The Residency

This was an intensive dramaturgical exploration of the play. Each day, I led a series of exercises and investigations with the actors and the students, using a combination of discussion and practical work. Between workshops, students were invited to spend time researching individual tasks and topics that would inform our discussions later in the week. The idea was to provide a rare opportunity for students to get an in-depth insight into the play in practice, as well as developing their research and dramaturgical skills, and contributing to the development of a professional production.

Having read the play in advance, students arrived on the first day ready to explore what we called the “three worlds” of the play: Duke Frederick’s court, Duke Senior’s court-in-exile, and the world of the shepherds. We collaborated on a close textual analysis of these three worlds and then started to brainstorm key words and images we associated with each; this work then informed a series of practical exercises in which we developed movement vocabularies for each of the worlds. Students were also divided into four groups, one for each professional actor, and given research tasks relating to one of that actor’s roles.

Each subsequent day started with a group check-in, in which the students and the actors discussed the results of their research so far and refined their questions. We incorporated feedback from the students’ research tasks as we worked on and discussed the scenes, turning to our student expert in any particular topic (wrestling, carnival, melancholy, costume, etc.) whenever it cropped up. On day two, we focused especially on the first few scenes of the play – those set in the court. We built on the movement vocabulary we had established on day one, focusing especially on physical tension. The following day was the “green world” day, in which we workshopped the first few forest scenes (and took an enjoyable excursion into the woods on campus). We did some exercises on cross-gender performance, and the layers of gender performativity that the play requires of its actors. As the week went on, we also worked on movement exercises, accepting “offers”, physical focus and working as an ensemble.

Editing the play for a cast of four opened up a number of possibilities, including the potential to build upon some of the plot strands that Shakespeare leaves hanging. On the fourth and fifth days of the workshop, we tried out numerous scenes, both from early modern texts and from scripts written by the students themselves, that would help us to fill in some of Shakespeare’s gaps. Some of the students felt that the character of Audrey was underdeveloped in Shakespeare’s play, so they found numerous scenes from other plays in which a cynical courtier meets a country wench. One of them – from George Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer (1706) – made it into the final production. We also decided we wanted to see a bit more of Silvius and Phebe’s relationship, so at the suggestion of the students, we adapted Christopher Marlowe’s poem ‘The Passionate Shepherd To His Love’ and Walter Raleigh’s riposte, ‘The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd’ (both published in 1599). We had a lot of fun staging a love scene made up of mashed-up lyrics from modern pop songs. Both of these ideas were also incorporated into the finished version of the production.

Student perspectives

We asked the students to document the week in the medium of their choosing. Several took photos and videos, while others used social media (check out the #AsYouLikeItWarwick hashtag on Twitter). Two students documented the week in detail on their blogs. Some excerpts:

• “At once funny and erudite, every single person involved in this week has been committed to working out the nitty gritty of the play and characters, while also creating the games and gags that make the whole experience of seeing theatre, live theatre, live outdoors theatre, so enjoyable. It’s a wonderful glimpse at one group’s rehearsal processes, and I know there is hard work to be done over the next few weeks for them, but it’s work with incredible pay-off. A week of working alongside this, and an incredible weekend, has got me feeling incredibly content, so thank you all.” (https://gabrielslibrary.wordpress.com/2018/07)
• “I think I can speak for all of us concerning how excited we are to see the play in our respective home towns! It is also wonderful knowing that our research and contributions have had an impact on the show and actors. This was such a wonderful opportunity for everyone involved. I certainly haven’t stopped talking about it since I have been home!” (https://louisetheatreandwriting.wordpress.com/)