Performing Shakespeare Unrehearsed

Bill Kincaid is a Professor of Theatre at Western Illinois University, and founder of Bard in the Barn, an event that has mounted Unrehearsed productions of 17 of Shakespeare’s plays. He has acted in Shakespeare productions at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the New England Shakespeare Festival, and Chicago’s Vitalist Theatre, and directs regularly at the Crossroads Repertory Theatre in Indiana and New York’s Cortland Repertory Theatre. He is a three-time recipient of the Classical Acting Coach Award from the National Partners— American Theatre, and was presented with the Illinois Theatre Association’s Award of Honor in 2014.

Acknowledgments

Chapter One: Why Unrehearsed?

Terminology

Reading the Cue Script

Other Sources

Chapter Two: Meter in Shakespeare

Basics of Iambic Pentameter

Irregularities

Short Lines

Expanding –ed Endings

Expanding Consecutive Pronounced Vowels

Long Lines

Shortening Consecutive Pronounced Vowels

Unaccented Medial Vowels

Shortening Words with Medial V

Contracting "The"

Overfull Lines

Inverted Feet

Beginnings of Speeches

Within Speeches

Summary

Chapter Three: This, That, Here, and There

Onstage Alone

Including the Audience

This

That

There and Here

Onstage with Other Characters

Identifying Yourself

There

This

Hero’s Blush

That

Audience as Characters

These

Monosyllables

Audience Confrontation

Summary

Chapter Four: We, Us, and Our

Ophelia’s Flowers and Herbs

Rosemary and Pansies

Fennel and Columbines

Rue

Grouping: Collective Words

Wearing the Rue

More Examples of Singular Versus Collective

Othello and Desdemona

Valentine, Speed, and the Outlaws

Unusual Grouping Scenarios

Grouping with Audience Members

Kings and Grouping

Mark Antony, Brutus, and the Assassins

Summary

Chapter Five: Thou and You

The Effect of Thou on Blocking

Thou between King and Subject

Thou between Powerful and Powerless

Thou between Parent and Child

Thou between Lovers

Thou between Husband and Wife

Thou Overpowering I/Me/My

Thou Implied by Verb Form

Summary

Chapter Six: Following and Throwing Stage Directions

Thrown Stage Directions: Blocking

Combinations with Written Stage Directions

Times When Stage Directions Should Not Be Followed

Impractical Abstractions

Improvised Dialogue

Metaphor

Creating Confusion

Thrown Directions Requiring Rehearsal

Music and Dancing

Dead Bodies

Combat

Throwing Directions to the Audience

Summary

Chapter Seven: Cross to the Character….

Crosses to Cue-Givers

Speaking To and Speaking About

Relationship Revelation

Intensifying Conflict

Exception: Characters in Hiding

Summary

Chapter Eight: Action to the Word

Action to the Verb: Thus

Action to the Verb: Will

Future Action at a Specific Time

Impossible Actions

Prevented by Circumstance

Prevented by Practicality

Prevented by Time

Prevented by Dialogue

Playable Action on Future Verbs

Violent

Transformative

Romantic

Bawdy

Combinations of Impossible and Playable

Descriptive Action to the Word

Descriptive Action to the Word in Context

Descriptive Action to the Word: Thus

Summary

Chapter Nine: Overlapping Speech

Short Lines and Overlap

Hamlet at Ophelia’s Grave

Mark Antony with the Plebeians

Simultaneous Speech

Repeated Cues

Summary

Chapter Ten: Preparing for Unrehearsed Performance

Cue Scripts

Creating Text Documents

Building Scrolls

Casting and Doubling

Developing a Doubling Chart

Casting

Platts and Prompter

Rehearsed Segments: Performance Based

Songs

Combat

Dance

Rehearsed Segments: Practicality Based

Furniture and Large Props

Quaint Devices

Costumes and Props

Text Sessions

Marking the Cue Script

Epilogue: In Performance

Guideline Summary

Unrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 200 Words

Unrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 100 Words

Unrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 50 Words

Unrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 25 Words

Unrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 15 Words

Unrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in Five Words