5-Day Online Acting Intensive
SHAKESPEARE SPOKEN HERE
With DAKIN MATTHEWS
Broadway Veteran and Award Winning Shakespeare Actor
(Henry IV, Waitress, To Kill A Mockingbird, Camelot)
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Thursday, August 8, 15, 22, 29, & Thursday, September 5, 2024
2:00 PM ET - 5:00 PM ET​
Location | Zoom
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Class size is limited to 12 participants | $350 per student
“Speak the speech as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue.”
A combined lecture/demonstration/acting class based on Mr. Matthews' approach to mining the text for the kinds of information that actors need to perform Shakespeare at the highest level of competence (as featured in the New York Times, July 22, 2023). Each three-hour class will include at least 1 hour of lecture/demonstration by Mr. Matthews and 2 hours of individual work with students performing monologues, soliloquies, and sonnets. Students who wish to work on specific texts must be off-book and must post copies of their soliloquies, monologues, or sonnets online for the class to reference.
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Course Subjects:​
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An introduction to Mr. Matthews’ approach to Shakespearean texts.
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A focus on the rich “meaning’’ of the text as the primary source, on paraphrase as a helpful tool to clarify meaning, and on the “sense” of the text—the meaning expressed in the very words of the text—as the ultimate goal.
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How “formal” elements of language—vocabulary, grammar, rhetoric, and poetics---affect the sense and therefore the delivery of the text.
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The relationship between all these and the psychology of character.
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Enduring Understandings:
Actors will learn that Shakespeare’s language is not an archaic fortress that requires a knowledge of the rules to enter but rather an intensely honest heightened text with a multitude of tools that can aid and assist an actor on their journey to the truth. In this class, actors will learn how to demystify Shakespeare and his verse and find the internal truth of the character. By the end of the class, actors will have confidence they can step on to a Classical stage and deliver dynamic truth to both the audience and their scene partner.
Instructor:
DAKIN MATTHEWS is an actor, playwright, translator, Emeritus Professor of English, and dramaturge of over forty Shakespeare productions, including for directors Jack O’Brien, Daniel Sullivan, John Rando, and Darko Tresnjak. He won a Drama Desk Award for his Broadway adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV and has coached Denzel Washington, Neil Patrick Harris, and Camron Manheim in Shakespearean roles. His handbook Shakespeare Spoken Here is in its sixth edition. He has appeared in over 250 stage plays, 250 episodes of television including "The King of Queens," "Desperate Housewives," and "Gilmore Girls," and 30 films. His Broadway credits include: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Iceman Cometh, Waitress, The Audience, Rocky, The Best Man, A Man for All Seasons. Other New York credits: Shakespeare in the Park, The Bridge Project at BAM, Playwrights Horizons, City Center Encores!, The Acting Company as well as over 200 regional productions. Recent film credits include: True Grit, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, and Zero Charisma.
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Schedule:
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Class 1 | AUGUST 8th: ‘SUIT THE ACTION TO THE WORD’
Introductions will be made, there will be one hour of lecture/demonstration from Dakin then students will begin their first pass at their monologues.
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Class 2 | August 15th: ‘WORDS WORDS WORDS’
There will be one hour of lecture/demonstration from Dakin after which students will continue their first pass at their Monologues.
Class 3 | August 22nd: ‘SPEAK THE SPEECH’
There will be one hour of lecture/demonstration from Dakin after which students will begin their second pass at their scenes.
Class 4 | August 29th: ‘HOLD, AS ‘TWERE THE MIRROR UP TO NATURE’
There will be one hour of lecture/demonstration from Dakin after which students will continue their second pass.
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Class 5 | September 5th: ‘THE READINESS IS ALL’
There will be one hour of lecture/demonstration from Dakin after which students will do a final presentation of their speeches and receive final feedback with Dakin.
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Preparation:
You should bring in a Shakespeare monologue or sonnet you have memorized.
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Technology:
This class will take place on Zoom. You will need steady internet access, as well as a microphone and camera (built in is acceptable) in order to participate.
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Dress and Materials:
We suggest you have a water bottle and a notebook at hand.
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Concerns? Questions?
Contact Nathan Winkelstein.
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All of our teachers are committed to these classes. As working artists, unexpected conflicts may arise. If this were to happen, Red Bull would strive to provide an equally qualified replacement to ensure the quality of your experience. We thank you in advance for this understanding.