APPROACHING SHAKESPEARE:

THE TEXT IS LIKE AN ANIMAL.. LET’S BRING THE TEXT TO LIFE

A bit of history
In Shakespeare’s day, you didn’t go to ‘see’ a play, you went to ‘hear’ it – hence we still
have ‘re-hear-sals’.
There would have been no fancy scenery, certainly no CGI, to create a sense of time,
location, character etc: everything would have been done in broad daylight.

This meant that the words had an incredibly important job – they had to take an audience
on a journey, to thrill, to excite them…

Here are some exercises- some golden rules - that will help you to understand and
bring to life this brilliant text….

1. THE PULSE – Iambic Pentameter

Five beats in a Line (the line has ten syllables..) .-.-.-.-.- (short long short long etc)
One beat = one syllable.
EG But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

Tip: Take your own pulse and you hear your heart beating in just this way.
Stand up and, keeping your hand on your pulse, move your feet in time with your heart.
Keeping your body moving in this way, experiment with a ten syllable line from the text.
Try to obey the rhythm – at this stage, don’t try to make it sound like everyday speech.
Go for it!

NB Some lines have eleven syllables. These are known as ‘imperfect or feminine
endings’.
They usually happen when a character is unsure or talking about something negative or
indeed evil.
EG To be or not to be: that is the question.

2. THE SPINE – Line Endings / Raised Inflections

The aim here is to raise / emphasise / lift the last word of every line (NB not every
sentence).

In verse, the last word of a line carries the core-meaning of the speech: if you string all
the last-words together you can create a mini poem or telegram that tells the story of the
speech.
(Our modern habitual way of speaking tends towards a downward inflection but this can
really ‘kill’ the text, making it sound like a boring sermon.)
EG ……………………..Sir, spare your threats;
The bug which you would fright me with, I seek.
To me can life be no commodity;
The crown and comfort of my life, your favour,
I do give lost, for I do feel it gone,
But know not how it went. My second joy,
And first-fruits of my body, from his presence
I am barr’d, like one infectious. My third comfort
(Starr’d most unluckily) is from my breast
(The innocent milk in it most innocent mouth)
Hal’d out to murder; myself on every post
Proclaim’d a strumpet, with immodest hatred
The child-bed privilege denied, which ‘longs
To women of all fashion; lastly, hurried
Here, to this place, i’ th’ 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.

So, the ‘telegram’ goes Threats seek. Commodity favour gone. Joy Presence Comfort
Breast Mouth. Post hatred. ‘Longs hurried before. Liege Alive Proceed.
The speech is a key speech from Hermione; a queen and mother who, having just given
birth is wrongly-accused by her jealous husband of adultery, robbed of her children,
stripped of all dignity and condemned to death.

The ‘spine’ of last-words shows what her deep concerns are.

They help to simplify the message.

Tip: When you raise the last word, imagine it asks a question of the audience that is
answered by the next line.
EG ………….Sir, spare your threats (Why?)…
(Because..) The bug which you would fright me with, I seek.

This will make your speech much more engaging, dynamic and really demanding of the
audience’s full attention.

3. THE BREATH – Breathing for the arc of meaning, emotion and tempi…

Try only taking a breath where there is a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark
- .!?
You will find that this affects the way you choose to speak the text.
EG There’s no point beginning a 6 line sentence by shouting because you’ll have used up
all your breath on the first few words… (See Hermione’s speech from A Winter’s |Tale
above)
Instead, it may be wise to try speaking in a contained manner, using rational rather than
raw emotion, keeping your volume low and steady and choosing a rapid tempo with very
definite articulation of consonants.
Likewise, with short sentences where you find that full-stops come every few words. This
suggests your breathing is fast short and rapid, that you are indeed in a heightened
emotional state.

EG Help me Lysander, help me! Do thy best

To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ay me, for pity! What a dream was here!
Lysander, look how I do quake with fear.
Methought a serpent ate my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel prey.
Lysander! What remov’d? Lysander! lord!
What, out of hearing? Gone? No sound, no word?
Alack, where are you? Speak, and if you hear;
Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear..Etc

TIP: If you make yourself breathe at the .!? You will notice that this can have a profound
affect on the emotional life of the character and can often free up acting choices.

4. THE MUSCLES – learning how to ‘bounce’ the verbs.

The verbs or ‘doing words’ contained in each sentence bring life and vigour to the text.
They create a sort of vocal springboard that helps you lift towards the end of the line.
This next exercise should be simple and fun to play around with.

1. Go through the text looking for the major verbs contained within it – highlight these
words.
EG Help me, Lysander, help me! Do thy best
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
(NB I’ve highlighted crawling because it has action contained within it, although in this
case it’s used as an adjective / descriptive word)

2. Now ‘act out’ the verbs = say them and put them into vigorous movement at the same
time. Notice how the movement affects the sound of your voice, often making it louder,
more forceful and colourful.

3. Now, ‘still’ the body and say the text again.

TASK: Maintain the vigour and colour you found whilst moving, but keep the body
language natural. Use your new body memory to inform the way you say the verbs now.

Tip – Focus on main verbs / action words. Avoid any derivatives of ‘to be’ i.e. ‘was’, ‘is’,
etc… these often complicate what should be an absolutely childlike process.
5. THE ANIMAL’S COAT AND MARKINGS..– Using ‘contrasting words’ to
create vocal depth and variety.

This next exercise is all about how to bring the most out of your voice.
We have a tendency to flatten the sound of our everyday speaking voice, perhaps trying
not to bring too much attention to ourselves for fear of being judged, getting it wrong etc.
However this text requires as much vocal variety, commitment and colour as possible
so…

Try this simple exercise:

If you have to say ‘I love you’, try saying ‘I hate you’ and then return to saying ‘I Love
you’.

You will find that through working with opposites you create a context / frame for what
you’re saying.
It’s important to work out-loud and to really commit to both versions – again you are
creating a kind of body memory.
Suddenly the words stop feeling dry and bland and you begin to speak with a new assured
quality.

TIP: You can actually apply this exercise (and indeed any of the others) to modern text to
keep it alive and dynamic and to create a kind of personal meaning for yourself.

ENJOY!!!