SQM Website/DVDrom

Introductory Materials

Why Stage the QM? The goals of the project and its position within theatre history.

The History of the QM with timeline.

The Politics of the Queen's Men A module that presents McMillin^? and Maclean's argument and discusses how it impacted our production process. This one might lead into the audience module. Could make one module of these two things.

Shakespeare and the Queen's Men (i.e. Why the S?) Simple module that gives the text of the Queen's Men scenes and the text of related scenes from Shakespeare. Students can read the QM version, watch our performance and then read Shakespeare and compare. Potentially a useful exercise that could be incorporated in Shakespeare classes.

Site Map/Video Grid

-Allows for easy access to specific sections and videos.

-Keep a "favourites" for easy playback [ HS: How would we do this off-line? Stacey? ]

Proposed Modules

Modules follow general structure of Introduction, Illustration (an interactive lesson), Exercise & Further Questions (separate PDF files)

Primary Modules

[ HS: To be added to these are the politics and SQM modules above. Need to figure out how to link these -- will there be a general "modules" page linked from the intro page? ]

Blocking-Setting Module A module that focusses on the basic traffic on the stage using difficult sections of text and getting the students to analyze the text for clues to stage movement and then taking them through our own decisison making process, before showing them the video clip. (Draft complete, Monday June 18th)

Performance Analysis Module designed to encourage students to imagine how they might act a text. They may be asked to mark moments where characters emotions shift, turning points epiphanies, etc. The Murderer scene in Leir would be good for this. They would then watch the scene and read comments, see interviews, or hear audio about the choices we made. *link to repeated motifs and Shakespeare and the Queen's Men-"mini" modules Note: could be coupled with Clowning [ HS: I agree. ]

Gender and the Queen's Men A short documentary on the representation of women in the plays and the use of men to play the women in our production.

Rehearsal Process Discuss about the use of parts in rehearsal, the master actor/apprentice relationship, the lack of a traditional director, the speed of the rehearsal process, and so on. This might be a short documentary. For an interactive element the student could be given a part for a scene and they could then play the scene with a video of an actor in which their part is muted. Not ideal but might be intriguing enough to try it with fellow students. We will provide parts for scenes that can be printed out and used for in class exercises.

Doubling An introduction to the practice of doubling. Making our doubling plots interactive so that students and scholars can experiment with different options. Tracking certain actors through different plays showing photographs of them in their different characters, and potentially interviewing them about the difficulties involved in doubling - quick changes, development of markedly different characterizations. have doubling chart available for download, possible interactive version?

Clowning Module that explores the importance of clowning to the company. Giving some biography of the principal clowns. Analyzing the four roles assigned to Tarlton. Interview footage of Alon discussing the process of playing with the ghost of Dick Tarlton. Examining the process from unfunny text to sometimes hilarious performance. Clowns and improv, et al.

Venues and Audiences Module that explores the interactive quality of the performances and the ways in which performances changed from venue to venue. This module should touch on the political purpose of the original company and also problematize our project's findings on the basis that you cannot recreate an Elizabethan audience. Actors inclinations to play serious scenes ironically - resistance to the propaganda in the plays. The shift in response to Margaret's testing. [ HS: Maybe we could integrate the QM & Politics mini-module into this. Might make for a more elegant overall presentation. ]

Secondary Modules

Repeated Motifs Module on the Queen's Men's use of the same scene structures in different plays, eg. conversions scenes, testing scenes, and reconciliation scenes. Not sure what to do with this one, so any ideas are welcome.

Doubtful

Production Analysis Read scene of a play and decide which props and costumes would be needed to perform it. Choose from a props list. Watch video to see which ones where chosen. (Icons would represent props. Props highlighted or crossed out on answer page)*Note: We feel this may have been already covered in blocking-setting* [ HS: Kind of agree... ]

-- PeterCockett - 19 June 2007