NOW I AM ALONE: Acting Shakespeare’s Soliloquies
We will discuss the history and theory behind Shakespeare’s soliloquies through the lens of Plato’s Ion, and then we will explore the soliloquy through performance. Each participant will come with an assigned soliloquy, memorized and ready to be workshopped. The goal is for each participant to understand how a soliloquy works and how it is different from a monologue, and to have the tools for performance.
1. Plato and the Rhapsodist.
*The rhapsodist.
*Read together: Plato’s Ion.
*The magnet of the muse: the poet, the actor, and “possession.”
*Why is the actor crying?
*Why is the audience crying?
*First preview of soliloquies with comments from group.
2. Shakespeare, Hamlet, and Ion
*Read together: from Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii.
*The historical present.
*Shakespeare’s Ion.
*Second preview of soliloquies (work-through).
3. Alone with the Audience
*The soliloquy vs. the monologue
*Talking to the audience vs. the convention of talking to the audience.
*Stanislavsky and Shakespeare.
*Listening when the lines are memorized. (“Checking”)
*Continue second previews.
4. Performance
*Final performances with comments from group.
*Group discussion about the material covered in the workshop.
About Javen Tanner
Javen has chaired the theater department at the Waterford School for the past eighteen years, teaching acting, voice, movement, Shakespeare, Dramatic Theory, and Dramatic Literature. He is also the Artistic Director of The Sting & Honey Company, a resident theater company at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City. Javen has an MFA in Acting from the Old Globe. He specializes in Shakespeare, Chekhov, Beckett, and mask work.
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