TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE: WHAT YOU MOST AFFECT
Let the Earth Oerflow
So What Do I Mean, Really, by Outrageous?
And What Do I Mean Caused by Love?
How Outrageous Applies to Playing Shakespeare
Two Suggestions
ACT 1: SHAKSPER YOUR BFF
Who He was, What he Did and What that Means for Us Actors
Shakespeares Theatre
The Elizabethan Stage
Shakespeares Audience
The Actors Task
All Womens Roles Played by Boys
Scrolls, No Scripts!
Shakspers "Outrageous" Plays
Summary: What This Means for Your Acting
ACT 2: HOLDING UP MIRRORS
Shakespeare as a Cold Read
Lessons Introduction
Warmup
Lesson 1: Doing
Exercise 1: Howl
Exercise 2: Sing
Exercise 3: Dont Think About It
Exercise 4: Hop, Kneel Crawl and Hug!
Exercise 5: Wrestle, Kick, Speak!
Exercise 6: You Are Being Chased
Exercise 7: Every Line is a New Discovery
Exercise 8: Become the Words: The Queen Mab Speech
Variation: Let the Class Choose What You Become
Lesson 2: Verse
Exercise 9: Write it in Prose
Exercise 10: Tear the Words!
Exercise 11: Hang Your Verse
Exercise 12: Verb to Verb
Lesson 3: Sound
Exercise 13: Gobbledygook
Exercise 14: Duh, Hell-o, FK!
Lesson 4: Emotion
Exercise 15: In-Motion, Not E-Motion
Exercise 16: My Cat is Dead
Exercise 17: The Last Line 6 Times
Exercise 18: Grow From the Ground Up
Exercise 19: Roll on the Floor
Exercise 20: Dueling Shakespeare
Summary
ACT 3: WORDS, WORDS, WORDS!
Thou and You
The Poetry That Doesnt Rhyme
The Joys of Iambic Pentameter
Shared Lines
A Feminine Ending
More Tools from Shakespeares Arsenal
Scansion in Action
Rhymed Verse and Couplets: A Poet and Do Know It
Sonnets
Exercise 21: Write a Sonnet
Prose: How We Talk
Dag-nabbit! Shakespeares Made-Up Words
Summary
ACT 4: DIVERS SCHEDULES:
A FEW ITEMS PICKED UP WATCHING ACTORS DO SHAKESPEARE
Item 1: There is No Subtext in Shakespeare
Item 2: There is Never a Fourth Wall
Item 3: Size is About More than Being Big and Loud
Item 4: Play What the Scene is DOINGNot Just What the Words Mean
Item 5: Antithesis is Fighting for an Answer by Comparing Opposites
Exercise 22: Play the Antithesis
Item 6: Dont Report, Make a Discovery!
Item 7: Leave Your Hands ALONE
Item 8: Speak a Soliloquy as if Your Life Depended upon itBecause it Does
Item 9: Pretty Speeches are About Blood and Guts
Item 10: Paint the Picture!
Exercise 23: A Pig in Slopwith the Words
Item 11: Shakespeare is Too Big for Film
Item 12: All Shakespearean Characters are Philosophers, and Poets
POSTSCRIPT:
"A very ribbon in the cap of youth."
GLOSSARYA Listing of Common Shakespeare Terminology
PRACTICE SPEECHES for Men and Women
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RECOMMENDED READING