Adrian Scarborough Masterclass

Two-time Olivier Award winner Adrian Scarborough returns to the podcast to give a masterclass in learning to love Shakespeare, studying him in drama school, and performing him professionally. Adrian shares experiences of learning Shakespeare at his mother’s knee; playing Shakespeare’s clowns; getting direction from Sam Mendes; occasional rush-hour trains going by; the advantage of dance training in performing Shakespeare; an auspicious debut (playing young doomed Macduff as a child); an intensity of intention; how to root one’s self in rehearsal; the importance of heading for the full stop and the dogged pursuit of an idea; and the value of going for the truth instead of going for the comedy…because going for the truth gives you better comedy. (Length 22:51)

Juliet To Hotspur

Character actor Alejandra Escalante has played ingenues at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago (Isabella, Measure For Measure), American Repertory Theatre in Boston (Desdemona, Othello), and for five seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Juliet, Romeo and Juliet; Miranda, The Tempest; Princess of France, Love’s Labor’s Lost) where she also played gallant Hotspur in Henry IV, Part 1. Blessed with both the ability and the opportunity to play that kind of range, Alejandra talks about the perils and wonder of being a character actor trapped in an ingenue’s body; her initial reaction to being offered the role of Harry Percy; studying and then copying big ol’ barrel-chested dudes; how some of the most wonderful and successful actors never went to college theatre programs; the desire to revisit certain roles; and the joys of working with your former fiancé/now husband. (Length 18:43) (Pictured: Alejandra Escalante as Juliet and Hotspur in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival productions of Romeo and Juliet and Henry IV, Part 1. Also pictured: Daniel José Molina as Romeo.)