Rehearsing Shakespeare: Alternative Strategies in Process and Performance
Special Issue of Shakespeare Bulletin (Vol. 30 No. 4 Winter 2012), Johns Hopkins University Press.
Issue Editor: Christian M. Billing (University of Hull) c.m.billing@hull.ac.uk
This special issue of Shakespeare Bulletin will explore a number of actor training methods and rehearsal processes used globally in a variety of performance contexts that challenge, resist or offer profitable alternatives to dominant British and North American, psychologically-based modes of character preparation and performance. Such alternative approaches may include (but will not necessarily be limited to): original staging practices (particularly the recent use by theatre professionals of current academic scholarship in this field); performances created during site-specific rehearsal processes; biomechanical approaches (such as those of Meyerhold, or Suzuki); Brechtian gestus and Epic acting; processes influenced by Eastern traditions (particularly Butoh; Kathakali; Noh, Kabuki and Kyogen); clowning and clown training; extra-daily practices (as defined by Grotowski and Barba); corporally-based methods and systems (such as those outlined by Copeau and Lecoq); multi-media, new media and technological interventions; Viewpoints; intercultural practices; and contemporary voice training (e.g. Linklater).
Following initial selection of authors via abstract and one-page CV, commissioned essays of up to 7,000 words will consider both process (as suggested above) and developmental decisions taken in rehearsal, with regards to eventual performances. Papers should be based upon particular examples drawn from the work of individual companies, directors and practitioners. A strong emphasis on rigorously documented rehearsal practice and the performance outcomes thereby generated will form an essential component of all essays included in this issue.
The principal aim of this special issue is to re-define scholarly understanding of the spectrum of practices used currently in rehearsal and performance processes that deal with the Shakespearean dramatic canon. What do such alternative approaches bring to our understanding of the Shakespearean text in/as performance? How do alternative processes move actors and audiences away from the performative cul-de-sac of psychological realism? How are dramatic and/or performative meanings created through such practices in the rehearsal room and beyond? Equally, does/how does the Shakespearean text offer extended possibilities for developments in actor training and rehearsal methodology?
Timescale:
February 22nd, 2011: Open Call for Papers (via CFP (UPenn), SHiP and SCUDD lists)
April 4th, 2011: Deadline to submit abstacts of 500 words and one page academic CVs to issue editor (c.m.billing@hull.ac.uk).
May 2nd, 2011: Decision on abstracts by editor, and commissioning of essays for the special issue
May 21st, 2012: Submission of final essays to special issue editor
1st June – 1st September 2012: Final peer review and editing process
Dec 2012: Publication
