John Barton, Playing Shakespeare (Athena, 2009)

John Barton co-founded the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) with Peter Hall in 1960, and Barton has been an active director with the RSC ever since.

In 1982, Barton, working with such RSC luminaries as Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, and Ben Kingsley, recorded nine workshop sessions for London television. These recordings were aired in 1984 and became the source of his best-selling book, Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide. Now Athena Learning has released the complete recordings of those nine workshops in a set of DVDs entitled Playing Shakespeare.

Playing Shakespeare contains nine episodes of approximately forty-five minutes in length, with each episode addressing a single aspect of Shakespeare's plays. The structure is that of an acting workshop which shows John Barton providing direction to a small group of RSC actors. Barton uses everyday language to direct and discuss his ideas, and he is often shown in conversation with the actors, although it is clear that all such conversations have been scripted and worked out ahead of time in order to conform to the time restrictions of the original television format.

What makes Playing Shakespeare such an invaluable resource for anyone devoted to performing and/or viewing Shakespeare's plays is having access to John Barton's encyclopedic knowledge of Shakespeare's work and of Elizabethan theatre while simultaneously having Barton focus closely on a very manageable set of topics intended to illuminate the performance of the plays. Since Barton is very emphatic about making Shakespeare accessible to everyone, all of his directions and explanations are given in clear, jargon-free language. While the complexity of some of the ideas discussed may make these workshops a bit challenging for the average high school student, they certainly seem within the grasp of say, a high school honors class.

The short episode guide included in the DVD set lists the episodes as follows.

In the first episode, titled "The Two Traditions," Barton contrasts modern Shakespearean acting, which Barton refers to as naturalistic, with the Elizabethan style of acting which Barton claims would have relied more on the heightened language to convey meaning. Ian McKellen fans in particular will enjoy this episode as McKellen adds his own ideas about the Elizabethan theatre, all while ensconced in a thronelike chair which only underscores his gravitas.

Episode 2 is titled "Using the Verse" and explores how the text can be used to locate direction on how a role or a scene should be played. Barton also discusses how the iambic pentameter of Shakespeare's blank verse contains hints as to the way in which the lines should be delivered.

Episode 3, "Language and Character," focuses on how a character is defined through his or her speech. Barton places particular significance upon the importance of antithesis in Shakespeare's texts, thus using oppositions within the character's own speeches to illuminate their personality and their actions. This is where we first find Barton referencing Hamlet's advice to "suit the action to the word, the word to the
action," lines which obviously resonate with Barton's own ideas about performance.

Episode Four is titled : "Exploring a Character" and was, to me, one of the most fascinating episodes as it focuses in on one particular play and character, Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice," and presents differing perspectives on how individual actors interpret and portray this character. In addition, the subject of Shylock's character as a Jew is also discussed.

Episode 5, "Set Speeches and Soliloquies" focuses on what Barton defines as the three parts of any Shakespearian soliloquy: the character's response to a specific set of circumstances, the intellectual and emotional exploration of that situation, and the resolution.

Episode 6 focuses in on "Irony and Ambiguity," another means by which Shakespeare revealed character's inner thoughts about themselves and the world.

Episode 7 is titled "Passion and Coolness," Barton's terms for the emotional tone of a character's speech. Barton's aversion to overplaying the emotional elements of such speeches comes through most clearly in this episode and some viewers may find themselves, as I did, feeling that Barton leans too far toward the other extreme of underplaying the speech. In critiquing one actor's performance of Lear's storm speech, for instance, Barton claims that the actor should pitch his voice low, that the scene does not call for projecting loudly. Considering that Lear is giving this speech while a storm rages around him, that the storm mirrors his thoughts and emotions, and that Shakespeare's theatre had a sheet of metal which was used to create the sound effect of thunder, I find it difficult to agree with Barton's claim. This points to one of the issues I have with Barton's personal style, which is to insist on underplaying most scenes, even the over-the-top or comedic scenes.

Episode 8, titled "Rehearsing the Text," returns to Barton's emphasis upon the text and contains stresses, pauses, and subtle directions to the actors with verbs often conveying the most meaning and emotion in a line.

Episode 9, "Poetry and Hidden Poetry," further examines Shakespeare's language, discussing how it often uses monosyllabic, seemingly prosaic lines to convey multiple meanings, resonant emotions, and a character's self awareness. Some time is also spent in reviewing recordings of Shakespearean actors from 50 years ago, and the company speculates on how its own approach will be viewed in 50 years.

At the back of the episode guide is a brief glossary of vocabulary terms used in the episodes and a short list of resources for further reading. This booklet can also be downloaded from the Athena Learning Web site, where one can also view a sampler of excerpts from the series.

Whether you are an instructor at the high school or college level, a director of a community theatre, or a Shakespeare fan who is interested in adding to your knowledge of the plays, Playing Shakespeare is a highly informative and entertaining resource for illuminating the complexities of Shakespearean drama. Whether you agree with all of Barton's ideas about the plays, or whether you find yourself occasionally, as I did, arguing with Barton's image on the screen, Playing Shakespeare should provide lots for Shakespeare fans to think about the next time they experience one of Shakespeare's plays, be it as an actor or a member of the audience.

[Kestrell Rath]