RECENT STUDENT COMMENTS

from our school:

“Like 4 years of college packed into one hour!”

“Thank you so much for an excellent monologue workshop! I definitely discovered a lot about what I find to be an incredibly challenging monologue, and I hope to put into effect your very illuminating suggestions... Thanks again for your help, and I hope to work with you further, as you are clearly a master of Shakespeare's language and characterization!”

“Well worth it! You gave me insight and you gave me confidence.”

“Thank you for allowing me to participate yesterday. What you are doing is wonderful and admirable.”

“I had such an amazing time working with you and all the actors on RIII.... You've made learning Shakespeare a lot of fun and interesting.  It's a wonderful environment to be in!”

“I would be remiss if I didn't send you a big ‘Thank You!’ for this past experience.  Now I know exactly what you mean when you said: If you can do Shakespeare, you can do anything.. It was exhilarating, fascinating, and a truly satisfying experience.  I learned a lot and probably most importantly: I had such a blast!”

“Thank you, Ron. I did attend class on Sunday and it was wonderful!! Your class exceeded my wildest expectations!!!”

“Thank you so much for a great class tonight. It was a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to learning more and diving in further.”

“Thanks for class last week, you really know your stuff and then some.”

“I want to thank you for all the wonderful things you are doing for us Shakespeare students.”

“I gained so much from the experience. Of course it was lots of fun to work with you, but I also learned about myself as an actor and grew in places I had been weak in before so thank you so much for that opportunity.”

“It was great meeting you last night at your free workshop. I was extremely enlightened and inspired by your knowledge, direction and projects.  I left feeling empowered by learning so much in such a short time.”

COMMENTS ON OUR HYDE PARK PRODUCTIONS:

"I saw two OSC productions - Twelfth Night and As You Like It - in London's Hyde Park on consecutive years and found them both delightful. The presentations were beautifully clear and with no sense of strain in the outdoor environment, and the cast was so compelling that passers-by were drawn into staying and enjoying a Shakespeare play when they had clearly been originally intent on going somewhere else. Tremendous." - Brian Stirner, RADA, BBC Shakespeare.

“I saw Ron Destro's production of Twelfth Night on a rainy blustery day in Hyde Park London.  The audience was small and the cast very wet.  There was something about the single-minded way these young actors stuck to their task despite the conditions that made the world they were creating seem very real.  It was as if the very incongruity of the event made you look twice and convinced you that it was real.  Either these people were insane or what they were doing was very true.  They were creating an actual world in a place where that world should not have existed.  Thinking about it afterwards I realised it was not only the courage of the actors that had made this possible, it was the integrity at the heart of the production itself; the relationships, the story, the various subtexts were all strong enough to survive whatever was thrown at them.  I can honestly say it was one of the strangest and most memorable theatrical experiences I've ever had.” - Malcolm McKay, writer and Director (Shakespeare’s Globe, London).