Instant Shakespeare

Expanded and refined in performances and workshops throughout the world, "Instant Shakespeare" demystifies the Bard and allows for performance of his plays in clear, fresh, and unpretentious ways.

Louis Fantasia knows his Shakespeare, and knows how to make Shakespeare come alive in the theatre.--Anthony B. Dawson, former president of the Shakespeare Association of America

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

Written by a US theatre director, Louis Fantasia, who has worked extensively with the Shakespeare's Globe Centre both in the US and London and who knows the UK market well