Acting the Role: Uncle Vanya with Tony-winner Reed Birney
Release Date: 11/22/2022
Week 2 - The Winter's Tale - Hermione's arrest/defense - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our second week, highlights include: Deciding on the beats of the scene - what each is "called" Bringing Leontes back to sanity vs. punishing him Exploring the meaning of "I'll keep her in the stables" ----- 🛑 SUBSCRIBE to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 BECOME A PATRON of The Rehearsal Room on Patreon: Get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more! 🙏 THANK YOU to our patrons at the Co-Star level and...
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Week 1 - The Winter's Tale - Hermione's arrest/defense - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our first week, highlights include: the play as a tragic comedy and its significance in Shakespeare's career Leontes sudden and irrational jealousy towards his wife, Hermione. the importance of pacing and punctuation in the text. ----- 🛑 SUBSCRIBE to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 BECOME A PATRON of The Rehearsal Room on Patreon: Get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more! 🙏 THANK...
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Final Session - Macbeth - 2 scenes - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our fourth and final week, highlights include: The warrior character of Macbeth and comedic moments with Lady Macbeth Diving into the imagery of "spongy officers" Analyzing the power dynamics in relationships A Q&A with the artists! ----- 🛑 SUBSCRIBE to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 BECOME A PATRON of The Rehearsal Room on Patreon: Get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more! 🙏 THANK YOU to our...
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Week 3 - Macbeth - 2 scenes - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our third week, highlights include: The use of hypotheticals and future tenses What "the poor cat in the adage" really means The staccato delivery in Lady Macbeth's lines Plus - could "Macbeth" become a Christmas play?? 🎄🤶 ----- 🛑 SUBSCRIBE to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 BECOME A PATRON of The Rehearsal Room on Patreon: Get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more!...
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Director Robert Goldsby from 2019
The Working Actor's Journey
From 2019, our interview with prolific director Robert Goldsby, on the aliveness of Molière, making clear transitions, and being blissfully happy. Bob took his final curtain call on October 27, 2024 at age 97. With a career spanning 60+ years, he accomplished so much and he'll be missed by all who knew him!
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Week 2 - Macbeth - 2 scenes - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our second week, highlights include: Macbeth's soliloquy and chaotic dialogue Lady Macbeth's role in the scenes Macbeth's influence on Halloween and Harry Potter ----- 🛑 SUBSCRIBE to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 BECOME A PATRON of The Rehearsal Room on Patreon: Get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more! 🙏 THANK YOU to our patrons at the Co-Star level and higher: Ivar, Jaelyn, Joan,...
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Week 1 - Macbeth - 2 scenes - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our first week, highlights include: speech transitions and symbolism exploring power, ambition, and moral sacrifice Shakespearean nuances ----- 🛑 SUBSCRIBE to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 BECOME A PATRON of The Rehearsal Room on Patreon: Get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more! 🙏 THANK YOU to our patrons at the Co-Star level and higher: Ivar, Joan, Michele, Jim, Magdalen, Claudia, Clif and...
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Final Session - The Merry Wives of Windsor - 2 scenes - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our fourth and final week, highlights include: The Great Vowel Shift and Shakespeare's pronunciation Exploring Mistress Ford's emotions and actions Q&A with the creative team ⭐️ And a special thank you to Juls Hoover for hosting this month! ⭐️ ----- 🛑 SUBSCRIBE to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 BECOME A PATRON of The Rehearsal Room on Patreon: Get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking questions, and more!...
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Week 3 - The Merry Wives of Windsor - 2 scenes - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our third week, highlights include: Focusing on the nuances of language, meaning, and dynamics How different approaches to lines could affect the overall humor and relationships Adjustments made to clarify character interactions ⭐️ And a special thank you to Juls Hoover for hosting this month! ⭐️ ----- 🛑 Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon - get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking...
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Week 2 - The Merry Wives of Windsor - 2 scenes - The Rehearsal Room
The Working Actor's Journey
🏁 In our second week, highlights include: Discussing lines like "kiln-hole," "loons," and "still swine eats all the draff," clarifying meanings and exploring delivery options Figuring out transitions, with characters entering and exiting, and experimented with different line delivery for comedic effect ----- 🛑 Subscribe to get notified of our next rehearsal session! And click that BELL notification to never miss an update! 🔔 🤗 Support The Rehearsal Room on Patreon - get early access to sessions (before they go public on YouTube and the podcast), priority with asking...
info_outlineReed Birney played Uncle Vanya at SoHo Rep in 2012 in a translation by Annie Baker, with a cast that also included Michael Shannon. He joined us in December 2021 to discuss the character in depth.
You’ll hear Reed and I talk about:
- his ideas going into Chekhov
- what he discovered and connected with about the role
- trusting the script
- challenges in the production
- and playing trapped characters
We also learn lots more about Reed in our lightning round with a couple special New York questions!
This episode marks our third installment in our Chekhov series as we focus on Reed playing the role of Uncle Vanya. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out two most recent episodes of our Vanya workshop and Libby Appel’s Q&A. I suspect you’ll have an even deeper appreciation of and curiosity for the works of Chekhov.
This episode also concludes Season 5, which began way back in March! We’ve released a dozen episodes this year, from interviews to workshops to text work and Q&A’s. Thank you to everyone listening and I hope you’ve enjoyed this season as much as I have. I’d love to hear below if you have a favorite episode, guest, or moment. I’m also excited to share that we just passed 40K downloads and the show regularly appears in the top 100 of arts podcasts around the world!
Reed and I first spoke on the podcast back in Season 2 about his life and career. He has over 130 credits on stage and screen over the past 45 years. He is a Tony Winner for The Humans, a Tony nominee for Casa Valentina, and you can see him in the film Mass (now streaming on Hulu and elsewhere), HBO’s Succession, Apple’s Home Before Dark, and currently in theaters in The Menu with Ralph Fiennes. He also just closed a production of Chester Bailey with his son Ephraim at Irish Rep in New York. This guy just keeps working!
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