Acting Shakespeare - John Barton - Judi Dench - Masterclass - Part 7 - Rehearsing the Text - 4K

Name: Acting Shakespeare - John Barton - Judi Dench - Masterclass - Part 7 - Rehearsing the Text - 4K
Uploaded: 2024-09-27T07:43:37+00:00
Duration: 52 min 43 s
Channel: Shakespeare Network

Shakespeare Network

2 days ago

"Barton’s legacy is the most exhilarating tribute one can pay to Shakespeare."
Maximianno Cobra - Shakespeare Network - Founder and Artistic Director

The Royal Shakespeare Company founder John Barton holds a masterclass featuring:
- CAST -
JUDI DENCH
IAN MCKELLEN
PATRICK STEWART
BEN KINGSLEY
DAVID SUCHET
PEGGY ASHCROFT
and members of the RSC:
Tony Church, Sinead Cusak, Mike Gwilym, Susan Fleetwood, Sheila Hancock, Terry Hands, Lisa Harrow, Alan Howard, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Jane Lapotaire, Michael Pennington, Richard Pasco, Norman Rodway and Donald Sinden.

Playing Shakespeare - The series features nine master classes on Shakespearean performance.

First group - Objective Things:
- Part One: The Two Traditions - Elizabethan and Modern Acting
- Part Two: Using the Verse - Heightened and Naturalistic Verse
- Part Three: Language & Character - Making the Words One's Own
- Part Four: Set Speeches & Soliloquies - Taking the Audience with You

Second group - Subjective Things:
- Part Five: Irony & Ambiguity - Text That Isn't It Seems
- Part Six: Passion & Coolness - A Question of Balance
- Part Seven: Rehearsing the Text - Orsino and Viola
- Part Eight: Exploring a Character - Playing Shylock
- Part Nine: Poetry & Hidden Poetry - Three Kinds of Failure

John Bernard Adie Barton, CBE (26 November 1928 – 18 January 2018), was a British theatre director and teacher whose close association with the Royal Shakespeare Company spanned more than half a century.

Co-founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, John Barton was, with Trevor Nunn and Peter Hall, one of the legendary theatre directors whose work and acting collaborations in the mid twentieth century would effect the course of Shakespeare on stage in successive decades. His biography includes a range of landmark production through the sixties and seventies (including the 1969 Twelfth Night with Judi Dench as Viola, and the 1970 A Midsummer Night's Dream with Patrick Stewart as Oberon), and with his abilities in helping actors through workshops, his presence and influence are felt even further.

This recording is for educational purposes only and is covered under Fair Use doctrine - Copyright - All rights reserved to their respective owners.

Read the unabridged plays online: https://shakespearenetwork.net/works/plays

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Screen Adaptation - Co-Production : MISANTHROPOS – Official Website - https://www.misanthropos.net
Adapted by Maximianno Cobra, from Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens", the film exposes the timeless challenge of social hypocrisy, disillusion and annihilation against the poetics of friendship, love, and beauty.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6946736/

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00:00I'm going to play a little bit of it, and then I'm going to play a little bit of it again.

00:30In the previous programmes, we've looked at lots of little bits of Shakespeare's text.

00:54We're going to look this evening at a longer passage, one that's virtually a whole scene

00:59by itself. We're going to work on it as if we were actually rehearsing the play. Lots

01:05of the points we've talked about will come up, because I particularly want to dig into

01:09the scene for its textual richness and the verse. Of course, if we were rehearsing the

01:14play for full, there'd be lots of rehearsals where the text wasn't talked about, and much

01:18more time would be spent on the relationship of the characters and the staging. But I want

01:23to stick here to the basic theme of playing Shakespeare. What hints and help are there

01:28in Shakespeare's text, and particularly in his verse, for the actors to seize upon and

01:33to use? Here's a scene from Twelfth Night between Orsino and Vala. She's disguised as

01:42a boy, and she's in love with him, but he doesn't know this. She's acting as his servant

01:48and messenger. So let's start the scene off from the top.

01:55Give me some music. Now, good morrow, friends. Now, good Cesario, about that piece of song,

02:03that old and antique song we heard last night, that's what did relieve my passion much. Come,

02:08but one verse. He is not here so please your lordship that

02:12should sing it. Who was it? Festy the jester, my lord, a fool that the Lady Olivia's father

02:17took much delight in. Here's a bite the house. Seek him out, and play the tune the while.

02:24Okay. Now, that beginning is pretty straightforward, and we don't need to stop on it very long.

02:29Just want to point out one thing about the verse. We've said how Shakespeare gets extra

02:34stress by stressing an offbeat word in the verse line, like going dum-dum instead of

02:39de-dum, and you to kick the scene off have two or three of those. You say, give me some

02:44music, which picks up the scene and launches you into the scene, which wants to go further,

02:49I think. Then the next line, now, good Cesario, so you're starting something. Come, but one

02:56verse. Those three extra stresses at the beginning suggests your eagerness and excitement at

03:02the beginning of the scene. You're going to go more mellow later. There's one textual

03:06hint about the ruminative nature of Orsino, which is that old and antique song. You love

03:12and indulge old, ancient, and antique songs. Let's go back on that. From the top. Yeah.

03:22Give me some music. Now, good morrow, friends. Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song,

03:30an old and antique song we heard last night, we thought it did relieve my passion much.

03:36Come, but one verse. He is not here, so please your lordship, that should sing it. Who was

03:42it? Festy, the jest of my lord, a fool that the lady Livia's father took much delight

03:46in. He is about the house. Seek him out and play the tune the while. I'm saying that presumably

03:53to some musicians. Yes. That we may or may not have. We thought music. Where are they?

03:58Because I'm looking over there. I think they're over there. That's where your musicians are.

04:04Over that way. Now, before we go on to the next bit, let me just, I don't want to stop

04:10too long on this bit either, but let me just point out one or two things in the verse in

04:14the next speech. The business of extra stress again in Shakespeare. In the second line,

04:21in the sweet pangs did he dum-dum. That sweet is in an offbeat contrapuntal position and

04:28has extra stress because of it. And of course, the balance between sweet and pangs need bringing

04:34out because that's what Orsino is. It is sweet to him and he is in pain, but he loves

04:39it. And love with love, right? In love with love. And then at the end of the speech, you

04:45have a very simple monosyllabic sentence. How does thou like this tune? Well, if you

04:50say it just casually, like I've just said it, it's a nothing. But if you give each of

04:55the words a stress, as you always should with a monosyllabic line of Shakespeare's, it'll

05:00take you into the depth of your love for music and into your love, Menachis. So how does

05:04thou like this? Each word matters. Yes. Okay? Yes. So you've gone. On we go again. Come

05:14hither, boy. Whoever thou shalt love, in the sweet pangs of it, remember me. For such as

05:27I am, all true lovers are. Unstayed and skittish in all motions else, save in the constant

05:34image of the creature that is beloved. How does thou like this tune? It gives a very

05:44echo to the seat where love is thrown. Good. Now maybe we could indulge the love melancholy

05:51even more in that, that you could go even further with the sweet pangs, even further

05:56with how do you like the tune. And also when you say for such as I am, all true lovers

06:00are, you slightly took that naturalistically. Just think of those words. For such as I am,

06:07all true lovers are. I am the best lover in the world. There is self-love with your own

06:13love in that, isn't there? Yes. Let's do it once again. Indulge more. Come hither, boy.

06:22Whoever thou shalt love, in the sweet pangs of it, remember me. For such as I am, all

06:33true lovers are. Unstayed and skittish in all motions else, save in the constant image

06:41of the creature that is beloved. How does thou like this tune? It gives a very echo

06:52to the seat where love is thrown. Thou dost speak masterly. Aye, life upon. And forspoken

07:03masterly. Very good. But we've come now towards, I think, the next textual verse question in

07:10the scene, which is what do you do about the verse when a new sentence or a new speech

07:16begins at the half line? It's the thing of doing the detective work and deciding whether

07:22because the verse line shared between the two of you, the cue is picked up immediately,

07:26or whether there's a pause. Now, this scene is very rich in choices that way. Sometimes

07:32it says pick up the cue, but sometimes because Shakespeare's done a short verse line, he

07:37says there's a pause somewhere. So we've got to look for those as well. And there's

07:40a number of them coming up in the next few lines. So let's pick it up from, it gives

07:45a very echo to the seat again. And I would suggest that where love is thrown, thou dost

07:51speak masterly, is one verse line. And you pick it up at once because you're getting

07:55in tune with her. So probably that one isn't a pause. What do you think? Well, the only

08:00thing that is for, it's for the fact that she is speaking masterly, it's for the fact

08:04that, for that to register, isn't it, John? I mean, he listens. When you hear something

08:10spoken so beautifully as that, I mean, suddenly this boy comes up with this extraordinary

08:14remark. Well, it's riveting, isn't it? As always, I say that when these things are raised,

08:19they're only questions and we have choices. But I'd suggest that maybe you do take up

08:24the verse line there at once so that the pause comes after it. The very seat where love is

08:29thrown, thou dost speak. That's wonderful. Pause. The pause goes with the verse. It

08:34goes with, after speak, does it? Speak masterly. It's after masterly. At the end of the verse

08:37line. Yes. Uh-huh. I mean, as always, one has to raise these questions but as always

08:45decide which is best. You don't have to follow the rule, but very often Shakespeare's right.

08:49Yes. So pick it up from, it gives a very echo. How does, how does thou like this? It gives

08:57a very echo to the seat where love is thrown. Thou dost speak masterly. My life upon, young

09:08though thou art, thine I hath stayed upon some favour that it loves. Hath it not, boy?

09:14A little by your favour. What kind of woman is't? Of your complexion. She is not worthy

09:22then. But there's another one there, isn't there? Of your complexion, she is not worthy

09:27then. Yeah, exactly. Can you make your own choice about it? Yes, I think you've got to

09:31be aware that these things are happening in the text and then make your choice. We've

09:35got two or three all together. Yes. Hath it not, boy? A little by your favour is one verse

09:40line and you did in fact pick it up then, which I thought was right. Yes. And I thought

09:44by the way that pausing after thou dost speak masterly actually works, works better. It

09:47does work, yeah. Then there's another one when Orsino says what kind of woman is't and

09:51you say of your complexion. Yes. So maybe you don't pause there. Yes. That's the question

09:58to raise. Yes. And then the other thing happens. Orsino says she is not worthy then. What year

10:04is it, faith? And you have a short verse line which only has about your years, my lord.

10:12Well, Shakespeare's built a pause there because there's a short line and missing beats. So

10:16what we have to decide is whether to pause before or after the line in such cases. So

10:23which do you think might be right there? I would imagine that it should be before because

10:27it's such a wonderful payoff for Orsino to stay too old by him. Well, I think that's

10:30the point because what Shakespeare usually does with all this system is to earn the pauses

10:37for the actors. You see, if you pick up these half line cues as they're written, when a

10:44pause comes, it's the stronger. Yes. But if you make lots of little individual pauses,

10:50then it all goes naturalistic and the verse drive and rhythm of Shakespeare disappears.

10:56So try it again from... Can I just be quite sure that I've got the actual lines? Yes.

11:00Hath it not, boy, a little by your favour, end of line. End of line. What kind of woman

11:05is't of your complexion. End of line. She is not worthy then. What years, if faith?

11:10End of line. About your years, my lord. Too old by heaven. That's the pause. End of line.

11:16Because that's a very important moment for Vala. Yes. Because she doesn't quite know

11:20what to say to you. Let's just run that section from... Gives a very echo again. It gives a

11:31very echo to the seat where love is thrown. Thou dost speak masterly. My life upon't.

11:40Young though thou art, thine eye hath stayed upon some favour that it loves. Hath it not,

11:45boy? A little by your favour. What kind of woman is't? Of your complexion. She is not

11:51worthy then. What years, if faith? About your years, my lord. Too old by heaven. That's

12:00still the woman. How do we think that works? Does it give time? Not quite. I didn't quite

12:07give time on one of them. She's not worthy then. I don't think I gave time for that.

12:12I feel I want to pause before, of your complexion. Because she's caught out, isn't she, a bit.

12:19There's always another option about a pause, is that you can always have it within the words,

12:25can't you? So, of your complexion, you could pick up the cue, but say,

12:31you could feel for it with the words themselves. Ah, lovely. Yes, yes. Then you follow Shakespeare's

12:35rhythm, but you have your pause. Yes. I mean, always the question about a pause is,

12:41does it come before the line? Does it come after the line? Or can it come in the middle of the

12:44line? Or have you earned it? Or have you earned it? That's the most important point. But we earned

12:49the last one there. Let's go on to the next bit. So, pick it up from what years, if faith?

13:00What years, if faith? About your years, my lord. Too old, by heaven.

13:09Let still the woman taken elder than herself.

13:12So wears she to him. So sways she level in her husband's heart.

13:18For, boy, however we do praise ourselves, our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, more

13:25longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn than women's are. I think it well, my lord.

13:33And let thy love be younger than thyself. For thy affections cannot hold the bent,

13:38cannot hold the bent means cannot last. Can't endure. Yes. Now that seemed all perfectly

13:48straightforward. Yes. The verse there is much more straightforward, except there's a little

13:54indication that his thoughts are teeming because a sentence begins halfway through the verse line,

14:00which is very often a hint in Shakespeare to the actor that the thoughts are tumbling out of him.

14:06Too old, by heaven, let still the woman take. It's good to run that line on because his mind

14:11is teeming. I think the only thing maybe we missed was that there's a bigger gear change for Orsino

14:17halfway through that speech. After he said, so sways she level in her husband's heart.

14:22For, boy, however we do praise ourselves, our fancies are more giddy and unfirm. And you make

14:28an admission about yourself and you tell the truth about your own self-indulgence as a lover.

14:34It's bloke's talk, isn't it? It's chat between fellows. But if you took the first three lines

14:39of that speech pouring out of you quite fluently and then, for, boy, however we do praise ourselves,

14:47you slowed up and began to look at yourself sardonically. Even wryly. Even wryly. Even wryly.

14:54Yeah. What years of faith? What years of faith? About your years, my lord. Too old, by heaven,

15:02let still the woman take an elder than herself. So where she to him, so sways she level in her

15:08husband's heart. For, boy, however we do praise ourselves, our fancies are more giddy and unfirm

15:18or longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn than women's are. I think it well, my lord.

15:26And let thy love be younger than thyself, for thy affections cannot hold the bent.

15:32For women are as roses, whose fair flower, being once displayed, doth fall that very hour.

15:43And so they are. Alas, that they are so, to die even when they to perfection grow.

15:53Okay, hold it a moment. We have a couple of points on that bit, I think.

15:58Um, I was being a bit self-indulgent there, perhaps, at the expense of the rhythm.

16:04Was I? Or did I? Had I earned it? I think you've earned it. Let me raise another verbal point,

16:11which is the importance often in verbs. We're good at colouring coloured nouns and adjectives,

16:17but sometimes the verbs are the active words in a line. For instance, you said,

16:22so where she to him? But surely it's, so where she to him? So sway she level in her husband's

16:30heart. That's a good example of a sentence where the verbs are the important ones.

16:35And then another point which comes up at the end of that little bit,

16:39which is we've run into a couple of couplets, haven't we? A couple of rhyming couplets.

16:43Orsino has one and Bala has one. Now, we've usually given ourselves the rule that

16:52if we have a couplet, the speaker knows that it's a couplet and makes it a couplet because

16:58they want a couplet or need a couplet. And you've got to set up a couplet for her to answer you

17:05with a couplet. And that coining of a couplet is part of your self-dramatisation and self-indulgence.

17:15And her couplet brings it down to earth again, but you need to set up yours for hers to pay off.

17:22So just take it from, let thy affection be younger than thyself then.

17:28Then let thy love be younger than thyself, for thy affections cannot hold the bent.

17:34For women are as roses, whose fair flower being once displayed doth fall that very hour.

17:41And so they are, alas that they are so, to die even when they to perfection grow.

17:51And just pause a moment and say what you think about what you should do about couplets.

17:56Are they a problem or are they good stuff or what?

17:59Musically, it's lovely that this little passage between them ends like that. It's just like it

18:05ends on a, not a major note, but it just ends, the two couplets just end the scene before the

18:13next. That's right. I reckon if you give full weight to those couplets, you do round off the

18:20scene and you then earn a pause before Bestia and Curio come back. And I think I should have

18:25been a bit jerky earlier on. But it seems to me there's, for both of you, there is more element

18:31of humour about oneself in the situation. You, the humour of being dressed as a boy and wry,

18:39and you are able, however indulgent you are, to mock yourself as a lover.

18:45And when you would make the admission to the boy that your fancies are wavering and inconstant.

18:52This is a very sad reflection. I was going to say, I just think that last couplet of mine,

18:55for instance, is not. That's when she, it's like a vodfa. That's right. It's when she actually.

19:00Which almost perhaps she takes off him because his couplet, I mean, it's very,

19:03it's a sad reflection, isn't it? Why don't we try taking it from too old by heaven?

19:09And that's got humour and self-mockery in it, hasn't it? And for boy, however we do praise

19:15ourselves, that's wry humour against yourself. Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm. I know

19:21I'm giddy and unfirm. And when you say, women are as roses whose fair flower

19:27be once displayed for that very hour, maybe that's at that point a bit callous about women,

19:35a bit sexist perhaps. It seems to me if you go mellow and melancholy on that, then her lines

19:43don't break into your lines. If you say, women, they don't last. She says, that's true. That's

19:49true and breaks into it. Yes. Yes. Yes. So do it again from what years of faith again?

19:58What years of faith? About your years, my lord. Too old by heaven. Let's still the woman take an

20:06elder than herself. So wears she to him. So sways she level in her husband's heart.

20:13For boy, however we do praise ourselves, our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, more longing,

20:22wavering, sooner lost and worn than women's are. I think it well, my lord. And let thy love be

20:29younger than thyself, for thy affections cannot hold the bent. The women are as roses whose fair

20:39whose fair flower being once displayed doth fall that very hour. And so they are.

20:47Alas that they are so, to die even when they to perfection grow. Now what's coming there I thought

20:56was very good, was that the text is beginning to work on itself. Words qualify words, one sentence

21:04qualifies another. Her speech at the end breaks into yours so that the mood is changing all the

21:11time. It's about the inconstancy and shiftingness of mood in love, the scene, isn't it? So the text

21:17itself and the verse has to shift. If you play it too evenly, we get, as always in Shakespeare,

21:25a generalized mood and it doesn't work. But if you play all the contrasts as they come,

21:30then there's riches and riches for the audience to latch on. It was very good.

21:36Oh fellow, come. The song we had last night, the market cesarean. It is old and plain,

21:42the spinners and the knitters in the sun, and the freemades that weave their thread with bones

21:49to use to chant it. It is silly sooth, dallies with the innocence of love, like the old age.

21:58Are you ready, sir? All right, brilliant. Sing. Okay, don't sing for a moment. Two points to come

22:04out of that, I think. There's a wonderful example of a resonant monosyllabic line here.

22:12The spinners and the knitters in the sun and the freemades that weave their thread with bones.

22:19If you let that line breathe, if you stretch the words, it has extraordinary poetic resonance. If

22:25you just say it naturalistically and the freemades that weave their thread with bones,

22:29it doesn't work. And indeed, as I often point out, if you try and take a monosyllabic line fast,

22:34you get into a tongue twister and it doesn't work anyway. But I thought that the freemades that

22:40weave their thread with bones, that you could find the textual richness of that by envying them

22:48their innocence and their happiness. Because you say in the speech, the song dallies with the

22:54innocence of love, which I haven't got. I'm sophisticated in love. I, Orsino, I'm love-worn,

23:02I'm love-sophisticated. I wish I had the innocence. And then there's another smashing example of a

23:09Shakespeare pause built into the text, isn't there, at the end of Orsino's speech, because he says,

23:15dallies with the innocence of love like the old age. Pause for me to decide whether he's finished

23:21or not. That's right. Absolutely. Is it all right to start? That's right. Are you ready, sir?

23:26At last. It's quite funny if there's a pause. I mean, Shakespeare's built a bit of comedy into

23:30his pause there. Now, let me just say one thing about the song. Very famous lyric.

23:41The nature of the song, of course, is described by Orsino itself. It is old and plain and country

23:47people sing it, and it's about the innocence of love. So that tells us what the song smells like,

23:54but it also tells us what you think is in the song. But what does Festy think is in the song?

24:02Quite a long song. And there's also the fact that there are two verses of it. There's always a

24:08danger with a song on the stage, isn't there, that a verse repeats itself so the action gets

24:12becalmed because the tune repeats. I've always felt that there was something different in these

24:19two verses, that maybe in the first verse, Festy sings it straight. And then he starts to mock him

24:25in the second. Yes. And in the second one, he starts to actually send up Orsino for his love

24:30indulgence. Exactly. So should we try it that way and mock him up in any way we can? It'll all come

24:35out the same, but I'll allow that to be the intention. We hope the tune will be the same.

24:43But be as outrageous as you can with that other sending of him up. Yes. And we thought it might

24:49be quite a good idea if I move onto the floor here, wouldn't it? So it would give Norman a bit

24:53of chance to use this. Yes, because if he's away from me, then it gives me a chance to mock him

24:57behind his back. That's right. And perhaps play some a bit off. Absolutely. She can see that

25:01you're mocking him, but he mustn't, I think. So again, just for, oh fellow, come. Yeah. Oh fellow,

25:07come. The song we had last night. Mark it, Cesario. It is old and plain. The spinners and the knitters

25:15in the sun. And the free maids that weave their thread with bones do used to chant it.

25:23It is silly sooth. And dallies with the innocence of love.

25:28Like the old age.

25:34Are you ready, sir? Aye. Frithy. Sing.

25:41Come away, come away, death. And in sad Cyprus let me be laid.

25:51Fly away, fly away, breath. I am slain by a fair cruel maid.

26:01My shroud of white, stuck all with you. Oh, prepare it. My part of death, no one so true did share it.

26:17Not a flower, not a flower sweet. On my black coffin let there be strone.

26:28Not a friend and not a friend greet my poor corpse where my bone shall be thrown.

26:36A thousand, thousand scythes to save lay me oh where. Sad true lover, ne'er find my grave to weep there.

27:07Well, good. A word about songs. I always think they're a terrible trap in a Shakespeare scene

27:14because one can so easily have an exquisite song but the action and the play becomes becalmed.

27:20No danger of that in this case. No, but my point is that truly looked into over and over

27:29a song, which we've not talked about in this series, but a Shakespeare song or piece of music

27:35actually becomes part of the action of the scene. And I've seen this scene done very often

27:42where there's pause for lovely song but it seems totally extrinsic to the scene. So what does the

27:47song do here? Presumably, as it's his favourite song, he plays it to feed his love melancholy

27:56and the song makes the disease worse. So it's tear time for Orsino, isn't it? Well, almost.

28:03It's going to lead him to breaking out in a minute, perhaps. I mean, he's been worked up

28:09and inside it and something's going to snap in a minute. He'd say, go back and see Olivia,

28:13which is the beginning of the last section with Vala. But I thought watching it that it was as

28:20important to see the song working on you as to hear the song sung by Norman because the scene

28:29is about your melancholy. Yes. So let's pick it up from the end of the song. Then we get a prose bit

28:36which goes on up to Bestie's exit, which is reasonably straightforward. So from end of song.

28:46There's for thy pains. No pain, sir. I take pleasure in singing, sir. I'll pay thy pleasure

28:50then. Truly, sir, and pleasure will be paid one time or another. Give me now leave to leave thee.

28:58Now the melancholy god protect thee, for thy mind is a very opal. I would have men of such constancy

29:06put to see that their business might be everything and their intent everywhere. For that's it,

29:13that always makes a good voyage of nothing. Farewell. Okay. Now, though there's nothing

29:21particularly complex textually in that, I think dramatically and character wise one needs to say

29:26something because you played rightly the professional fool. But I think it's actually

29:31a bit more loaded than you made it. I think there's a bit more subtext that we could find

29:36out of it. For instance, when you say pleasure will be paid one time or another, that's something

29:42you've learned out of life. Maybe you're trying to teach him a lesson, but within the general

29:48flippness, there's suddenly, as so often with Shakespeare's fool, a very serious remark.

29:53And when you say the melancholy god protect thee, for thy mind is very opal, the melancholy god,

30:01the god he worships, the god of love melancholy. So it's more getting inside him. Yes. And surely

30:11the payoff word for that's it that makes a good voyage of nothing. Your love, your indulgence

30:19is nothing. Which builds the fires of Orsino. Which builds the fires of Orsino. And put to sea

30:27is to be as inconstant as the waves and wind. Yes. Yes. That's right. So that finally you're

30:32going to finish up whatever your business is. That's right. You're going to finish up with

30:36nothing. That's right. But I've often seen the scenes down there with festy frolicsome.

30:42Well, that's his public persona and maybe he is frolicsome on the surface, but underneath it's

30:47a much darker bit. Yes. So do it again and try to disturb him more.

30:56Um, those for that pain. No pain, sir. I take pleasure in singing, sir. I'll pay thy pleasure

31:03then. Truly, sir, and pleasure will be paid one time or another. Give me now leave to leave thee.

31:13Now the melancholy God protect thee, for thy mind is a very opal. I would have men of such constancy

31:21put to sea that their business might be everything and their intent everywhere. For that's it that

31:28always makes a good voyage of nothing. Good. Farewell.

31:34Farewell.

31:37And all the rest give place.

31:40Once more, Cesario, give thee to yon same sovereign cruelty. Tell her my love more noble

31:46than the world prizes not quantity of dirty lands. The parts that fortune hath bestowed upon her,

31:51tell her I hold as giddily as fortune. Ok. Yes, just just come back a moment. I thought that was

31:58great. I thought that put Orsino under a tremendous pressure. And what we must look at is

32:06how the the verse begins to work to help put you into orbit for the next section.

32:12Because you say that all the rest give place once more, Cesario. Now sometimes the editors

32:20print that as two lines, but I think it's one line. And I think that you shouldn't wait for

32:25the exit. The pressure's built up that he's put on you. And you say, right, everybody get out,

32:30go on, Cesario. And from this moment on in the scene, your impatience to reach out to Olivia

32:39drives you and the tempo of the scene positively changes in the verse. I think that the scene

32:45runs on to up to her outburst of I but I know. I think. What dost thou know, yes. Well, what dost

32:53thou know, that's jumping a little bit, but while we're mentioning it, and that I owe Olivia I but

32:58I know is one verse line. And you say, what dost thou know, which is a short verse line. And by

33:05God, that earns a pause there. I suspect we'll find in a minute if anything does. But what I'd

33:11want to pick up where we've got to, when you say once more, Cesario, you have a little speech where

33:19same point as we made at the very beginning of the scene, the contrapuntal stress, the extra

33:25stress is at the beginning of the verse line, which always gives an extra bite to what the

33:29speaker's saying. Get thee. Get thee. Tell her. Tell her I hold as giddily as fortune. So it's

33:36go, come on, something's got to happen. And the rhythm of you changes totally. So in fact,

33:42the festive scene has had the reverse effect to what he anticipated. He was sitting there.

33:47That's right. Yes. Listen to it. You smell a great song. And the effect it has on it.

33:50That's right. It's actually a complete option. Yes. That's right. I mean, I would say that the

33:55festie encounter, which can so often be played just as interlude with clown and song, actually

34:01has a great dramatic effect on the scene and on Orsino. And it's probably painful to you as well,

34:06isn't it? The love songs. Yes. So let's take it from, let all the rest give place,

34:14in the end of festive.

34:21For that's it that always makes a good voyage of nothing. Farewell.

34:31And all the rest give face once more, Cesario. Get thee to yon same sovereign cruelty. Tell her

34:37my love, more noble than the world, prizes not quantity of dirty lands. The parts that fortune

34:43hath bestowed upon her, tell her I hold as giddily as fortune. But if she cannot love you,

34:47sir. I cannot be so answered. But you must. Say that some lady, as perhaps there is,

34:55hath for your love as great a pang of heart as you have for Olivia. You cannot love her,

34:59you tell her so. Must she not then be answered? There is no woman's sides can bide the beating

35:05of so strong a passion as love doth give my heart. Make no compare between that love a woman can bear

35:10me and that I owe Olivia. Ay, but I know. Oh what does thou know? Okay good. I think that the

35:18pressure continues between the two of them right up to what does thou know. Yes. And I think that

35:25there is only one possible pause in that section which is when Orsinio again has a short verse

35:31line. There is no woman's sides. Now what does that suggest you? Viola says must she not then be

35:38answered? Short verse line. There is no woman's sides can bide the beating of so strong a passion

35:44as love doth give my heart. It's all one isn't it? It may be that there's a beat before there is no

35:49woman's sides because she's scored. She's said something that stops you in your tracks for a

35:55moment. I suspect that's the one pause in the section. Yes. Can I put a pause John before say

36:01that some lady it's as if she takes the decision to um to open a tiny door. Is that part is that

36:09allowable? A pause always is allowable. One has to ask oneself is it justified? Yes. I'm I'm not

36:18against pauses. All I think I'm saying is that in our modern work we put in pauses wherever we want

36:24them and if you start doing that too much in Shakespeare the text begins to go wrong and you

36:29have to earn each one and you have to question whether it should be there or not. Yes.

36:37Get thee to yon same sovereign cruelty. Tell her my love more noble than the world.

36:41Prize is not quantity of dirty lands. The parts that fortune hath bestowed upon her tell her I

36:46hold as giddily as fortune. But if she cannot love you sir. I cannot be so answered. But you must.

36:52Say that some lady as perhaps there is hath for your love as great a pang of heart as you have

36:56for Olivia. You cannot love her. You tell her so. Must she not then be answered? There's no woman's

37:01sides can bide the beating of so strong a passion as love doth give my heart. Make no compare between

37:07that love a woman can bear me. For that I owe Olivia. Ay but I know. What dost thou know?

37:15Too well what love women to men may owe.

37:20In faith they are as true of heart as we.

37:26My father had a daughter loved a man. As it might be perhaps were I a woman. I should your lordship.

37:36What's her history? A blank my lord. She never told her love.

37:44But let concealment like a worm in the bud feed on her damask cheek. Okay very good. Stop you there.

37:52I think that taking that with that sweep earned Judy's time on the moment we've got to. I thought

38:00that worked very well. Let me just make one point about where we've got to.

38:07Vala's talking about her love pain but she the bit of her that sees the ridiculous side of it

38:15the sad funny side of it maybe one needs to go a bit further with that. Yes. I mean the idea of

38:21sitting like patients on a monument always seems to me to be a funny idea in itself and if you have

38:28the pain but you also can see the ridiculous side of the whole situation of you being dressed as a

38:33boy and having this conversation with the person you love. Yes. Well that's one little um one two

38:40four words I don't quite know where to put the stones John and what's her history is it and what's

38:44her history well tell me about her then if you must is it or what's her is it is it more interested

38:50and what's her history yeah history is the what is the story of her and I am quite interested

38:56yeah it's not a dismissive no I think you're interested just pick it up from there and what's

39:04her history what's her history a blank my lord she never told her love but let concealment like

39:18a worm may the bud feed on her damask cheek she pined in thought and with a green and yellow

39:28melancholy she sat like patients on the monument smiling at grief

39:39was not this love indeed we men may say more swear more but indeed our shows are more than will

39:47for still we prove much in our vows but little in our love

39:53who died thy sister of her love my boy

39:58I am all the daughters of my father's house

40:02and all the brothers too

40:06and yet I know not

40:10sir shall I to this lady aye that's the theme to her in haste give her this jewel say my love can

40:17give no place by no denay I thought you did the famous bit wonderful wonderful I think we cry

40:24every night I think the only point I want to make about the end is how the verse breaks the mood

40:32is how the verse breaks the mood again at the end I mean you rightly snapped out of it

40:39shall I to this lady who snapped out of it now the verse picks up there at the half line doesn't it

40:44aye that's the theme no pause for you there and you round the whole thing off with a vigorous couplet

40:50end of scene couplet let's go so you cut into her mood is there is there the slightest

40:57sense that from Orsino that he is not what all that he pretends to be at this point in the play

41:05that she you mean yes yes she he I think you realize there's something very strange about the

41:10boy yes you don't recognize it's not a boy I think there is that moment yes I mean that you'd want

41:17that that's why I paused on you see yeah and is that pause justified there because of that thought

41:22yes I think it's justified if you then brush it away and there's a change at the next beat

41:28now I think we must we must on now and what I'd like to do now having done it in little

41:34bits is to just run the whole scene and see what we retain of that and go for these violent jagged

41:40gear changes within the scene and overdo the text sticking go too far right okay so we do it from the

41:48top all right off we go give me some music now good morning friends now good Cesario

42:09but that piece of song that old and antique song we heard last night I thought it did relieve my

42:16passion much come but one verb he is not here so please your lordship that should sing it who was

42:22it festy the jester my lord a fool that the lady Olivia's father took much delight in

42:28he is about the house seek him out and play the tune the while

42:36come here the boy

42:36ever thou shalt love in the sweet pangs of it remember me

42:50for such as I am all true lovers are

42:55unstayed and skittish in all motions else save in the constant image of the creature that is beloved

43:01lord how dost thou like this tune it gives a very echo to the seat where love is thrown

43:14thou dost speak masterly my life upon it young though thou art thine eye has stayed upon some

43:22favor that it loves hath it not boy a little by your favor what kind of woman is of your complexion

43:29she's not worthy then what years of faith about your years my lord too old by heaven

43:36let still the woman taken elder than herself so wears she to him so swayed she level in her

43:43husband's heart for boy however we do praise ourselves our fancies are more giddy and unfirm

43:52more longing wavering sooner lost and worn than women's are I think it well my lord

44:00then let thy love be younger than myself or thy affections cannot hold the bent

44:06for women are as roses whose fair flower being once displayed

44:13doth fall that very hour and so they are alas that they are so

44:22to die even when they to perfection grow

44:28oh fellow come the song we had last night mark it Cesario it is old and plain

44:36the spinners and the knitters in the sun did used to sing it

44:40and the free maids that weave their thread with bones do used to chant it

44:45it is silly soothe dallies with the innocence of love at the old age

44:55are you ready sir

44:58aye really sing

45:02come away come away death and in sad cypress let me be he laid

45:11fly away fly away breath I am slain by a fair cruel maid my shroud of white

45:24stuck all with you oh prepare it my part of death no one so true did share it

45:40not a flower not a flower sweet on my black coffin let there be strone not a friend not a friend greet my poor corpse where my bone shall be thrown a thousand thousand sighs to save lay me oh where

46:11sad true lover ne'er find my grave to weep

46:20there

46:37that's for thy pains oh no pain sir I take pleasure in singing sir I'll pay thy pleasure then

46:44truly sir and pleasure will be paid one time more or not give me now leave to leave thee

46:54now the melancholy god protect thee for thy mind is a very open I would have men of such constancy

47:03put to see that there I would have men of such constancy put to see that their business might

47:10be everything and their intent everywhere for that's it that always makes a good voyage

47:19of nothing farewell let all the rest give place once more cesario get thee to yon same sovereign

47:29cruelty tell her my love more noble than the world prize is not quantity of dirty lands

47:35the part the parts that fortune hath bestowed upon her tell her I hold as giddily as fortune

47:40but if she cannot love you I cannot be so answer but you must say that some lady as perhaps there

47:46is hath for your love as great a pang of heart as you have for olivia you cannot love her you tell

47:51her so must she not then be answered there is no woman's sides can bide the beating of so strong a

47:57passion as love doth give my heart make no compare between that love a woman compare me and that I

48:04oh olivia I but I know oh what does I know too well what love women to men may owe

48:12in faith they are as true of heart as we

48:18my father had a daughter loved a man

48:22as it might be perhaps were I a woman I should your lordship

48:30what's her history

48:31a blank my lord she never told her love

48:37but let concealment like a worm in the bud feed on her damask cheek

48:45she pined in thought and with a green and yellow melancholy she sat like patience on the monument

48:57patience on the monument smiling at grief

49:04was not this love indeed

49:10we men may say more swear more but indeed our shows are more than will

49:15for still we prove much in our vows but little in our love died thy sister of her love my boy

49:22I am all the daughters of my father's house

49:27and all the brothers too

49:31and yet I know not

49:37sir shall I to this lady I to her in haste that's the theme to her in haste

49:43give her this jewel say my love can give no place bide no dine

49:48bide no dine

49:51look I think you did that beautifully.

49:57I think if I was to sum up I would stress very strongly that

50:03what we've rehearsed together now is only one aspect of the business isn't it because I've

50:09been laying down the law about the verse because I've been stressing how we must give our attention

50:14to it I don't want to be thought of as saying that I'm issuing rules or that you have to follow

50:21the verse what we're saying is that you have to be aware of the verse and you have to be aware of

50:25how it works and to find out how you how it helps you so what's the moral of the rehearsal we've dug

50:32into the material we've moved the scene on a bit in a particular way but of course we haven't been

50:36trying to find a definitive solution just one possibility with Shakespeare there are always a

50:42limitless number of answers and different ones come up at each rehearsal so what have we been

50:47trying to prove simply this that the clues in the text are much richer and more numerous than it

50:54first appears I suppose if I were to draw a moral from my rehearsal it would be simply this that

51:00though the possibilities are infinite we can only sift the fruitful from the perverse by getting

51:06our teeth into the text and the verse itself if the textual points are ignored it's pretty

51:12certain that Shakespeare's intentions will be ignored or at least twisted something else will

51:17be put in their place may be valid in itself but nonetheless a distortion I'm not trying to knock

51:24that kind of work it can be rich and exciting in its own right but it is an alternative to

51:30and not a realization of Shakespeare Shakespeare is his text and the way he uses it is just that

51:39so if you want to do him justice you have to look for and follow the clues he offers

51:45if an actor does that then you'll find that Shakespeare himself starts to direct him

52:15so

52:41you

Acting Shakespeare - John Barton - Judi Dench - Masterclass - Part 7 - Rehearsing the Text - 4K

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