Breaking Down the Bard - Asides

A couple of weeks ago, we covered the soliloquy, and what makes it different from a monologue (feel free to catch up here if you missed that post). Today, we're going to talk about another device that Shakespeare uses, the aside.

An aside is when a character onstage speaks to the audience or to one or more characters in the scene and is not heard by one or more other characters onstage. Anyone onstage who's not supposed to hear what's being said miraculously doesn't hear it! Shakespeare employs this device as a way for a character to comment on the action onstage, often with mockery or sarcasm. Like a soliloquy (which is basically a long aside), a character using an aside to break the fourth wall gets the opportunity to share more of themselves than the audience would otherwise see.

As we go through some examples, I want you to realize that Shakespeare doesn't write any stage direction indicating that this is an aside. Some modern editors will identify asides in printed editions, but this is often inconsistent, so it's a good idea to know how to find these (and play with them) on your own.

Here's a mocking aside, from Puck in Act III, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Bottom:

"Thisbe, the flowers of odious savors sweet" --

Quince:

Odorous, odorous.

Bottom:

-- "Odors savors sweet;

So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisbe dear.

But hark; a voice! Stay you but here a while,

And by and by I will to thee appear."

Exits 

Puck:

A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here.

Exits

Flute:

Must I speak now?

Puck totally disses Bottom's acting to the audience (who can see and hear him), but none of the other characters onstage react, and just carry on with their rehearsal. In Midsummer, none of the human characters see or knowingly interact with Puck, so he maintains his otherworldliness as a powerful spirit.

Asides are at the heart of this hilarious scene from Twelfth Night (Act  II, Scene 5), where Malvolio fantasizes about his boss' affections, not realizing he has an audience of his enemies eavesdropping:

Malvolio:

Tis but fortune, all is fortune. Maria once told me she did affect me, and I have heard herself come thus near, that should she fancy, it should be one of my complexion. Besides, she uses me with a more exalted respect than anyone else that follows her. What should I think on't?

Sir Toby:

Here's to an overweening rogue!

Fabian:

O, peace! Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him. How he jets under his advanc'd plumes!

Sir Andrew:

'Slight, I could so beat the rogue!

Sir Toby:

Peace, I say!

Malvolio:

To be Count Malvolio!

From Malvolio's perspective, he is alone in the garden, so I think of his lines as a soliloquy with impeccably-timed pauses, where the other characters make their reactions. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian (and perhaps Maria, depending on the production), hide and take turns reacting to Malvolio's antics and shushing each other.

At the beginning of Romeo & Juliet, the Capulets (Gregory and Samson) and Montagues (Abraham and Balthazar) are having a confrontation and consulting their kinsmen as they go:

Abraham:
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Samson:
I do bite my thumb, sir.

Abraham:
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Samson:
Is the law on our side if I say "ay?"

Gregory:
No.

Samson:

No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir,

but I bite my thumb, sir.

Samson and Gregory need a second to discuss things privately before continuing to push the Montagues' buttons, so they take it. It also shows the audience that there are rules in this society that can and cannot be broken, and that some people, aka Samson, are afraid of the consequences.

This scene from Measure for Measure is FULL of asides: Lucio joins Isabella for moral support (and a little bit of coaching) as she pleads to Angelo to spare her condemned brother's life. 

Isabella:

We cannot weigh our brother with ourself.

Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them,

But in the less foul profanation.

Lucio:

Thou'rt i' th' right, girl, more o' that.

Isabella:

That in the captain's but a choleric word,

Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

Lucio:

Art avis'd o' that? More on't.

Angelo:

Why do you put these sayings upon me?

Isabella:

Because authority, though it err like others,

Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

That skins the vice o' th' top. Go to your bosom,

Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know

That's like my brother's fault. If it confess

A natural guiltiness such as is his,

Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue

Against my brother's life.

Angelo:

                  She speaks, and 'tis

Such sense that my sense breeds with it. --

Fare you well. 

In this short piece of Act II, Scene 2, we have Lucio cheering on Isabella (probably without Angelo hearing, because Angelo doesn't address Lucio or tell him to shut up), and Angelo taking a quick time out to let us know that Isabella might be persuading him.

Asides in Shakespeare are hidden gems for you to discover, and they give you opportunities for comedy or to create a relationship with the audience, so make sure you give them their due!

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Breaking Down the Bard - WTF is a Soliloquy?

The soliloquy. It's a crazy word that theatre peeps (and others not in the biz) throw around, knowing full well that it's going to go over the heads of some people, and then they, the person saying "soliloquy", will hopefully sound really, really smart for using this high-earning Scrabble word. I'm going to demystify this term, by letting you know what it means and some ways you can do it effectively onstage!

A soliloquy (pronounced suh-LIL-uh-kwee), is the sibling of the monologue. A monologue, in theatre, is generally defined as a prolonged speech by one character to another in a scene. A soliloquy is when one character is speaking while or as if they are alone. Macbeth's "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech is a monologue, because he is speaking to Seyton. However, Viola's "I left no ring with her. What means this lady?" in Twelfth Night is a soliloquy because Malvolio has made his exit and Viola is left onstage to discover that Olivia is mistakenly in love with her. In a soliloquy, the character might reveal more private thoughts than they would in the presence of others; I would argue that characters in Shakespeare do not lie to the audience, though they may lie to each other. If a character is alone onstage, they are speaking truthfully.

Shakespeare gives many of his characters these private moments to discuss their thoughts, and there are generally two different methods of attack when deciding how to stage these tricky speeches:

1. The actor is talking to him/herself, and is unaware of the audience.

The "fourth wall" is a concept that most theatregoers are familiar with, whether they know it or not. The actors on the stage are in their own little world of make-believe, and we watch them. They talk to the other actors onstage, but pretend we, the audience, don't exist - even when we laugh at their jokes or a cell phones rings from the 7th row during a climactic moment. That being said, this first performance option has gained popularity in the last 100 years or so, as audiences grow to expect the action onstage to be removed from the reality that there is, in fact, an audience in the same room as the actors. If the actor is talking to him or herself, they are usually trying to sort out a plan, or what to do next, which can be effective for certain speeches (Hamlet's "To be or not to be" is an obvious example).

2. The actor is speaking directly to one or more members of the audience.

In this scenario, which is considered to be more appropriate to the environment of Shakespeare's plays when they were written and originally performed, the actor delivering the soliloquy speaks to the audience. The audience is acknowledged as being "in on" the action of the play; they see everything, and therefore are often privy to insider info. When Richard III shares his plan to undo his brother, George, and to marry the newly-widowed Anne at the end of Act I, Scene 1, and then gloats to us in another soliloquy at the end of the next scene ("Was ever woman in this humor woo'd? Was ever woman in this humor won? I'll have her, but I will not keep her long."), we are made co-conspirators to his wicked plans - and it's a lot of fun to root for the bad guy! And when Prince Hal tells us of his plan to redeem himself from his wild ways at the end of Act I, Scene 2 in Henry IV Part 1, we are given an intimate view of the prodigal prince that he doesn't show to Falstaff or his father, the king!

There are other ways to tackle the soliloquy that can be surprising:

In 1988, Sir Derek Jacobi directed a production of Hamlet and had Kenneth Branagh deliver "To be or not to be" directly to Sophie Thompson, who played Ophelia, bringing her onstage before her traditional entrance at the end of the speech. Turning the soliloquy into a scene between Hamlet and Ophelia was an inventive way to stage this insanely famous speech.

Turning a soliloquy into a voice-over can also be an effective storytelling tool, particularly in film. We can get the idea that we are inside the character's mind while they continue about their business onstage (or onscreen) and their voice relays their inmost thoughts.

So, how do you know the best way to handle your soliloquy? My best advice is to try it out in rehearsal every way you can think of!

Benedick's "This can be no trick" in Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 3 could be to himself, or to the audience, who has just witnessed the ridiculous plot laid by his friends to convince Benedick of his love for Beatrice. If the show is being played as a particularly broad comedy, it might be better to involve the audience in this conversation - but it depends entirely on the production!

On the other hand, when the novice nun Isabella weighs her choices about how to proceed when she is propositioned by Angelo to save her condemned brother's life in Act II, Scene 4 of Measure for Measure, it might not serve her so well to ask the audience "Did I tell this, who would believe me?" because we would believe her - we were there! Again, this is something to test in rehearsal to see what works best for that individual production, taking into account the pros and cons of talking to oneself or to the audience!

Wanna step up your Shakespeare game?

Email shakespearecoach@gmail.com to schedule your lesson!
Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!