ACTING SHAKESPEARE'S VERSE

taught by Deloss Brown

--who has directed eight of Shakespeare's plays, and yet Shakespeare is unharmed!

 

I had hoped to cover different plays on Tuesday and Thursday, but I have run out of preparation time.

ALL CLASSES are 7-10PM.

For the full schedule, click here.

For more information please call me: (212) 865-1127

"But will your Shakespeare acting class be of any use to me? Will I learn anything?" Oh, very probably. There are three sample lessons below right, but of course they deal only with text analysis. Half the class is devoted to how to use Shakespeare's text for your acting, something not easily discussed on a web page.

There won't be a free sample class for this cycle because the start of the cycle is coming so soon. If you want to audit a class, get in touch with me--it's usually possible.

WHAT: Acting Shakespeare's Verse is an acting class that concentrates on dramatic verse techniques (which means mostly Shakespeare). An example of the kind of thing we talk about is my column in the January 9, 2008 issue of Back Stage:

BACK STAGE

Back Stage published another column by me on September 4, 2008. I'm not sure that Shakespeare actually has a cell phone, but I'm grateful for the publicity.   

My essay "Where Is Love's Labor's Lost?" was published in the Cerise Press Journal (in Paris!--just like ULYSSES) on July 1.  

WHERE: These four classes will be held in my apartment in Manhattan, on the Upper West Side. There is a curriculum for the class, and you should be willing to commit to the entire cycle. I sometimes have impromptu make-up classes for those who have irregular schedules, and you might sometimes have to come on Thursday instead of Tuesday or vice-versa. But you can't understand most of the rest of the class if you don't know what iambic pentameter is. Want a head start? See the discussion at Blank Verse. That discussion (Blank Verse) sounds very technical and difficult. To understand Shakespeare is not, not, not difficult. Shakespeare was an actor and a very successful commercial playwright, and he knew what to put into his plays to make them easy and fun to act, and appealing to audiences, and the audiences of Shakespeare's time were no more intellectual than a typical Broadway audience of today. Honestly. This is not meant to deprecate the intellectual capacity of the typical New York audience, which last summer I saw sit rapt, silent and motionless for TWELFTH NIGHT in Central Park (as well they should have).	Sample lesson: HAMLET:
HOW MUCH? Cost is $35 per class; since this cycle will have 8 classes, the total is $280. CLASS SIZE? Class size is limited to 8 people (I hope), so that you can work frequently. In practice, the class size in past cycles has varied between 1 person (in flu season) and 10 people.	Sample lesson: LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST:
WHEN? The next cycle will each have 8 evening sessions (probably) that will run on Tuesday evenings and Thursday evenings beginning January 26 or 28, 2010 from 7:00PM to about 10:00PM.	Sample lesson: AS YOU LIKE IT:
WHICH EDITION OF THE PLAY? Just about any edition of the play is good--Arden, Folger, Penguin and Signet are mostly readily available. I don't have any objection to an edition that supplies a "translation," provided it also gives you the original text. Shakespeare wrote in English, after all, and we're used to English.

 

MORE INFORMATION: call (212) 865-1127.
   

Who really wrote the plays?
Click here for the shocking truth.
 

Deloss Brown taught Shakespearean acting at The Juilliard School for eleven years and now teaches in the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing of New York University. Click his portrait (below left) to see his résumé.
 

      Mr. Brown, the distinguished instructor.
 

The first part of each class (about one and a half hours) is spent studying verse basics so that you will have the knowledge and confidence (and the practice) to handle any kind of Shakespeare challenge.  Some of the topics covered are scansion, feminine endings, inverted stresses (trochees), long lines, short lines, lists and antitheses.  They are much less technical than they sound, and they all lead to skills that will help you bring the character to life.  Otherwise what good are they to you as an actor?

In the second hour and a half, actors work on scenes and monologues which can be from any Shakespeare play.  In fact they can be by any writer at all, so you can use the class to prepare any audition.  You should finish the cycle with at least one polished Shakespeare monologue.

In any cycle we always study the verse using one play--ALL'S WELL this time--because Shakespeare used a different verse style for each play, matching the verse to the content.  So we'll also have to discuss the content, and such things as character, intention, subtext, even (horrors!) meaning. 

So you may wind up with a better knowledge of what the plays are about, which won't hurt you. But mostly this class is meant to teach you how to prepare a Shakespearean audition, and how to prepare the part when you get cast. Most competent teachers are concerned that their students shall be commercial successes, and I hope I am competent.

If you would like more information, please call me at (212) 865-1127.  If you leave your phone number, I'll be glad to call you back, and you can ask me any questions you have (e.g., does the instructor have horns and a tail?--because obviously that picture has been retouched).   You can also E-mail me; see below.  When you come to class, please do not pull my tail.

I also coach privately, not just Shakespeare, any monologue.    For more information about any of the above see rates, or please call (212) 865-1127 or

    E-mail me at DELOSSBROWN@prodigy.net

Thank you for your interest.

ALTERNATIVE
"I don't want to study monologues with that guy! Look at the fangs!" Well, then, you might consider my friend Karen who is the senior teacher at a reputable theater company. If you click on her name or picture, you can find her impressive credentials in her bio. I had the great good fortune to teach with Karen twice (January 2010) and the experience only made me more inclined to recommend her.

KAREN KOHLHAAS
Karen has also just published her book, How to Choose a Monologue for Any Audition, and the book is just as complete as the title suggests. You can buy a copy by clicking on Karen's picture.