on the foundations of our 2010 workshop as an original practice experiment (putting trust in Shakespeare as a writer, director, company actor, and master dramatist) we pushed further with the work and constantly discovered new ways of looking at the text.
In the autumn of 2011, Ben travelled to Reno, Nevada, and formed the ensemble for a production of Hamlet in OP. As with all Passion in Practice Workshops that last 5 or more days, he trained the Company in ensemble and chorus work, physicality, verse, and OP.
In the summer of 2011, Ben Crystal formed a temporary Company, mixed of actors from Passion in Practice, and Shakespeare’s Globe, to curate a CD of Shakespeare in Original Pronunciation (OP) for the British Library.
In June 2011, Ben held a free workshop on Original Pronunciation with the Company, ahead of the British Library’s plans to record a CD of Shakespeare in the accent.
In May, we focussed on images of Dreams and Sleep in Shakespeare. From Hamlet to Macbeth, from Caliban to Bottom, from Miranda to Helena, the dream world is a constant presence in Shakespeare’s plays.
Mining the whole canon, we will explore unusual parallels and searching out telling coincidences in Shakespeare’s world of dreams.
