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How to Produce a Play in the Theatre of Your Mind (Patreon)

Published:
2022-01-02 18:42:48
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Today we're preparing to deep-dive into Shakespeare's masterpieces with a discussion on the "Theatre of the Mind."

We'll explore the theatrical conventions of the Shakespearean stage, the rise of the Romantic closet drama, reading vs watching a play, and visualisation and imagination techniques to bring the Great Books alive.

Feel free to use the timestamps below to navigate to parts of the discussion that most intrigue you. 

Video Timestamps:

  • 0:00 introducing the theatre of the mind
  • 1:20 watching vs reading plays 
  • 6:00 when theatres close down
  • 9:00 who visited the theatre in Shakespeare's day?
  • 10:40 the rise of the Romantic closet drama
  • 12:00 the unperformable nature of certain plays
  • 14:00 why readers are averse to Shakespeare
  • 17:50 putting productions on in our minds
  • 19:12 Elizabethan & Jacobean theatrical conventions
  • 19:25 all-male troupes and cross-dressing in Shakespeare
  • 20:00 the theatre's competition
  • 22:00 Shakespeare's audience vs the modern audience 
  • 22:45 soliloquies and Shakespeare's first actors 
  • 23:45 set design, intermissions, and scene changes
  • 25:10 original run-times and concentration spans
  • 26:00 the post-play jig 
  • 28:00 the reputations of different theatres
  • 32:00 how did the actors perform the plays?
  • 36:00 the prolific output of Elizabethan playwrights 
  • 38:45 visualisation and imagination drills
  • 41:00 visual-spatial warm-up 
  • 43:00 reading and multiple intelligences theory
  • 45:30 discovering the "before time"
  • 47:00 practicing with paintings 
  • 48:12 practicing alternative stagings
  • 49:12 discovering a character's inner monologue
  • 50:00 emotional memory drills
  • 58:40 applying these techniques to literature (King Lear)
  • 1:01:00 Browning's 'My Last Duchess' and subtext
  • 1:03:00 Proust's visualisation practice with paintings

Questions for You:

1) What was the best theatrical production you have ever seen? What was the worst? And why? This doesn't need to be Shakespeare-specific.

2) Which sense do you find the easiest to summon and engage with? And which sense do you find the most difficult? 

3) What fictional characters make it easiest to imagine the "before time" and inner monologue?

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

How to Produce a Play in the Theatre of Your Mind

0:00 introducing the theatre of the mind 1:20 watching vs reading plays 6:00 when theatres close down 9:00 who visited the theatre in Shakespeare's day? 10:40 the rise of the Romantic closet drama 12:00 the unperformable nature of certain plays 14:00 why readers are averse to Shakespeare 17:50 putting productions on in our minds 19:12 Elizabethan & Jacobean theatrical conventions 19:25 all-male troupes and cross-dressing in Shakespeare 20:00 the theatre's competition 22:00 Shakespeare's audience vs the modern audience 22:45 soliloquies and Shakespeare's first actors 23:45 set design, intermissions, and scene changes 25:10 original run-times and concentration spans 26:00 the post-play jig 28:00 the reputations of different theatres 32:00 how did the actors perform the plays? 36:00 the prolific output of Elizabethan playwrights 38:45 visualisation and imagination drills 41:00 visual-spatial warm-up 43:00 reading and multiple intelligences theory 45:30 discovering the "before time" 47:00 practicing with paintings 48:12 practicing alternative stagings 49:12 discovering a character's inner monologue 50:00 emotional memory drills 58:40 applying these techniques to literature (King Lear) 1:01:00 Browning's 'My Last Duchess' and subtext 1:03:00 Proust's visualisation practice with paintings

Comments

Emma Yap

I so enjoyed this video! I would even say that it completely transformed the way that I will think of and approach literature in future. When Ben was reading the passage from King Lear, taking it slowly and visualising everything made it come to life so much more vividly for me. It made me want to revisit all the poetry that I've been reading, and apply these techniques. The sensory drills were really useful for me. My weakest sense is actually visualisation - it's really weird because it seems to be everyone else's strongest, but I've always struggled to visualise familiar objects and even familiar people. Trying to hold an image of my childhood home in my head was very difficult - I was unsure of the colour and shape of things. Everything just becomes a big blur in my head. I generally have a very poor sense of direction and got lost easily - the two are definitely connected. It's something I'd really like to work on. I've seen SO many bad plays - I know a lot of actors, and have been invited to a lot of fringe theatre in the past. It's soul destroying to have to watch a string of bad plays. The best production I've ever seen was probably All My Sons with Anthony Sher - it was heartbreaking! And one of the worst productions was probably Andrew Scott in Hamlet. I feel bad saying that because it was so hyped and Andrew Scott was really feted as being the next big thing at that point. It was really hard to get tickets! But the whole thing lasted almost 4 hours and I just remember feeling so bored I could have fallen asleep. I thought Andrew Scott's performance was so uninspired - I couldn't wait to leave the theatre once it was over

Susan Knox

I learned so much from this lecture! I was surprised to hear that Gardner’s (?) theory of multiple intelligences is now mostly debunked as I too have found it to be helpful. I didn’t know the physical danger that playwrights, and I suspect other types of authors, experienced in this time period. I don’t remember the title of one of the best plays I saw. It was about being bipolar and choosing multiple electroshock treatments. The theater was tiny, only 3 rows deep, all on the same level with the stage hardly raised. There were only4 actors in the play - the mother (patient), her child, her husband, and the doctor. The scene alternated between a dining room table which could be transformed into an operating table that spun around dizzily while she received her treatments. Being invited into these scenes so intimately was amazing. Scent is my strongest sense followed closely by taste - which is interesting since they are biologically linked so closely. I imagine that one area of the brain is strengthened as the other one is, since both receive input from the same event. Sound was by far the hardest one for me. I think I starve myself of auditory input as an introvert who prefers silence. I do love great music but don’t think to listen to it. I’ll have to make a playlist. Elgar (?) is one of my faves. I agree with Scott that Jane Eyre is one of those characters I can see. Sarah Crewe in The Little Princess is another one.