"Approaching Shylock: An Actor's Journey"
Budget: $750 – $1,500 USD
Approaching Shylock: An Actor's Journey, is an exploration and re-interpretation of The Merchant of Venice (TMOV) from an acting point of view, with the goal of creating a path for performers and directors to humanely interpret the signature character, Shylock, in a manner freed from traditions of anti-Semitic imagery long-associated with the part.
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It is an actor's journey seeking the emotional foundation for a character in performance, rather than the more austere and cerebral pursuits of a literary historian or critic. Thus, the tortuous inner paths of that search, and the creative license of actor and director are combined to portray Shylock's behavior convincingly in modern psychological terms in a modern setting without altering Shakespeare's text as written.
The work is unorthodox, combining elements of historical research, personal memoir, and acting technique in the pursuit of an interpretation of "The Merchant of Venice" (TMOV) which would render the play a critique of anti-Jewish bigotry rather than a vehicle for it.
The work has been reviewed by a leading academic authority on Stanislavsky and a theatre artist who described it as "prodigious" and the kind of research that all actors and directors should do to make classical plays speak to our times.
I fear, however, the piece may be over-long for many readers and needs the eye of an excellent editor on the same wave-length with the author's concerns and objectives to improve its focus and impact. I hope you may have someone among your editorial talent who would fit that bill.
Yours,
Alan Bergreen
(818) 269-6353
,
It is an actor's journey seeking the emotional foundation for a character in performance, rather than the more austere and cerebral pursuits of a literary historian or critic. Thus, the tortuous inner paths of that search, and the creative license of actor and director are combined to portray Shylock's behavior convincingly in modern psychological terms in a modern setting without altering Shakespeare's text as written.
The work is unorthodox, combining elements of historical research, personal memoir, and acting technique in the pursuit of an interpretation of "The Merchant of Venice" (TMOV) which would render the play a critique of anti-Jewish bigotry rather than a vehicle for it.
The work has been reviewed by a leading academic authority on Stanislavsky and a theatre artist who described it as "prodigious" and the kind of research that all actors and directors should do to make classical plays speak to our times.
I fear, however, the piece may be over-long for many readers and needs the eye of an excellent editor on the same wave-length with the author's concerns and objectives to improve its focus and impact. I hope you may have someone among your editorial talent who would fit that bill.
Yours,
Alan Bergreen
(818) 269-6353