Conservatory Actor Training

Cymbeline 2008 Photo by Andy Bradshaw

At Rutgers, a select company of young actors is trained in the American Stanislavsky/Meisner tradition. Strong focus is placed on the mastery of voice, speech, and movement skills. Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare's Globe was developed to further enrich and complement this sequential training. Actors undertake a rigorous conservatory training program consisting of acting, voice movement (based on the Alexander Technique), speech and period dance. Particular attention is given to classical texts and traditions. This training allows the artist to capably handle a wide variety of texts with confidence. Rutgers University is unique in that it is the only member of the top five undergraduate conservatory training programs in America, which spends a full year abroad. With London as the campus, the young theater artist will live, study, and perform in an area rich in artistic and theatrical traditions.

· Credit: The Conservatory component consists of 12 credits of classes in acting and related skills in each semester. The students are in class for a total of 45-47 hours per week, plus preparation and rehearsal, and will earn 18 credits per semester.

· Acting: With input from leading teachers and practitioners in the field, the program will offer intensive work in classical acting training. In groups, pairs and individually, students will address such vital fundamentals as owning Shakespeare’s language, mastering verse and the form of the text. Stanislavski-based  action/objective work is the foundation of the acting training along with Laban efforts and complex characterization uniting the technical demands of speaking Shakespeare’s language with the imaginative and emotional demands of acting. The disciplines involved draw together the most fundamental elements of theater training, as well as their implementation in practice to the highest possible level. The second semester is spent in rehearsal (putting into practice the classroom skills) for a workshop performance of a complete play by William Shakespeare.

· Voice: The voice work at Shakespeare's Globe Theater is modeled upon voice techniques for Renaissance theater. The Globe actors are encouraged to find their own signature note and to expand its position, resonance, and range, bringing dynamic, impacting, and natural expression to Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatic verse. Actors find a balance between form and feeling, centering and focusing the entire intention of the actor through the sound of his or her body.

· Speech: Classes will explore the nature of epic and lyric speaking, with strong emphasis placed on hearing the voice. Dialects and accents from the British Isles will also assist the potential range of character identity within the study of classical text. Much emphasis will be placed on the nature of rhetoric, and its potent effect on the listener.

· Movement: The movement courses (based in The Alexander Technique) will help the students become aware that expression requires both physical and emotional freedom. This fine-tuning brings the right tones, ease, and grace to their natural instrument, allowing the students to discover the true note of the Shakespearean roles they play.

· Stage Combat: Elizabethan rapier and dagger, history of combat, eye contact, balance, intent, and body mechanics approached through unarmed stage combat.

· Historical Dance: These classes will bring to life the history of Western European Social Dance through a practical experience of dances from the 12th to the 19th centuries. The work is accessible to all actors with or without dance skills. The application of the work in the fields of theatre, film and television will also be emphasized.

· Text: To chart the development of Shakespeare’s writing and become familiar with the different way he uses blank verse, rhyme and prose. To discuss what these differences suggest for the actor and by inference to gather what style of acting Shakespeare asked of his players.To take these ‘suggestions’ into our practical work with various Shakespeare texts, hopefully achieving clarity, expressiveness and spontaneity. The final goal will be to come to a realization that it is only by observing the form of the text that the actors can achieve true freedom of expression and therefore enhanced creativity.