Julius Caesar Director's Playbook (Shakespeare Playbooks) - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

9780942208788: Julius Caesar Director's Playbook (Shakespeare Playbooks)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0942208781 ISBN 13: 9780942208788

Publisher: Bandanna Books, 2014

This book is designed for prospective directors, assistant directors—also producers. More than half of the pages are waiting for you to fill in with your vision of the play, down to actors, details of sets, auditions, budget, schedule, program, etc. Every scene begins with a blank stage diagram for indicating where sets should go, actor marks or other business during the scene. Most pages give plenty of room for sketching ideas on costuming, attitude, sets, furniture, etc. and every page has a keyline for quick reference. In the introduction is a quick summary of the whole play, a schematic of entrances and exits of every actor, with tips for the director and the actors -- but the vision of the play as a whole is a joint collaboration of the director and the cast and crew working together for a seamless production. Sections in the back include a glossary for unfamiliar words, ample space for pre-production, starting with the first essential: is there a budget and are there talents available and committed to making a Shakespeare play happen. The Producer is in charge of the all-important budget, aiding in design of the playbill (perhaps the most important fundraising tool-- selling advertising and acknowledging sponsors), designing and managing a publicity campaign, assuring and booking a hall on the appropriate date, and on the vital timeline which all departments must meet. A section is devoted to measurements for costuming, though in some plays looser costumes may suffice. Stage management needs to be covered, lighting and sound if required. Set design is a biggie, requiring help of volunteers, and making sure that sets are adequate, movable, stable, and in keeping with the spirit of the play. Julius Caesar includes crowd scenes, battle scenes, and a number of deaths. In other words, as many of the details as will be required need to be accounted for. Doing the play is just the culmination of a great learning experience, and, hopefully, a useful team-building exercise as well.

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About the Author:

William Shakespeare, the third of eight children, was born on April 23, 1564 in the English market town of Stratfordupon- Avon. His father became the mayor of Stratford in 1568 and worked as a glovemaker and a moneylender. Four years after leaving school at approximately the age of fourteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in November of 1582; their first child Susannah was born in May of the following year. Two years later, Anne gave birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, a period called “the lost years,” there is almost no evidence about Shakespeare’s life, nor is there any solid evidence about how or why he made his way to London to become a dramatist. By 1592, however, Shakespeare’s reputation as a playwright and poet had begun to grow. In 1594, he helped found a new theater company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and became the company’s dramatist. Shakespeare’s success increased, and by 1598, the year he registered The Merchant of Venice, he had already purchased one of the biggest residences in Stratford. Some of Shakespeare’s richest dramatic work was written after the founding of the Globe Theater by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1599, including Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. After 1611, Shakespeare largely retired from the theater to spend more time in Stratford. He died in 1616 on his birthday, April 23, when he was fifty-two years old.

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