AFTLS at UT
What is AFTLS?
Actors From The London Stage, now housed at the University of Notre Dame, is an educational and theatrical program that brings a troupe of five classically trained actors from major English theatres to college campuses for week-long residencies. During their week at the University of Texas, the actors teach approximately 30 classes and workshops and perform minimalist productions of a full-length Shakespeare play. Begun in 1975 by Professor Homer Swander of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Patrick Stewart, the British actor, AFTLS's unique program of performance and education has had approximately 350 residences on 150 campuses, including UT Austin in 1979, 1983, and 1999 to present.
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How do AFTLS actors work with UT students?
The London actors explore the relationship of page and stage, language and meaning: "rehearsing" students in scenes from Shakespeare and other playwrights, helping them to examine the many ways scenes can be understood and performed, leading them in analyzing and speaking verse, teaching them about metrical stresses and rhythm, cues, blocking, stage breathing, and the like. The actors work with English and drama majors; students in foreign languages, communications, speech, music, history, classics, psychology; as well as with high schoolers and members of the community. Learn more about requesting an actor for your class here.
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What are the AFTLS performances like?
Actors From The London Stage at the University of Texas at Austin is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of English. The full-length plays with five actors playing all the parts are minimalist in terms of props and staging, intimate and compelling. The performances emphasize language, characterization, and dramatic energy; the results are startlingly clear and powerful, even magical, for audiences of all ages in a way that large-scale productions in the big theaters of Stratford, London, and New York can never be.
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How does AFTLS complement UT curriculum?
The residencies not only add a unique dimension to UT's education mission, but also strengthen other programs that depend on UT's links with the English theatre. For example, students in the Oxford Program's Shakespeare in Performance course attend Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre productions which often have AFTLS actors in them. Additionally, students in the Shakespeare at Winedale program have the opportunity to work closely with professional Shakespeare actors.
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