What do the Dead Sea Scrolls and frog overlays have to do with performing Shakespeare? They're both part of Louis Fantasia's approach in Instant Shakespeare. Mr. Fantasia, the first American to direct at the Shakespeare Globe Centre and a distinguished member of the international theatre community, has developed a pragmatic and uniquely American performance technique. Expanded and refined in performances and workshops throughout the world, Instant Shakespeare allows performers, directors, and teachers of all cultures and levels of experience to demystify Shakespeare and perform his texts in ways that are clear, fresh, and unpretentious. Mr. Fantasia's methods are solidly grounded in a rigorous analysis of the text and structure of Shakespeare's plays, and enriched by his insight into Elizabethan performance practices gleaned from his intimate association with the reconstruction of the Globe. Through Instant Shakespeare, novices and professionals alike achieve the textual clarity, nuanced characters, and dynamic actions that drive the most vigorous Shakespearean performances. Mr. Fantasia's respectful but irreverent approach pinpoints the shortcomings of contemporary Shakespeare practice and training, particularly generic and postmodern interpretations, and confronts theatre artists with the importance of conscious personal responsibility for the creative process. Employing analogies from music and architecture, he insists upon the hard and sometimes tedious work that necessarily underlies solid artistic choices. Mr. Fantasia shows how to understand Shakespeare's vocabulary as well as the structure and essential dramatic event of each play. He provides exercise monologues, exercise scenes, and tools for textual analysis; explains correct breathing; and lays out his philosophies of training and performance.

By Louis Fantasia

Part 1 Prelude: Banging at Swords 3
Part 2 Introduction: The Absence of Presence 11
Part 3 PART ONE: PRE-PERFORMANCE- INSTANT SHAKESPEARE!
Chapter 4 Know What the Words Really Mean- Dialogue 19
Chapter 5 The Histrionic Sensibility 39
Chapter 6 Whose Frog is it Anyway? 44
Chapter 7 Excercise Monologues 47
Chapter 9 Know the Rhythm and Sense of the Line- Character 63
Chapter 10 Know What the Play is About- The Central Event 78
Part 11 Interlude: More Banging at Swords: Encounters at Shakespeare's Globe, 1981-1997 95
Part 12 PART TWO: ASPECTS OF PERFORMANCE
Chapter 13 Transitions from reading to Performance 107
Chapter 14 Scenes for Excercises 113
Chapter 15 Aspects of Performance: Breath and Impulse 120
Chapter 16 Aspects of Performance: A Practical Study of the Breath 128
Chapter 17 Isabella's Voice 142
Chapter 18 The Ephemeral Nature of the Theatrical Event 154
Chapter 19 A Philosophy of Training and Performance 161
Chapter 20 Presence and the Ontological Sensibility 172
Part 21 Epilogue: Still Banging at Swords- Optional Authenticity and Shakespeare's Globe, 1997-2001 187
Part 22 Acknowledgments 197
Part 23 A Note on Sources 199
Part 24 Index 203