Book Review: “Instant Shakespeare” by Louis Fantasia
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For anyone interested in the art of analyzing and acting Shakespeare this is a book I highly recommend you keep in your theatre library. Louis Fantasia was the Educational Director for the Shakespeare Globe Center (USA) in 1984 and was the first director to mount a production to the New Globe Theatre in London so believe me when I say that he knows his stuff.
Fantasia’s approach to Shakespeare is marvelous because he focuses on the action of the play, not the dialogue. It’s become sacrilegious in the theatre world to say that the text isn’t the most important component of a Shakespeare play, but it’s not; the action is! Fantasia says that Shakespeare’s words without actions are like fight scenes with no danger; it’s only so much “banging at swords.” Without the action, Shakespeare’s words retain their beauty while becoming monotonous and boring.
Despite the horribly misleading title, this book is fabulously done. Fantasia is the first to admit that Shakespeare isn’t so easy as to be truly “instant.” The title refers to a series of steps that any actor can apply to break down any monologue or whole play. Fantasia has created a wonderful system for decoding the mysteries of Shakespeare. He gives questions to ask while doing analysis and even tips on performance. He presents the actor with a scientific method for breaking Shakespeare down and performing what you find inside.
I’m going to be doing a few articles in the future dealing with some of the things discussed in Instant Shakespeare, but for right now I want to leave you with something to ponder. Below is Louis Fantasia’s definition of “What is Acting?” It’s the best definition I’ve found and I suggest writing it on a note card and keeping it in your rehearsal bag.
“ACTING: is the organized and repeatable physical manifestation of an emotional state of being, the corollary to which is: Acting is the study of breath.”
Monologue Analysis Pt. 3: “Shakespeare!”
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All right, Part Three: Shakespeare! In this section we’re going to list a few tips on the analysis of Monologues from the Bard. Many of the things listed below are covered in greater detail in Louis Fantasia’s Instant Shakespeare, a book I highly recommend to any actor interested in playing Shakespeare. Please don’t say “Doing Shakespeare” is makes it sound like a terrible chore. Shakespeare shouldn’t be any different from any other writer. His characters are still meant to be played in a real way, his stories still emotionally gripping. As an actor you are still required to live honestly. Well, after Much Ado About Nothing, let’s get down to it:
- Re-Punctuate for Breath – we discussed in Part One of Monologue Analysis how to score for breath. Re-punctuating is the same, but serves a different purpose when dealing with Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays were first published by his friends in The First Folio, years after his death. Shakespeare was never alive to see his plays in print, which causes something of a problem with accuracy. Also causing an accuracy problem is the fact that when the plays were compiled they had to be stitched together from bits and pieces of whole plays. From then on, whenever Shakespeare’s plays are reprinted, they are overseen by a new editor with every new printing. Needless to say, no one can confirm what version of the punctuation is correct. Because of this you must decide how to play with the punctuation. Do you follow strictly with what an editor added, or do you ignore it completely?An easy answer to that is to Re-Punctuate with breath. We’ll begin the same way we began when scoring previous monologues. Write up a new version without any punctuation or grammar. Now read your monologue out loud, only pausing when you need to take a breath. Now write in your own punctuation. How do the two versions compare? The system is the same, but it becomes even more helpful when working with Shakespeare because now we’ve added a more natural rhythm for your character.
- Make the Nouns Sounds Like What They Are – Go through your monologue and underline only the nouns. Now go back and read it out loud, making the nouns sound like what they are. How can you make the word dog, sound like a dog? How can you make the word river, sound like a river?
- Stress the Verbs – Next do the same thing we’ve done before, but underline the verbs this time. Now go through and make the nouns sound like what they are and stress the verbs. Verbs are what make your monologue sound dynamic, they are what move your monologue along, they are want you want to push.
- Leave the Adj. / Adv. Alone – remember as you read through your monologue, making the nouns sound like what they are and stressing the verbs, to leave the adjectives and the adverbs alone. Don’t stress those. So many actors stress nothing but the adjectives and adverbs when presented with Shakespeare. Those tend to be the prettiest words and actors seem to feel like they have to stress the imagery and poetry of the monologue. The language is beautiful as it is and stressing those words will only serve to slow your monologue down and take away its focus by distracting from nouns and verbs. Move it along and leave them alone.
- I / THOU Connection – Remember in Part Two when we discussed knowing who you’re talking to? Well this is quite like that. When analyzing your Shakespearian monologue go through and find every I / Thou / You and discover who / what you are talking to / about. This is extremely important because you have to ask yourself the question: Who is Hamlet talking to when he says “To be or not to be?” Is he talking to God? The audience? Himself? That’s a decision that’s going to affect how you play that role.
As I said before, if you’re interested in Shakespearian drama I highly suggest reading Louis Fantasia. Instant Shakespeare, despite its title, isn’t about a quick fix. No, like The Alchemist it is about supplying actors with the tools to be brilliant every time they step on stage. I do not offer quick-fixes, I offer you the knowledge to make yourself better and the chance to do the same for others. That’s it for today, from The Alchemist, remember to be Specific, be Constant and Sin Boldly!
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