Anna McSweeney
Anna is a highly qualified and experienced voice, text and dialect specialist. She holds an MA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, a BA in Acting from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a BA in English Literature from Warwick University. She has worked extensively as a voice specialist, most recently in the role of Senior Voice and Text Practitioner at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In addition to her seven years in residence at the RSC, she has coached at many different venues across the UK, including the National Theatre, and trained actors at top drama schools in London. She has even been lucky enough to deliver voice work in the US and China!
Anna has spent over a decade helping actors, directors and students explore and relish language, and she particularly loves sharing her passion for the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
Session: Shakespeare's Contemporaries: Body, Mind, and Soul
A course for actors and directors who want to dive into the extraordinarily rich theatrical universe that surrounded Shakespeare in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. A time when ideas about the human body, mind, and soul were shifting dramatically - those shifts infused the dramatic action as captured in plays.
During the week you will:
- look at comedies, tragedies, and plays that defy any categorisation
- explore the work of writers such as Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Webster
- take an embodied approach to theatre, inspired by the writers of the time, that encourages bold decisions in acting, directing and design
- develop a toolkit in physicality, vocal technique, and play
This course is for actors and directors who are ready to work practically and make discoveries in the room.
Students may need to buy and read two play texts prior to Summer School.