Victoria
Gartner
Teaching
Victoria Gartner has been teaching Shakespeare for many years. She delivers workshops in schools and universities, as well as for professional actors in both French and English. She is a regular director and Shakespeare module leader at LAMDA and East15 Acting School. She has also worked regularly with the Marlowe Theatre and the Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust.
Victoria combines her extensive academic knowledge of Shakespeare with her artistic and directing work, and her method of unlocking Shakespeare’s emotional beats is through embodiment. Her movement work is inspired from working with teachers and mentors Paul Oertel and Kath Burlinson, and her verse work owes to the wisdom of Peter Hall, Peter Brook and Cicely Berry. She is passionate about the rhythm of Shakespeare’s words, and how much their meaning and ring can appeal to our shared humanity.
Testimonials
“The classes with Victoria that involved intense text work coupled with the use of movement to discover more about the story were the most important days for me. It changed my whole outlook on Shakespeare.”
Sarah McKee, Director, USA
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“As someone who has historically disliked Shakespeare due to my lack of access and fear of the language and rhythms, you helped me feel completely at ease. You’ve actually made me get excited for working so heavily on Shakespeare. Your absolute love for Shakespeare is very apparent form the get-go and it helped everyone in the room get excited too and I want more of that!” Shakira Newton, Actor, London
“Today’s workshop reminded me why I want to be an actor! I particularly loved the movement work she did with us; it just got me out of my head and helped me find the inner energy and drive of the characters.” Beth Easdown, Actor, London
“Amazing workshop! Loved every minute, and felt like I'd really worked with and connected with some lovely human beings, and their Shakespearean character alter egos!” Mark Cassidy, Actor, Equity Cornwall-Devon
“I had a lot of fear towards Shakespeare and I used to say to myself that "Shakespeare is too difficult for me." My friend Jonathan Blakeley did a dress rehearsal for Bard in The Yard in front of me and my partner last summer. I really really enjoyed the play because his performance was amazing, but also because I felt like I got to know "Will" in person during the play. It made me less scared to read Shakespeare. On top of that, if you hadn't offered Shakespeare sessions this winter, I probably wouldn't have had enough courage to do a Shakespeare monologue in front of others.
So you really pushed me forward and taught me how fun Shakespeare can really be! Thank you, Victoria." Riko Nakazono, Actor, Japan-UK
“Victoria breathes life into Shakespeare like no other! Her passion, enthusiasm and love of Shakespeare's work is infectious! She creates a wonderful rehearsal environment in which you feel empowered to play the stakes - something which I found incredibly useful. Thank you so much Victoria!” Abigail Pidgeon, Actor, Nottingham
“My students really, really enjoyed the way that the very well thought out workshop allowed them to have a completely new insight into Shakespeare’s universe and plays. We will welcome you again in a heartbeat!” Jean-Claude, High school teacher
"The pupils at Merchant Taylors’ School had an excellent experience working on such a relevant play. In addition to exploring some of Shakespeare’s great speeches, they were able to learn about the context in which he was writing. " Cheryl Clarke, Head of Drama at Merchant Taylor's School
“A play is meant to be played. As students of literature we thought that we knew this, at least we had heard it a couple of times. In only a few hours we realized that we actually did not really know what it meant until Victoria gave us the great opportunity to experience it for ourselves! No one in our group had any experience with acting Shakespeare. I was not even excited about Shakespeare, but we were guided so well through it all that it did not matter anymore. Her vivid approach definitely sparked the joy for Shakespeare in me and retaught us what it means when they say that a play is meant to be played.” Malte, BA student, University of Stuttgart, Germany
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