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Shakespeare's Sonnets: Lightning in a BottleJohn Barton, co-founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), has long been credited with transforming the actor’s approach to speaking Shakespeare’s verse, and he frequently relied on Shakespeare’s Sonnets as a training tool.
Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Lightning in a Bottle will guide participants through an exploration of how the rhythm, rhyme, and wordplay that characterize the sonnet form can push the actor toward greater emotional intensity and intellectual clarity.
Time will be devoted in the first session to researching the historical background of the Elizabethan sonnet and its unique verse structure, and we’ll take time in our two morning sessions to connect or reconnect, with the Linklater Technique of voice training as a means of preparing the voice and body for sonnet work.
The bulk of our class time will be focused on the sonnets. In 14 lines, a Shakespeare sonnet represents a startling number of opportunities to strike a balance between form and content; the form being a carefully adhered to rhyme scheme, the content being the actor’s own sensibility and life experience.
Tina Packer, Shakespeare & Company’s founding artistic director, remembered having to learn and perform sonnets when she became a member of the RSC. She never forgot how the sonnets work served her as an actor, and was sure to make that work part of Shakespeare & Company’s training methodology.
DATES: October 23–25, 2026
SCHEDULE: Friday, 7-9pm; Saturday, 10am-9pm; Sunday, 10am-6pm
LOCATION: Shakespeare & Company campus, Lenox, Mass.
FACULTY: Michael Hammond and Rory Hammond
TUITION: $400 USD**
BIPOC ARTIST and STUDENT TUITION: $350
HOUSING: A limited amount of on-campus housing is available for an additional $50/night. First come, first-served. Housing is private bedroom with shared bathrooms, kitchen, and common areas.
**Alumni (15% off) and union (10% off) and Shakespeare Theatre Association (10% off) discounts available.
Email [email protected] for details.
APPLY: https://shakeandco.wufoo.com/forms/shakespeare-company-actor-training-application-w81sjbo1bgeh06
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70 Kemble St, Lenox, MA, United States, Massachusetts 01240
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