Drama workshop with Sue Jenkins and David Fleeshman – session 4

Session 4

As the curtain closes on the #notgoingoutclub it’s time for our final acting class. With expert advice from Sue and David, learn how to master iambic pentameter and some of The Bard’s greatest soliloquies.

Shakespeare quiz

1. How many plays did Shakespeare write?
2. Name the three genres of his plays.
3. Name as many modern productions, (either in theatre, film, opera) which have been based on Shakespeare’s plays.
4. Iambic Pentameter. (fill in the gaps) In basic iambic pentameter, a line would have _____feet of iambs, which is an _______ and then a stressed syllable. This makes ___ beats to the line.
5. Example of Iambic Pentameter: ‘The quality of mercy is not strained’ a) What play is this taken from? b) What character is speaking the line?
6. Name three everyday modern phrases that we know were written by Shakespeare:

1. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________
3. __________________________________________

Soliloquies

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

(spoken by Hamlet)

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

(spoken by Juliet)

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot
Nor arm nor face nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.