Who said practice makes perfect?
When these actors perform, they literally will be taking their cues from William Shakespeare. Instead of memorizing and rehearsing their lines, participants in a special workshop and a live performance hosted by Janus Theatre Company will have lines in hand, in some cases seeing them for the very first time.
“They’re basically given their lines, and only a couple of cue lines from the other characters in the play,” said Sean Hargadon, artistic director at Janus. “This particular way of playing, you’re really in tune to the language and what the language is telling you to do. Shakespeare was a playwright who wrote for actors. There were no directors back then. You learned what you were supposed to do by basically breaking apart the … language.”
The technique will be taught during a three-hour “Bard in the Barn” acting workshop, 10 a.m. Saturday at Elgin Art Showcase in Elgin. Cost is $25. Participants are asked to register online at eventbrite.com/e/bard-in-the-barn-workshop-presented-by-janus-theatre-tickets-26549532366.
During the workshop, Western Illinois University Professor Bill Kincaid, head of the Master of Fine Arts acting program at WIU and three-time winner of the Classical Acting Coach Award from the American Partners of American Theatre, will teach unrehearsed Shakespeare performance techniques. The workshop is named for the annual performance at WIU using these “cue script” techniques.
“You’re learning how to use the language of Shakespeare’s plays to unlock what is going on in the scene,” Hargadon said.
Actors are given their scrolls/scripts, and they don’t know who is playing the other parts.
“You’re kind of going in blind,” Hargadon said. “What it does is it forces you to really pay attention, to really listen and to really work in the moment. The workshop kind of entails learning the clues and text in the script — what the language is telling you.
“If you break it down, it goes way beyond just what the words mean, but also what to do in the scene. It’s almost as if the playwright is directing you,” he said.
The technique is thought to be the way plays were performed in Shakespeare’s time, said Hargadon, who last year finished a master’s degree in teaching Shakespeare from the University of Warwick, England.
“When Shakespeare died in 1616, the theaters were open for some years after, but then all of a sudden there was the English Civil War and the theaters closed,” he said. “So when they reopened them, all this history was lost … there was no connection, all the heirs were dead and nobody knows what happened.
“Through research and scholarship, there’s thinking this is the way they did it, because there’s no way an actor could have 300 plays in their head and memorize it and know it,” Hargadon said. “Getting the scrolls and cue scripts kind of gives you a way to learn the roles on the fly. And they would develop these skill sets through apprenticeships. You might rehearse that day the dances and the fight scenes, but that was it.”
Audience members can see these techniques put into practice when Chicago-based Unrehearsed Shakespeare Company performs “The Comedy of Errors” at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 13 at Mural Alley in Elgin. The performance is free.
“You can be part of the workshop, and then when it’s done you can actually go see it done right before you in a live show,” Hargadon said.
The farce is a fast-paced story of mistaken identity and family reconciliations.
“It’s a fun play. It’s one of Shakespeare’s earliest works, ‘Comedy of Errors,’ and it’s a blast,” he said.
Few theaters using the unrehearsed technique exist in the country, he said, making this a rare opportunity to see it performed live.
“It’s really not common. I can’t emphasize it enough,” Hargadon said. “So this is definitely worthwhile for people to check out, especially in the summertime when it’s al fresco Shakespeare. But it’s not your typical, it’s a little different.”
The workshop and performance are part of Janus Theatre Company’s Shakespeare 400 Festival, which marks the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.
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“My whole intention of bringing these guys out is it brings Shakespeare closer to the people who act him and the people that watch,” Hargadon said. “Shakespeare works really well when the audience and actors are really close to each other. That’s when it’s the best.”
Staging the performance of “The Comedy of Errors” outdoors does just that, he said.
“We’re going to have a door. That’s it. The rest of it is the actors and props,” he said. “Very much as Shakespeare’s time would have been. They didn’t build sets back then. It was very much actor to actor.”
In Shakespeare’s time, the audience was a very big part of the performance, far more than it is today, he said. There was also a lot going on in the theater, including the sale of beer and food.
“Think of it like a sporting event. That’s really what it was like. There’s journals and diary entries from people that saw the plays, and they validate that,” Hargadon said.
“It wasn’t always quiet, that’s why there’s a lot of repetition in the plays,” he said. “But also there’s a lot of opportunities in the plays for the audience to get involved. When they’re talking to the other characters, they’re also talking to the audience.”
The unrehearsed technique, he said, makes Shakespeare more accessible to the audience “in a real visceral, physical, happening now way.”
While audience members might first notice the actors holding scrolls or scripts, it soon becomes part of the actor and forgotten, Hargadon said. Once actors become really good at the technique, it is difficult to even tell they are reading from it, he said.
“In this style, we’re all in the same room, and it’s all very open from the beginning. We’re not sure where the adventure is going to take us,” he said. “It will be fun.”
Kathy Cichon is a freelance writer.
Bard in the Barn Workshop
When: 10 a.m. Aug. 13
Where: Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., Elgin
Tickets: $25
Information: eventbrite.com/e/bard-in-the-barn-workshop-presented-by-janus-theatre-tickets-26549532366
“The Comedy of Errors”
When: 1:30 p.m. Aug. 13
Where: Mural Alley, 66 S. Spring St., Elgin
Admission: Free
Information: eventbrite.com/e/the-comedy-of-errors-presented-by-janus-theatre-tickets-26551267556