Classes: Shakespeare with Matt Radford (two opportunities)

Matt Radford will be busy teaching in January - February:

A. From Austin Shakespeare:

Form and Feeling: Acting Shakespeare's Texts

Matt Radford, Austin Shakespeare's Benedick and Associate Director of Actors from the London Stage, will be teaching this four weekend course in late January and early February.

When: Sundays from 1-4PM, REVISED dates: Jan. 25, Feb. 1, 8 and 15
Where: Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Road
Cost: $40 per session, or $125 for all four (alums $20/$50)

To register, contact formandfeeling@austinshakespeare.org.

FORM AND FEELING

An eminent Shakespearean director once wrote, "First comes the form, and then comes the feeling." In three classes on verse and one on prose, explore the complex and rich ways in which Shakespeare uses meter and rhetoric to define and enrich his characters and to communicate with his actors.

CLASS 1-3: VERSE

To speak "smoothly in the even road of a blank verse" (to quote Benedick from Much Ado), it is imperative that the classical actor master the iambic pentameter line. However, when the sanctity of this line is challenged by metrical irregularities, a creative tension is generated from which startling character choices emerge. Trochees, spondees and pyrrhics, short lines and long lines, unstressed elevenths and alexandrines, broken backs and caesuras -- exotic terms that disrupt the heartbeat and syncopate the rhythm. Come enjamb like a jazz musician.

CLASS 4: PROSE

"Prose is about high seriousness and is often comic as a consequence," believes Sir Peter Hall. Dense, muscular and virtuosic, prose demands energy, discipline and pointing. In this class we shall examine how, lacking the metrical guidelines of verse, Shakespeare's prose directs actors and defines character through a compression of rhetorical devices: metaphor and simile, alliteration and assonance, hyperbole and personification. Take pleasure in being articulate but be prepared to verbally wrestle.

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHY

Matthew Radford has had extensive experience on the British stage. After recently moving to Austin, Matt has appeared in Austin Shakespeare's productions of Richard III, Hamlet, and Much Ado About Nothing. A gifted acting teacher, Matt is an associate director of Actors of the London Stage. Roles for ATLS include Angelo in Measure for Measure, and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream. On TV, he has appeared on Mersey Television, BBC Television, WGBH Boston, and Granada Television. Among his film appearances was Stephen in the film Enchanted April, directed by Mike Newell. Matt played the title role in King Lear at UT's Winedale program in 2006, and is now pursuing a PhD in English Literature at UT.

B. From the State Theatre Acting School in association with Austin Community College:

FORM AND FEELING: ACTING SHAKESPEARE’S VERSE
Led by Matt Radford

This class explores the ways in which Shakespeare directs the actor through his verse. We will learn how to scan the meter for meaning, release the music in the words, and harness the power of the rhetoric. Applying these skills to monologues and scene work, we aim, as Hamlet asks of his players, to “suit the action to the word, the word to the action.” This class is for beginning to advanced acting students who may be new to Shakespeare. Please come to the first session with two or three monologues that you are interested in working on. These should be in verse rather than prose, and 1-2 minutes long.

January 27 - February 24 (5 weeks) | Tuesdays 7-10 pm | $165
Payment to State Theatre School with cash or check only for this workshop