In these master classes John Barton, the co-founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, calls on his actors to listen to the language of the plays and to hear the messages that Shakespeare sends them through his use of antithesis and the switch from prose to verse.

Kevin Kline, Dustin Hoffman, Cynthia Nixon, Charles S. Dutton, Peter O'Toole, Ian McKellan, Judi Dench and Harriet Walter have all studied under Barton, earning this acclaimed director the legendary soubriquet “the Shakespeare swami.”

The Shakespeare Sessions cover Creating a World with Words; The Clues are in the Text; Play the Story; Shakespeare's Advice to the Actor; Changing Gears: Prose to Verse; The Questions Reveal the Character; Handling Emotion; Set the Word against the Word; Connecting with the Audience. 60 minutes.