We visited the excellent University of Leicester this afternoon to spend a few hours exploring The Merchant of Venice with a group of first-year English Literature students.

Dr Sarah Knight, senior lecturer in English, invited associate artist Nathan Masterson and artistic director Ben Spiller to introduce the students to the theatrical potential of Shakespeare's plays. She was keen for them to understand Shakespearean text in theatrical terms, not exclusively as a piece of literature.

In the first half of the workshop, Ben encouraged the participants to engage physically with Portia's "The quality of mercy" speech from Act 4 Scene 1. A number of practical exercises based on the punctuation freed-up the text and broke it into smaller units of thought to make it more digestible.

The students also explored the iambic pentameter of Shakespearean verse by clapping, walking and marching to its beat, before determining where the beat should slow down and speed up to reflect Portia's emotional responses to words that might affect her heartbeat.

Nathan led the second half of the workshop, in which he asked the students to direct him as Lancelot Gobbo, the clown of the play.  Nathan encouraged the students to back-up all their directing decisions by using the text and unearthing hidden stage directions.  They came up with some hilarious ideas to really bring the scene to life.

Feedback from the students was overwhelmingly positive. Ben and Nathan will return to Leicester next month for a second workshop, this time to explore the theatricality of moments from The Tempest.

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