Instant Shakespeare: A Proven Technique for Actors, Directors, and Teachers

by Louis Fantasia

Overview

What do the Dead Sea Scrolls and frog overlays have to do with performing Shakespeare? They're both part of Louis Fantasia's approach in Instant Shakespeare. Mr. Fantasia, the first American to direct at the Shakespeare Globe Centre and a distinguished member of the international theatre community, has developed a pragmatic and uniquely American performance technique. Expanded and refined in performances and workshops throughout the world, Instant Shakespeare allows performers, directors, and teachers of all cultures and levels of experience to demystify Shakespeare and perform his texts in ways that are clear, fresh, and unpretentious. Mr. Fantasia's methods are solidly grounded in a rigorous analysis of the text and structure of Shakespeare's plays, and enriched by his insight into Elizabethan performance practices gleaned from his intimate association with the reconstruction of the Globe. Through Instant Shakespeare, novices and professionals alike achieve the textual clarity, nuanced characters, and dynamic actions that drive the most vigorous Shakespearean performances. Mr. Fantasia's respectful but irreverent approach pinpoints the shortcomings of contemporary Shakespeare practice and training, particularly generic and postmodern interpretations, and confronts theatre artists with the importance of conscious personal responsibility for the creative process. Employing analogies from music and architecture, he insists upon the hard and sometimes tedious work that necessarily underlies solid artistic choices. Mr. Fantasia shows how to understand Shakespeare's vocabulary as well as the structure and essential dramatic event of each play. He provides exercise monologues, exercise scenes, and tools for textual analysis; explains correct breathing; and lays out his philosophies of training and performance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566635035
Publisher:	Dee, Ivan R. Publisher
Publication date:	03/08/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.78(w) x 7.68(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Louis Fantasia is the director of the Shakespeare Globe Centre's Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance Institute. For ten years he directed the Globe's acting and directing workshop in London, and he has mounted productions at a variety of international festivals and at theatres in England, Europe, Japan, Australia, and across the United States. He lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Prelude: Banging at Swords 3 Part 2 Introduction: The Absence of Presence 11 Part 3 PART ONE: PRE-PERFORMANCE— INSTANT SHAKESPEARE! Chapter 4 Know What the Words Really Mean— Dialogue 19 Chapter 5 The Histrionic Sensibility 39 Chapter 6 Whose Frog is it Anyway? 44 Chapter 7 Excercise Monologues 47 Chapter 9 Know the Rhythm and Sense of the Line— Character 63 Chapter 10 Know What the Play is About— The Central Event 78 Part 11 Interlude: More Banging at Swords: Encounters at Shakespeare's Globe, 1981-1997 95 Part 12 PART TWO: ASPECTS OF PERFORMANCE Chapter 13 Transitions from reading to Performance 107 Chapter 14 Scenes for Excercises 113 Chapter 15 Aspects of Performance: Breath and Impulse 120 Chapter 16 Aspects of Performance: A Practical Study of the Breath 128 Chapter 17 Isabella's Voice 142 Chapter 18 The Ephemeral Nature of the Theatrical Event 154 Chapter 19 A Philosophy of Training and Performance 161 Chapter 20 Presence and the Ontological Sensibility 172 Part 21 Epilogue: Still Banging at Swords— Optional Authenticity and Shakespeare's Globe, 1997-2001 187 Part 22 Acknowledgments 197 Part 23 A Note on Sources 199 Part 24 Index 203

Editorial Reviews

Louis Fantasia's lively guide is a manifesto of liberation for Shakespeare fans.

Camille Paglia

Louis Fantasia knows his Shakespeare, and knows how to make Shakespeare come alive in the theatre.

Anthony B. Dawson

Persuasive and interesting.

Michael York

Engaging and useful...particularly valuable to teachers.

Shakespeare Magazine

Accessible to novices…and refreshing for veterans who enjoy viewing familiar matter from a novel perspective.

Choice

It is difficult to recall the last book that offered as much.

ForeWord Reviews

Accessible to novices…and refreshing for veterans who enjoy viewing familiar matter from a novel perspective.

Choice Reviews

The best that can be said for this book is, 'Try it'.... THIS BOOK WORKS!

Shakespeare Newsletter

This is a great book! Louis Fantasia makes Shakespeare (and all performing) as easy as Antony, Beatrice, Cleopatra!

Joan Van Ark

It is difficult to recall the last book that offered as much.

Foreword Reviews

Accessible to novices…and refreshing for veterans who enjoy viewing familiar matter from a novel perspective.

CHOICE