Commedia and Shakespeare
The Influence of Commedia dell’Arte Archetypes
Starting with practical study of the origins and physicality of the Commedia dell’Arte stock characters, we focus in on how these archetypes created a blue print for the characters in many of Shakespeare’s famous plays.
“I can’t recommend this workshop highly enough. Teaching first class. Thank you!”
Level:
KS4 to Degree level
Duration:
1.5-6 hours
Workshops can also be delivered online as 1 hour / 2 hours / 5 x 1 hour series
Participants will:
explore the archetypes that appear in both Commedia and Shakespeare and become free to play with these timeless, universal characters at the heart of Shakespeare’s texts.
find the voice for the characters through physicalisation.
overcome barriers that can be presented by words on a page.
relate to the situations and relationships through playing improvisations around the text.
The Fool, the Miser, the Lover, the Lecher: archetypes born on the comic stages of Italy and adopted by luminaries across Europe. With a focus on the works of Shakespeare, we discover new ways to engage with his texts, exploring characters from the outside in. Through a process of physical embodiment, the actor transforms their body, voice and movement and experiences the behavioural traits, gestures, facial expressions and rhythms of the archetypal character. By literally stepping into their shoes, we discover the inner feelings, thoughts and motivations that drive the characters. Relationships suddenly start to make sense as the archetypes banter and the dialogue begins to flow.
This workshop can be tailored to the study of a specific text, e.g. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Taming of the Shrew. The workshop can also be tailored to focus on the works of Moliere, e.g. Tartuffe, The Hypochondriac, The Miser, Scapino.