Study Day – Richard III

TSC’s Richard III Study Day will be tied to our production of Shakespeare’s play (14^th to 29^th April, in the Studio Theatre at Vertigo). Study Days are intended for adult learners, as a form of lifelong learning, but we very happily welcome youth who are interested.

The focus of Study Days is on textual interpretation.  Participants will consider how our appreciation may be enriched by academic and professional insight into Shakespeare and his work, led by Darren Dyck, Assistant Professor of English Literature at Ambrose University; assisted by TSC’s Artistic Director Haysam Kadri, a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatory for classical training at the Stratford Festival, who spent six seasons as a company member with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada; and Calgary Classical Academy’s Assistant Principal Doug Mansfield, trained and educated as an actor at Memorial University.

We are delighted that Darren Dyck will lead this three-hour Study Day.  He is a Shakespeare scholar well-rooted in the classics of English and ancient literature, who is above all committed to close textual reading and teaching in the liberal arts tradition. His book Will and Love: Shakespeare and the Motion of the Soul was released in March.

In the first seminar hour, participants will obtain an overview of the play and consider it in its historical context.  Among other questions… Was Shakespeare ‘doing’ history?  What to make of Shakespeare’s villains?

In the second hour, participants will get up close and personal with the language of Shakespeare’s text, looking at the poetry of the play in key passages and scenes, to figure out how Shakespeare uses words.

In the final hour, Haysam Kadri and Doug Mansfield will break down some of those passages and scenes dramatically, for a discussion and demonstration of how the text informs on-stage work.

The goal of Study Days is to help participants get more out of reading and viewing classical drama, as well as to contribute to the growth of a community of learners around The Shakespeare Company.