Thought Lines asks learners to consider the characters’ thought processes behind their lines.
Drawing on the distinctions made between thoughts through the Psychological Pauses in Tool 6.
Begin by reminding learners that a character thought runs to the major punctuation.
In Shakespeare’s verse, a single thought can traverse multiple verse lines and be expressed elaborately, drawing on images, metaphors, and similes.
Ask learners to go through their text and, for each thought – up to the major punctuation – write down what the character is thinking behind what they say.
This is not about translating the text into contemporary English; it is about clarifying the thought behind what is being said.
As learners develop their Thought Lines, they may encounter words or references unfamiliar to them. To understand what their character is thinking, they will need to look up these words or phrases. My research found The Arden Third Series of Shakespeare’s plays to be the best resource to support learners in this tool.
Once learners have written their Thought Lines ask them to perform the scene using only their Thought Lines. Make clear that the scene will not necessarily make sense or work like conventional dialogue as each character’s thought lines have been written independently. Assure learners that this is meant to be the case, and performing the Though Lines is to help everyone in the scene understand what each character is thinking, not to rewrite Shakespeare’s play.
Following the Thought Lines performance, instruct learners to perform Shakespeare’s version of the scene, allowing any discoveries made during this tool to influence their performance.
Tray Two : Living The Text