Breaking Down the Bard - "-ed" Endings

Have you ever wondered how classical actors know when to say "bless'd" or "bless-ed", "murder'd" or "murder-ed", "remember'd" or "remember-ed"? The truth is, a lot of them don't if it isn't already marked in their script for them, which it often isn't. Not to worry, though, I'm going to take the guesswork out of the "-ed ending" for you!

First things first: you need to know whether you're speaking in verse or prose. (Not sure? Here's how to tell the difference.)

If you're speaking in prose, you will usually pronounce the word however it's most commonly pronounced, most likely without the extra accented syllable. The main reason you might decide to emphasize the -ed would be for the sake of comedy; if a character is mocking another character, or attempting to sound more educated than they are, or is seeking to impress someone in vain, this might be a particularly fun character choice! I love hearing Benedick say "marri-ed" (as though it's a difficult word for him to say, or a foreign concept), or Bottom say "Pyramus is not kill-ed indeed" (because he is imagining speaking to the Duke at a very formal affair, and attempting to convince the other mechanicals to write a prologue for the play).

When speaking in verse, there are two things you need to consider:
1. How does this syllable change the rhythm of the line?
2. Is this word part of a rhyme?

Lord Capulet is a prime example:
Dead art thou! Alack, my child is dead,
And with my child, my joys are buried.

That second line can be perfect iambic pentameter, which I prefer here. It will scan like this:
and WITH my CHILD, my JOYS are BU-ri-ED.

See that? We need to stress the -ed in "buried", making it three syllables in order to fit the structure of iambic pentameter... otherwise, it's a syllable short. Also, when we make "buried" three syllables, it suddenly rhymes with the line before it, giving it additional weight and finality.

By contrast, Antipholus of Syracuse has this to say:
Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell?
Sleeping or waking, mad or well-advised?
Known unto these, and to myself disguised?

One could choose to say "WELL-ad-VIS-ed" and "my-SELF dis-GUIS-ed", therefore keeping the rhyme scheme and choosing a feminine ending for each line, but by keeping the lines perfect iambic pentameter, with "WELL-ad-VISED" and "my-SELF dis-GUISED", we still keep the rhyme, and keep the meter flowing.

KEEP IN MIND: Some editors will write "well-advis'd" and "myself disguis'd". While this can certainly be useful, it may just be one person's opinion, and it may not necessarily be the option that is best for the production you are doing. Compare different editions of the script, and see what works best for you!

Now, let's look at Bolingbroke in Richard II:
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
By you unhappied and disfigured clean;

This part of the speech can easily be entirely in perfect iambic pentameter. Check it out:
you HAVE mis-LED a PRINCE, a ROY-al KING,
a HAP-py GEN-tle-MAN in BLOOD and LIN-ea-MENTS*,
by YOU un-HAP-pied AND dis-FIG-ured CLEAN;

*lineaments here might be pronounced "lin-ya-ments" or "lin-a-ments", depending on preference, in order to keep the meter. 

Notice how in the third line here, "unhappied" and "disfigured" are each three syllables in order to maintain the verse structure. It rolls off the tongue quite easily and keeps the pace clipping along.

One more example, from Julius Caesar:
That I was constant Cimber should be banished,
And constant do remain to keep him so.

We have two clear options, but neither of them are perfect iambic pentameter:
that I was CON-stant CIM-ber SHOULD be BAN-ished
and CON-stant DO re-MAIN to KEEP him SO.

or

that I was CON-stant CIM-ber SHOULD be BAN-ish-ED
and CON-stant DO re-MAIN to KEEP him SO.

The first option features a feminine ending by making "banished" two syllables, while the second, with a three-syllable "banished" becomes a six-foot line, or iambic hexameter. Both of these choices are 100% acceptable, depending on what is preferred in the production.

Pretty simple, right? With a little practice, you'll be sure to impress the next time you step onstage or into the audition room!

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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.

Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!

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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