Actor

Henry IV Part 2 – Learning to Play

How did people learn to act in the Renaissance? Did the texts themselves co-operate in teaching newish actors how to do certain things? Sheldrake thinks so.

Second Thoughts about Measure for Measure @ RADA

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be leading a seminar at RADA on Measure for Measure. In preparing for that seminar I found myself disagreeing with much of what I said in my own podcast episode on the play. So here I rebut and refute many of my earlier claims. One of the great pleasures of working on Shakespeare is that one’s opinions are seldom allowed to stand still.

Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm

Short SoS – Why is Falstaff so popular?

Sir John Falstaff is a river who has burst his banks. He has taken on a life beyond Shakespeare’s plays and become a myth in his own right. Anybody who has a thirst for life is described as Falstaffian, he has had operas written for him, actors at the mature height of their comic powers have repeatedly enjoyed success as this embodiment of festivity and he remains an unassailable favourite with audiences. Is he just very entertaining, or is there more to it than that?

Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm

Short SoS – ShakespeaRe-told by the BBC

The BBC has had its ups and downs with Shakespeare. One insufficiently well-known up was its series of Shakespeare adaptations broadcast in 2005. In this episode, Sheldrake reviews the set of four ninety-minute adaptations featuring such actors as James McAvoy, Billie Piper, Damian Lewis, Keeley Hawes, Rufus Sewell, Imelda Staunton and Jonny Vegas that would coincidentally make a great Christmas present for the Shakespeare enthusiast.

Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm

Short SoS – Performance History

We all have an image in our mind’s eye of Shakespearean performance during Shakespeare’s lifetime, but what happened between then and now? Why didn’t the Restoration court like Shakespeare? Who is David Garrick? For answers to all these questions and more, seek no further.

Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm

Short SoS – Shakespeare al fresco

A very great number of Shakespeare performances in Britain are conducted by amateur companies. People gathering together to do Shakespeare for fun. The open-air festival is a particularly popular brand of this. Sheldrake has been involved with the Pendley Shakespeare Festival for some time, and from this year’s Festival he uncovers the meanings of Shakespeare that emerge in these kinds of events.

Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm

Julius Caesar and the Soliloquy

The soliloquy is one of Shakespeare’s most recognisable and distinctive theatrical devices. It is in no small part responsible for his fame as a dramatist of human psychology. Was Julius Caesar the gateway in Shakespeare’s soliloquising art between the 1590s and the 1600s? Sheldrake takes a close look at a few speeches from the play.

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Short SoS – Costume Matters

The scarcity of scenery on Shakespeare’s stage does not mean that there were no impressive visual effects. One way of awing an audience was with fine costume. As a primer to the full Henry VIII episode next week, Sheldrake describes the impact of costume in two scenes from that play.

Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm

Short SoS – Female Parts

In the first of a series of supplementary podcasts, Sheldrake talks about the boys who created Shakespeare’s female roles on-stage.

Also available on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/ndhzfxm