What is it like to act in a Shakespearean play?

Question

How easy / difficult...as far as memorizing lines?

Answer 1

Playing a Shakespeare character is usually very rewarding, because his draws his characters with much more depth than many playwrights. The language can be tricky when you're just learning it, but with the aid of some great tools, like the "Shakespeare Lexicon" and "Speak the Speech!", you'll be able to pick it up pretty fast. The former is a 2 volume dictionary that defines archaic words found in Shakespeare, and is a good alternative to the Oxford English Dictionary, which may be available at your library, but is HUGE and not exactly portable. The latter is an excellent collection of Shakespeare monologues that have the verse scansion explained by two experience Shakespeareans. Also, the selection of monologues for men and women, young and old, is pretty definitive.

I have found that the easiest way to memorize lines is to understand EXACTLY what you are speaking. Every article, subject, verb, etc. Both word for word and then in context of the phrase. Then the words come naturally, and you won't have to think about it. Also, it's a matter of repetition, like any other type of play. Drilling the lines will help make them stick.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

I find it easier than most plays.

The great thing about Shakespeare is the he's done half the work for you -- all you have to do is help modern audiences make sense of the language and you're there. Today, we're not as used to listening and are more visually-oriented.

If you have verse, learn where he "violates" the rhythm -- it tells you what words he thinks are most important. It also helps in memorizing. If you have rhyme, it makes it even easier! Royal people, people in love, and faeries tend to rhyme.

If you have prose, you have to look a little harder for the important words, but they can be found pretty easily. If you make sure you know those words, it makes it easier to link them with the right words.

There is a wonderful book and set of videotapes called "Playing Shakespeare" that can help with the ideas of understanding and acting dramatic verse that was done with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but I think playing with the words and acting them is the best lesson!

Answer 3

The experience of acting in a Shakespeare play is one you will never forget. I was fortunate to perform in college on a replica of the Globe Theatre, which was where most of his plays were performed in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The set was built to conform to the size of the stage, and I imagined myself being an actor in Elizabethan England. I was most conscious, of course, of how I was delivering the lines to a modern audience.

Memorization is not too difficult; what I did was take little pieces of the lines at a time, and gradually added the next ones, always going back to the first few. After a while, they become as clear and as natural as walking.

Enjoy!

Answer 4

Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter. The fact that there is a steady rhythm can actually make memorization easier than in many modern plays. If you say the line wrong, it actually sounds wrong.

Memorization aside, performing Shakespeare is some of the most fun I've ever had!

Answer 5

Shakespeare is not the first, but he is the gold standard. Doing a play penned by this man is an honor, and it can be one of the great emotional and dramatic journeys you can take. I have done many plays, but when I want to center my self in my craft again, I find a Shakespeare show. It is the most fantastic time I have ever had on stage. Everybody should have the chance to do his shows.
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Answer 6

it's kinda like learning a different language. yet it really is not that difficult; it's like learning the words to a song that rhymes (although not all shakespearean plays rhyme). Just practice, practice, practice.

Answer 7

It can be hard, because after all, the actor has to really understand his character, and with Shakespeare, it can be even harder to understand what he is trying to convey in a character. One you believe you truely understand how your character acts however, its pretty much like any other play.

Answer 8

Its quite wonderful when you are working with good actors and a good director. The language becomes very natural once you really start using it to communicate rather than just reading it.

Answer 9

Depends on the part you get I am sure. Every play has a few one liners I am sure;

Answer 10

Kind of hard but very rewarding.