“SHAKESPEARE’S TOOLKIT”

Shakespeare workshops, Pasadena

Summer 2019

Stay sharp with Shakespeare, this summer!

Acclaimed Shakespeare specialist Rob Clare, whose freelance credits include

Steppenwolf and the Royal Shakespeare Company, leads a highly practical
series of weekend workshops during July and August 2018, in Pasadena, CA.
Broad-ranging, eclectic, and always tied into the actor’s process, we will focus on
in-depth rehearsal of scenes and monologues - showing that verse form,
heightened vocabulary and other sometimes daunting aspects of these rich,
complex texts can be vuewed as invitations to be individually creatirobve and
spontaneously responsive, giving the work new dynamism and life.

This class is for committed actors, with previous or no previous experience of

Shakespeare. Whether preparing for auditions, to get over any inhibitions, or
whatever your interest, get up on your feet - breathe new life into old verse, and
get creative! Pick up on key strategies and fundamentally practical approaches
to help empower you, in bringing Shakespeare’s text to vivid, fresh, confident and
flexible life onstage. You are actors. These plays are for you!
https://www.ensembleshakes.org/robclare

Testimonials

“Rob Clare has a profoundly intimate relationship with Shakespeare's characters. They
feel like family. That closeness combined with some terrific instincts about acting make
him an incredibly valuable resource. “
(Tony Award winner) Liev Schreiber

"Rob Clare's workshops are practical magic…A weekend with Rob is more incisive and
relevant than a semester of Shakespeare."
(Tony Award nominee) Carrie Coon

"Rob Clare fundamentally shaped the way I approach acting - disciplined craft allowing
us to unleash a sense of visceral freedom. He changed my life."
(Primetime Emmy Award winner) Riz Ahmed

“If you are interested in loving Shakespeare even more than you already do and you
want to learn how to perform his work to top of your ability, get to know Rob Clare.
Even if you can only give him a few hours, you will not be sorry, and you will keep coming
back for more!”
(Tony Award winner) Frank Wood

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Participants will initially prepare a Shakespeare speech of their own choice or

(with an agreed scene partner) a short dialogue, or section of a scene. All will
then work on selected scenes and speeches, as agreed and as appropriate.

During our Sundays together, we will survey a range of Shakespearean texts,

and differing approaches to them, and especially to working with the verse. We
will take away any fear. We will explore the issues and the opportunities
inherent in working with highly figured language, imagery, and formal elements
such as rhyme. We will also consider the challenges and opportunities inherent
in direct audience address, and using Shakespeare speeches in auditions.

******

Numbers will be strictly limited, up to a maximum of 16 participants, so please

book early to avoid disappointment.

To sign up for workshop please email Catie LeOrisa at catieleorisa@gmail.com

All correspondence will be done via email, however if you do need to talk to Catie
please call at 310-901-1014

Workshop dates:

2-6pm, on 6 consecutive Sundays from July 14th through August 18th; and
participants can sign up for 2, 4 or 6 weeks at a time

Sunday July 14th, July 21st, July 28th, August 4th, August 11 th August 18th

Workshop location
First United Methodist Church – separate building to church
500 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101

The parking is in the church parking lot, which is entered off Green Street behind
the church.

Workshop fee for all 6 classes

$600

Workshop fee for 4 weeks

$440

Workshop fee for 2 weeks

$240

Payment information sent with confirmation letter

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Rob Clare was originally an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC),
then a Staff Director at the UK National Theatre, and Associate Artistic Director
of the major UK touring company, Compass, for whom he directed the first major
revival of Amadeus. He was also one of the pioneers of using drama to work
creatively with inmates in the UK prison system. Becoming increasingly
interested in differing approaches to working with Shakespeare, he completed a
doctorate in the subject at Oxford University and has since become an
internationally recognized Shakespeare specialist. He has worked in numerous
training institutions within the UK, and established the MA Classical Acting
course at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, which he also led for
its first three years, as well as also teaching at the Globe. Since resuming his
freelance career he has directed and/or taught Shakespeare in Ireland, Austria,
Germany, Australia, China, and the USA. In India, he directed Hindi productions
of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet. Before
moving to the US, he worked regularly for almost a decade as a freelance
specialist verse and text coach with the RSC’s core acting ensemble, leading
annual workshops, and working in and alongside rehearsals for productions of
Richard III, Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V and Hamlet. In the US
he has been visiting faculty at The Juilliard School, Brown, UCLA, USC Los
Angeles, CSU Long Beach and NYU Tisch (both graduate and undergraduate
acting). He has also directed productions of As You Like It (Antaeus Theatre
Company, Los Angeles), Cymbeline (New Orleans Shakespeare Festival),
Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives of Windsor (American Shakespeare Center,
Staunton VA), Love’s Labour’s Lost and Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (Marin
Shakespeare Company), King Lear (Luna Stage, Orange NJ), The Winter’s Tale
(Hang A Tale Productions, NYC), As You Like It (Kentucky Shakespeare),
Richard III (Idaho Shakespeare Festival), Pericles (USC Los Angeles), The
Duchess of Malfi (CSU Long Beach), and Richard III (American Academy of
Dramatic Arts, LA). He has worked regularly at the NYC Actors Center, the
Academy for Classical Acting in Washington DC, and with the acclaimed
Steppenwolf Theater Company, Chicago, for whose ensemble he led
Shakespeare workshops, and also provided specialized verse and text work for
Tina Landau’s production of The Tempest. Current projects include developing a
production of King Lear for underserved communities in and around Los Angeles,
and The Merchant of Venice for UCLA. He is married to the actress Reiko
Aylesworth, and they now live in Pasadena CA, with their son, Andre.