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From the Greeks to the present, this program explores the evolution of play structure, staging techniques, and acting styles. Viewers learn about the following innovations, movements, and artistic figures: the open air amphitheater and its central role in the work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; the use of the chorus and masks; the role of theater in ancient Roman society; morality and mystery plays in medieval England; the Italian Renaissance...
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Staging a successful play takes time, energy, and wisely used resources-whether the production is on Broadway or at a high school. This program shows how to select an appropriate script for a student theater group and produce the play in an organized, efficient manner. Viewers receive information on casting, planning and conducting rehearsals, and how to utilize the strengths and limitations of the performance space. The film also explores prop and...
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It's easy to assume that Hamlet has always enjoyed global popularity, but only within the last century and a half has Shakespeare's great tragedy achieved iconic status. Why does it resonate so deeply with modern audiences? This video helps viewers contemplate that subject, recording students from top London drama schools as they work on Hamlet's most famous passage-Act III, Scene 1, in which the Danish prince must decide whether to be or not to be....
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The climate of evil in Macbeth is as potent as any 21st-century psychological thriller-perhaps even more so. Can an ensemble of youthful actors even come close to tackling Shakespeare's exploration of a murderous lust for power? This program follows British drama students as they take on the project, rehearsing and performing Act II, Scene 2, from the play. Mentored by professionals, the players are able to fine-tune the rising sense of panic that...
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Men playing the stage roles of women is as old as the history of theater; in the tradition of Kabuki, the portrayal of female characters has become a tradition of its own. This program looks at the history of Kabuki and the role of women, and looks particularly at the dynastic development of the onnagata-the female impersonator-and the intricate techniques and details by which a thoroughly masculine male transforms himself into a man's dream of the...
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Students learn the basics of directing a scene from Professor Michael Joyce formerly of Mary Washington College. Emphasizing script analysis, development of a floorplan, and collaboration with actors, Joyce works with students as they begin their very first directing project - a scene from George Brenard Shaw's Candida.
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A much-praised dramatization of the Jane Austen novel, adapted for television by Fay Weldon. Mrs Bennet frantically tries to find husbands for her five daughters. In part 5, Elizabeth has visited Pemberley and met Mr. Darcy again. Knowing now that her first impressions were unjustified, she begins to regret lost opportunities. A BBC Production.
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Description
Understanding Greek tragedy, not through post-Ibsenist, post-modernist, post-Method eyes but in terms of what the ancient playwright may have intended, requires going beyond the text to the staging. For the staging defines the relationship between chorus and actors, between actors and audience, and between playwright and play. Using the theatre at Epidauros as an example-it was built a century after the heyday of Greek classical theatre but is well...
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Let's face it - there aren't many happy moments in King Lear. In fact, it may be the most bleak of all Shakespeare's plays, exemplifying both current and classical notions of tragedy. This program presents an enactment of Act IV, Scene 7, among the play's more lyrical and less ominous passages. A group of young British actors rehearses and performs a splendid rendition of the king's reunion with his daughter Cordelia. As a brief discussion afterwards...
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Its kingly speeches are as stirring as any battle cry-offering inspiration not only to budding actors but to anyone who wants to move a crowd, Shakespeare-style. This program focuses on Act II, Scene 2, from Henry V, following young British performers who have been invited to the Globe Theatre to perform the suspenseful passage. The youthful monarch's masterful confrontation and seizure of a group of traitors comes to life through rigorous rehearsals...
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I am great with woe, and shall deliver weeping, says the Prince of Tyre, hero of Shakespeare's wide-ranging, episodic drama. Act V, Scene 1, in which Pericles realizes that he stands face-to-face with his daughter, Marina, is the poignant heart of this roll-up-your-sleeves acting lesson. Students from leading London drama schools rehearse and perform the scene with the help of professional mentors, then examine its essence in a vigorous group conversation....
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When Rolly Crump interviewed for a job at Disney Animation in the 1950s, he was told he had "the worst portfolio of anyone ever hired at Disney Animation Studio." As it turned out, Crump was one of the best hires Disney ever made. Working with Walt Disney himself, Crump created some of Disneyland's most popular attractions, including The Haunted Mansion, The Tiki Room, and It's a Small World. Featuring interviews with Crump and Disney legend Bob Gurr,...
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Staging any Shakespeare play requires specific choices about how to handle 400-year-old material. However, The Taming of the Shrew, like a handful of others in the Bard's body of work, carries extra baggage. It is especially fascinating to watch high school and college-age performers work on the play - to see how they tackle issues of male dominance and female independence, if at all. This program records just such a process, highlighting the rehearsal...
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Beginning with the most rudimentary of theaters-an open plot of ground which the Greeks called a theatron or "seeing space"-this program illustrates in stunning detail how that idea evolved over the centuries. Professor Richard Beacham of King's College London guides viewers through the Theatre of Epidaurus and the Lycurgian, Hellenistic, and Roman manifestations of the Theatre of Dionysus. The odea of Pericles and Agrippa and Rome's magnificent Theatre...
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In this program, Channel 4 commissioning editor John Richmond, producer Rachel Gesua, director Tim Supple, screenwriter Andrew Bannerman, and members of the cast and crew talk about the business of making a modest TV adaptation of Twelfth Night. Step by step, they walk viewers through scripting; budgeting for talent, crew, cameras, sound, sets, blue screen, lighting, and costuming; casting actors and hiring the principal crew; scouting locations;...
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Scholars and stage directors the world over have searched for clues to Shakespeare's true feelings toward Shylock. Was The Merchant of Venice intended to comment on mistreatment of the Jewish people? Was the Bard simply pandering to the anti-Semitism of the day? Or is there a more nuanced answer, found not through textual analysis but by giving the play breath and movement and therefore the most honest reading of its soul one can hope for? This program...
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This eight-part documentary series goes back stage to cover six months in the life of London's Theater Royal Haymarket from all angles, including artistic director Sean Mathias' debut season and the lead up to the first ever staging of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" based on Truman Capote's novel and starring Anna Friel and Joseph Cross. In episode seven, rehearsals begin, period costumes are selected, and a complex set containing multiple levels and 25...
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This eight-part documentary series goes back stage to cover six months in the life of London's Theater Royal Haymarket from all angles, including the arrival of new artistic director Sean Mathias and the lead up to his production of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. In the second episode, employees make final preparations for opening night, including fixing a bathroom, flying the Union Jack, and distributing...
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English
Description
This eight-part documentary series goes back stage to cover six months in the life of London's Theater Royal Haymarket from all angles, including the arrival of new artistic director Sean Mathias and the lead up to his production of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. In the third episode, carpenters and plumbers maintain the historic building in preparation for the show's three month run. Theater employees...
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Description
As a founding member and the driving force behind the Group Theater, Harold Clurman helped heighten the emotional sensitivity and social awareness of American drama. This classic program, narrated by Meryl Streep, recounts Clurman's artistic journey using rarely seen archival films and conversations with the director's inner circle-luminaries of the mid-20th-century American stage including Arthur Miller, Lee Strasberg, Roy Scheider, Karl Malden,...