PART THREE
Practical Practice
Dealing with Shakespeare and his contemporaries (don’t worry, you can do it!) If you haven’t already discovered this, Shakespeare is fantastic. So try not to see his work as scary or a chore. It is merely a little bit of the unknown, the new, the strange, even difficult. The more you read and study his verse, the more you get it and the more you get from it. Shakespeare deals with everything you have ever seen, been through, thought about, wanted, loved or hated. It’s about many of the things you are likely to encounter in the future. And then, he turns it all into fantastic poetry. Elegant collisions of words and ideas abound. He wizards-up rhythms, sounds, images, connections, doublings and ideas. He choreographs a cosmic waltz of words. And you get to try and dance it!
To some, especially at the very beginning, Shakespearean or classical verse may seem daunting and maybe even boring, because it is, at times, dense and removed (at first glance) from how we speak today – who we are and what we do.
Toolbox There are plenty of people more scholarly than I who have written at length and with some incisive distinction about speaking Shakespearean verse. I will not be taking them on. What I am going to do is simplify and condense things to give you the basics, so that you know what you are doing at this stage in the game. Let’s face it, they will be teaching you all this in detail when you get to drama school.
What follows is a simplified and basic toolbox. Much of this will also be applicable to your modern texts.
Identify the thoughts In the lines are clues and indications as to the length of the character’s thoughts. We can also ascertain the speed and, at times, the intensity of these from pointers that the writer has left within the lines, usually by the punctuation.
It is important to identify all the thoughts in the speech and to mark where they start and end, because then you know where and when to change your energy and attack. Each new thought demands new or different energy. This is the key. You shouldn’t stop the flow until you get to the end of the thought or idea that your character is propounding. Thoughts are marked for you by major punctuation. Here it comes again: don’t drop the vocal energy or intention until the end of the thought. Do not drop off, do not fade away. Do not pass go.
Check out the punctuation We have already had a look at punctuation in general: here are some more specific ‘points’… (sorry). Classical texts use punctuation in the same sort of way that emoticons are employed today, in order to add extra meaning or to make the ‘text’ more demonstrative. In addition to delineating thoughts and changes, they show mood :) pace and hidden meaning to the actor ;)
If, in classical texts, you encounter !?:; – use them. They are clues to help you along the way ;) so that you don’t end up :’( or even :-$
Major punctuation The full stop, the exclamation mark and often the question mark are the ‘markers’ for the end of a thought. But please could you use the question mark? And you must use the exclamation mark! Use them as questions and exclamations, because many students don’t.
Other punctuation Commas, are not a stop, they are just a separation, or they alter the sentence/thought. You should still observe these but don’t mess with the flow.
Semicolons; are not a stop, they are just an add-on to the thought and are often there to say ‘and’ or ‘but’. They can be seen as extending the thought or making it more complex.
And I, forsooth, in love! I, that have been love’s whip; [and]
A very beadle to a humorous sigh; [and]
A critic, nay, a night-watch…
Colons: are not a stop. But they can, at times, be seen as representing ‘because’ or ‘therefore’ or ‘it follows that’. They are there to assist a complex thought.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players: [Because]
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time…
Make the Argument Getting a feel for the thoughts will help you to see how ‘the Argument’ is developing. That is to say, what the character wants and the tactics they employ to achieve this, by building their case and putting their points across. The Argument is way more interesting than the actor acting. The audience needs to be embraced by the Argument of your character, as it grows or unfolds. By which I mean they could be doing any or all of the following:
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Forming an idea. |
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Defending a statement. |
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Backing up an argument. |
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Consolidating it. |
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Concluding it. |
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Deciding something. |
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Realising what he/she is saying, as they speak. |
New ideas and additions may pop into the Argument at any time, as the character’s thought process brings new aspects and fresh impetus into play.
Sentences ending in the middle of a line If you get major punctuation in the middle of, or part-way through, a line, it is the end of the thought, but it is not quite a stop. There is a new thought or idea coming in – and fast. So you need a renewal of energy or attack. Therefore, propel yourself into the next thought, don’t hang around. If there are many mid-line endings, then this is a hint from the writer that someone is talking and thinking fast – possibly even speaking for their life. For example, Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, with the speech starting ‘Sir, spare your threats…’ Look at all the major punctuation coming in the middle of the lines. She’s talking fast, with many complicated sentences, in much the same way as a lawyer or politician would, in order to maximise this opportunity to speak. She is, in effect, on trial and really has to get everything out before she can be interrupted. Here we see complex sentences and the telltale endings in the middle of the lines, signifying that thoughts are coming in rapidly. She is pushing through her Argument.
Sir, spare your threats…
…lastly, hurried
Here to this place, i’ the open air, before
I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege,
Tell me what blessings I have here alive,
That I should fear to die? Therefore proceed.
But yet hear this: mistake me not; no life,
I prize it not a straw, but for mine honour
Which I would free…
Observing the ‘O’
O yet, for God’s sake, go not to these wars!
O time! thou must untangle this, not I;
The ‘O’ is big, emotional and cannot be ignored. It is not a tiny sound or word, in any sense.
Everyone (well, nearly) tries to get away with a minimum-risk, lowkey ‘oh’ or they ignore it completely. Even now we still use this sound in many exclamatory ways:
O(h) for heaven’s sake!
O(h) bloody hell!
O(h) noooo!
O – M – G!
See? We use them all the time. Don’t back away, just cos they’re in classical texts:-O
Alliteration – Assonance – Consonance Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonants for sonic effect.
…muddy mettl’d…
Consonance is the repetition of final consonant sounds.
…A dull and muddy mettl’d…
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in groups of words.
… whilst I a while obsequiously lament…
When there are little runs of the same vowel sounds or consonant sounds, this is not a coincidence. It’s a direct signal from the writer, and you should do something about them. They serve to evoke mood and atmosphere in poetry. They can sometimes be clues as to the character’s state of mind. They also tell you how they are speaking. Attack them! (The sounds that is, not the characters…)
Was ever woman in this humour woo’d?
Was ever woman in this humour won?
Always / separate! If there’s a word in the sentence that starts with the same letter that the previous word ended with –
…of this / straw
…all proofs / sleeping else…
…not / to these wars!
…a humorous / sigh…
– then you must take care to pronounce them marvelously and separate them. Note how doing this alters the attack on the words, the tone, the feeling. Also, the use of proper diction aids clarity and sense. If you run on and don’t separate, the words sounddrab and confusing, as in:
…of this traw…
– what’s a ‘traw’? Or:
…all proofs leaping else…
Verbs – Nouns Don’t get all sexed-up about adverbs and adjectives. It’s the verbs. It’s the nouns. They are the ones you really want, but don’t drop anything else on the way. Verbs energise. Nouns make things concrete.
Be normal – be believable Don’t do a ‘classical’ voice. Treat things as normally as you can. Don’t go into overdrive or hyper-voiced falseness. Keep it real. Keep it true.
Be believable in the way that you are speaking. Speak well, and in your own voice. Take advantage of kindly mates or do ‘The Wall’ and ‘The Mirror’ exercises to make sure you are believable and not being a bit ‘Shakespeare-odd’ in your delivery. Though it’s also fun to have sessions when you deliberately go over the top, in order to really get hold of the words. (There’s more in ‘Exercises Explained’.)
Push through
Get to the end of the sentence.
Get to the end of the line.
Get to the end of the thought.
And again: get to the end of the line and embrace the last word. Even if you have hit the word before it, you must attack the last with the same or more energy than the one before. Don’t rush the words though. I’m really simplifying all this, but at this stage you don’t need to worry yourself too much with the intricate details of speaking verse.
The snippet below is repeated lots in this book. But I don’t care.
Speak the words! Say the words clearly with great diction, with care and loving attention to every crevice of each and every word. Don’t chant them. Carry them; don’t drop them – any of them.
Stay strong in energy and intention within the words and pursue this through to the last word of the sentence and then on to the last word of the line and then on to the very last word of the thought. And this is another reason why you need to identify the thoughts.
… and get on with it In general, get on with it. Don’t rush things, but don’t hang around. Keep the ball in the air. Keep that thought going. Don’t be ‘stoppy’ at the end of every line. This is a common problem, sometimes for people who should know better.
Understand all the words – Part 2 Never utter words that you don’t know. You really cannot blag it with Shakespeare. You have to mean something with every word and you must be coming from somewhere. In other ‘words’, have an idea as to what you are trying to do or convey, and why. Connect to everything you say. Make every thing and every word important. Precision. Detail. Attendance. To help you here, there are numerous glossaries and text commentaries available in hard copy or ebook and, increasingly, there are some very handy and comprehensive smartphone apps out there. You can also get books that translate or paraphrase the text into modern-speak opposite the classical text.
Shakespeare has some fantastic words or phrases. Like ‘deboshed’ – debauched or drunken – or ‘ch’ill’ – which is a vulgarism for ‘I will’. Just type ‘Shakespearean glossary’ into your search engine and plenty of sites will pop up. While we are at it – anybody know what a ‘vantbrace’ is? Or what it’s like to be ‘mobled’? I must ‘sneck up’ now.
Paraphrase for clarity and greater connection Paraphrase the text into everyday speech and language use. This is a tremendously useful tool with which to dig your way into the text. Speaking the lines casually translated into modern-speak will bring home content and meaning too, by separating it from the power of the poetry. Paraphrasing takes a bit of effort, but it’s worth it.
Be clear Be clear about what you are saying and about the intentions of your character. What they want. Why they speak.
Make images Have them for every word. In fact, make images and associations for all the people, places and objects you talk about. You can’t really avoid this, as the writer has loaded every word with poetic image and meaning anyway.
Rhyme the rhyme If there are rhyming couplets, they cannot be ignored. They are there to hammer home what you have been talking about, in such a way as to stand out from the rest of the speech. They are there to tweak the ear of the audience, to jog them slightly.
O time! thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me t’untie!
How big are the words? By which I mean: is the character talking about big things like suns, stars, heavens, globes, clouds, sky? Go with it. Go for it – especially when you are practising.
Other clues and hints Look for repeated words, themes and imagery. These are no accident:
To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Also, look for opposites – antithesis:
That, he had twenty heads to tender down
On twenty blocks, he’ll yield them up,
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die:
Are there comparisons at play?
He was the mark and glass, copy and book,
That fashion’d others. And him, O wondrous him!
O miracle of men! him did you leave,
Second to none, unseconded by you,
The same applies to smut and innuendo; it really is there on purpose. You are not imagining it. Make the connections:
My cherry lips have often kissed thy stones…
Or:
MARIA. A mark marvellous well shot; for they both did hit it.
BOYET.…Let the mark have a prick in’t, to mete at, if it may be.
Oooooh – some assonance in there too :)
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Identify the thoughts by reading the punctuation. |
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Make the argument. |
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Kick on when you get to a mid-line ending. |
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AlwayS / Separate. |
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Speak normally – don’t ‘sing’ the words. |
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Get to the end of the line, don’t fade in energy or attention. |
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Get on with it – but don’t rush. Stay in each word. |
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Understand what you are saying. Look it up. Find out. |
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Paraphrase for clarity and connections. |
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Be clear. |
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Make images for the words. |
If you enjoy a good sing-song and you are a decent singer, fantastic. But many candidates who feel that they are not strong singers tend to whip themselves into a bit of a fear-frenzy over the fact that they are required to choose and tunefully convey a song. Drama schools want to hear your singing voice at an acting audition for several reasons. Your singing voice will give them a better idea of your vocal strength, range and general skills. The song is also a way of giving you an opportunity to show yet another side to what you can do in another format.
Most people are vocally trainable and that, after all, is what you are seeking at drama school – more training. So here’s the good news: don’t fret too hard about your singing but, if you are concerned, you can do something about it.
The main thing is that the panel will just want to hear that your voice is okay and that you can hold a tune. So don’t get into a tizz if you’re not a top-notch tenor or you don’t have a repertoire of songs to draw on.
There are numerous stories of people having been successful just by singing ‘Happy Birthday’, and they may be true. But I wouldn’t ever recommend that you do this, because it will show a lack of thought and preparation. Anyway, these paragraphs will give you a positive and confident plan of action.
Choosing it When selecting your song, apply the same criteria that you did when selecting texts for acting:
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Does it suit your age, playing and singing range? |
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Does it ‘speak’ to you? Is there room for change and is there a journey for the character? |
Pick lyrics and tunes that will be fun or interesting to hear and that carry a good story or journey for the character. Don’t get seduced by tragic or overly emotive tunes.
Pop songs don’t really give you the opportunity to connect and journey. Soul songs and blues numbers are good, but often quite tricky to sing. Watch out for overly repeated lines – they can be hard to keep fresh and, without a backing band, you may get boring.
Contrast it Don’t forget about contrast. If you can, choose a song to contrast with your speeches in terms of mood, tone and character, then you are already providing them with more and fresh evidence of your range and abilities. You are also proving that you have done the work and thought about things.
Working with the text Work on the text of the song in the ways I have already suggested with regard to your monologues. Get your head around the fact that, just because this is a song, it doesn’t mean you can skip the study. You should know where it is from, who wrote it and the background to the words, their meaning and why it may have been written. Approach all this in exactly the same way as I have set down for acting work.
Giving your delivery an edge So, bearing in mind that you don’t necessarily need to be a brilliant singer, here are some things for you to do, so that you maximise your effectiveness and mollify any trepidation about this part of your audition or recall.
But:
If you really, truly are a singing disaster zone Go for something big and brash like ‘Big Spender’, ‘New York, New York’ or ‘Consider Yourself’. In this instance, selecting loud and proud options will show that you have courage and are not afraid of showing off what might be perceived as being your weaker area.
The panel will be interested to see if you can sell any piece of text, so: if to sing is not your thing – pick loud and proud.
One student (who was not the most gifted of singers) chose a comedy number by the actor and comedian Bernard Cribbins. He just went for it in terms of delivery and attitude. The panel loved it. This courageous and different line of thought really served him well. He stood out for the right reasons.
If you really can’t sing, or at least have convinced yourself that you can’t, then you have to address this by singing more! They will be working on your voice extensively if you get into drama school. So get ahead, start now. Join a choir! Go to church, even. Have some singing lessons?
If you deal with it, the spectre of having to sing will not be hanging over you and interfering with your acting work. The best way to diminish worry is to deal with the cause of it.
I have included a song list in the Appendix.
Here are some more detailed descriptions of the exercises I have been mentioning, plus extra ones. At any point in your journey, using exercises will help you to:
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Mine the text. |
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Experiment with possibilities. |
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Get physical. |
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Explore the words. |
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Check for and crush tics and technical bad habits. |
Exercises will set you free to run the speeches, shielded from the stress of having to be good, without the pressure of having to remember everything. Using exercises takes you out of the ‘rush’ of performing the speech and creates a rest area, away from the hurly-burly of trying to perfect a full-on performance. In rehearsal it’s so easy to cook up a storm of stress by having to cope with:
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Trying to remember this. |
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Not forgetting that. |
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Getting through the line. |
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Slowing down, speeding up. |
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Speaking well. |
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Not dropping lines or words. |
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Remembering to stand well. |
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Having images for the words |
…and all the million other things that you have to ingrain on your psyche. This can feel like way too much pressure. So exploit the liberating qualities of exercises, manoeuvres and distractions to chill sometimes. Maybe tackle one thing at a time, without the onrushing train that your audition piece can become. Do your thing from time to time in the calm of the waiting room, before getting back on the train.
This is a more detailed explanation of ‘The Wall’ exercise. Using ‘The Wall’ will get you to centre on the words and meaning by stopping you from thinking about your body, as opposed to many of the exercises so far, which have been all about experiencing text via the body. ‘The Wall’ can diagnose and treat many ailments.
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Stand, relaxed, with your shoulders and the back of your head resting on a flat, vertical surface. Make sure that your shoulders are at rest there too. Keep them there throughout, but make sure that you are not uncomfortable. Keep that chin down. |
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Your heels ought to be about four or five inches out from the wall. Now when you run your speech, there is nothing else to worry about. It’s just you and the words and your voice. The rest of you is rendered physically and mentally still, by the wall. |
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Now you can turn your attention to identifying and mending the vocal and delivery issues that I have been talking about so far. |
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You are also able to focus on your body to calm twitches, face-pulling and other unnecessary ‘leaks’ and movement. You’ll soon pick up how great the tendency is to move or fidget while you are speaking. |
On the wall, it is possible to detect the urge to tic at the very emergence point of these tics even if they are tiny. Chop them all out while at the wall. You don’t have to worry about anything else. That’s the simple beauty of it. Do it often and decide what you need to look for each time. ‘The Wall’ gives you time and space away from the hurly-burly of performing, to evaluate and connect. |
This is not for everyone and you must take care to use it prudently. Delivering the speech to yourself in the mirror is an old one. However, if you use this judiciously it can pay off, as long as you don’t start to hate yourself or disappear in a fruitless, narcissistic, or paranoid puff.
Combined with ‘The Wall’, ‘The Mirror’ should reveal all the bad habits and delivery faults that I have set down so far. You have to scale down the size of the performance, but keep the intention and the intensity.
Use your reflection as a vigilant but friendly monitor, not a harsh critic. Have your monitor make you go back and address the things that are fake.
This should be a calm time, with just you and the spirit of your work. Banish anxiety. Eject the Judge. Kill the Demon.
Other things to fix using ‘The Wall’ or ‘The Mirror’
NB. Your face is perfect for the job. Your voice is perfect, so don’t screw them!
Engage the services of relative, friend or fellow performer to help you find-and-fix the issues mentioned above, and explore these points below:
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Scale and distance Communicate the text to them at various distances, incrementally adjusted. Start in someone’s ear, then increase the gap. Go to one or two metres, then ten, then maybe thirty. |
If you are prone to under-doing things, have them stand further away. This will help you to project your voice and intentions. If you tend to overdo things, invite them up close. Always ask if they believed you. Just mix it up and experiment with what different distances can do. Explore intimacy vs. remoteness, small performance vs. big. |
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Attention Ask your helper to move around the space while avoiding you. Meanwhile, you attempt to get up in their face, to really tell them what you have to say. |
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Obstruction Fix a point to move towards in the space, then have them hold you back bodily or somehow deflect you from your destination. Don’t be diverted from the speech or the character’s wants and intentions. |
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Propulsion This can be physical propulsion, or you can do it by gestures and signals. Or your helper might use vocal encouragement: ‘Come on, come on! Faster, slow down, what? What? Get on!’ And other such helpful comments… |
Your job is to respond to their suggestions, while maintaining all the connections. Your partner can gently shove you around in the space while you resist or allow the shove. How do you feel? They don’t have to just shove; they can lead or guide you. |
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How does this affect the words? |
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Blindfold guide Wear a blindfold while they lead you through the space. This aspect can seriously change or affect both mood and reactions to words and ideas. It can be extremely liberating. You have no other responsibility. There’s just you, the dark, the words and the travelling. |
Getting physical just before or during a speech can really make a significant impact on the outcome. Try:
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A few press-ups. |
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A short run, if only up and down the stairs. |
Or:
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Do couple of star-jumps. |
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Push against someone or something. |
All of these will have an effect on the energy and rhythm of what you are doing.
Often, diversionary tasks will take you to places that your ego, or the Demon, may have prevented you from visiting. Try your stuff while doing other things like:
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Washing up. |
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Pumping up, in the gym. |
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Riding on the bus (dare you!?). |
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Brushing your teeth. |
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Bouncing a ball. |
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Walking fast, or walking backwards or sideways. |
I have used ‘dancing’ many times in workshops to help students relate to the words and content of text in an abstract way, so that they can then express moods, rhythms and emotional reactions in a heightened, physical context. (Don’t worry, you don’t need to be any good at it.) The idea here is to find the punctuation and rhythms written into the text and then to experiment with them.
At first, you should stick to what appears to be the writer’s rhythm. As the exercise develops, expand and free up your movement while discovering what feelings and emotions come to you from the words. Eventually, and ideally, a wild, interpretative dance should emerge – a fun dance that liberates the words and feelings for you. Just try the next ‘step’ and see how it goes.
a. Start with a step, slide, shuffle
So: commence gently and simply. An interesting way to probe the punctuation further and physicalise the text is to ‘shuffle’ the rhythm of modern pieces, or the meter/iambics of classical pieces, with a little foot shuffle for each syllable or beat:
So / youwould, / ifyouwished, / needtotakeafootshuffle /.
Step / stepstep, / stepstepstep, / stepstepstepstepstepstep /.
Or by sliding the soles of your feet, so that each move is a slide or shuffle:
foreverysyllable, / andeveryburstofactivity /. Okay?
slideslideslideslideslideslide, / slideslideslideslideslideslideslideslide /. Slideslide?
b. Salsa
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Bigger moves As you get looser and more natural, you can ease your foot movements and begin to translate these up through your legs and body. |
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Experiment Slowly experiment with the rhythms you find. Your slides now become bigger moves, as you develop a whole-body dance in a salsa or rumba stylee, or whatever works for you! |
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Grow it The rhythms and the way you deal with the words should grow accordingly. You should not seek to impose your rhythms; let them grow organically from those that you originally discovered. |
Feel it Begin now to feel reactions to and within what you are doing. Expand and explore moves and feelings. |
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Lose the words ‘Dance’ the speech out, but speak the words only in your head. Listen to the sounds and rhythms of your feet on the floor. |
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Let rip Let rip! |
c. Contemporary
Now that you have a funky thing happening with your body, words and movement, you can go for the contemporary dance of your speech.
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Imagine Express and exploit all the gestures, postures, jumps, rolls, twists and turns that come to you. Unlock the whole thing in wild, physical expression of the text. The music for your dance, and the tempos, are now all in the words and in your imagination. Let these things work on you. Really melt bodily into the highs and lows, the ebbs the flows of feelings, energies, sounds and rhythms. Push them. Extrapolate. |
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Audibly lose the words Do your dance speaking the words in your head or maybe while just muttering the words. But be sure to let the words affect you. |
This may all sound a bit arty and nuts. That’s cos it is. But it really works for lots of people.
Some find it easier to fire up this stage if they start lying down, then build in bodily reactions until they are on their feet. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Just don’t be scared: this is one thing you really can be absolutely terrible at, you can just do it for the hell of it, without having to come up with the perfect goods or a decent dance.
This offers you the luxury of time to encounter each phrase one word at a time and get to know the feel of the words in your mouth while you forge a mental image to accompany each one. It will also train you to maintain the ongoing flow of each line. Build the whole line, one word at a time. Then go on to the next line, then the next and so on. This could take a while to get through.
To
To be,
To be, or
To be, or not
To be, or not to
To be, or not to be
To be, or not to be: that
To be, or not to be: that is
To be, or not to be: that is the
To be, or not to be: that is the question
Then say the whole line:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Don’t be choppy or staccato when you say each completed line. Be natural.
Keep an equal or increasing momentum and weight, always heading for that last word while never letting the momentum and energy fall. Come back to this regime if and when you sense that you are losing the flow, momentum or feel of the words in the lines.
This exercise should then extend to cover the length of entire thoughts. Some people use an arm movement to describe the ‘arc’ of a thought.
While you are at it Look at and say all the last words of the lines, in this case:
Question
Suffer
Fortune
Troubles
Sleep
End
Shocks
Consummation
Sleep
And so on…
Get hold of them. Chew them. Mull them. Know them. These are where the line is headed, and where you and the line will arrive. They will also unlock the speech for you, unfolding the mood, content and even the intention of the speech and the character. These words are where, vocally, you need to head for.