Performing Shakespeare Unrehearsed

Bill Kincaid is a Professor of Theatre at Western Illinois University, and founder of Bard in the Barn, an event that has mounted Unrehearsed productions of 17 of Shakespeare’s plays. He has acted in Shakespeare productions at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the New England Shakespeare Festival, and Chicago’s Vitalist Theatre, and directs regularly at the Crossroads Repertory Theatre in Indiana and New York’s Cortland Repertory Theatre. He is a three-time recipient of the Classical Acting Coach Award from the National Partners— American Theatre, and was presented with the Illinois Theatre Association’s Award of Honor in 2014.

• AcknowledgmentsChapter One: Why Unrehearsed?TerminologyReading the Cue ScriptOther SourcesChapter Two: Meter in ShakespeareBasics of Iambic PentameterIrregularitiesShort LinesExpanding –ed EndingsExpanding Consecutive Pronounced VowelsLong LinesShortening Consecutive Pronounced VowelsUnaccented Medial VowelsShortening Words with Medial VContracting "The"Overfull LinesInverted FeetBeginnings of SpeechesWithin SpeechesSummaryChapter Three: This, That, Here, and ThereOnstage AloneIncluding the AudienceThisThatThere and HereOnstage with Other CharactersIdentifying YourselfThereThisHero’s BlushThatAudience as CharactersTheseMonosyllablesAudience ConfrontationSummaryChapter Four: We, Us, and OurOphelia’s Flowers and HerbsRosemary and PansiesFennel and ColumbinesRueGrouping: Collective WordsWearing the RueMore Examples of Singular Versus CollectiveOthello and DesdemonaValentine, Speed, and the OutlawsUnusual Grouping ScenariosGrouping with Audience MembersKings and GroupingMark Antony, Brutus, and the AssassinsSummaryChapter Five: Thou and YouThe Effect of Thou on BlockingThou between King and SubjectThou between Powerful and PowerlessThou between Parent and ChildThou between LoversThou between Husband and WifeThou Overpowering I/Me/MyThou Implied by Verb FormSummaryChapter Six: Following and Throwing Stage DirectionsThrown Stage Directions: BlockingCombinations with Written Stage DirectionsTimes When Stage Directions Should Not Be FollowedImpractical AbstractionsImprovised DialogueMetaphorCreating ConfusionThrown Directions Requiring RehearsalMusic and DancingDead BodiesCombatThrowing Directions to the AudienceSummaryChapter Seven: Cross to the Character….Crosses to Cue-GiversSpeaking To and Speaking AboutRelationship RevelationIntensifying ConflictException: Characters in HidingSummaryChapter Eight: Action to the WordAction to the Verb: ThusAction to the Verb: WillFuture Action at a Specific TimeImpossible ActionsPrevented by CircumstancePrevented by PracticalityPrevented by TimePrevented by DialoguePlayable Action on Future VerbsViolentTransformativeRomanticBawdyCombinations of Impossible and PlayableDescriptive Action to the WordDescriptive Action to the Word in ContextDescriptive Action to the Word: ThusSummaryChapter Nine: Overlapping SpeechShort Lines and OverlapHamlet at Ophelia’s GraveMark Antony with the PlebeiansSimultaneous SpeechRepeated CuesSummaryChapter Ten: Preparing for Unrehearsed PerformanceCue ScriptsCreating Text DocumentsBuilding ScrollsCasting and DoublingDeveloping a Doubling ChartCastingPlatts and PrompterRehearsed Segments: Performance BasedSongsCombatDanceRehearsed Segments: Practicality BasedFurniture and Large PropsQuaint DevicesCostumes and PropsText SessionsMarking the Cue ScriptEpilogue: In PerformanceGuideline SummaryUnrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 200 WordsUnrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 100 WordsUnrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 50 WordsUnrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 25 WordsUnrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in 15 WordsUnrehearsed Shakespeare Guidelines in Five Words