Methuen Drama Staging Shakespeare: A Director's Guide to Preparing a Production

This book begins with a phone call. You answer it and learn that you got the job. Several months from now youre going to stage a Shakespeare play. Now what do you do? I mean, what do you do after that initial burst of adrenalin has passed through your body and you realize you havent a clue as to what the play is really about, or what you might want to do with it? How exactly do you prepare for such an equally wonderful and daunting task? This is the central question of this book. It grows out of decades of preparing for Shakespeare productions and watching others do the same. It will save you some of the panic, wasted time, and fruitless paths experienced. It guides you through the crucial period of preparation and helps focus on such issues as: · What Shakespeares life, work, and world can tell us · What patterns to look for in the text · What techniques might help unpack Shakespeares verse · What approaches might unlock certain hidden meanings · What literary lenses might bring things into sharper focus · What secondary sources might lead to a broader contextual understanding · What thought experiments might aid in visualizing the play Ultimately, this book draws back the curtain and shows how the antique machinery of Shakespeares theatre works. The imaginative time span begins from the moment you learn that on such and such date you will begin rehearsing such and such Shakespeare play. Our narrative clock starts ticking the moment you put down the phone and stops when you arrive at the rehearsal hall and begin your first table read. So much of what will be the success or failure of a directors project rests on this work that is done before rehearsals even begin. Review This is a powerful and useful book for directors and anyone interested in Shakespeare in the theatre. Kulick shows the wonderful ways that a director can combine research, study, and deep thought with flights of imagination and even dreams to bring Shakespeare to life on stage with vividness and originality. --Barry Edelstein, Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director, The Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, USA About the Author Brian Kulick is the Chair of Columbia University's School of the Arts Theatre Program, where he also teaches directing with Anne Bogart. In addition to staging the works of Shakespeare, Brecht, and Tony Kushner, he has been the Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company and an Artistic Associate for The Public Theatre. He is the author of Staging Shakespeare (2021), How Greek Tragedy Works (2020), The Elements of Theatrical Expression (2019) and The Secret Life of Theatre (2019).