[Click 'More' below to see SEGMENTS] Thomas Dabbs speaks with Shakespearean actor Ben Crystal. Ben is also a writer, a producer, and curator of the Shakespeare Ensemble. Ben speaks about Shakespearean acting, on stage and online, and also about salmon and many other topics. Ben is an expert in OP, or the Original Pronunciation of words in Shakespeare's works, and he also has worked to stage plays using original production techniques.
SEGMENTS:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:01:40 - The Welsh rain, salmon, Snowdonia, and Wales again
0:04:10 - Tokyo during the pandemic (Oct. 2020)
0:06:15 - The Zoom learning curve for actors, teachers, and learners
0:10:40 - YouTube work, To Be or Not to Be et al., as work dries up for actors.
0:12:55 - Timon of Athens and online Shakespeare
0:13:51 - The Show Must Go Online, More on Timon and Titus
0:16:45 - Ways to feature online Ben while waiting for his return to Japan?
0:20:20 - How to adjust to lack of audience response online, learning curve again
0:22:30 - Original Shakespearean rehearsal practices and the value
0:34:50 - Ben's pre-pandemic tour of Japan (2019) / Japan experience
0:37:36 - Love of linguistics and the Welsh language,
0:40:33 - Cultural kinship with Japan / culture features of Japan
0:43:14 - Shakespeare in Japan / Ninagawa
0:46:18 - Pandemic performance / advantages of distancing, and disadvantages
0:54:05 - Theatre and challenges of pandemic mindset / living too much in the head
0:57:44 - Shakespeare during the plague in his time
0:59:28 - Ben during the plague of his time / and more plague
1:01:45 - Shakespeare after the plague / revival energy
1:02:16 - 'Midsummer' / features of Shakespearean comedy
1:06:40 - Ben's recreation of a John Donne sermon
1:09:40 - Ben and The Shakespeare Ensemble
1:12:00 - Ben's coming day and closing remarks
LINKS:
Ben Crystal: http://www.bencrystal.com/about
The Show Must Go Online: https://www.youtube.com/c/RobMyles/videos
The Shakespeare Ensemble: https://www.theshakespeareensemble.com