Shakespeare Storytelling Workshop

COLIN HURLEY intro to workshop

Shakespeare and Storytelling workshop

Story telling.  That’s words, right?  How do we share those words with other people?

Most of Shakespeare’s words are in plays, to be heard, rather than read, so I’d say they were meant to fit into your ears, rather than your eyes

That’s where the performer comes in.

I’ve been teaching and leading workshops for twenty five years, at Shakespeare’s Globe (from 6yr olds to university students, and teaching teachers in Europe, China, America) and more recently at Rose Bruford and LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art).

This, my favourite workshop,  will spend time raising our awareness of the non-verbal communication that supports the words. We will play games (or call them exercises if you want to be all serious about it) exploring circles of concentration, eye-contact, proximity and taking the time to notice the space we’re in, walk the angles, and play the space we’re in.

It’s just stuff we do instinctively in real life, but if we heighten our awareness of these aspects of non-verbal communication, we can become much more effective communicators, more skillful players, in life and in performance.

Yes, of course we start with the words, but those black squiggles on the white paper? They are not Hamlet, Macbeth, Lear. They’re the blueprint. They’re just the starting point.

The play’s the thing.  So let’s play! (absolutely no experience of acting or performing is required to enjoy this workshop.  The tone will be gentle and twinkly,  encouraging curiosity and laughter.

Gently and playfully, let’s just notice the space we’re in, and the implications of proximity, eye-contact, discovering what a scene could be rather than deciding what it is. Balancing the ‘table work with ‘walking the angles’.

We will be on our feet a lot of the time, but nothing risky or too energetic. There will be time for discussion, but it will be specifically reflecting on our experience and discoveries while playing on our feet, rather than general theorizing. I am always aware that to stand up at all in front of others is an act of courage. Let’s see if together we can find our way to dare to play.

We start at 10am, but doors open at 9:30 so there’s a chance to grab a cuppa (not included, but the coffee is good!) and a chat.

My priorities are enabling actors to work out a space together, to spend more time on ‘receive’ rather than ‘transmit’, balancing the fixed points (the words, the verse) with the fluid (we don’t plan any staging beforehand). Over the years I’ve watched my Factory Friends make well-known scenes from well-known plays seem like improvisations. That’s the Magic and Mystery I’d like to explore.

I’ve been a professional actor since 1981, mostly theatre, lots and lots of Shakepeare, most recently with Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and The Factory Theatre Company, who meet most weeks to explore our craft together, and who specialize in pop-up, stripped–back performances of Shakespeare’s plays in conventional or unconventional playing spaces.