“Instant Shakespeare”

1. “Instant Shakespeare” A Guide to Understanding and Performing Shakespeare A condensed guide adapted from Instant Shakespeare by Louis Fantasia

2. Pre-Performance – Instant Shakespeare! • To be or not to be, that is the question… Say it out loud… Not too hard, huh?

3. Four Levels of Discovery • Know what the individual words really mean (dialogue). • Know where the play is going (structure). • Know the rhythm and sense of the line (character). • Know what the play is about (the central event).

4. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue The Shakespeare Paradigm • Apply this question to every line, every word of every Shakespeare play! “Why does this particular character say these particular words, in this particular order, at this particular moment?”

5. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue What is the difference between a character who says, So foul and fair a day I have not seen…?

6. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue And one who says, So fair and foul a day I have not seen…?

7. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue Or a character who says, What a rogue and peasant slave am I…

8. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue Or one who says, What a rogue and peasant slave I am…?

9. Frog Overlays • Once upon a time, in the days before the internet and computers, biology students used “plastic overlays” frogs, one overlay for each system in the anatomy – skeletal, digestive, etc.

10. Frog Overlays • This way you could study each system individually. • BUT when you put them together, you got a good picture of the WHOLE dissected frog.

11. Frog Overlays • We’re going to do the same for Shakespeare – dissect the text and apply our own “Frog Overlays”

12. Instant Shakespeare – Frog Overlays • Make the nouns sound like what they mean. • Push the verbs • Leave the adjectives and adverbs alone • Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • Repunctuate for breath.

13. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I. • What do you see in your minds eye when you say the words “rogue” and “slave”?

14. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean Is this a dagger I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! • Why does Macbeth choose to say “dagger” instead of “knife” or “broadsword” at that moment?

15. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean Is this a dagger I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! • Why is “dagger” the only noun that Macbeth use to describe what he sees?

16. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus’ lodging; such a wagoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately. • Why does Juliet choose to say “steeds” and not “horses,” “ponies,” nags,” or “mules”?

17. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean • “You don’t really want me to ‘do’ it this way, do you? • NO – this is not a rehearsal or even a performance technique – but I do want you to say it this way, OUT LOUD, as you begin to examine the text.

18. Push the Verbs • Verbs are ACTION words. Push them Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.

19. Push the Verbs Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus’ lodging; such a wagoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spreadthy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen…

20. Push the Verbs Is this a dagger I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! I have thee not and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight, or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?

21. Push the Verbs • Notice how this makes the monologues move more quickly • REMEMBER, verbs are ACTION words. Plays are about actions. Push the verbs and you will push the play forward!

22. Nouns & Verbs – Putting It Together! Is this a dagger I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! I have thee not and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight, or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?

23. Nouns & Verbs – Putting It Together! Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus’ lodging; such a wagoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spreadthy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen…

24. Leave the Adjectives and Adverbs Alone! Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I. • There is no need to gild the lily. Shakespeare was quite capable of embellishing his own images. • Tell the story. • Play the action, not the poetry!

25. Leave the Adjectives and Adverbs Alone! The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Which makes more sense to you: The quick brown over the lazy or Fox jumps dog

26. Leave the Adjectives and Adverbs Alone! • An audience wants to know what’s going on, what happens next and who will do what to whom, when and why. • If you stress the adjectives and adverbs in Shakespeare, the audience will zone out.

27. Leave the Adjectives and Adverbs Alone! Baaad Shakespeare Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus’ lodging; such a wagoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen…

28. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • Martin Buber (1878-1965), one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century believed that an “eternal Thou,” a divine presence, can be glimpsed in every particular Thou. HUH?

29. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • In simple terms, and the most literal sense, whom are you talking to and what are you talking about? • Is the meaning of each and every line so clear that everyone, on stage and off, knows exactly whom you are talking to and what you are talking about?

30. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • In simple terms, and the most literal sense, whom are you talking to and what are you talking about? • Is the meaning of each and every line so clear that everyone, on stage and off, knows exactly whom you are talking to and what you are talking about?

31. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • “I/thou” expresses a common ground and recognition between persons (you and me – I must see you before I can name you). • “I/it” expresses functional behavior (me and it – the object in relationship to me).

32. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I. • Whom is the speaker addressing, himself or the audience? Is he talking about himself or another character? Does he shift? Why?

33. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • In Shakespeare, you must have a partner on each and every line you deliver – a connection, a relationship, with someone or something (the “thou” or “it”). • Any moment when you are unaware of your thou/it partner, the audience will know and immediately zone out. STOP! RECONNECT!

34. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • In Shakespeare, partnering is essential and simple. • Shakespeare’s characters speak to a) one another, b) themselves, c) the audience, or d) God. That’s it. There is no one else.

35. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I. • Suppose Hamlet delivers these lines to himself. Does that work? Does it sound right? • If not, how about full out to the audience? Or to God in exasperation?

36. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • There are no wrong answers! Just make a decision. If if doesn’t work, change it.

37. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • Let’s look at Macbeth’s “dagger” speech. When does he speak to the dagger? When does he speak about the dagger? There is no right or wrong. Is this a dagger I see before me, The handle toward my hand? • Of whom is he asking the question? Himself, the audience, God, or the dagger?

38. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships Come, let me clutch thee! • Hmmm… sounds like he’s talking directly to the dagger on this line.

39. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • The next line implies a stage direction that Macbeth clutch for the dagger and miss (and it seems that he is still talking to the dagger): I have thee not and yet I see thee still.

40. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • In the next four lines, is he talking to the dagger or about the dagger? To himself or to us? Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight, or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?

41. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships • And where is the reality now? I see thee yet, in a form as palpable As this which now I draw • Once you get used to looking for the “thou/it” partnering, it will make you acting more clear and precise. Helping the audience understand what you are saying.

42. Repunctuate for Breath • Most modern editions of Shakespeare’s play include way too much punctuation. • Punctuation in Elizabethan time was confusing and inconsistent. • Most often, there is no consensus as to what punctuation Shakespeare included in his written scripts. • When Shakespeare’s plays were first printed after his death, the printers often added their own punctuation. • Later editions included and/or changed punctuation to their editors own personal tastes.

43. Repunctuate for Breath • Most modern editions of Shakespeare’s play include way too much punctuation. • Punctuation in Elizabethan time was confusing and inconsistent. • Most often, there is no consensus as to what punctuation Shakespeare included in his written scripts. • When Shakespeare’s plays were first printed after his death, the printers often added their own punctuation. • Later editions included and/or changed punctuation to their editors own personal tastes.

44. Repunctuate for Breath • Whatever edition you use, the punctuation can greatly affect your reading of the play. • For example. Here’s an unpunctuated passage from Antony and Cleopatra in which Caesar Augustus hears the news of Marc Antony’s death. Read it aloud, as written. Look you sad friends, The gods rebuke me but it is (a) tidings To wash the eyes of kings.

45. Repunctuate for Breath • Now try this version from the First Folio (1623) Look you sad friends, The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings To wash the eyes of kings.

46. Repunctuate for Breath • Or this from the Third Folio (1663) Look you, sad friends, The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings To wash the eyes of kings.

47. Repunctuate for Breath • But wait, try The Arden edition (1981) Look you sad, friends? The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings To wash the eyes of kings. • Do you see how the punctuation changes the meaning of a line? Some editions of Shakespeare’s plays will print alternative readings at the bottom of the page, allowing the reader to make up his own mind.

48. Repunctuate for Breath • You could spend years studying Elizabethan punctuation and still not know exactly what Shakespeare intended. So, what do we as young actors do, with only 10 weeks of rehearsal do? • Photocopy the text. • Take some liquid correction fluid and white out all the punctuation. • That’s right, ALL OF IT

49. Repunctuate for Breath • Okay, once you’ve exhausted your supply of White Out, you can start to put all this together. • Reading aloud, work through the nouns and verbs, highlighting them with different color highlighters. • Leave the adjectives and adverbs alone! • Figure out the “I/thou” and “I/it” relationships for each line. You might try underlining them. • And finally, Repunctuate for breath!

50. Repunctuate for Breath • But how do I do that? What do you mean? • Say the words out loud and mark in your script the places where you need to breath. • Don’t worry about whether it needs to be a coma, a semi-colon or a period. • Just ask yourself whether you need a long pause, a short pause, or no pause.