Show Summary

Role: King/Duke

Playwright: William Shakespeare

Original Technique Instructor: JJ Gatesman

Company: Original Practices Milwaukee

Performance Dates: November 5 & 12, 2017

Number of Performances: 2

Style: Original Practices Technique

Synopsis

The story of low born Helen, yearning for the love of high born Bertram, who cures the King of France of a deadly malady. The King, in gratitude for her medicinal accomplishment, gives Bertram as husband to Helen. Bertram immediately shuns and deserts Helen in favor of soldiering and glory. Helen resolves to win over Bertram employing a trick or two along the way. In this comedy, All's Well that Ends Well.

"I am not a day of season, 
For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail 
In me at once: but to the brightest beams 
Distracted clouds give way; so stand thou forth; 
The time is fair again." - King

What Is Original Practices Technique?

Original Practices is a theory developed by Shakespeare scholar Patrick Tucker to perform Shakespeare the way Shakespeare may have intended, with little to no rehearsal, no director, and a loose idea at a hidden code in the language to guide the actors. Original Practices answers questions like:

How did Elizabethan actors memorize up to twenty shows at once?
How would anyone sit through long productions?
When would an acting company find time to rehearse?
 
According to Original Practices the answer to all of these is: they didn’t.  This is Shakespeare performed at high velocity, with lots of pantomime movement to make the language clear, and where the dick jokes are not lost in flowery poetry.  Audience involvement is encouraged.