Exploring Character from the Outside In or Inside O

Blog Entry July 6, 2010

Going back to Glynn MacDonald’ Movement Session: She’s trained in Alexander Technique has degrees in English Literature and Psychology and has been Master of Movement at the Globe since it began. Her work with us as students had a flow that moved from individual to group, from exercise to discussion, from evaluation to experience, from critical to creative thinking. Although I’ve worked with talented creative people and many have their own form of creative genius, I would label Glynn’s work as unique in perspective and execution.

What does it mean for the interpretation of Shakespeare? I would make the argument that it means far more than critical interpretation and that it goes to the very foundation of what was arguably Shakespeare’s original intent – to tell a good story! Three thousand audience members regularly attended performances at Shakespeare’s Globe, from the 1 Penny Stinkards to the wealthy business class seated in the balconies to the right and left of Juliet’s balcony who came as much to be seen as to be entertained. Shakespeare wrote for his audiences providing sides for actors with cues with as few as three words. Actors regularly had several plays memorized in their repertoire and little rehearsal time was provided; think of the example of Bottom and the Mechanicals in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

The movement work we explored with Glynn very quickly moved from an awareness of ourselves in space to how to use the body to create a character in that space. Drawing first on connection between actors and stressing the necessity of eye contact. Then adding to eye contact a touch of your hand to your actor partner. Next we added an awareness of the bum (that I just love) so that it follows you and becomes part of your movement. Lastly or perhaps just the end of this session was the sternum acting like a dagger to protect the heart. What a powerful image that gives you to work with and the dagger image comes from the Greek definition of sternum.

On to directions of movement and our homework: to take a few lines of a Shakespeare piece and apply the movement directions to the speech.

Oops - café lights coming up…. More tomorrow! And pictures from my walking Shakespeare day!

Cheers!