Shakespeare Fight Club

The emergence of guns, gangs and violence in Toronto’s Jane-Finch neighbourhood has prompted calls for more creative programming that fosters positive, life affirming opportunities for young people. Shakespeare Fight Club facilitates a positive engagement with notions of conflict and violence for youth at risk.

In Fall 2009, we will expand the program with the aid of community organizations such as The Caring Village, Centennial Library and through the generous support of Theatre Ontario.

Over eight rigorous weeks, we will undertake an innovative new program in practical performance training, based in theories of embodiment. We will blend stage combat, dance choreography and Shakespearean scene study with urban art forms such as break-dancing and hip hop, culminating in a series of public performances in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood. The program will be led by an expert team of theatre professionals.

The program is based on the premise that young people at risk need safe creative spaces that are stimulating, challenging and thought provoking. We will identify and address root causes of violence, and will create a performance that seeks to positively reinforce the lives of our young participants, and to engender pride in the community.

The eight-week creative process will include:

• An introduction to industry techniques (Weeks 1 and 2). Participants, under the tutelage of one of our master fight directors will learn the basics of stage combat. Participants learn everything from punches, kicks, falling, throwing, rolling, to sword defenses and the employment of other theatrical weapons. These techniques will be practically taught and crafted into immediate choreography. Led by Artistic Director, Michael Kelly, our team of actor/teachers will work with the participants to explore violence and conflict in scenes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus, Henry V, Macbeth and Hamlet.
• Fusion of community art forms (weeks 3 and 4). We take the urban art forms of break dancing, extreme skateboarding, krumping and hip hop, and amalgamate them with the techniques learned in Stage One. By using forms of expression familiar to young participants, we work to create a world that better reflects the participants’ community and allow them to bring their personal voice to the process of creation.
• Intensive performance development (Weeks 5 - 7). Participants will experience the thrilling and empowering process of creating, rehearsing and staging a piece of work collaboratively created by the entire group. Participants will be asked to use the skills and artistic discoveries of the earlier phases of development to generate a performance that speaks to their experience of conflict and which posits creative alternatives to violence. The work will use Shakespeare as its stimulus, and will be created by the participants under the guidance of the artistic team.
• Public Performances (Week 8). A series of performances for the community.

Phone: 416 703 4881
Email: shakespeareinaction@gmail.com