A great fear expressed by all of our seniors in the early part of the school year is the damnable college requirement for Shakespeare. To begin, they seek someone or something to “translate” the text. I do remind you that the text IS in English – – and that Shakespeare would be much more justified in wanting your everyday speech “translated” for him then you his. The second comment that ruffles my feathers a bit is the label that Shakespeare is “Old English”. There is nothing “old” about the English of Shakespeare. Shakespeare was there writing at the very birth of English. Shakespeare is NEW English. You want to hear OLD English? Here is clipping from Beowulf:
Hwät! we Gâr-Dena in geâr-dagum
þeód-cyninga þrym gefrunon,
hû þâ äðelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scêfing sceaðena þreátum.
Now THIS is old English. How do you know something is in Old English? Easy. Your spell checker will underline each and every word in bright red.
Yee should not fear Shakespeare. Yee should find it easier than any other text. How sayeth I so? Shakespeare has done 90% of the work for the actor. He gives you the setting. He gives you the mood. He gives you the objective. He even provides you the thinking and the subtext for the moment. It is all in his words! Shakespeare should be the easiest work you have ever done as an actor!
Due to your deficiency of vocabulary you will need to look up the meaning of the words and you need to turn to more then just dictionary.com You will need to go to a site like the Oxford English Dictionary where you will find words fully defined – – as in the word “glance” will take several PAGES to define fully. Then highlight the verbs and circle the punctuation. You are now starting your journey.
How to handle the verse? This is a challenge. We are not used to hearing the spoken word set to invisible music. I have found it helpful for the young actor to have them see it as the heartbeat of the speech. – the blood flow that keeps the speech alive. It doesn’t need your help to keep pumping, but you can’t ignore it. And you CERTAINLY don’t want to fight it. Shakespearean pacemakers are hard to find.
By no means is this the full picture of the work you have ahead of you – – but don’t stop by my office door with your sad little copy of a monologue and interrupt my cold fried chicken lunch until you have done your work.