I believe that if you want to understand Shakespeare’s plays, then understanding the life of William Shakespeare, the man, is essential. This podcast is designed to help you explore early modern England as Shakespeare would have lived it by interviewing the historians, performers, authors, and experts that know him best.
Today’s guest knows better than most that when you study Shakespeare, you almost synonymously study 17th century theater. Ben Crystal is an actor, writer, producer, adventurer & explorer of original practices in Shakespeare, and was the Artistic Director at Passion in Practice, an original practice based theatre company specializing in performances that rework the speech, rehearsal techniques, and performance methods of Shakespeare’s theatre.
In this episode, I’ll be asking Ben about :
- what Shakespeare’s theater would have been like when he was performing his own plays
- If his plays were performed using these conventions originally, why do you think we lost touch with that format somewhere along the way?
- What is a cue script? Why did Shakespeare use them?
- Since Ben pays close attention to the silent stage directions when producing plays in original practice, I also ask him to settle a mystery and share with us: How does George Plantagenet REALLY die in Richard III?
Books Ben Recommends:
Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
Richard II by William Shakespeare
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