Some of my fellow actors seemed surprised last night when they saw what I had done to my script. I guess it may be a little unusual, but I think it's a good exercise. First off, I create a prompt script, meaning a script than contains only my lines and cues. It's easier to carry around and easier to find things in. It also has the psychological effect of making it seem to me that I have less to memorize. If I have lines in verse, I create a table with ten columns and scan each line into the chart. I use this script to memorize the lines. This way, I learn them phonetically. If I scan the line and realize a syllable needs to be elided, every time I look at the prompt script, that syllable isn't there. Typing the entire part over again also helps with memorization.
I'm posting a page of my prompt script as an example, subject to the proviso that I'm not asserting this is the only way the lines on this page can be scanned. There are often many ways a line can be scanned. One of the things I enjoyed most about George Wright's
Shakespeare's Metrical Art was a passage in which Wright noted the various ways scholars had scanned certain lines of verse. If people who know a LOT more than I do disagree, it's liberating. It becomes another creative process instead of something to dread.
As the author of a play analysis text book (Introduction to Play Analysis), and a former Assoc Artistic Director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, I think this is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure -- are you assuming that Shakespeare's verse is always "regular"?
ReplyDeleteHave a look at the mark up system in " How to Speak Shakespeare," and its mark-up system.
Thanks, Scott.
ReplyDeleteAnd Cal, no, I definitely don't think verse is always regular. Putting it in a chart like this makes it easier for me to see where the irregular lines are in relation to one another. The next logical step, I suppose, is to highlight every trochee, spondee, etc. I don't usually go that far. I actually think "iambic pentameter" is a misnomer - even in the early plays, only something like 80% of the lines are regular. In later plays, the percentage goes down significantly. This is just a tool that is helpful to me - not a practice I think everyone should adopt.