jharrimansmith.bsky.social
Senior lecturer in Restoration and eighteenth-century literature (especially theatre) at Newcastle University; trustee of BSECS; likes cats and learning languages.
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Link seemed a little troublesome. Hopefully this works: www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/tiq6d...
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I don't think so. I think it goes back much further. When I say it, I always think of how we once would say 'score' in English: "I am a very foolish fond old man, Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less" in King Lear, for example.
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Alas, no. There's an abstract of the talk on my website now: jharrimansmith.net/presentation... - happy to talk more over DM if you're interested!
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And how might knowing this change the way we think about acting?
Find out more in the book! bloomsbury.com/uk/what-woul...
And tell your friends!
7/end
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In 'Emotion', for example, we set Cheek by Jowl's Declan Donnellan against Garrick. For Donnellan, it is no more possible to express emotion 'than it is to sh*t through your ear'; for Garrick, expressing emotion was what he did to show off his acting talent. How did that happen? 6/7
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The first half of the book is made up of eight chapters, each of which tells the story of how my collaborators and I produced one or two exercises. Every chapter has a theme: Emotion, Cultivation, Character, Voice, Action, Audience, Company, and Reflection 5/7
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They have titles like 'Macklin's Garden', 'Garrick's Scale', and 'Clairon's Model'; or, 'Great Sensibility', 'Attitudes', 'Five Rooms', and 'The Hiss'. They appear in an easy-to-read format in the 2nd half of the book, with sample workshop plans. 4/7
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I wrote this book with the help of many collaborators:
The Orange Tree Theatre, Elaine McGirr and her students, The Actors Forge, DJW Talent, and Act2Cam. My collaborators and I produced 14 exercises inspired by historical material but adapted to modern needs. 3/7
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The book's claim is that the practice and theory of eighteenth-century theatre can help us think about making theatre in new ways today. If we know more about what Garrick, Siddons, Cibber, and others would, should, or could do, then we can do more ourselves. 2/7