Unrehearsed Shakespeare is a performance technique that replicates the conditions under which Shakespeare's company worked. An Elizabethan acting company would present an average of ten different plays every two weeks at a public playhouse, in addition to giving private performances before the court. This left no time for rehearsals in the sense that we know today, but only for rather brief choreography sessions for fights, dances, and songs. As there were neither copyright laws nor copy machines in Elizabethan England, the actors were not given the entire script but worked from "cue-scripts" which contained only their own lines and their cues.

The company performed a different play every day, went long intervals before repeating a play, and introduced new plays to the repertory frequently. Without the benefit of a rehearsal period and a complete script, the actors needed all the information about characterization, blocking, props, etc. in their own lines. Therefore, Shakespeare developed a code, consisting of the seemingly "archaic" spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and lineation preserved in the First Folio of 1623, a text compiled by two shareholding members of Shakespeare's company, John Hemminge and Henry Condell.

The NESF production of Much adoe about Nothing, touring New England in the summer of 2008, will be an unrehearsed production. Most roles will be double or even triple cast to ensure the authenticity of the technique. Before performance, actors cast in Unrehearsed productions participate in a training workshop which focuses on excavating and theatricalizing the acting clues in the First Folio and prepares the actor for performing Shakespeare without rehearsals.

At the end of the Workshop, actors will receive their cue-scripts and have ample time to learn their lines and do their homework - remember, Unrehearsed IS NOT Unprepared! This is not a "reading" but a fully staged, costumed, and ACTED performance.

Using this technique, actors are empowered to make BOLD, textually justified acting choices. The results are often startling, revelatory, and inspiring!

Anything can happen... and usually does!