ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a set of tools for the actor to approach a character from a Shakespearean play by working from the “Outside/In.” It discusses the challenges of working in the reverse, from the “Inside/Out,” through the substitution method and offers an alternative approach by exploring ways to embody a character through use of the four elements found in nature: Tree, Water, Fire, and Air. Each element is examined in turn using text from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 3, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Exercises are addressed directly to the actor but can be utilized by a teacher or director to help an actor find character specificity and emotional freedom in performance. Through repetition, the actor discovers that when they fully commit to physical embodiment, the emotional life is ignited.
