acting/actors: boy players 23–4; cold reading 60–2, 93, 96–7, 110; cue acting 24–5; in Elizabethan time 21–3; pausing 119–20, 168; picking up one’s cues 120; picking up one’s cues and shared lines 125; thrust stage acting 16, 31–2, 158, 159; “voice” actors 178; warm-up 63–6; women’s roles played by boys/men 15–16, 23–4; see also doing Shakespeare; film work; lessons; practice speeches (men); practice speeches (women); Shakespeare’s poetry

African American Baptist church tradition 101–2

agape 7

alexandrines 129

All’s Well That Ends Well: Boccaccio’s The Decameron as source 57; practice speech (women) 198; “problem play” 34, 40; synopsis 40

amphibrachs 121

anapests 121, 128

antithesis: concept 94, 164–5; “play the antithesis” exercise 165–7; and “pretty” speeches 171

Antony and Cleopatra: Plutarch as source 56; synopsis 51

The Arden Shakespeare 180

As You Like It: Celia’s and Rosalind’s “Herein I see thou lov’st me not” scene 115–16; Duke Frederick’s and Oliver’s “Not see him since?” scene 113–14; Jaques’ and Touchtone’s use of prose 146; Jaques’ “seven ages of man” speech 171; Kenneth Branagh’s film 175; Oliver’s and Orlando’s “Now, sir! what make you here?” scene 111–13; Orlando’s “Hang there, my verse” speech 79, 83; Orlando’s “O good old man” speech 114; Phebe and Silvius (Act III, Scene 5) 116–17, 146, 205–6; philia in 7; plot twists and boy players 23; practice speeches (women) 204–6; Rosalind and Phebe (Act III, Scene 5) 113, 204–6; synopsis 38–9; use of poetry and prose 118

audience: in Elizabethan time 16, 19–21; speaking directly to 32

Bacon, Francis 14

Baptist church tradition 101–2

Barton, John, Playing Shakespeare 88

bear-baiting 20, 156

Beckett, Samuel, Waiting for Godot 33

“become the words” exercise 76–9

big and loud, “size is more than big and loud” 159–61

Blackfriars Theatre (London) 159

blank verse (verse without rhyme) 90, 118, 119–20, 145, 147; see also iambic pentameters; “verse” lesson

blood and guts, “pretty speeches are about blood and guts” 170–1

Boas, Frederick Samuel 34, 40

Boccaccio, Giovanni, The Decameron 57

book overview 10–11

boy players 23–4

Branagh, Kenneth, Shakespeare films 147, 175

Brooke, Arthur, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet 57

Buchell, Arend van (Arnoldus Buchelius) 17

Burbage, Richard 22, 61

caesuras 120, 129

candle lighting 19

capping couplets 127, 133, 142

Cardenio (with John Fletcher) 57

caritas 7

Caxton, William 25

characters, “all Shakespearean characters are philosophers and poets” 176–7

charades (game) 76, 79

Chaucer, Geoffrey, Knight’s Tale 56

Chekhov, Anton 155

choruses, and use of rhyme verse 131

Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (Raphael Holinshed) 57

cock-fighting 20

cold reading 60–2, 93, 96–7, 110

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 32; see also “willing suspension of disbelief”

comedies, white flag atop theater 18

comedies (synopses): All’s Well That Ends Well 40; As You Like It 38–9; The Comedy of Errors 34; Love’s Labour’s Lost 36; Measure for Measure 40–1; The Merchant of Venice 37; The Merry Wives of Windsor 39; A Midsummer Night’s Dream 36–7; Much Ado About Nothing 37–8; The Taming of the Shrew 35; Troilus and Cressida 39–40; Twelfth Night 38; The Two Gentlemen of Verona 35–6

The Comedy of Errors: Dromio’s “Return’d so soon!” speech 70; practice speech (women) 200–1; prose for low comedy scene 146; synopsis 34

Condell, Henry 15

consonants, actors’ best friends 66, 88, 89

Cooke, Alexander 24

copyright 25

Coriolanus: Plutarch as source 56; synopsis 51–2

couplets: about 132–3; capping couplets 127, 133, 142; couplets between two characters 133–41

cue acting 24–5

cue scripting 25

cue scripts 22, 25–6, 30–1; A Midsummer Night’s Dream examples 26–30

Cymbeline: Boccaccio’s The Decameron as source 57; plot twists and boy players 23; synopsis 54–5

dactyls 121, 129

dancing, followed by speaking 73–4

Dench, Judi 147

de Vere, Edward, 17th Earl of Oxford 15

diction 65–6

discovery, “don’t report, make a discovery!” 167–8

“discovery place” 16

“divers schedules” passage (Twelfth Night) 153

doing see “doing” lesson; doing Shakespeare; “play what the scene is doing”

“doing” lesson: become the words 76–9; don’t think about it 69–71; every line is a new discovery 75–6; hop, kneel, crawl, and hug! 72–3; howl 66–8; sing 68–9; wrestle, kick, speak! 73–4; you are being chased 74–5

doing Shakespeare: acting Shakespeare vs. “Shakespearean” acting 57–9; “all Shakespearean characters are philosophers and poets” 176–7; antithesis and “play the antithesis” exercise 164–7; “don’t report, make a discovery!” 167–8; “leave your hands alone” 168–9; “paint the picture” and “A Pig in Slop” exercise 171–4; “play what the scene is doing” 161–4; “pretty speeches are about blood and guts” 170–1; “Shakespeare is too big for film” 174–5; “size is more than big and loud” 159–61; “speak a soliloquy as if your life depended on it” 169–70; “there is never a Fourth Wall” 158–9; “there is no subtext in Shakespeare” 153–8

“don’t report, make a discovery!” 167–8

“don’t think about it” exercise 69–71

Double Falsehood 57

“dueling Shakespeare” exercise 102–7

“Duh, Hell-oh, F—k!” exercise 87–9

Earl of Leicester’s Men 156

Edward III (or King Edward III) 57

“egg on your face” phrase 20

elisions 129

Elizabethan theatre: actors 21–3; audience 16, 19–21; cue acting and scripting 24–5; flags (black, white, red) atop theater 18; leaflets 18; lighting, universal and by candle 18–19; number of productions 24; scrolls (cue scripts) and example from A Midsummer Night’s Dream 25–31; the stage 16, 18; stage entries for actors 19; stage furniture 18; The Swan Theatre (circa. 1596) 17, 18; thrust stage acting 16, 31–2, 158, 159; women’s roles 15–16, 23–4

Elizabeth I, Queen of England 14, 15, 19, 20, 39

“emotion” lesson 89–90; dueling Shakespeare 102–7; grow from the ground up 100; the last line six times 98–100; in-motion, not emotion 90–4; my cat is dead 94–8, 177; roll on the floor 101–2

English Sumptuary Law, 1574 (The Statutes of Revels) 156–7

epilogues, and use of rhyme verse 131

eros 7

“every line is a new discovery” exercise 75–6

exposition, “don’t report, make a discovery!” 167–8

feminine (or weak) endings 127–8, 130

film work: film acting vs. acting Shakespeare 160; Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespeare films 147, 175; “less is more” dictum vs. acting Shakespeare 174; and mumbling 65; “Shakespeare is too big for film” 174–5

First Folio 15, 25–6, 124, 142

flags (atop theater in Elizabethan time) 18

Fletcher, John 45, 55–6, 57

Folger Shakespeare Library 124, 180

Fourth Wall: “there is never a Fourth Wall” 158–9; vs. thrust stage acting 31

F-word 87–8, 150

Globe Theatre (London) 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, 125, 159

glossary of common Shakespearean terminology 180–3

“gobbledygook” exercise 87

Greeks, words for love 7

Greek tragedy 89

groundlings 16

“grow from the ground up” exercise 100

guile, vs. subtext 154–5

Hamlet: Claudius’s “A very ribbon in the cap of youth” quote 178; Claudius’s prayer 129–31, 187–8; couplets 132–3; Hamlet’s “But I have that within which passeth show” scene 132; Hamlet’s “mirror up to nature” quote 60, 62; Hamlet’s “O, vengeance” quote 69; Hamlet’s “rogue and peasant slave” speech 73, 127; Hamlet’s “Speak the speech” speech 1–2; Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” speech 8–10, 128, 165, 169; Hamlet’s “With all my love I do commend me to you” speech 132–3; play-within-play 131; practice speech (men) 187–8; prose for speeches spoken out of madness 146; soldiers’ “Give you good night” scene 125–6; and speaking directly to the audience 32; synopsis 48

hands, “leave your hands alone” 168–9

“hang your verse” exercise 83–5

Hellman, Lillian 155

Hemminge, John 15

Henry IV, Part 1: mixture of iambic pentameter and prose 146; practice speech (women) 196–7; synopsis 44

Henry IV, Part 2, synopsis 45

Henry V: Chorus’s “O for a Muse of fire” speech 81–2; Chorus’s “on your imaginary forces work” line 172; Hostess’s “he’s not in hell” speech 146–7; Kenneth Branagh’s film 175; synopsis 45; use of poetry and prose 118, 131, 145–6; “Wooden O” 16

Henry VI, Part 1: practice speech (women) 195–6; synopsis 42

Henry VI, Part 2: possibly Shakespeare’s first play 14; synopsis 41

Henry VI, Part 3, synopsis 42

Henry VIII, synopsis 45–6

Herbert, Mary, Countess of Pembroke (née Sidney) see Pembroke, Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of

hexameters 129

histories (synopses): Henry IV, Part 1 44; Henry IV, Part 2 45; Henry V 45; Henry VI, Part 1 42; Henry VI, Part 2 41; Henry VI, Part 3 42; Henry VIII 45–6; King John 44; Richard II 43; Richard III 43

history plays, red flag atop theater 18

Holinshed, Raphael, Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland 57

Homer, Iliad 129

“hop, kneel, crawl, and hug!” exercise 72–3

“howl” exercise 66–8

Hughes, Margaret 23

iambic pentameters: about, terminology, and “doing” it 120–3; alexandrines 129; amphibrachs 121; anapests 121, 128; caesuras 120, 129; dactyls 121, 129; elisions 129; feminine (or weak) endings 127–8, 130; hexameters 129; imperfect lines 126–7; pyrrhics 129; scansion 121, 123, 129–31; shared lines 124–7; sonnets 141; for specific effect and weighty need 146; spondees 127, 129, 130; tetrameters 129; trochees 121, 128

Ibsen, Henrik 155

imperfect lines 126–7

“in-motion, not e-motion” exercise 90–4

intellectual property 25

in-the-round black box 159

James I, King of England 14, 19

Julius Caesar: Plutarch as source 47, 56; senate setting 18; synopsis 47–8

Kempe, Will 22, 38, 61; drawing of on Nine Daie’s Wonder cover 22

kicking, followed by speaking 73–4

King Edward III (or Edward III) 57

King John, synopsis 44

King Lear: description of wind in text 18; Edmund the Bastard silenced from speaking directly to audience 157; “Howl, howl, howl, howl!” scene 66–7; synopsis 49–50

King’s Men (formerly Lord Chamberlain’s Men) 14, 19, 24; see also Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later King’s Men)

Laban system 86

LaBute, Neil 58

“the last line six times” exercise 98–100

“leave your hands alone” 168–9

lessons: aim and advice 62–3, 107–8; warm-up 63–6; see also “doing” lesson; “emotion” lesson; “sound” lesson; “verse” lesson

librettos, and intellectual property/copyright 25

lighting, and Elizabethan stage 18–19

Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later King’s Men) 14, 19, 21, 24, 123, 156; see also King’s Men (formerly Lord Chamberlain’s Men)

love: Greeks’ six words for 7; outrageous situations caused by 4–5, 7–8, 89, 176

Love’s Labour’s Lost: plot totally created by Shakespeare 57; synopsis 36

ludus 7

Luhrmann, Baz, Romeo + Juliet 175

Macbeth: “I heard the owl scream” scene 124–5; “Let us seek out some desolate shade” scene and “doing” 161–3; Malcolm’s “We shall not spend a large expense of time” passage 117; prose for speeches spoken out of madness 146; Seyton’s “The queen, my lord, is dead” scene 167; spell cast by Weird Sisters 128; synopsis 50–1

McKellen, Ian, Richard III film 175

made-up words: New Millennium’s 150–1; Shakespeare’s 147–50; see also Shakespearean terminology glossary

“magic if” 3, 5

Manners, Roger, 5th Earl of Rutland 15

Marlowe, Christopher 15

Master of Revels 22

Measure for Measure: capping couplet 133; Claudio’s “Ay but to die/’tis too horrible!” speech 172, 177; Duke Vincentio’s “Shame to him” speech 132; Isabella’s “To whom should I complain?” speech 75, 197–8; practice speech (women) 197–8; “problem play” 34, 41; rhymed verse 132; synopsis 40–1

Meisner, Sanford, Meisner Technique 31

The Merchant of Venice: Al Pacino’s film 175; capping couplet 133; plot twists and boy players 23; “problem play” 34; synopsis 37

The Merry Wives of Windsor: Ford’s “Epicurean rascal” speech 87, 173, 189–90; practice speeches (men) 189–91; synopsis 39; use of poetry and prose 118–19

The Method 3, 122, 155

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: antithesis and “Pyramus and Thisbe” play-within-play 164; Bottom’s “I have had a most rare vision” line 176; cue script examples 26–30; “dueling” scenes 107; Helena’s “How happy” speech 80–1, 202–3; Hermia’s, Lysander’s and Helena’s “My good Lysander” scene 134–6; Oberon’s “I know a bank” speech 94, 170–1; Ovid as source 56–7; play-within-play 131, 164; practice speech (men) 188–9; practice speeches (women) 202–4; prose for low comedy scene 146; Quince’s “here are your parts” quote 60, 97; Quince’s “If that may be” quote 21; Quince’s “we will have such a prologue” passage 109; rhymed verse 131; synopsis 36–7; “them lines come real easy to you” anecdote 12, 178; Titania’s changeling child monologue 94

Miller, Arthur, Death of a Salesman 33, 44

More, Thomas see Sir Thomas More

motivation question 61, 69–70, 97; see also subtext

Much Ado About Nothing: Beatrice’s and Benedick’s “I wonder that you will still be talking” scene 105–6; Benedick’s “The world must be peopled!” speech 94, 193; Kenneth Branagh’s film 175; practice speeches (men) 192–3; synopsis 37–8

mumbling: and desire to be “real” 160; and “doing film” 65; and The Method 122; and “A Pig in Slop” exercise 174; Stanley Kowalski and mumbling realism (A Streetcar Named Desire) 120

musical scores, and intellectual property/copyright 25

Music Theatre International 25

“my cat is dead” exercise 94–8, 177

naturalism 155

New Variorum Shakespeare 180

Nine Daie’s Wonder, cover with Will Kempe drawing 22

No Fear Shakespeare 58

Olivier, Laurence 45

O’Neill, Eugene 1

onomatopoeia 86, 93

Othello: couplets 141; Desdemona first time played by a woman 23; Iago silenced from speaking directly to audience 157; Paul Robeson as 168; synopsis 49; use of poetry and prose 118

“outrageous” situations: caused by love 4–5, 7–8, 89, 176; defining “outrageous” 5–6; and doing Shakespeare 8–10; examples of “outrageous” plays 33; Shakespeare’s “outrageous” plays 33

Ovid, Metamorphosis 56–7

Pacino, Al, The Merchant of Venice film 175

“paint the picture” 171–3; “A Pig in Slop” exercise 173–4

Parks, Suzan-Lori 58

The Passionate Pilgrim 142

pausing 119–20, 168; see also caesuras

The Pelican Shakespeare 124

Pembroke, Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of 15

Pembroke, William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke 142

penny stinkers 16

pentameters see iambic pentameters; trochaic pentameters

performing, vs. reading 12, 26

Pericles, synopsis 52–3

peripeteia 142

philautia (self-love) 7

philia 7

picking up one’s cues 120; and shared lines 125

“A Pig in Slop” exercise 173–4

the pit 16

platt (call board) 22–3

Playing Shakespeare (John Barton) 88

plays-within-plays 131, 164

“play the antithesis” exercise 165–7

“play the play,” vs. “Shakespearean” acting 57–8

“play what the scene is doing” 161–4

plot twists, and female-playing actors 23

Plutarch, Lives 47, 56

poetic meter 31

poetry see blank verse (verse without rhyme); couplets; iambic pentameters; Shakespeare’s poetry; sonnets; “verse” lesson

practice speeches (men): Hamlet 187–8; The Merry Wives of Windsor 189–91; A Midsummer Night’s Dream 188–9; Much Ado About Nothing 192–3; Romeo and Juliet 184–7; The Two Gentlemen of Verona 191–2

practice speeches (women): All’s Well That Ends Well 198; As You Like It 204–6; The Comedy of Errors 200–1; Henry IV, Part 1 196–7; Henry VI, Part 1 195–6; Measure for Measure 197–8; A Midsummer Night’s Dream 202–4; Romeo and Juliet 194–5; The Taming of the Shrew 201–2; The Tempest 201; The Winter’s Tale 199

pragma 7

pretty speeches, “pretty speeches are about blood and guts” 170–1

printing press 25

“problem plays” 33–4, 40, 41, 49, 54

projection 66

prologues, and use of rhyme verse 131

prompter (or theater manager) 22

proscenium stage 31, 158, 159

prose: mixture of poetry and prose 117–19; significance of its use 145–7; “write it in prose” exercise 80–1

public beheadings 20, 156

punctuation, and pausing 120

pyrrhics 129

quatrains 141–2

Rabe, David, Streamers 20

Raleigh, Walter 15

The Rape of Lucrece 14, 142; “For more it is than I can well express” passage 176; “‘O Peace!’ quoth Lucrece” passage 89

realism: carnage in Shakespeare’s plays 20; mumbling and desire to be “real” 160; mumbling realism and Stanley Kowalski (A Streetcar Named Desire) 120; non-realistic performance style and Shakespeare’s plays 24; realistic possibilities in Shakespeare 62

reporting, “don’t report, make a discovery!” 167–8

“research” process 58

Richard II: “How long a time lies in one little word!” quote 109; rhymed verse 131; synopsis 43

Richard III: Ian McKellen’s film 175; Richard silenced from speaking directly to audience 157; synopsis 43

Robeson, Paul 168

Rogers and Hammerstein Organization 25

role, origin of term 25

“roll on the floor” exercise 101–2

romances (synopses): Cymbeline 54–5; Pericles 52–3; The Tempest 55; The Two Noble Kinsmen 55–6; The Winter’s Tale 53–4

Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann’s film) 175

Romeo and Juliet: balcony scene 137–8; Chorus’s “two-hours’ traffic of our stage” line 99, 107; Chorus’s “Two households” speech 85–6, 184–5; Friar Laurence’s and Romeo’s “What early tongue so sweet saluteth me?” scene 138–40; Friar Laurence’s “I will be brief” speech 167; “Gregory, o’ my word, we’ll not carry coals” scene 103–5; inspired by Arthur Brooke’s poem 57; Juliet’s “Come, vial” line 69; Juliet’s “My dismal scene’ lines 126–7; ludus and eros in 7; Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech 76–9, 173, 185–6; Peter character and laughs 61; practice speeches (men) 184–7; practice speeches (women) 194–5; rhymed verse 131–2; Romeo’s and Juliet’s first conversation in sonnet form 142–4; synopsis 47

Rose Theatre (London) 14

scansion 121, 123, 129–31

scrolls 25–6, 30–1; A Midsummer Night’s Dream examples 26–30

self-love (philautia) 7

Shakespeare, William: authorship issue 14–15; brief biography 13–15; emotional speeches 90; and outrageous situations caused by love 4–5, 8–10, 33; “problem plays” 33–4, 40, 41, 49, 54; Sonnets and sexuality issue 142; source material 56–7; synopses of comedies 34–41; synopses of histories 46–52; synopses of romances 52–7; synopses of tragedies 46–52; works outside canon 57; see also doing Shakespeare; Elizabethan theatre; Shakespearean characters; Shakespearean terminology glossary; Shakespeare’s poetry

“Shakespearean” acting, vs. “play the play” 57–8

Shakespearean characters, “all Shakespearean characters are philosophers and poets” 176–7

Shakespearean terminology glossary 180–3

The Shakespeare Book of Lists 148–50

Shakespeare’s poetry: “doing” vs. “studying” it 109–10; made-up words 147–51; mixture of poetry and prose 117–19; poetry and “A Pig in Slop” exercise 174; poetry without rhyme, pausing and punctuation 119–20; prose 145–7; rhymed verse and couplets 131–41; sonnets 141–5; thou and you 110–17; summary 151–2; see also blank verse (verse without rhyme); couplets; iambic pentameters; Shakespearean terminology glossary; sonnets

shared lines, and iambic pentameters 124–7

Shaw, George Bernard 1

“sides” 25

Simon, Neil, The Odd Couple 33

“sing” exercise 68–9

Sir Thomas More 57

“size is more than big and loud” 159–61

soliloquies, “speak a soliloquy as if your life depended on it” 169–70

songs 131

sonnets: definition and terminology 141–2; “Mark how one string” quote (8.910) 86; in Romeo and Juliet 142–4; “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day …?” (Sonnet 18) 144; Sonnets (1592-1598) 142; “write a sonnet” exercise 144–5

Sophocles 6; Oedipus Rex 33

“sound” lesson: “Duh, Hell-oh, F—k!” 87–9; gobbledygook 87; onomatopoeia 86, 93

Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton 142

South Pacific 33

SparkNotes 58

speeches see practice speeches (men); practice speeches (women); pretty speeches; soliloquies

spondees 127, 129, 130

stage: in Elizabethan time 16–19; proscenium stage 31, 158, 159; in-the-round black box 159; thrust stage 16, 31–2, 158, 159

Stanislavsky, Konstantin 3, 79, 107, 155

The Statutes of Revels (English Sumptuary Law, 1574) 156–7

storytelling, “paint the picture” and “A Pig in Slop” exercise 171–4

Strasberg, Lee 155

Stratford-on-Avon, England 13, 14

Strindberg, August 155

subtext, “there is no subtext in Shakespeare” 153–8

“suspension of disbelief” 32, 159

The Swan Theatre, drawing (circa. 1596) 17, 18

The Taming of the Shrew: “dueling” scenes 107; Katherina’s “Unknit that threatening unkind brow” speech 97–8; practice speech (women) 201–2; “study what you most affect” quote 1; synopsis 35

Tams-Witmark 25

“tear the words!” exercise 81–2

The Tempest: Caliban’s “I must eat my dinner” speech 72; description of Prospero’s foes 18; plot totally created by Shakespeare 57; practice speech (women) 201; Prospero’s “Our revels now are ended” speech 178; songs 131; synopsis 55

tetrameters 129

theater, vs. theatre 11

theater manager (or prompter) 22

Theobald, Lewis 57

thou and you 110–17

thrust stage 16, 31–2, 158, 159

Timon of Athens: Plutarch as source 56; “problem play” 34, 49; synopsis 49

Titus Andronicus: depictions of carnage 20; Marcus’s “Who is this?” speech 90–4, 96, 99; and outrageous situations caused by love 5; Ovid as source 56–7; and speaking directly to the audience 32; synopsis 46–7; Titus’s “doth not the earth o’erflow” passage 4

tragedies, black flag atop theater 18

tragedies (synopses): Antony and Cleopatra 51; Coriolanus 51–2; Hamlet 48; Julius Caesar 47–8; King Lear 49–50; Macbeth 50–1; Othello 49; Romeo and Juliet 47; Timon of Athens 49; Titus Andronicus 46–7

Tree, Herbert Beerbohm 5

trochaic pentameters 123

trochees 121, 128

Troilus and Cressida: “problem play” 34; synopsis 39–40; “Things won are done” quote 66

Twelfth Night: capping couplet 133; description of sea storm 18; Malvolio’s “Be not afraid of greatness” quote 13; Malvolio’s “Daylight and champian” speech 74; Malvolio’s “Do you come near me now!” speech 94; Malvolio’s “O, ho!” line 68; Olivia’s “divers schedules of my beauty” passage 153; plot twists and boy players 23; rhymed verse 131; songs 131; synopsis 38

The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Boccaccio’s The Decameron as source 57; “kind Julia / unkind Julia” speech 81; Launce’s “Crab, my dog” speech 173, 191–2; plot twists and boy players 23; practice speech (men) 191–2; synopsis 35–6

The Two Noble Kinsmen, synopsis 55–6

universal lighting 18–19

Venus and Adonis 14, 142

“verb to verb” exercise 85–6

“verse” lesson 79; hang your averse 83–5; tear the words! 81–2; verb to verb 85–6; write it in prose 80–1

verse without rhyme (blank verse) 90, 118, 119–20, 145, 147; see also iambic pentameters; “verse” lesson

viewpoints system 86

violence, “realistic” depictions of 20

“voice” actors 178

warm-up 63–6

weak (or feminine) endings 127–8, 130

whispering 67

white make-up, and lead poisoning 24

Williams, Tennessee, Stanley Kowalski and mumbling realism (A Streetcar Named Desire) 120

“willing suspension of disbelief” 32, 159

Wilson, Lanford 155

The Winter’s Tale: Bohemian desert setting 18; Camillo’s “Here comes Bohemia!” speech 99–100; practice speech (women) 199; “problem play” 34, 54; synopsis 53–4

Witt, Johannes de 17

women’s roles: played by boys/men 15–16, 23–4; playing Mercutio 77; see also practice speeches (women)

“Wooden O” 16

“wrestle, kick, speak!” exercise 73–4

“write it in prose” exercise 80–1

you and thou 110–17

“you are being chased” exercise 74–5