CHAPTER 18

Session Eight

In this session • Review of skills • First application of skills to monologues • Technique for giving notes • Exposing weaknesses • Problems from realistic actor training • Next assignment

Coach: Today we’re about halfway through the workshop. We have a few skills left, then we need to work the monologues. Here’s what we have so far—using the OED, scansion, trochees, other irregular feet, feminine endings, caesuras, elisions, end-of-line support, phrasing, breathing at the punctuation points, ignoring subtext. Let’s set an order for the presentations. (We do.) Let’s go through our monologues. Have someone hold your monologue to prompt you if necessary, but also know that if you need prompting, you may as well sit down. It’s almost impossible to work on these skills if you’re struggling over lines.

Everyone take out your copy of all the other monologues. (They do.) You’ll be writing on these monologues, but use a pencil. You’ll be using these copies many times. When another actor is presenting, those of you in the audience will listen for different skills and mark them on your copy of the monologue. To simplify this process, two people will listen for one skill. Everyone, take a number from one through nine. (Nine actors are present in the workshop today.) Number one will present her monologue first. While she is reciting, numbers two and three will listen for the scansion—stresses, trochees, feminine ending, elisions, etc. Numbers four and five will pay attention to end-of-line support; six and seven do the same with phrasing, while eight and nine will listen for the breathing. Note on the paper the places where you believe the actor did not fully commit to using the skill. Then we’ll each give our notes. After we’ve given our notes to number one, number two goes up and number one takes her assignment. We rotate like that until everyone has presented and received his or her notes. Any questions? (There are none.)

Then let’s begin with the first monologue. Stand over in the playing area. One of you is prompting as well as listening.

Kristin: I got it.

Coach: Good. Remember, this is not performance. This is an exercise for the actor to apply the skills that help us understand what the language is doing. No acting, please. Just gentle reading of the speech. Go slowly. We don’t need any emotion yet.

Bridgett, doing Julia, stumbles all over her lines and I ask her to sit down after four lines. Kristin is next with Isabella and Bridgett takes Kristin’s assignment, which is scansion. Kristin stumbles over her lines, so we stop.

Kristin: I really know this. I do it at home all the time.

Coach: I believe you, but are you working on it standing up and speaking aloud?

Kristin: No. Well, sometimes. But I’m also nervous.

Coach: For all of you, you don’t know your words if you can’t say them out loud. Does everyone understand what I mean? (They do.) Now, this is only an exercise. It’s only a helper. I understand the nervousness, but if you can control it more, you’ll gain more. Let’s try again.

Kristin gets through the speech this time and we give notes. Each actor reviews skills with her, pointing out what she did and didn’t do. She writes down the notes. The actors’ notes are quite good. They are listening for the skills and they hear when the presenter misses something. We talk about their notes and explain why some scansion works, why the breathing works at certain points but not at others, what lines are supported, etc. Alicia goes up. She begins and I stop her. She isn’t breathing and is already in performance mode.

Coach: Remember, this is only an exercise to see if you can use each of the skills. It’s not about character or performance. All of that comes later. (She begins again, but now is stumbling over her lines. She runs from the room. I call for the next actor.) Folks, this is not supposed to be torture. It’s simply an exercise. But do you know what’s happening?

Emily: She was nervous.

Alex: She wasn’t ready and just wanted to zip through it. Then you stopped her and it was all over.

Coach: I think “not ready” is probably the problem. When you trip over a word in blank verse, all of the rhythm is thrown off. Your mind realizes this and confusion is created. Sometimes you can get out of it, sometimes you just bog down. What’s the answer to that?

Alex: To have the material down solid. You have to really know it.

Coach: Yes. You can’t shoot from the hip. This language will expose you every time. And like we’ve said before, even if you learn it but don’t take time to analyze and apply the skills, it will expose that you don’t know what you’re doing. So either it will expose you for being unprepared or it will expose you for being poor at acting Shakespeare. But you already know the solution to both of those problems.

Amber: Know the material solidly and apply the skills before you show it.

Alex: And before you create a character.

Coach: Easy, huh? (Lots of laughs and groans.) Well, you’re going to gain tremendous confidence doing these skills. You will handle this language like it’s your own, which is a goal; you will forget about us—we don’t count; and you will just do the material . . . and you will get very few notes. Then you’ll be ready to move to character. Number four, are you ready?

Ryan gets through his Aaron monologue with two prompts. He stops to repeat many lines when he realizes he has missed something in the line, which is good. We go around and everyone gives notes.

Coach: Number five, are you ready?

Emily: Something I noticed. Everybody wants to do character immediately. Like, “Let’s act.” Like in realism.

Bride: Which is natural for anyone trained in realism.

Alicia has returned, but nobody acts as if anything unusual has happened. We accept that sometimes one has to run from the room. But later Alicia apologizes to the group for not being prepared, an apology that is well received. We don’t dwell on it. She knows what to do before her next turn.

Amber: Some directors insist on many days or weeks of table work with the language, even with realism, before allowing you to get on your feet and start developing a character. But I suspect that around the table people are thinking “character.”

Alicia: That’s really hard not to do. The first time I read a script, I’m planning the character. It can change when I see what the other characters are doing, but I’m still planning it from the beginning.

Coach: It won’t work with Shakespeare, or any classical language. So in here, where we’re doing only Shakespeare, at some point you have to abandon your other tendencies and just work the language. The more you do this, obviously the more you’ll find it easier. Actors who are really good at this can get 70 percent of the language on the first reading. They can move on to character and character relationships, the real purpose of rehearsal, quite soon. Once you’re good at this, the language won’t be in your way.

Alicia: I just wasn’t ready. I’m sorry. But I’d like to try again so I can get the notes.

Bridgett: I’d like to try again, too.

Coach: Let’s see how much time we have at the end of the session. Maybe we can do that. Number five, let’s do yours.

Emily does her Viola monologue. She is more relaxed and concentrates on using the skills, going very slowly, and taking lots of time to breathe, which keeps her voice down. Everyone gives notes, many very useful. Some start picking up antithesis, which we haven’t worked on yet. They are hearing it.

Coach: One of the nice things she did was have the confidence to breathe, and you could hear the benefits from that. Number six, are you ready? Are you relaxed, are you breathing?

Alex: I’m ready.

Alex does his Prince Hal monologue. He takes his time and breathes deeply, and everyone in the room is breathing with him! We acknowledge this and realize that it happens when you’re working exercises like this. It is the impulse to help the actor along. The actors then give their notes. They also point out that he has applied an “attitude” to some of the material, something we don’t want. Alex realizes he has done this and vows to remove it.

Bridgett: Some of us need to take a break. Hint, hint. (We take a break before moving on to the last couple of monologues.)

Coach:(After the break.) Number seven. Nice and slow, with lots of breathing.

Amber does her Kate monologue. She is well prepared and takes her time. Everyone gives his or her notes. The notes are becoming quite accurate and I am speaking less.

Coach: Number eight, go ahead. Notice that on days when we do the monologues, it takes the entire session. That leaves us only one session a week to learn new skills. So each time we learn a skill, you must get it applied to your monologue by the next session. Be sure to read chapters 7 and 8, and we’ll get to antithesis next time.

Jerrod does his Othello monologue. Everyone gives his or her notes. We find an anapest in this speech and point out the foot that has three syllables in it. In these lines we also find an example of using “and” to point out two problems, rather than one. It’s been my experience that actors often ignore the “and,” even when it refers to two conditions.

Coach: Notice the “and” in the line, “All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head.” Quite often actors slur over these “ands,” but notice what it means. It means two things could have been imposed on him by heaven, not one, and he could have dealt with it. Watch for “ands” in your monologues and sonnets. Number nine, let’s do it.

Bride does her Lady Macbeth monologue. Everyone gives his or her notes. She has one section of four-and-a-half lines without a breath, and runs out of air. But she vows she’ll get a proper breath and won’t run out of air next time. We work on how to put another breathing spot into that section, should it be needed. She also has a short line and will need to fill the extra feet with an action. She will check the Shakespearean pronunciation guide for one name. We also find an anapest in this speech.

Coach: Notice the “and” that Bride has—“Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem / To have thee crowned withal.” She’s saying that two factors have confirmed that Macbeth will be king, not just one. That’s huge for Lady Macbeth. There’s no time for Maggie’s monologue or to repeat Bridgett and Alicia, but we’ll start with them next session.

Alex: And we’ll continue to tear each other up. (Negative reaction.)

Coach: Does anyone really think that? (Nobody does.)

Alex: I was joking. This is really helpful.

Coach: Does everyone agree that this is helpful? (All agree enthusiastically.) I believe you’ll all be better after this. And the notes were well taken and extremely helpful.

Amber: I know. I’ll be much better when I apply these notes.

Coach: We’ll see the next time we do the monologues! Don’t forget to read chapters 7 and 8. See you next time.