Something Rich and Strange: Drawing a Visual Narrative from the Text
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Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth not suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange…
-William Shakespeare, The Tempest.
Shakespeare’s language can often be a barrier to understanding and informed interpretation. Yet, students of scenography are, perhaps surprisingly, excited by the prospect of designing for Shakespeare. The actor draws a visual narrative from the text when he speaks, evoking emotion and atmosphere; creating character and establishing a sense of mood, of time and of place. Traditionally, Shakespearian drama was performed with minimal scenic embellishments. Yet, there were extravagant displays of costume, which further enhanced and re-emphasised the physical presence of the actor on stage; physicality, words, action, and costume combined. The Royal Shakespeare Company R.S.C. develops its remit to explore Shakespearian text in professional and educational contexts. A priority for directors and actors is making informed creative choices on the interpretation of Shakespeare’s language. I fuse traditional and modern methodologies for freehand figurative drawing with educational theory, notably experiential learning and reflective practice, as described by Kolb, 1984. A pedagogic methodology for drawing developed as part of on-going empiric practice-based research into my scenographic practice as a costume designer. I develop methods of drawing the human figure because this interests me and the students I teach. Students find it difficult to express their concepts for costume design without adequate figurative drawing skills. The physicality of freehand figurative drawing helps students to engage with the physicality of characters in the text. As such, it is an effective means of exploring Shakespeare’s poetic language, deriving meaning from the text, and informing creative character interpretation and costume design concepts.