VIDEO - Trochees

Let's talk about TROCHEES! These are the exact opposite of iambs, which I explain here.

This quick, fun video will make you a trochee expert in just 90 seconds!

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Breaking Down the Bard VIDEO - Verse vs Prose

Do you know how to tell the difference between verse and prose?

This is something that trips a lot of people up, but my quick, minute-long video shows you how to tell the difference INSTANTLY. Check it out!

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Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!

The 10 Most Gruesome Deaths in Shakespeare

Stabbed. Poisoned. Drowned. Hanged. Beheaded.

There are some gory ways to die in Shakespeare's plays. Even George R. R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones and the rest of the A Song of Ice and Fire series admits that Shakespeare's kill-count exceeds the bloody world of Westeros, and I would have to agree with him! Here are some of the Bard's most cringe-worthy deaths:

10 - George, Duke of Clarence (Richard III)
Drowned in Wine

"You shall have wine enough, my lord, anon."
- 2nd Murderer

George seemed like an obstacle to his brother Richard in his plans for becoming the King of England. After convincing their elder brother, King Edward IV, that George was a threat, Richard had two murderers visit George's cell in the Tower of London. The murderers stab George and finish the job by drowning him in the "malmsey-butt" (approximately 252 gallons of wine) in the next room.

9 - Joan la Pucelle (Henry VI Part 1)
Burned at the Stake

"Break thou in pieces and consume to ashes,
Thou foul accursed minister of hell!"
- York

Shakespeare's Joan of Arc was hardly a saint. She is a skilled but cocky warrior who claims to be aided by the Virgin Mary but is actually assisted by demons. She insists she was nobly born, calling her Shepherd father a liar to his face. When she is sentenced to burn, she tries to save herself by switching her story: the virgin is now pregnant, and the question of who the father is turns into a scene to rival an episode of Maury Povich. 

8 - Arcite (The Two Noble Kinsmen)
Crushed by his Horse

"Backward the jade comes o'er, and his full poise
Becomes the rider's load."
- Pirithous

Arcite and his cousin Palamon both love the noble Emilia (who can't choose between them), and since they are both technically prisoners of war, an agreement is made that they will have a fight. The winner lives and weds Emilia, and the loser will die. Arcite's victory over Palamon is short-lived, as his horse crushes him during his celebratory parade. Palamon is allowed to live and wed Emilia, since this seems to be the Gods' will.

7 - Desdemona (Othello)
Smothered 

"Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight!"
- Desdemona

Othello mistakenly believes that his lovely and loyal wife, Desdemona has been cheating on him with his subordinate, Michael Cassio. Iago, the criminal mastermind, works Othello up to a murderous rage using nothing but a handkerchief and manipulation. The jealousy that consumes Othello leads him to smother Desdemona in their bed (though the text never mentions a pillow). With her dying words, she claims Othello was blameless in her murder. When Othello realizes he's been tricked, he stabs himself and dies.

6 - Julius Caesar and Coriolanus, respectively
Stabbed by Conspirators

"Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods..."
- Brutus


"Cut me to pieces, Volsces, men and lads,
Stain all your edges on me."
- Coriolanus


Since their deaths are remarkably similar, I've decided that this one's a tie!

In Julius Caesar, despite warnings from a soothsayer and his wife, Calpurnia, Caesar goes to the Capitol and is stabbed repeatedly by Brutus, Cassius, Casca, and the other conspirators who fear he has grown too powerful.

A decorated war hero and elected official, Coriolanus loses favor in Rome due to his arrogance, hot temper, and inability to flatter. Upon being banished, Coriolanus joins with his former enemy, Aufidius and the Volsces, seeking revenge on Rome and its people. Coriolanus decides to spare Rome instead of sacking it when he has the chance, and the envious Aufidius labels him a traitor and convinces the Volsces to join him in stabbing Coriolanus to death.

5 - Portia (Julius Caesar)
Swallowed Fire

"With this she fell distract,
And (her attendants absent) swallow'd fire."
- Brutus

Portia is probably at least a little unstable to begin with. In Act II, Scene 1, she shows her husband, Brutus, that she has voluntarily given herself a wound on her thigh to show how tough she is so that he'll share his secrets with her. After killing Julius Caesar and inciting a civil war, Brutus hasn't been home in a long time, and his absence, coupled with the news of the strength of his allies, pushes Portia over the edge.

4 - Cloten (Cymbeline)
Beheaded

"With his own sword,
Which he did wave against my throat, I have ta'en
His head from him."
- Guiderius

The term "asshat" was invented for people like Cloten (though not by Shakespeare). This stupid, stinky, spoiled brat can't understand why his stepsister Imogen, who is already married, wouldn't want to marry him. He threatens to kill Imogen's husband and rape her... the dude has it coming. When he picks a fight with Guiderius, his head is separated from his body pretty quickly. He certainly isn't the only Shakespearean character to be beheaded - far from it - but it's a memorable exit for such a loathsome character.

3 - Aaron the Moor (Titus Andronicus)
Buried Alive 

"Set him breast-deep in the earth and famish him,
There let him stand and rave and cry for food.
If any one relieves or pities him,
For the offense he dies."
- Lucius

Aaron the Moor is a wholly unrepentant criminal mastermind. He works with his lover, Tamora, to pick off members of Titus Andronicus' family one by one. This play is Shakespeare's most bloody, with murders, rape, mutilation, and people being baked into pies and fed to their mother at a dinner party. While most of the characters die by a blade, Aaron's anticipated slow death is unique.

2 - Antigonus (The Winter's Tale)
Eaten by a Bear

"I'll go see if the bear be gone from the gentleman and how much he hath eaten."
- Clown 

Antigonus got the unenviable job of taking the king's infant daughter to a deserted place and abandoning her to the elements. Of course, he doesn't want to leave a baby alone to die in a storm, but the other option was throwing her in the fire. He lays down the baby, and then is chased offstage with Shakespeare's most famous stage direction: Exit, pursued by a bear. In case we weren't sure of poor Antigonus' fate, the clown sees the bear enjoying his dinner, and comes in to tell his father (who found the baby) all about it.

1 - Cinna the Poet (Julius Caesar)
Torn Apart by an Angry Mob

"Tear him to pieces, he's a conspirator."
- 1st Plebeian 

Unfortunately, there were two men named Cinna in Rome. Cinna the Poet is questioned by a group of Roman citizens, and when they find out his name is Cinna, they tear him limb from limb. The misguided Plebeians think he is the same Cinna that helped to murder Julius Caesar, and the innocent poet meets a grisly end.

Did any of these deaths surprise you?

Who do you think should have made the list?

Let me know in the comments! 

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What's Up with the Lexicon?

One of the most-used tools for understanding Shakespeare is Alexander Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary, commonly referred to as "the lexicon". For the uninitiated, this book will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. It is a phenomenal tool in finding the exact meaning of most words as they are used in Shakespeare's works.

WHY YOU NEED IT

If you don't know what you're saying, the audience won't know what you're saying! If you are just kinda sure about the meaning of these 400-year-old lines, you won't be telling the story in a specific and clear way, and your audience's experience will suffer. Some of the words in Shakespeare's plays are antiquated, and have fallen out of use, others have changed in meaning over time, and still others were invented by the Bard himself. Nobody just knows this stuff inherently; all classical actors are expected to do a substantial amount of research outside of rehearsal.

WHERE TO FIND THE LEXICON

The Lexicon is available online here, or in two printed volumes if you prefer a hard copy. 

HOW TO USE IT:

1. Pick the word you want to look up... duh.

2. Hardcopy: Use the appropriate volume (A-M or N-Z) just like a dictionary to find the word you're searching for.

Online: Use the toolbar on the left to find your word (listed alphabetically; this may take a few clicks - see the image below).

Note: if you choose to use the "search" tool in the upper right, be aware that your search will be across many other reference materials, not just the Lexicon, and it may include works by other authors, as the search includes the entire reference database established by Tufts.

Choose the first letter, then the alphabetical group, then the word you're searching for.

...And that's how we get to caddis.

(We still might have to figure out what a riband is, though.)

In both the online and hardcopy versions of the Lexicon, words that can be different parts of speech will be listed separately for each use; you may need to determine whether this is a verb, noun, adjective, etc. 
"Female", for example, is shown in two separate entries:

3. Look through the definitions available to find the reference to the play, act, scene, and line for the word you want to define. These are abbreviated, and can take some getting used to. For example, Romeo & Juliet is Rom., Comedy of Errors is Err., Henry VI Part 2 is H6B, and so on. The act number is in Roman Numerals: I, II, III, IV, or V. The scene number will be listed as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., followed by the line number. Most of the time, the reference material for the line of the play containing the word you are researching will be listed after the definition for that word, as well as most or all of the other instances that word used with the same intended meaning is found throughout the canon.

Notice that "mischief" has two distinct definitions, both of which are listed here. If we were looking up Don John's line "Will it serve for any model to build mischief on?" - from Much Ado About Nothing, Act I, Scene 3, we can see that it is listed with the second definition: "evil done on purpose, harm, injury." Much Ado About Nothing is abbreviated "Ado", along with the act, scene, and line number, which reads "Ado, I, 3, 49". We even get a portion of the line typed out for us in this instance.

Of course, there are many other references you can use in order to get a better grasp on what you're saying, but the Lexicon is a very popular tool that many regard as an industry standard - and now you know how to use it!

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Breaking Down the Bard - Feminine Endings

Now that you've got a handle on the difference between verse and prose, what perfect iambic pentameter is, and what scansion is (and if you don't, follow the links to get caught up!), we're gonna take a look at what happens when things aren't so "perfect" in a line of iambic pentameter anymore. We'll call these "variations" to the verse, and today we're going to start with "feminine endings".

Take a look at this section of Shakespeare's 20th Sonnet:

A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted

Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;

A woman's gentle heart but not acquainted

With shifting change as is false women's fashion

This whole sonnet is unconventional, because every line of verse has an extra, unstressed syllable at the end! Since iambic pentameter is ten syllables per line, alternating between unstressed and stressed syllables, this sonnet breaks the "rules":

a WO-man's GEN-tle HEART but NOT ac-QUAINT-ed

A line of verse that has an additional unstressed or weak syllable outside of the traditional structure (in this case, iambic pentameter) has what we call a "feminine ending", or a "weak ending". Yes, this is opposed to a stressed or "masculine" ending. It has absolutely nothing to do with the subject being a male or female, it is entirely about whether the last syllable in the line is stressed or unstressed. Misogyny, I know... I didn't come up with the name.

Why is there an extra syllable at the end of the line? 

Well, first of all, the words at the ends of the lines in the above poem rhyme in an "A B A B" pattern, and the rhythm helps to emphasize that. Shakespeare has rhymes all over the place, and they aren't all quite so obvious as "painted" and "acquainted", or "passion" and "fashion." Rhymes are not a requirement for a feminine ending, but be on the lookout for them!

Second, these are the words that Shakespeare wanted for these lines. I don't say this as a cop-out; Shakespeare was certainly smart enough to choose other words that would rhyme AND maintain the meaning AND fit into perfect iambic pentameter... or he could have invented ones that he wanted. He chose not to.

Third, it breaks up the rhythm and gets our attention. If the verse stays too perfect for too long, it can get boring, and we stop listening. This little hiccup at the end of the line helps keep our attention!

Let's check out a few more lines of verse to find other examples of this particular variation:

This speech from Henry V:

When we have matched our rackets to these balls,

We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set

Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.

Might scan* like this:

when WE have MATCHED our RACK-ets TO these BALLS,

we WILL, in FRANCE, by GOD'S grace, PLAY a SET

shall STRIKE his FA-ther's CROWN in-TO the HA-zard.

This speech from Love's Labour's Lost:

Now, madam, summon up your dearest spirits,

Consider who the King your father sends,

To whom he sends, and what's his embassy.

Might scan* like this:

now MAD-am, SUM-mon UP your DEAR-est SPIR-its,

con-SID-er WHO the KING your FA-ther SENDS,

to WHOM he SENDS, and WHAT'S his EM-bas-SY.

And this speech from Macbeth:

And yet the eight appears, who bears a glass

Which shows me many more; and some I see

That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry.

Might scan* like this:

and YET the EIGHT ap-PEARS, who BEARS a GLASS

which SHOWS me MAN-y MORE; and SOME i SEE

that TWO-fold BALLS and TREB-le SCEP-tres CAR-ry.

*I say that it MIGHT SCAN like this because there is often more than one way to scan a line of verse. I have chosen to maintain the structure of perfect iambic pentameter when scanning these lines, in order to illustrate the feminine endings effectively.

TO SUM UP:

A feminine ending is when there is an unstressed syllable at the end of a line of poetry, especially one that is an extra syllable added to the pre-established meter. This "hiccup" in the rhythm helps keep the audience's attention, sometimes emphasizes a rhyme, and is 100% intentional!

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Breaking Down the Bard - Iambic Pentameter

Alright, it's time to deal with the elephant in the room. We're gonna talk about that big scary phrase you hear thrown around all the time, but never quite understood: IAMBIC PENTAMETER.

Let's set the record straight: not all verse is iambic pentameter, but it just so happens that Shakespeare used it a lot. (If you don't know what verse is, that's okay! I cover that here.) We're going to learn what iambic pentameter IS, so that we can have a jumping off point into other kinds of verse. Don't freak out or feel overwhelmed. In just a few minutes, you are TOTALLY going to understand iambic pentameter. 

Say the following sentence out loud:

I parked my car in Harvard Yard, alright?

That was iambic pentameter. So is this one:

If music be the food of love, play on...

One of these is Shakespeare, and one isn't. No big deal. English speakers fall into the pattern of iambic pentameter ALL THE TIME without even realizing it!

So, what IS this fancy-schmancy iambic pentameter thing anyway? Let's break it down:

An "iamb" is when a pair of syllables (also called a "foot" in poetry) are spoken with the first syllable unstressed, and the second syllable stressed. Words like "because", "today", "provide", "between", and "tonight" are all iambic; they have two syllables, and the second syllable gets the stress.

"Pentameter" means there are five ("penta" means five) of those poetic feet to make up each line in the verse ("meter"). 

Therefore, perfect* iambic pentameter is simply a type of writing where each line has ten syllables, with five unstressed syllables and five stressed syllables that alternate throughout the line, beginning with an unstressed syllable. It sounds like:

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM 

*Of course, rules are made to be broken, and we'll talk about that later on.

Check out these Shakespeare lines that are perfect iambic pentameter:

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

(but SOFT, what LIGHT through YON-der WIN-dow BREAKS?)

And though she be but little, she is fierce.

(and THOUGH she BE but LIT-tle, SHE is FIERCE.)

The matter's in my head and in my heart.

(the MAT-ter's IN my HEAD and IN my HEART.)

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

(a HORSE! a HORSE! my KING-dom FOR a HORSE!)

So, to review:

An iamb:two syllables, first unstressed, second stressed

Penta- : five. Think "pentagon", which has five sides, or Pentatonix, that awesome a capella group with five members

meter: a line of poetry

There you go! Now you know what iambic pentameter is!

Next week on Breaking Down the Bard... Scansion!

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Easy Inspiration

When was the last time you went to see a show? I'm not talking about the latest Bond movie (although I'm sure it's great), but an honest-to-goodness live piece of theatre? Where you're in the same room as the performer(s) - you can see them, they can see you, and it will only happen exactly that way with exactly those people ONCE?

I see several shows a month. My minimum is two shows per month, but I often exceed that. I absolutely love live theatre, not just because I'm an actor, but because of the stakes involved in each performance. There is no "take two". It's all about NOW, what's happening in the moment. All of us are in the same room, part of the same shared experience, but I might walk out loving the show and the guy next to me might leave at intermission because he hates it so much. There's subjectivity. It's personal, even though there may be hundreds of people in the audience.

I'll see just about anything. I tend to lean toward Shakespeare or other classical plays because it's so useful to me to see what choices are being made in performance. I'll see the same play by different companies over and over and over, because no two productions are ever the same. It's great to see different interpretations of these stories. Last night, I went to see something more experimental: a rap/hip-hop version of a Shakespeare play, and it was a lot of fun!

Let's be real, the hundreds of plays I've seen over the years haven't all been successful (though most of them were). I've seen some shows that really fell flat on their faces, but these shows taught me just as much if not more than the shows I enjoyed. In seeing shows that I didn't ultimately enjoy, I also got to consider what about it wasn't working for me, and why, which can inform my future work as an actor.

A few years ago, I was preparing for my first production of Much Ado About Nothing, And while I knew the show inside out, I hunted down videos on YouTube, re-watched the Branagh film, saw the Joss Whedon film the day it came out, as well as the BBC TV version and every live production I could catch in NYC, all before rehearsals started! Knowing what others had tried helped inform my choices, so that I could have even more tools in my toolbox as I went on to find how I would put my stamp on the character. For example, I learned that I didn't like Beatrice if she didn't smile in the first scene. The lines are a sharp and witty, but I found that if Beatrice smiles, I like her, and if she doesn't, I just think she's a jerk, which is tricky when you have to root for her character. It's a seemingly simple thing that I might never have discovered if I had not had so many productions to compare.

Lately, I've been going to the opera. The Met is pretty much the ultimate theatrical experience - it is bigger than Broadway in every way I could think of, without microphones!

At The Met on Friday, November 6th, to see Tosca

I initially thought that a night at the opera would be more about being seen by others than about what's happening onstage, but the acting, musicianship, and storytelling of these masterpieces is stunning. When Tosca jumped from the tower, I gasped aloud. I was very worried for Gilda's safety during intermission of Rigoletto. Opera has very little to do with my career, but I have found myself wrapped up in the storytelling every time, and learning just as much from these performances as from any other.

I think everyone, especially actors, but EVERYONE,  should see as much live theatre as possible. Even if you hate it, it will teach you something. It will inspire you. It will give you motivation. It will make you feel alive.

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Breaking Down the Bard - Verse vs Prose

One of the very first things you need to learn as a classical or Shakespearean actor is how to identify when you are speaking in Verse or Prose. Knowledge of this super simple thing can be the difference between looking like you know your stuff or looking like a total noob.

WHAT IS VERSE?

Simply put, verse is poetry. If a character is speaking in poetry, there is very often a reason behind it; whether it is because they are addressing the King, are royalty themselves, or they are in love. It doesn't have to rhyme, and it isn't necessarily "iambic pentameter" (though it often is, and we can get into that later).

WHAT IS PROSE?

Prose is everyday, non-poetic speech. This paragraph, for example, is entirely in prose. Prose is often used for plain-speaking characters, and usually - but not always - used to denote characters of lower social classes. Kings may speak in prose, but when they do, it is generally in informal situations (like confiding in a close friend).

HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE:

Most editors make telling the difference between verse and prose as easy as possible when they are printing a new edition of the play. Here's an example of what the current industry standard for verse looks like:

Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?

Scorn and derision never come in tears.

Look when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,

In their nativity all truth appears.

How can these things in me seem scorn to you,

Bearing the badge of faith to prove them true?

While prose looks more like this:

I have of late - but wherefore I know not - lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament; this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals, and yet to me what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me - nor woman neither, though by your smiling, you seem to say so.

One of the easiest ways to tell if you are working with verse or prose is to see if the first letter of each line is capitalized. If so, it's probably verse! If not, and the lines of text fill the entire column in a block instead of being left justified, then it is probably prose!

There you have it; the first steps to identifying whether you are speaking in verse or prose!

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