Clues to Acting Shakespeare

It shall do you no harm to learn.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, II, ii

Preface to the Second Edition

Since the first edition of Clues to Acting Shakespeare was published six years ago, I've been asked hundreds of questions about techniques for teaching specific skills. Questions like, "How do you get the actors to apply all of these skills at once?" and "Is this the best order in which to teach the skills?" The simple and most useful way to answer the questions is with this second edition.

Part 2 is a completely new section. In the fall of 2005 I taught a forty-hour, twenty-session workshop to ten actors and recorded it. The actors, all in their twenties, had four to ten years of experience with realism or musical theatre, but almost no background in acting heightened text. Our agonies and triumphs are all recorded here, as are all of their questions and my answers.

Every one of these skills is designed to prepare the actor for rehearsal. The techniques used here illustrate one way to teach the skills, but certainly not the only way. This works for me, and some of it may work for you. Use what you can; ignore the rest!

Introduction

THE INTENTION of this book is to help the working actor discover and use specific skills for acting Shakespeare.There about acting Shakespeare, but most deal with historical, philosophical, or personal approaches to the characters.They offer interpretations of these characters that are often drawn from actual performances (e.g., Antony Sher's Year of the King But for the working actor struggling with blank verse, only a few of these books are of "immediate" or practical value. Several voice studies that illustrate theunion of Shakespearean text and developed vocal skills are the most useful. When preparing to act a role, the actor must learn to handle the language of the specific play so that the character will be truthful in both intention and presentation. Heightened language, as in Shakespeare’s plays, can be difficult, and failure to handle it effectively will quickly destroy an otherwise well-intended characterization. Therefore the actor must train the voice and then learn specific skills to handle this language. Once these skills have become practice, books that talk about acting Shakespeare are very helpful for character research and analysis. That few books are available to help the working actor gain the skills necessary to handle verse is not surprising. A coach or director cannot write about this process until he or she has worked with hundreds of actors and discovered successful techniques.

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I have had the privilege to coach the skills presented in this book to several hundred professional and student actors. These actors, mostly American, taught me that what they needed most were skills to handle the language, especially the verse, as those skills would allow them to play characters truthfully. Most of these actors expressed confidence about character intention and development (the skills that are the core of realistic actor training), but were uncomfortable with the idea of playing their characters while speaking verse. Most of these actors were amazed (and then delighted) to learn that with Shakespeare, the character is discovered through the verse.

Therefore, when coaching Shakespeare, one must always begin with the practical skills required to speak the text. The scope of this book is limited to that study. Techniques to develop the character that emerges from correctly speaking the text are the subject of other books, many of which are listed in the bibliography. Character study must always follow language study. With Shakespeare, the reverse spells disaster, as I will clarify in these pages.

This book is primarily for actors who intend to play Shakespeare but whose training is based on realism. Because that specific training rarely considers blank verse, you, the actor, are probably missing a few skills. These skills must be identified and learned so that your work with Shakespeare can be successful.

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When using this book, professional actors should turn immediately to part 3, page 129, the "Professional Actor's One-Day Brushup" for a quick review of skills you probably already know. Actors in training or professionals who want more detailed study should begin with part 1. Secondary teachers, reader groups and community theatre groups should begin with part 2, page 85, and refer back to part 1 as necessary.

Some of the realistic acting skills that you apply to Chekhov, Williams, Miller, Wasserstein, Mamet, or the dialogue in most films are important and applicable to acting Shakespeare. For example, once you've trained your voice, playing your action to achieve your objective is still the most important acting skill. But some of the others, like reading the subtext or emotional memory recall, are less important than the language when playing Shakespeare.

Special skills required to play Shakespeare must be added to or replace what you've already acquired. The differences are not in motives, actions, personalities, relationships, or conflicts (the ingredients of character and plot), but in the requirements of the language.

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Two excellent studies on acting heightened text and acting realism are, respectively, Cicely Berry's The Actor and the Text and Constantine Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares. The subjects are often similar and share many common truths, yet certain skills are very different and will be identified in this book. While nothing needs to be changed in either Berry or Stanislavski and every actor should master what each teaches, these exceptional works share a common problem: Their great depth of information can confuse and discourage the reader. The confusion is especially evident among American actors who attempt to master unfamiliar techniques for acting Shakespeare through Berry's book, unless they are fortunate enough to have an excellent coach who is familiar with the skills. Without a personal coach, or with a coach who is learning along with the actor, how does the actor trained in realism prepare to learn these many new approaches to acting?

Clues to Acting Shakespeare clarifies the specific preparation and identifies the skills required to act heightened text—to move from Chekhov to Shakespeare—to adjust from one language structure to the other. Procedures for learning these skills are included. The skills also apply to acting Shakespeare's contemporaries, other verse drama like Molière or the Greeks, and to modern realistic text.

Advanced study should follow, beginning with The Actor and the Text and Barton's Playing Shakespeare book and video series. Correct vocal usage should be learned and practiced, using the techniques of Berry, Kristin Linklater, or Patsy Rodenburg. When you are ready for a much more detailed study of verse structure, refer to Delbert Spain's Shakespeare Sounded Soundly.

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Clues to Acting Shakespeare will not deal with playing realism— for example, Stanislavski's methods, Meisner, Hagen, and so on— because it assumes the reader has experience in that field and is now taking the step to act heightened text.

I have spent nearly twenty years coaching "acting Shakespeare" at universities or private workshops and even longer directing his plays. This book has evolved into a summary of what actors have taught me over the course of these decades. I hope these "clues" simplify the process for you and help make the material accessible. Don't let Shakespeare's text frighten you. This greatest of writers wrote for actors, and discovering what you can do with this language is challenging, stimulating, all-consuming, rewarding, and great fun!

He was skillful enough to have lived still.

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, I, i