Join Director Jean Hardie for a one-time workshop on how to understand and speak the works of William Shakespeare. Learn tips on how to untangle the grammar, honor the punctuation and navigate the mysteries of iambic pentameter. Open to all but especially intended for those who plan to audition for A Midsummer Night’s Dream!
Sat. May 16, 10:00AM – 1:00PM
Spokane Civic Theatre, Studio Theatre
1020 N. Howard St.
Spokane, WA 99201
A Note From the Director
Preparing a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream presents some special challenges. First of all, the language of Shakespeare with its Elizabethan grammar and vocabulary demands particular emphasis on diction and projection, whether it be the poetry or the nobles, the rustic prose of the “Rude Mechanicals” or the doggerel verse of the “Pyramus and Thisbe” play within a play. It is sometimes challenging even to understand what the characters are saying and to convey that understanding to the audience. But A Midsummer Night’s Dream is no musty museum piece. It is also a rowdy, knockabout comedy with plenty of slapstick, pratfalls, comical dancing and even a sword fight or two. It is, by turns, romantic, silly and magical, and the characters are timeless and vivid. A Midsummer Night’s Dream uses every tool in the actor’s toolbox! – voice, movement, characterization, energy, collaboration, communication and commitment!