Everything You May Have Missed This Week

Scene Assignments

#1, Act 2, Scene 1
Esculas..... Sydney
Elbow....... Andy
Pompey..... Leith
Froth..........Jeanette
Angelo.......John

#2, Act 2, Scene 2
Angelo.....John
Isabella.... Gale
Lucio.......Leith

#3, Act 2, Scene 4
Angelo....Tom
Isabella....Jeanette
Servant.....Sydney

Each student is welcome to work on a Sonnet as well,
as their own time restraints permit.

For next week:

1) Familiarity With the Text. Memorize or not, you should be very familiar with the text.

Ways To Do That: Read it out loud over and over again. Get someone to read it with you-- ideally of course,you get together with your partner(s). Record the text and listen to it over and over. I had an acting friend who claimed that 23 -- or was it 27-- was the magic number. He said if practiced a text 23 times it stuck in his memory. Personally, I never kept count, but I know reading out loud, bit by bit and then chunk by chunk and then larger chunk by larger chunk always worked for me.
Pitfalls To Avoid: Not doing it. It's inconvenient, you're busy, you can't get together with your partner-- whatever. Do not let this stop you. I had another friend who said: Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Here, here.
The Other Big Pitfall: Doing it the same way each time. (Unless what you choose is a monotone.) Falling into a predictable rhythm or melody or WAY to do it. Keep changing it up. Do it with a funny accent. Try it while you do something else-- something physical. Throw a ball back and forth, take a vigorous walk, do jumping jacks.


2) Character Analysis

Look Through the Text of the Whole Play:
1) What is said about the character? (Consider the source.)
2) What does the character say about him/ herself?
3) What does the character DO? What actions do they take? A list will do nicely.

In This Scene:
1) What is the character's greatest wish or need?
2) What is their greatest fear?
3) How do they want the world to see them?
4) Hidden Truth: Something true about them that they do not want the world to see?
5) Essential line of text: Something this character says in this scene that strikes you as the essence of who they are.