On the Performance Syndrome
How can the work of the theater professional and the Shakespeare scholar interact meaningfully in the classroom for both literature and theater students and faculty? In co-teaching the NEH year-long Institute on "Shakespeare Examined Through Performance" with Shakespearean scholar Alan Dessen I set myself, as a theater professional, the task of putting 16 literature and theater colleagues through the essence of physical voice and movement workbasic for acting training but honed specifically to explore Shakespeare's language and theater.
Using folio and quarto texts we closely examined the meaning, rhythm, and imagery of the language. The basic structure of this work formed a large part of the Summer preparation prior to the first gathering in September (see a copy on the pages following this statement). We took Macbeth as our text since we would be seeing this play twice during the year, and since it is a play often taught in universities and high schools. Not only was this prior work geared for us to hit the ground running, but to assimilate personal investigation of the text outside the harassment of the school year. A second acting/performance project for the second half of the year involved a scene for two participants and was freely chosen from the Shakespeare canon. These scenes were then available for the five British actors performing in ACTER's Macbeth to look at and comment on.
Obviously a two to three year actor's training could not be given in what amounted to a few days of work, but sufficient material could be presented to give participants the means to explore the text as actors. Certain revelations of character and meaning and relationships emerge in rehearsal that are not always apparent in reading the page. For students this direct physical confrontation of the scene is often more meaningful than reading but has to be well prepared for. Literature students should not be involved in a false acting training, but the work studied at the Institute was to encourage faculty to set students well chosen scenes to act that reveal the essence or the controversies of the play under study, or to show video extracts of the plays with a performance sensibility .
Other areas that we explored included the following: framing questions prior to the visit of theater professionalsdirectors, designers, actors; attending performances and going backstage: using the other artscollages, music, etc. to explore the world of the plays: analyzing structure through charts: recreating offstage scenes that are described such as the murder of Duncan: presenting alternative interpretations; using a summary of the spectrum of comedy (see following pages); and looking at ways Shakespeare scholars might contribute to a local Shakespeare production (see following pages).
The amount of work was crammed but assimilable simply because it was spread out over nine months and work could continue between the weekend sessions. A wonderfully rich if nerve-wracking experience for me personally! Only time will reveal how profitable it will have been for others. A right conclusion would be to assess this Institute after a further year of teaching.
Audrey Stanley
17 May 1996
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