Shakespeare: deep text analysis of Othello & Much Ado About Nothing

Shakespeare's use & manipulation of language is infamous! It can be overwhelming with its density, but there are so many performance suggestions in there if you can unpick it.

Sink into the nobel verses & convoluted plotting of Othello & wizz through the witty & ridiculous twists of Much Ado to see what glorious performance options Shakespeare has filled the language of his plays with!

Through extracts from Othello & Much Ado About Nothing Emma will guide you through some text analysis tips and practical exercises to help you identify:

• different literary forms in the plays (peotry/pros)
• the importance/impact of dramatic structure
• seeing the nuance in syntax
• considering character's vocabulary
• build confidence in your choices

Sink into the nobel verses & convoluted plotting of Othello & wizz through the witty & ridiculous twists of Much Ado to see what glorious performance options Shakespeare has filled the language of his plays with!

This 2 hour, small group workshop, will look at one play per hour. With text, context, practise & sharing (optional) you will try, explore & apply some tools that will build your knowledge and confidence towards a strong foundation in approaching Shakespeare's plays.

The workshops will take place in the Theatre at , on Shaftsbury Square, Belfast.

All you need to bring is a pen and a copy of the provided Shakespeare scripts that you can annotate.

About Emma Copland

Emma Copland is a Scottish theatre director, maker & facilitator based between London and Belfast. She trained at CSSD with Katie Mitchell, The Shakespeare Institute, Queen's University Belfast & Lyric Drama Studio with Anna Newell. An Artsdepot Resident 25/26, &TDNI INVEST 24/25 Artist she is mentored by Erica Whyman and has recently shadowed Tamara Harvey at RSC.

Her theatre credits as Director: Fuscardi’s (Druid Debuts, Mick Lally Theatre), Liz’s Story:The Right to be Heard (Black Box Belfast), Lady Macbeth Uncut (Drayton Arms), Deaf as a Post (Culturlann Belfast, Barons Court, Mac DAFNI), Slippery When Wet (Barons Court Theatre, Naughton Theatre, Bewley’s Cafe Theatre), Cooking With Carrie (Drayton Arms), Failing Better, Belmont Road (site-specific), Winter Tales (Barons Court Theatre), Faster than the Flies (Black Box Theatre), Entra, Silvio! (Ulster Hall Group Space), I Left My Heart (Hampden Park), Much Ado (Crescent Arts Centre), Two Gents (Crescent Arts Centre) and several youth theatre productions including 3 years of shows with Primary Shakespeare Company, Shady Business (Prissian Theatre), Emilia (Prissian Theatre), The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Prissian Theatre), Second Person Narrative (Prissian Theatre), Tristan & Yseult (Prissian Theatre) and The Boy Preference (JAGS Studio Theatre). Credits as an Assistant Director include: Romeo & Juliet (Lyric Belfast), Teechers (touring), The Border Game (touring), Iyalode of Eti (Arcola Theatre), Titans (Titanic Belfast), A Better Boy (MV Confiance Barge), 1 in 5 (Limavady Workhouse) and Perfect (Brian Friel Theatre).

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Emma Copland