CHAPTER 41
The Evening Session
If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will continue the story.
HENRY IV, PART 2, EPILOGUE
NOW THAT WE have scanned the lines, found the antithesis, and separated the phrases, our concentration will be on speaking those phrases so that the listener knows exactly what you are saying. A major clue is the realization that in a phrase or verse line, the final word is often the most important.
THIRD NEW SKILL: KICK THE BOX
“Kick the box” means to support the final syllable of the verse line. When you support the final syllable or word, you allow the thought expressed in the line to “continue.” The thought doesn’t just end, as it does if you ease off on the final word or run out of breath and lose the word.
If you want your Shakespeare to work, you need to develop the skill required to support the final word and thought in each line.
AN ASIDE
Once you have learned this skill, apply it to all text. You may be amazed to discover how frequently the final word or phrase is the most important part of a prose line. Modern writers are not writing blank verse or placing a stress on the tenth syllable of their line, but the idea of supporting the entire second part of the prose line, if not the last word, will almost always work for you. Examples from George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Miller, and Shakespeare are included in chapter 4.
Supporting the last word of the verse line is not easy. Physiologically, our diaphragm doesn’t want to work that way. The muscle is “lazy” and prefers relaxation to tension.
During voice training, actors learn to use the diaphragm to support speech. But even after training, many actors forget to “kick the box.” They forget for three reasons:
• The effort to read the line “naturally” and truthfully encourages us to fade out at the end.
• We don’t practice speaking blank verse on a daily basis.
• Breath support becomes lackadaisical, and rather than support the ends of lines, it is easier to allow them to fade away as they do in our daily speech.
Because our vocal muscles are uncomfortable with a change, any effort to support the ends of lines will seem strange at first and perhaps “overdone.” But supporting is correct. If you don’t support the end of the verse line, one can project that your Shakespeare will not be clear or truthful. The listener won’t quite know what you are saying.
You need great physical energy to speak Shakespeare’s verse, and kicking the box helps you to remember to use your body. Energy is a key to your success. Remember, Shakespeare’s plays were written to be performed:
• Outdoors
• In broad daylight
• For large audiences
• With much of the audience standing for the entire play
• With people sitting on stage
• Amid concession sales like a baseball game
• With birds flying around
• With the audience probably talking back to the actors
If you try speaking in that setting, you will discover immediately how much vocal energy is required.
THE KICK-BOX EXERCISE
In this example, Romeo is speaking to Friar Laurence:
Romeo: Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel. (III, iii)
Scan the line. Now speak the line in a “natural” way, allowing the final word “feel” to fade away. What is the line about?
Now circle the word “feel.” Then place a small cardboard box on the floor and stand by it. Speak the line, and when you get to “feel,” kick the box. Don’t kick on “not,” and don’t kick after “feel.” Kick right on the f of the word.
It may help if you take just a split-second pause (a caesura) before “feel,” as this allows you to position yourself (and the word) and to get your leg and balance ready to kick—then kick. Later, forget the pause, which is only for the exercise.
You will notice that the kick does two things—it gets your body physically involved in speaking the language, and it gets you to support the word “feel.” The intent here is not to overplay “feel.” You don’t want to shout it or call great attention to it. You simply support it, as opposed to letting it fade out. Your ear should tell you that the line means different things when you support or don’t support “feel.”
If you don’t support “feel,” Romeo seems to be telling the Friar not to “speak of things.” That information is in the first half of the line.
If you do support “feel,” Romeo may be reminding the Friar that he is celibate and has never felt the love of a woman, therefore how can he advise? That reading gives both actors much more to work with. Try it.
There are other interpretations of this line, but you should see immediately the difference between supporting and not supporting the final word. Not supporting makes the line a “general” comment—supporting makes it “specific.” Remember Stanislavski’s famous observation: “In general is the enemy of art.”
Let’s look at two other examples, as one of these may be similar to the material you are preparing. In the first line of Romeo and Juliet, the final word has more than one syllable.
Chorus: Two households, both alike in dignity, (I)
Kick on “ty,” not on “dig” or “ni”—because “ty” is the tenth syllable. Again, don’t smash it like the box, just support it. If you kick on “dig” (the second syllable of the fourth foot), you will notice that “nity” falls off. Try it.
Remember feminine endings? If the line scans to eleven syllables, you support number ten, not number eleven. With a feminine-ending line, let the last syllable be soft. On “To be, or not to be—that is the question,” kick on “ques,” and let “tion” be soft.
Here’s Portia to Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (a line with a feminine ending).
Kick on “heav” and let “en” be soft.
But here’s Shylock to the Duke in the same play:
Shylock: I have possessed your Grace of what I purpose, (IV, i)
This line has a feminine ending, and you kick on “pur.” However, as an actor choice, you might also support “pose” for the added threat implied. Try it both ways.
Trust your common sense. If you find that the last word in a specific line doesn’t merit stress, pull back. Don’t hit it so hard. Make it real. After you’ve worked the exercise, forget it—but remember to always kick the box.
Don’t take it to the audition with you, and don’t take it to a performance. This is a rehearsal exercise designed to help you support the thought all the way through a verse line. It’s not academic; the exercise leads to a skill that you will automatically apply to blank verse lines from now on. As with all acting, play the moment, don’t try to remember what you rehearsed.
Read these next four lines in a “natural” way, allowing the final words in each line to fade away so you can barely hear them.
Sonnet 35
No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
Now read the lines again, this time supporting the last words (kicking the box). Notice how the thoughts in the lines continue from line to line when you support the endings. You also allow our ears to enjoy the pleasure of the rhyme!
Take the next hour, and do this exercise with every line in your material. Practice supporting the final words, then the final phrases. Trust your ear. As with some of the other exercises, this one is most enjoyable if you assemble a small group and take turns reading the lines. Hearing others read your material can be very rewarding.
You’ve just become a great deal better at reading Shakespeare!
I do believe that these applauses are
For some new honors . . .
JULIUS CAESAR, I, ii
Now, can you scan it, phrase it, support it, and still breathe? Sure!
REVISITING A FAMILIAR SKILL: BREATHE!
It’s absurd for an actor to run out of breath, and doing so can destroy a fine characterization. Even worse, it also destroys the author’s line. Tyrone Guthrie liked to say that any well-trained actor could speak seven lines of blank verse on one breath, in a large theatre, with clear diction, and without rushing (On Acting, 14). It may take you some time to master that skill, and you won’t need it for your audition, but you do need to breathe correctly, even if you can’t speak seven lines on one breath.
When do you breathe? It’s easy to decide with Shakespeare, but it’s harder to discipline yourself to do it. Breathe at the natural stops, which are identified by punctuation marks.
Look at these lines, in which the Friar advises Juliet how to use the sleeping potion. (See page 39 for another example from Macbeth.)
Friar: To-morrow night look that thou lie alone; (1)
Let not the nurse lie with thee in thy chamber. (2)
Take thou this vial, being then in bed, (3)
And this distilling liquor drink thou off; (4)
When presently through all thy veins shall run (5)
A cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse (6)
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease; (7)
No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest; (8)
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade (9)
To wanny ashes, thy eyes’ windows fall (10)
Like death when he shuts up the day of life. (Rom, IV, i) (11)
As clearly as we can tell, this speech has typical Shakespearean punctuation. We must remember that our versions of the plays were taken from actors’ scripts, and the punctuation has been “studied and worked” for four hundred years by scholars. Different editions of the plays change the punctuation slightly.
The breathing points are the punctuation marks. Circle them, then read the speech and breathe at each mark. You will find that it is quite easy to speak from one breathing point to the next. The longest stretch is one and one-half lines.
Don’t breathe after “run” in line 5 or “pulse” in line 6. But try it once to discover the problem. You will see immediately that the choice is wrong. Your common sense and good ear will tell you.
Don’t breathe at the end of a verse line simply because it is the end of the line on paper. Unless there is punctuation, it isn’t the end of the phrase or thought. Many verse lines are enjambed, which means the thought in one line continues to another line without separation by punctuation. In the Friar’s speech, lines 5, 6, 9, and 10 are enjambed. Breathe at the end of a verse line only if there is punctuation, as in lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 11.
Read these four lines, which have numerous punctuation points, and breathe at each natural stop (all of the punctuation points). Ariel, a spirit, greets his master, Prospero, who has sent for him in The Tempest:
Ariel: All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come (1)
To answer thy best pleasure; be’t to fly, (2)
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride (3)
On the curled clouds. To thy strong bidding task (4)
Ariel and all his quality. (I, ii) (5)
Did you cheat? Read it a second time, and make yourself breathe at all punctuation points. You will find that you don’t need that many breaths. You may be able to read the first line breathing only after “master” and the second “hail,” cutting two breaths. But don’t cut them unless you don’t need them. You probably would have used the breaths in the three-thousand seat original Globe Theatre, but won’t use them in the audition space, small theatres, or film.
If you breathe after “fly,” “swim,” and “fire,” it may help you create images with each phrase, which would be appropriate for the character.
Trust your judgment. Your goal is to have a reserve of breath power available at all times and to be able to kick the box on the final word of a sentence. If you haven’t enough breath left to support the final word, you are not breathing correctly. Inserting more breaths into the lines is not the best solution (although it is one), because these added breaths break up the verse line in an unnatural way, and this will likely leave you gasping and unclear.
Portia: The quality of mercy is [breathe] not strained; (MV, IV, i)
If you read the line that way, you are the one who is strained!
On the other hand, the phrasing in most blank verse lines can be separated at least once by inserting a caesura. The caesura, however, is not usually a breathing place.
The quality of mercy // [caesura sense break] is not strained;
If you need to insert a breath, do it where the phrasing allows and where it will add emphasis to what you just said or are about to say. But in the above line, you obviously don’t need a breath. “Strained” might be emphasized by preceding it with a caesura, but not a breath.
However, try reading the line by pausing to breathe (or emote, or “act”) after “quality,” “mercy,” and “not.” If this sounds right to you, postpone your audition for a day. Go back to the top of this “One-Day Brush Up” and start over. You’ve missed the point!
Your goal is to breathe correctly—to fill your lungs at each breathing point—and to avoid little gasping breaths that fill only one-third of your lung capacity. Take the time to breathe deeply, then speak the line on the exhale. The words ride on the air; just send them out.
Yet words do well
When he that speaks them pleases those that hear.
AS YOU LIKE IT, III, v
Actors accustomed to realistic text often want to “enhance” that text with sounds, gasps, crying, whispering, pauses for effect, sighs, and “ahs.” With heightened text, such “enhancements” tend to destroy the rhythm of the language. When the rhythm is lost, usually the antithetical ideas are lost. When the antithetical ideas are lost, the audience listens only passively, because they are not quite certain what you are saying.
For an excellent example of reading heightened text with great heart and commitment, correct breathing, and without breaking the rhythm with unnecessary pauses or character “enhancements,” watch Kenneth Branagh speak the Saint Crispin’s speech in Act IV of his film, Henry V. It’s perfection. Other similar examples are listed in part six.
You can rant and rave with a powerful voice and great energy, but the audience will listen only passively if they don’t know exactly what you are saying.
Embellishing the language with emotion for the reason that “my character would do this” will usually not work for you in Shakespeare. Your performance becomes indulgent, because you’ve lost what is being said in favor of how it is being said.
Generally this direction works: If you need to cry, cry after the line, not on the line. Reason? We must hear the words first, then we can experience your sorrow without the irritation caused by a muffled line. If you must whisper, do it so that everyone, including the back row, can hear and understand clearly. Again, you risk the irritation caused by the muffled line.
There is more on this subject in part one of this book, but for your audition, forget “pregnant pauses” for emotional effect. Keep the language moving, keep the rhythm, and pause to breathe at the correct points. The emotion, you will discover, is already written into the text. You need only find it and play it honestly.
Here is a good rehearsal exercise. Clearly mark the breathing points in your material. Then read your speech aloud, and use up all of your air on each group of words, from breathing point to breathing point. Make certain that you support the final words, but otherwise empty your lungs between breathing points.
This exercise allows you to discover how much force and power you have available. It also implants in your mind the necessity to breathe. Use all of the air between each breathing point, even if the line has only one word. Do it now.
As you practice the exercise, you will begin to notice that taking the breath gives you the split second you need to grasp your next line. As you inhale physically, you also inhale mentally, so to speak, and grab the next line. Then out it comes on the next breath.
If it is your tendency as an actor to break up lines with “embellishments” for emotional effect, this exercise may show you that the only pauses you really need in Shakespeare are the breathing points. Keep the phrases intact, the words moving, and play the antithetical ideas against each other.
You will discover that application of too much emotion to heightened text does nothing but bury the meaning, and the audience stops listening.
Don’t get ahead of yourself by thinking ahead. As with all good acting, stay in the moment, listen, and respond. Don’t anticipate or indicate. Realize that after you speak a line, your breathing skill allows you to mentally secure your next line, and this skill will help you develop the confidence you need to stay in the moment.
If you have three or four lines with no breathing points, try to conquer them. You will need a deep breath before you start line one and will need to control the release of your air as you speak the lines, or you’ll never make it through and surely won’t have anything left for the important final word. If you can’t yet handle three or four lines, find an appropriate place to insert your breath—but hopefully no more than one. Then begin a walking or jogging program and build up your breath support!
Try this example. In Henry V, the Bishop of Canterbury tells the King that if he will attack France, the Church will supply him with the money needed for the war.
Canterbury: O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege, (1)
With blood, and sword, and fire to win your right! (2)
In aid whereof we of the spiritualty (3)
Will raise your highness such a mighty sum (4)
As never did the clergy at one time (5)
Bring in to any of your ancestors. (I, ii) (6)
Read the speech aloud, and see if you can do lines 3 through 6 without a breath. If you can’t make it, take a breath after “sum,” but notice that the speech flows better without the breath. Note, too, that “spiritualty” must be elided from four to three syllables—spir’t’ual ty.
Here are seven lines Chorus speaks before act IV of Henry V:
Chorus: Now entertain conjecture of a time (1)
When creeping murmur and the poring dark (2)
Fills the wide vessel of the universe. (3)
From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night, (4)
The hum of either army stilly sounds, (5)
That the fixed sentinels almost receive (6)
The secret whispers of each other’s watch. (IV) (7)
Read the speech aloud, breathing only at the punctuation points. Support all last words, especially “universe,” “sounds,” and “watch.” Careful—no breath after “dark.”
Remember these clues:
• The words ride out on the breath, just send them
• Inhaling gives you a moment to grasp your next line
• Breathe at every opportunity
• If you cut a breathing point, do it intentionally because you don’t need it
• Strong breath enables you to speak with power
• Lack of breath signals weakness.
What about the common modern habit, especially among film actors, of releasing breath immediately before speaking? This technique is one of many that actors pay good money to learn in various film acting classes. By using it, you lose power and energy, and you probably run out of breath before reaching the end of the spoken line, thus giving you that “fade-away” sound. Whereas some actors and directors believe this approach produces a more “natural” sound, persons who respect language and the actor’s gift of voice shun it. You need energy and power to speak well. The idea of allowing the microphone to produce your sound for you kills energy, and that weakens your ability to command the listener—even on film.
Now spend any remaining time reading your material aloud and breathing at the correct places as marked in your text. Apply everything we’ve discussed.
I would applaud thee to the very echo,
That should applaud again.
MACBETH, V, iii
Always read and work on Shakespeare aloud. This language is meant to be spoken, and much of the sense is discovered through speech. Shakespeare doesn’t just “work better” aloud, it works ten times better! Therefore, when you work on the lines, use the opportunity to practice breathing and voice skills as well.
CHARACTER
I lied. We never got to “character.” Or did we? If you’ve applied what we’ve discussed to your material—scansion, phrasing and discovering antithesis, kicking the box, and correct breathing—a character choice has probably emerged all by itself.
If not, develop one. Now you know what the language is doing and what it requires. Apply everything you already know about creating honest and truthful character, and create! Develop the kind of character that would do and say what the language is doing and saying. The character is that person who needs and uses these words. Do your language study before rehearsals begin, then the rehearsal process can be about character and relationships, as it should be.
To explore in more detail how the character you’ve selected uses your analysis of the language to come alive through the language, here is one more example. Juliet waits impatiently for the Nurse to bring word of Romeo. Her image-rich lines start like this:
Juliet: 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. (Rom, III, ii)
As the actor playing Juliet, your text analysis of these four lines will tell you many things about the character, including:
• She thinks in classical images (“fiery-footed steeds,” “Phoebus’ lodging,” “wagoner as Phaeton”).
• She’s had a solid education to know these classical images (she understands that Phoebus is the sun god and his “lodging” is beyond the western horizon, which, when entered, causes night; and Phaeton is his son, with whom the horses of the sun ran away and set fire to the earth, just as the Nurse is bringing “fire” to her).
• She’s no “softy” (“whip you”).
• She’s impatient (“gallop apace,” “whip you,” “bring . . . immediately”).
• Something is happening too slowly for her (the Nurse is too slow returning).
• She’s longing for the night (“bring in cloudy night”), and it’s still day (“to the west”).
• She thinks of gods controlling her destiny (gods pull the sun across the sky and control day and night—and everything else as well).
• She allows herself to be impatient with these gods, not just with the Nurse.
You can probably find more, but that’s the idea of what has come from your text analysis.
The character is the person who needs and uses these words. Juliet’s education must be deeply imbedded in her mind, because it is clearly released as her passion for Romeo explodes. Your Juliet will choose what she thinks of Phaeton and the speed with which he runs his out-of-control chariot of the sun, and that choice will be clear in the way you read the words. You can make the choice, because you know exactly what the words mean. Your Juliet will choose how rapidly she wants night to descend, and that choice will be clear in the way you read those words.
As the actor, you know what the words are doing—they are allowing the character to expose her emotional state through her learning—so you choose your way of doing it. The way you play Juliet is your choice. But it is based on knowing exactly what Juliet is saying, not guessing what she is saying, and not trusting to “natural talent” to read Shakespeare’s lines.
Your Juliet might elect to make more or less of “immediately.” Obviously she could be extremely lustful (one reading), or simply eager (another reading). These are the choices you make that make the character your own. But the author is being served now, and the audience will have every opportunity to hear your choices clearly. You know what you’re saying, so the audience will know what you’re saying.
We probably all agree that understanding the language will not, by itself, make you a good Shakespearean actor. Moving the words from your brain to the audience’s ears still requires all the skill and talent you possess, your trained voice (not a “fall-away” sound), plus your huge energy, and every glimmer of passion that is appropriate for each moment.
The task of acting the play through the character is still up to you, the actor. But when acting Shakespeare, if you complete text study before you begin characterization, you stand the best chance of success.
It takes vivid imagination and great technique to be an actor, plus courage, talent, and drive. Add to your imaginative qualities the skills you just relearned, and be successful with Shakespeare!
And smooth success
Be strewed before your feet!
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, I, iii
END OF THE PROFESSIONAL ACTOR’S ONE-DAY BRUSH UP
Break a leg!
Well, breathe awhile, then to it again.
HENRY IV, PART I, II, iv
Tomorrow to the field.
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, III, i