THE SHAKESPEARE SESSIONS

Featuring KEVIN KLINE, DUSTIN HOFFMAN, DAVID HYDE PIERCE, CYNTHIA NIXON, LIEV SCHREIBER, CHARLES S. DUTTON & HARRIET WALTER

“Focusing on language as the way into Shakespeare's magical world, Barton guides his all-star American cast through intimate workshops where some of the Bard's most famous characters are brought to life.” — Playbill

"With all those luminaries executing his bidding, it's impossible not to be won over by this absent-minded professor's Yoda-like passion." – AMERICAN THEATRE

Legendary directors and founders of the Royal Shakespeare Company JOHN BARTON and SIR PETER HALL travel to America to work with some of today's brightest stars.

Among the topics covered by the Barton/Hall workshops:

• Creating a World with Words
• The Clues Are in the Text
• Play the Story
• Changing Gears: Prose to Verse
• The Questions Reveal the Character
• Handling Emotion
• Setting Word against Word
• Connecting with the Audience

“It is very hard today to make an audience listen to and understand Shakespeare,” begins Barton. The man Peter O'Toole dubbed “our Shakespeare swami” proceeds to do just that, breaking down the seemingly impenetrable language, analyzing the emotional syntax of each scene, and focusing actors on the practical clues Shakespeare offers in the text. Oren Jacoby's film also shows Sir Peter Hall in rehearsal with Dustin Hoffman for their Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice. Under the watchful eyes of these two master directors of Shakespeare, the actors translate the literary text into living stagecraft.

Other actors include Patrick Stewart, Janet Suzman, Lynn Collins, Peter Francis James, and Mia Tagano.