Second Lynn Shakespeare Festival lined up for April
Following the success of the inaugural King’s Lynn Shakespeare Festival in 2019, its artistic director Andrew Jarvis has announced that a second Festival will take place in April 2020.
The venue will again be the Guildhall of St. George, but in a change from 2019, the Festival will be a special one-day affair – taking place on Saturday, April 25.
The content will contain the same elements which are central to the work of the Festival Theatre Company and the principles which it upholds: rigorous textual interrogation, acting workshops, celebratory performance.
The special One-Day Festival will be entitled: “A day in the company of King’s Lynn Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Andrew Jarvis.”
The timetable for the day will be as follows – the morning session: 10-12.30 (with an interval); a talk from Andrew on the nature of the Shakespearean text; the original printed versions of the plays – the Quarto and Folio texts; the world of verse and the use of the iambic pentameter; what approaches and principles the actor and director must consider when approaching the text.
The afternoon session: 2-4.30 (with an interval). A practical Shakespearean acting workshop – led by Andrew, to follow up on the ideas explored in the morning. The aim being to both experience and to understand how to speak and to act Shakespeare, to banish the fear associated with speaking verse.
The workshop will be open to everyone, of any age or experience. Just bring along a piece to work on – or one will be supplied.
Evening session: 7.30-9.30 (with an interval). A celebratory performance by Andrew Jarvis: “A Life with Shakespeare – reminiscences of 50 years as a professional actor”. Recollections of theatre, film, TV, radio and commercials. There will also be a ‘Q&A’ session.
The evening will be a journey describing what the job has been for, what The Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington once described as “Royal Shakespeare Company warhorse Andrew Jarvis”.