1. “Instant Shakespeare”
A Guide to Understanding
and Performing Shakespeare
A condensed guide adapted from Instant Shakespeare by Louis Fantasia

2. Pre-Performance – Instant Shakespeare!
To be or not to be, that is the question…
Say it out loud…
Not too hard, huh?

3. Four Levels of Discovery
Know what the individual words really mean (dialogue).
Know where the play is going (structure).
Know the rhythm and sense of the line (character).
Know what the play is about (the central event).

4. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue
The Shakespeare Paradigm
Apply this question to every line, every word of every Shakespeare play!
“Why does this particular character say these particular words, in this particular order, at this particular moment?”

5. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue
What is the difference between a character who says,
So foul and fair a day I have not seen…?

6. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue
And one who says,
So fair and foul a day I have not seen…?

7. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue
Or a character who says,
What a rogue and peasant slave am I…

8. Know What the Words Really Mean - Dialogue
Or one who says,
What a rogue and peasant slave I am…?

9. Frog Overlays
Once upon a time, in the days before the internet and computers, biology students used “plastic overlays” frogs, one overlay for each system in the anatomy – skeletal, digestive, etc.

10. Frog Overlays This way you could study each system individually.
BUT when you put them together, you got a good picture of the WHOLE dissected frog.

11. Frog Overlays
We’re going to do the same for Shakespeare – dissect the text and apply our own “Frog Overlays”

12. Instant Shakespeare – Frog Overlays
Make the nouns sound like what they mean.
Push the verbs
Leave the adjectives and adverbs alone
Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
Repunctuate for breath.

13. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.
What do you see in your minds eye when you say the words “rogue” and “slave”?

14. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean
Is this a dagger I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee!
Why does Macbeth choose to say “dagger” instead of “knife” or “broadsword” at that moment?

15. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean
Is this a dagger I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee!
Why is “dagger” the only noun that Macbeth use to describe what he sees?

16. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean
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.
Why does Juliet choose to say “steeds” and not “horses,” “ponies,” nags,” or “mules”?

17. Make the Nouns Sound Like What They Mean
“You don’t really want me to ‘do’ it this way, do you?
NO – this is not a rehearsal or even a performance technique – but I do want you to say it this way, OUT LOUD, as you begin to examine the text.

18. Push the Verbs Verbs are ACTION words. Push them
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.

19. Push the Verbs 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.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen…

20. Push the Verbs Is this a dagger I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee!
I have thee not and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight, or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?

21. Push the Verbs Notice how this makes the monologues move more quickly
REMEMBER, verbs are ACTION words. Plays are about actions. Push the verbs and you will push the play forward!

22. Nouns & Verbs – Putting It Together!
Is this a dagger I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee!
I have thee not and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight, or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?

23. Nouns & Verbs – Putting It Together!
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.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen…

24. Leave the Adjectives and Adverbs Alone!
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.
There is no need to gild the lily. Shakespeare was quite capable of embellishing his own images.
Tell the story.
Play the action, not the poetry!

25. Leave the Adjectives and Adverbs Alone!
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Which makes more sense to you:
The quick brown over the lazy or
Fox jumps dog

26. Leave the Adjectives and Adverbs Alone!
An audience wants to know what’s going on, what happens next and who will do what to whom, when and why.
If you stress the adjectives and adverbs in Shakespeare, the audience will zone out.

27. Leave the Adjectives and Adverbs Alone!
Baaad Shakespeare
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.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen…
We want at a bare minimum for Shakespeare to make sense to the audience.

28. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
Martin Buber ( ), one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century believed that an “eternal Thou,” a divine presence, can be glimpsed in every particular Thou.
HUH?

29. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
In simple terms, and the most literal sense, whom are you talking to and what are you talking about?
Is the meaning of each and every line so clear that everyone, on stage and off, knows exactly whom you are talking to and what you are talking about?

30. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
In simple terms, and the most literal sense, whom are you talking to and what are you talking about?
Is the meaning of each and every line so clear that everyone, on stage and off, knows exactly whom you are talking to and what you are talking about?

31. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
“I/thou” expresses a common ground and recognition between persons (you and me – I must see you before I can name you).
“I/it” expresses functional behavior (me and it – the object in relationship to me).

32. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.
Whom is the speaker addressing, himself or the audience? Is he talking about himself or another character? Does he shift? Why?

33. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
In Shakespeare, you must have a partner on each and every line you deliver – a connection, a relationship, with someone or something (the “thou” or “it”).
Any moment when you are unaware of your thou/it partner, the audience will know and immediately zone out. STOP! RECONNECT!

34. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
In Shakespeare, partnering is essential and simple.
Shakespeare’s characters speak to a) one another, b) themselves, c) the audience, or d) God. That’s it. There is no one else.

35. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.
Suppose Hamlet delivers these lines to himself. Does that work? Does it sound right?
If not, how about full out to the audience? Or to God in exasperation?
We know it’s not another character. He’s alone on stage.

36. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
There are no wrong answers! Just make a decision. If if doesn’t work, change it.
We know it’s not another character. He’s alone on stage.

37. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
Let’s look at Macbeth’s “dagger” speech. When does he speak to the dagger? When does he speak about the dagger? There is no right or wrong.
Is this a dagger I see before me,
The handle toward my hand?
Of whom is he asking the question? Himself, the audience, God, or the dagger?
We know it’s not another character. He’s alone on stage.

38. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
Come, let me clutch thee!
Hmmm… sounds like he’s talking directly to the dagger on this line.
We know it’s not another character. He’s alone on stage.

39. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
The next line implies a stage direction that Macbeth clutch for the dagger and miss (and it seems that he is still talking to the dagger):
I have thee not and yet I see thee still.
We know it’s not another character. He’s alone on stage.

40. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
In the next four lines, is he talking to the dagger or about the dagger? To himself or to us?
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight, or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat oppressed brain?
We know it’s not another character. He’s alone on stage.

41. Play the “I/thou” and “I/it”relationships
And where is the reality now?
I see thee yet, in a form as palpable
As this which now I draw
Once you get used to looking for the “thou/it” partnering, it will make you acting more clear and precise. Helping the audience understand what you are saying.
We know it’s not another character. He’s alone on stage.

42. Repunctuate for Breath
Most modern editions of Shakespeare’s play include way too much punctuation.
Punctuation in Elizabethan time was confusing and inconsistent.
Most often, there is no consensus as to what punctuation Shakespeare included in his written scripts.
When Shakespeare’s plays were first printed after his death, the printers often added their own punctuation.
Later editions included and/or changed punctuation to their editors own personal tastes.

43. Repunctuate for Breath
Most modern editions of Shakespeare’s play include way too much punctuation.
Punctuation in Elizabethan time was confusing and inconsistent.
Most often, there is no consensus as to what punctuation Shakespeare included in his written scripts.
When Shakespeare’s plays were first printed after his death, the printers often added their own punctuation.
Later editions included and/or changed punctuation to their editors own personal tastes.

44. Repunctuate for Breath
Whatever edition you use, the punctuation can greatly affect your reading of the play.
For example. Here’s an unpunctuated passage from Antony and Cleopatra in which Caesar Augustus hears the news of Marc Antony’s death. Read it aloud, as written.
Look you sad friends,
The gods rebuke me but it is (a) tidings
To wash the eyes of kings.

45. Repunctuate for Breath
Now try this version from the First Folio (1623)
Look you sad friends,
The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings
To wash the eyes of kings.

46. Repunctuate for Breath
Or this from the Third Folio (1663)
Look you, sad friends,
The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings
To wash the eyes of kings.

47. Repunctuate for Breath
But wait, try The Arden edition (1981)
Look you sad, friends?
The gods rebuke me, but it is a tidings
To wash the eyes of kings.
Do you see how the punctuation changes the meaning of a line? Some editions of Shakespeare’s plays will print alternative readings at the bottom of the page, allowing the reader to make up his own mind.

48. Repunctuate for Breath
You could spend years studying Elizabethan punctuation and still not know exactly what Shakespeare intended.
So, what do we as young actors do, with only 10 weeks of rehearsal do?
Photocopy the text.
Take some liquid correction fluid and white out all the punctuation.
That’s right, ALL OF IT

49. Repunctuate for Breath
Okay, once you’ve exhausted your supply of White Out, you can start to put all this together.
Reading aloud, work through the nouns and verbs, highlighting them with different color highlighters.
Leave the adjectives and adverbs alone!
Figure out the “I/thou” and “I/it” relationships for each line. You might try underlining them.
And finally, Repunctuate for breath!

50. Repunctuate for Breath
But how do I do that? What do you mean?
Say the words out loud and mark in your script the places where you need to breath.
Don’t worry about whether it needs to be a coma, a semi-colon or a period.
Just ask yourself whether you need a long pause, a short pause, or no pause.

51. Repunctuate for Breath
Let’s look at the punctuation marks that editors have inserted into Juliet’s speech. Use a short pause for comma, a longer pause for semi-colons and an even longer pause for colons. Say it out loud.
Gallop apace, (pause) you fiery-footed steeds, (pause)
Towards Phoebus’ lodging; (longer pause) such a wagoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the west (pause)
And bring in cloudy night immediately.

52. Repunctuate for Breath
Now try saying it without the punctuation. Pause only when you need to breathe. Remember, this isn’t a contest to see who can stay underwater the longest!
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.

53. Repunctuate for Breath
Which one of these versions sounds like an eager teenager?
You must breathe as you think to make these words make sense!

54. The Shakespeare Paradigm Revisited
“Why does this particular character say these particular words, in this particular order, at this particular moment?”
Take a look the handout of Hamlet’s “peasant slave” monologue.

55. The Shakespeare Paradigm Revisited
Hamlet’s “Peasant Slave” Monologue
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to its own conceit
That from her working all his visage waned,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing!
For Hecuba!

56. The Shakespeare Paradigm Revisited
Now, take a maker or pen and black out all the “Thespy” or actorly words. Funny sounding, old-fashioned words. Words that you would be embarrassed to use in everyday speech. They sound good but you don’t really understand them.

57. The Shakespeare Paradigm Revisited
“Peasant Slave” w/o “Thespy” Words
Oh, what a… slave am I. Is it not monstrous that this player …in a fiction, a dream of passion, could force his soul so ….That …Tears in his eyes, …A broken voice, … And all for nothing!…

58. The Shakespeare Paradigm Revisited
Now, it sort of makes sense, doesn’t it. The speaker seems to be saying that he feels inadequate because an actor can manufacture make believe emotions while he cannot experience real ones. We don’t know why this is the case, but before we can find out – we need to analyze this monologue.
Go back and fill in the blanks with the Thespy words… one at a time.
As you do this, ask yourself why this character needs to say this particular word, at this particular moment, in this particular order.

59. The Shakespeare Paradigm Revisited
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.
Why does this character chose to say rogue (rogue elephant) and not “bum”?
Why peasant slave, instead of “dirty slave”?
What does the speaker by using am I instead of “I am”?

60. The Shakespeare Paradigm Revisited
Continue filling in the banks. As you do this:
Make the nouns sound like what they mean.
Push the verbs.
Leave the adjectives and adverbs alone.
Look for the I/Thou and I/it relationships
Repunctuate for breath.

61. Instant Shakespeare
You know have the tools start your work on the text. If you’ve done your these exercises so far, you should be able to see how these monologues gain meaning from our analysis.
Take the following speech of Oberon’s from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and go through it with all five of your “frog overlays” – posing the Shakespeare Paradigm as you do it.
You may not be fully able to answer all of the questions with out reading the entire play, but knowing what the words mean is enough for now.

62. I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamalled skin
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairie in;
And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is is love
With a disdainful youth. Anoint his eyes,
But do it when the next thing he aspies
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he has on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond of her than she upon her love;
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.

63. I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamalled skin
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairie in;
And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is is love
With a disdainful youth. Anoint his eyes,
But do it when the next thing he aspies
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he has on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond of her than she upon her love;
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.