COURSE OUTLINE. OUTCOMES On completing the course you should be able to:

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PROGRAMME HANDBOOK

SUMMER STUDY ABROAD

MODERN SHAKESPEARE: LONDON & STRATFORD-UPON

AVON

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Course Handbook Summer Study Abroad

Modern Shakespeare: London & Stratford-upon-Avon

Teaching Institution Wimbledon College of Arts

Duration of Semester 3 weeks

Dates 25th July - 12th August 2016

Tutor Chris Hill

COURSE OUTLINE

Through lectures, visits, backstage tours, discussion groups and performances, this course offers you the opportunity to engage with modern and contemporary interpretations of Shakespeare in London and Stratford-upon-Avon through an intensive three week programme. From the historic Globe Theatre and the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to the performances archives at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London offers incredible resources to complement your studies.

You will be based at Wimbledon College of Arts, a specialist art college with theatre as one of its key subject areas. Responding to a brief, you will develop a concept and visually communicate your ideas using key Shakespeare texts as a starting point. You will learn about the creative processes used in staging Shakespeare and how these have evolved over time and attend three theatre performances which will be contextualised in group seminars and form the basis of your research.

Your learning will be enhanced by a three day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. You will work with experts at the Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust and see a

performance at the Royal Shakespeare Company to delve further into key texts and gain an in depth understanding into the context which Shakespeare is studied today

AIMS

This course will provide you with:

 An insight into the range of approaches to Shakespeare’s texts being explored within UK theatre production in both London and Stratford.

 The skills to explore your own creative process and to develop and individual response to Shakespeare’s work.

OUTCOMES

On completing the course you should be able to:

 Examine Shakespeare’s work to find the range of prompts and provocations he offers to theatre makers.

 Evaluate contemporary productions of a range of Shakespeare’s plays.

 Develop your own production concept for a Shakespeare text and communicate this with others.

LEARNING AND TEACHING METHODS

 Seminars

 Technical workshops and practical demonstrations  Backstage theatre tours

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 Practitioner talks  Performances

ASSESSMENT

 Final project (100%)

PROJECTS

 Production Proposal

Each student will create a hypothetical production proposal in response to a Shakespeare text. The text can be a section or scene, an entire play, or a selection of extracts which can include sonnets.

The particular approach to this production proposal will be determined in individual tutorials with the course tutor but could include set, costume, lighting and sound design ideas, directorial approach and performance related ideas including voice and movement work. The resulting production proposal should be presented in a manner appropriate to your approach to the material. This can include:

 Drawings and visual references.

 Scale models, samples and found objects.

 Written explanations and descriptions of your production ideas.  Pre-recorded video and audio.

 Oral presentation.

 Or any combination of the above

This should be presented to the tutor and the other course participants and each student should be prepared to answer questions about their work.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

 An A4 sketchpad or notebook to record your responses to performances, gallery visits and tours. This will also be a place for you to plan your final project.

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SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE

Seminar discussions including;

 Deconstructing live performance

 Performance history of A Midsummer Night’s Dream  How to approach a Shakespeare Text

Guided visits including;

 The Globe Theatre – Performance spaces and backstage areas  The Performance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum

WEEK TWO

 Technical aspects of theatre production

 One to one tutorials discussing your ideas for a production project Guided visits including;

 Shakespeare in Ten Acts at the British Library  A West End performance of Romeo and Juliet

WEEK THREE

 Detailed one to one discussions about your production project Guided visits including;

 The Royal Shakespeare Company – Performance Spaces and design realisation workshops  Shakespeare’s Birthplace – Including lectures and seminars conducted by the SBT

(Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust)

 A performance of Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

TUTOR

Chris Hill

BIBLIOGRAPHY

We recommend having access to the following Shakespeare Plays (preferably the Arden edition but this is not essential):

 A Midsummer Night’s Dream  Romeo and Juliet

 Hamlet