i-Learner is holding two workshops on Shakespeare’s Macbeth at the end of this month. Details are below if you’re interested in learning more about this classic play.

Focus:  Theatrical Space and Imagery in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Workshop 1:
Time: 10:00 to 12:30
Date: 17^th and 24^th Feb, 2015
Students: P5 to S1

Workshop 2:
Time: 13:30 to 16:00
Date: 17^th and 24^th Feb, 2015
Students: P6 to S3

Workshop Facilitator: Clare Smout
B.A. (Classics) at the University of Oxford
M.A. (Shakespearian Studies) at the Shakespeare Institute
Theatre director, author and PhD candidate at the University of Oxford

Limited seats! Please call 3113 8815 to reserve one! Parents can also call in to ask for special classes.

Clare Smout

Clare has divided her life between practical theatre and the academic world.  She took a B.A. (Hons) at the University of Oxford before spending twenty years in the professional theatre.  During this period she worked in leading theatres all round Britain and on national and international tours.  She has a particular interest in new plays and has directed for Harrogate Theatre, the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Eastern Angles, Oxfordshire Touring Theatre, Blunderbus Theatre, Eye Theatre and the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, as well as spending a  period as Associate Director to Howard Barker at the Wrestling School.  She has directed for several new writing development organisations in her home area and used to run her own new writing company, Packhorse Productions.  She has also taught and directed for several of Britain’s top drama schools.

In 2002, Clare decided to combine studying for an M.A. in Shakespeare with her directing work.  She has since taught for the Universities of Birmingham, Cambridge and Oxford, as well as lecturing at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford.  She has contributed performance history research for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Education department and the Shakespeare publishing company Arden Online and writes regular theatre and book reviews for academic journals.  Forthcoming publications include performance history sections on Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Merry Wives of Windsor, and Timon of Athens for the RSC/Macmillan Complete Works series; a chapter in The Routledge Companion to Actors’ Shakespeare; and the factual appendices to the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s Last Plays, edited by C.M.S. Alexander.  Having gained a Distinction in her M.A., Clare then won a government award to study for a Ph.D. in Renaissance Drama at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Clare worked as a long-distance editor for i-Learner for a couple of years.  She created a series of internet Shakespeare lessons for them as well as teaching a very practical Shakespeare course for their summer school in Stratford-on-Avon.  Clare is delighted to have the opportunity to work for the company in Hong Kong itself.