Posted - May 4, 2011

Eureka College Unrehearsed Shakespeare Workshop to perform ‘Macbeth’

May 21 - 2:00 pm

Students participating in an Unrehearsed Shakespeare Workshop at Eureka College May 16 - 21 will perform “Macbeth” in a free, public performance at 2 p.m. May 21 in Pritchard Theatre.

The tragedy by William Shakespeare revolves around ambitious Scottish general Macbeth, who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become king of Scotland. He murders King Duncan, seizes the throne for himself, and racked with guilt and fear becomes a tyrannical ruler.

Performers will include Scott Herman of Park Ridge, Ryan Paul of Meadville, Pa., and Jeremy Earl of Omaha, Neb. Performing in minor roles will be 10 students enrolled in the 7th annual Stage Combat Workshop that will run concurrently with the Shakespeare workshop. 

Unrehearsed Shakespeare is a performance technique that replicates the conditions under which Shakespeare's company worked. Elizabethan acting companies would present approximately 10 different plays every two weeks at public playhouses in addition to private performances for the royal court. That left no time for rehearsals but only for brief choreography sessions for fights, dances and songs. Actors were not given the entire script but worked from cue-scripts that contained only their own lines and their cues.                                                                                 
Using the technique today empowers actors to make bold, textually justified acting choices, according to workshop leader Jared McDaris. He is an actor. He received a master’s degree from Western Illinois University.

While the actors will recreate an original performance, the audience also will be encouraged to behave in the 17th-century manner, according to Eureka College theater professor and workshop coordinator Holly Rocke of Normal.

“Audience members are free to come and go as they please, boo or cheer the actors and bring snacks,” Rocke said.   

For information about the workshop or the performance, click here or contact Rocke at (309) 467-6580.

-30-

Contact:

Michele Lehman

Media Relations Coordinator

mlehman@eureka.edu

(309) 467-6318