Gesture and Language--an Actor's Perspective.

Kay Kostapolus, Danny Jacobs and Allison Lee
Drama Department
Danny Jacobs and Allison Lee, actors from the Drama Department, will be doing a scene from The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), a Norwegian playwright most famous for A Doll's House. They will do the scene three ways.

Next, they will do two Shakespeare monologues twice. Once without movement, once with gesture.

This will be followed by a talk and discussion.

Abstract
'Many times, the key to language is in physical restraint. As they say in the theatre, "less is more". Often the gesture detracts from the language--in acting terms we call it "double gesturing". We will examine language and gesture in several instances--First, in our scene work from Master Builder, noting how gesture and status inform the interpretation of the text; secondly, exploring how gesture enhances or detracts from the language of Shakespeare, as the students deliver monologues from Othello and All's Well That End's Well.'


NB. At the end of the seminar, Kay Kostapolus provided me with extra handouts for people who were interested but could not attend. If anyone would like one, please contact me. Satinder.


[main seminar page] [previous seminars]
Last modified: Fri Oct 26 19:57:57 PDT 2001 by sgill@Turing.Stanford.EDU