How to Perform Shakespeare Using Original Practices
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Keep the action moving right along.Bottes de drag queen image by ParisPhoto from Fotolia.com
Cast actors who are capable of playing several roles and are comfortable with cross-gender casting. Scholars such as Dr. Ralph Cohen of American Shakespeare Center think Shakespeare's own troupe performed with about eleven members, and most played multiple roles. In the 1500s women were prevented from acting by law, so men played all roles. Some specialized in playing women. Nowadays, modern theater companies expand the spirit of cross-gender casting to include women playing men, men playing women and all ages playing all ages as well. - 2). Pick up the pace. In Shakespeare's time, pre-show acts came on before the main attractions, minstrels sang constantly, and audiences milled all over the place while plays were in progress. There was no time for significant pauses on the part of actors. Keeping the audience engaged meant keeping the action brisk. The Chorus in "Romeo and Juliet" refers to the forthcoming play as "two hours' traffic on our stage." That's five acts in two hours. Scholars -- Patrick Spotiswoode of the New Globe, for instance -- take this to mean that things were proceeding with alacrity.
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Let the audience help create the environment with their imaginations.italian street signs image by Charlie Rosenberg from Fotolia.com
Ditch the scenery--or don't bother getting any. While Elizabethans loved costumes, their theaters' architecture was such that the audience surrounded the stage on three sides, making elaborate scenery unnecessary and inconvenient. Have actors announce the scene changes with words to the effect of, "Here we are in the woods in the middle of the night!" Let them act the environment--temperature, surroundings, population--instead. That's what Shakespeare did. - 4
Add any original or popular music you want.musician image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
Add the tunes: any tunes you want. Shakespeare's company integrated popular music into his plays. The scripts stayed more or less the same, but the soundtrack was constantly altering. If Shakespeare and company knew that a song was a big hit in the larger community, they'd find a way to get it into the play. In present times you might have to get legal permission to use popular music. Shakespeare's actors played instruments and wrote original music as well. - 5). Look the audience in the eye, and leave the lights on. Shakespeare's plays happened in the daylight, and his characters made no attempt to pretend the audience wasn't there. The audience got to be part of the plot--sometimes soldiers, sometimes judges, sometimes part of a rioting mob. The play's characters addressed themselves alternately to each other, to God and to the audience. When the actor playing Macbeth asked, "Is this a dagger that I see before me?" it wasn't a rhetorical question.
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