CHAPTER 34

Session Four

In this session: Applying the skills • Running the rehearsal speeches • Listening and giving notes • Preparing for transition

On the white board, Dude has again written the skills we are applying to our speeches. She listed them vertically.

End-of-line support

Caesuras

Scansion and stresses

Phrasing

Breathing

Trochees

Elision and feminine endings

Antithesis

Imagery (not yet)

While waiting for the others, Zach and I work on his Henry V speech. We find antithesis and search for elisions. He’s getting the hang of it. The others have arrived, except Dawn, who will be absent. Nobody knows why.

Coach: Today, we stop learning new skills and concentrate only on applying what we know to our speeches. Zach is up first. I will assign specific skills for everyone else to listen for: Mike has end-of-line support, Marilyn has phrasing, Michael has scansion, Dude has antithesis, Joan has caesuras. I’ll listen for the other skills.

Zach reads through the speech. Everyone follows on their copies or just listens. Then I ask the actors to tell Zach what they heard. Mike points out the places where Zach faded at the line ending but also points out caesuras Zach used that Mike really liked. Dude points out the antithesis of tears and blood, but there are no others in this speech. Marilyn wants more clarity in phrasing, adding a caesura for that clarification, and compliments Zach on his breathing. Michael points out a stressed syllable that was missed. Zach agrees and fixes it. Dude wants more stress on “two,” making it a larger accomplishment. Joan agrees with Mike on caesuras.

Zach feels good about the notes and has marked all of them on his speech. He reads it again, applying these notes, but still misses some skill applications. It’s never easy. Zach has two “s” sounds back to back—“priests sing still”—and one needs to take a moment on these words. Zach tries, and the line improves. Marilyn points out another way to handle “and” when Henry V refers to two chantries. Zach accepts her idea. Dude finds another “and”—“and on it have bestowed.” “And” is an important word; it needs to be played.

Zach feels even better about the speech. I decide to use the Henry V speech for the coming imagery exercise—if we have time to do this exercise—as it is full of wonderful images.

We talk more about Henry V’s Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the victory of which gave England control of the Western world. Zach understands how his speech fits into the historical happenings.

Michael does his speech. Everyone has a copy, I assign skills to each actor, and they listen for what Michael uses or misses. We pause, and I ask him to work the phrases more clearly. Then he continues. As Michael missed session three and half of session two, his breathing spots and phrasing skills are a little haphazard.

Michael finishes reading the speech, and we talk about what he is doing and not doing. We work phrases, then he reads again, and everyone hears the difference when he separates the phrases. We then deal with some pronouns he is stressing that don’t need to be stressed. We talk about the interpretation of the speech, which is not quite clear. Everyone pitches in to explain what they know about the speech and its place in the action of the play. Once clarified, Michael gets more sense out of it.

We now work on the verbs—“plies,” “pleads,” “pour”—we figure out what “pestilence” means. We find the antithesis. At director’s discretion, I insert the name of Cassio into one line to help the audience understand what the pleading is all about. Such an intrusion would usually change the rhythm, but I put caesuras before and after the name, so it just stands out by itself as a pause filler, and the rhythm works before and after the addition.

We have Michael do the speech again, adding the notes. It’s remarkably improved.

Zach: When he gets the phrases right, it helps us see it and understand.

I repeat the idea of putting a small caesura before and after each phrase, to make you, the actor, separate the thoughts. And later, when you’ve thrown out the caesuras, your muscle memory will still put a tiny break before and after each phrase, helping the audience to hear the words more clearly. Michael apologizes for missing the session on breathing and phrasing.

Michael doesn’t understand what Iago means by “repeals” and explains his guesses. We discuss and discover that Shakespeare’s use of “repeals” is not what the audience will hear, so Michael must figure out how to make “repeals” make sense to the modern audience, a common challenge with many of Shakespeare’s words. But we agree that if the actor knows what he or she is doing, the audience has a more comfortable belief that they know what is being said.

Dude: Iago is a sleazy guy, and you can play that a little more on “pour this pestilence.”

We never get a chance to hear the final version of Michael’s work, as he misses the final workshop due to family issues.

We’re running short of time. Each speech takes considerable patience and reworking, but Marilyn and Joan run their speeches more quickly, as they each need fewer notes. They make all adjustments requested by the other actors. We’ll hear their second reading next time. We do the same with Mike’s Romeo and Juliet speech, to which he has nicely applied the skills. The other actors make brief comments, and Mike makes notes. We’ll hear his speech next time as well.

Coach: Dude’s up. As my partner and wife—and a professional actress—she has already done these skills many times over the years. So today I’m letting her do the speech the way she wants to do it, not stressing the skills. It’s a demonstration. This is how all of you will do your speeches next week—the way you want to do them.

Dude explains that she changed one line, based on another edition. They all find the line and adjust it. She’s doing the character as a woman, a duchess, not a duke. She runs through the speech. All applaud enthusiastically.

Joan: She did it the way she felt it—but she used all the skills! It was beautiful.

Michael: That’s, like, perfect.

Mike: There was no rushing; we just listened.

Coach: I’m not sure what “perfect” is in Shakespeare, but I do know that sometimes when the actor is in pure harmony with the language, it is certainly near perfect. One example I noted earlier is when Kenneth Branagh reads the “band of brothers” speech in the Henry V video. I don’t believe it can be done better.

Dude: I want to explain the meaning of the toad reference in the speech. The animal protects against poison, although it itself is poisonous. There’s an implied antithesis there.

We discuss the way Dude gets excited and how this can cause some loss of breath, which she experienced at one point in the speech. I ask Mike, our former Marine, to explain the breathing techniques of firing a weapon—keeping the breath under control—which he does. There is a similarity to breath control in acting.

Coach: Nice work, Dude. She hates it when I praise her openly, so that’s all I’ll say. There’s much praise for the rest of you next time. Your work is coming along beautifully. Next time, you’ll do your speeches the way you want to do them, using the skills you want to use. You are now your own director.

Dude: We’re speaking too rapidly today and must learn to slow down if we want to be understood.

Coach: Yes, remember, when you have good words, don’t be afraid to take your time. Actors love good words—and these are very good words. Look at Zach’s speech—he’s pleading with God. Why would he ever have to hurry that? You can take three minutes to do that speech, and I’ll still listen. Think of a good, slow song—do you not listen?

Dude: Think of Nat King Cole. Who wouldn’t listen?

Coach: You’re all getting it now. If we had twenty sessions, we’d get to full performance mode with these speeches.

Mike is wearing a Royals jacket, so we end the session talking baseball and the World Series. He’s also performing in a melodrama that we’ve committed to seeing.

Coach: See you all next time. We have to hear Dawn’s speech, then everyone will do their final readings twice. As it’s the final workshop, we’ll go have a pizza or something together afterwards. Dude and I will set it up.

Joan: Someplace where they serve wine.

Coach: You bet. Hope everyone can join in. Our treat.

Everyone drifts away. We pack up the room. Session four has ended. Another good day.