Voice for Shakespeare (272-0-20)

Instructors

Linda H. Gates

Meeting Info

Wirtz 101 Performnce Black Box: Mon, Wed 1:00PM - 2:50PM

Overview of class

This class focuses on integrating the voice/speech/text work of Theatre 170 Voice for Performance with the more advanced voice and text work required for performing Shakespeare's plays.

Students will focus on applying the principles of Elizabethan rhetoric, verse speaking and prose to better understand Shakespeare's performance clues for actors which are embedded in the text. Voice work will focus on extending vocal range and expanding resonance to support Shakespeare's use of heightened text. Diction work will continue the use of IPA to enable students to discover Shakespeare's extensive use of alliteration and assonance in both verse and prose.

Students will also work on speaking while in motion and sharing space with other actors, combining relaxation and physical flexibility while performing a shared group piece from one of Shakespeare's plays. In addition, each student will work on an individual sonnet an individual monologue, and a two-person scene to be presented, memorized, in a final performance before an audience."

Class Materials (Required)

Speaking in Shakespeare's Voice: A Guide for the American Actor
by Linda Gates, Northwestern University Press $24.95
The Eloquent Shakespeare by Gary Logan, University of Chicago Press, $33.00