Shakespearean Ruffians at Ryerson
In anticipation of the season about to begin, on a humid evening in early June, Ryerson students enrolled in the Spring-term course were treated to a visit by two members of a local acting troupe called .
Instructor Morgan Holmes invited the Ruffians to campus to help give his students first-hand information about the dynamic world of 鈥渟ummertime Shakespeare.鈥� Jesse Griffiths 鈥� a graduate of the Ryerson Theatre School 鈥� and Kaitlyn Riordan 鈥� a founding member of Shakespeare in the Ruff 鈥� shared a wealth of anecdotes about how they came to their acting careers, as well as about the thrills and challenges that go along with performing al fresco (rain, sirens and noisy sheep are just the start of it).
Students were keen to engage with Griffiths and Riordan, asking them about such things as the audition process, play selection and adaptation, stage-fighting, financing, lighting, sound, costumes and mise-en-sc猫ne. Shakespeare in the Ruff鈥檚 2015 (13-30 August) play will be Macbeth, which Holmes鈥檚 students were exploring that week. Griffiths and Riordan illuminated the play鈥檚 performance possibilities by sharing of the company鈥檚 plans for the production, including discussing the innovative use of life-size puppets.