Schools Programme

 Exciting Opportunity for English Students

 In the South West

Bard on the Bay

14^th – 21^st June 2008

The Busselton based Professional Theatre Company Bare Naked Theatre Inc is offering a rare opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge of Shakespeare with talks and workshops being offered as school incursions. 

The talks and workshops will be given by former London West End director Stephen Lee and can be designed and moulded around the specific needs of the students at your school.

The workshops are just one aspect of the “Bard on the Bay Festival” which will be held in Busselton 14^th – 21^st June 2008.  There will be performances of Macbeth as well as Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales which students can attend as a school group or as individuals with their families. 

Also your students may wish to enter the professionally judged “Battle of the Bards”  competition and win one of a number of significant cash prizes being offered.

Below are suggestions of the workshops and talks that may interest your students.  If you want a tailored talk or workshop please email your requirements to:

russell@barenakedtheatre.com.au

For bookings or queries ring Ann Willis on 97553034 or reply by return email to aardvark@iinet.net.au

Talks:  All talks last 1 hour.  Usually given by one person

A:    Shakespeare’s Theatre (per group $150)

A talk covering the basic structure and conventions of the Elizabethan stage :

·        Design of Elizabethan playhouse

·        Staging conventions

·        The boy actor

·        The soliloquy

·        Make-up of audience

·        Life of 16^th century players

This talk can be given with specific references to any of the popular plays.

B:   Shakespeare’s Language  (per group $150)

This talk for older pupils discusses the English of Shakespeare’s day and how he used it.

·        Changes in meaning over the last 400 years

·        Shakespeare’s use of verse

·        Poetic imagery: the metaphor and simile

·        “Thou” and “you”

·        Puns

This talk can also be arranged to use examples for any specific play

C:   The Development of English (per group $250)

A fun talk that traces our language back from its earliest roots to the present day.

·        The dawn of language

·        Proto-Indo European

·        Old English (Anglo-Saxon)

·        The Great Vowel Shift

·        Middle English (the language of Chaucer)

·        Early Modern (Shakespeare’s language)

·        Off to Australia

This talk is supported by actors to help demonstrate via several skits.

D:   Shakespeare for Grommets (priced according to requirements)

The story of any play by Shakespeare told in a humorous and entertaining way with scenes and snippets performed by a cast of professional actors and linked with instructive and informative commentary on the history, language and background. 

Workshops: 

E:   You are the director! (priced according to requirements)

This short interactive workshop involves the “rehearsing” of two scenes by professional actors and allows the students under supervision to take on the role of director, giving notes and instructions and seeing the result.

·                                An actors’ need for motivation

·                                Meaning of text

·                                Use of action and movement

·                                Finding the “highs”

·                                Understanding characterisation

·                                Themes: the author’s message

A very good way to introduce students to the demands of a text as a dramatic rather than merely academic vehicle.  We can accommodate most popular plays.

1 hour

F:    Basic Acting: truth (per group $250)

A hands on workshop taking students through the basic fundamentals of acting using improvisation and based on Stanislavski’s Method.

·                    Images to create emotion

·                    “truth” in acting

·                    Emotion memory

·                    Simplicity:  less is more

This is not a “watching” presentation: all students will need to be prepared to get “down and dirty”

2 hours

G:    Improvisation techniques (per group $250)

Led by a professional actor/director who worked for several years as a professional improviser in London, this class examines the tricks and tips that help make improvised work stronger and more powerful.

·                    Accept and build:  the foundation of improvised work.

·                    The structured improvisation

·                    The use of eye contact

·                    theatre sports and their uses

·                    maintaining truth in characterisation

This is once again a class that will need participants to actively participate. Anyone can become a better improviser....confidence is the key

2 hours