Quickly utilises the presentation of the First Folio to facilitate the visual identification of shared verse lines between characters.
For the final three tools in the toolkit, a complete First Folio version of the scene or play will need to be provided to learners. These tools will not work with the cue scripts.
Inform learners that in Shakespeare’s verse, there are shared lines this is where one character’s section of verse has fewer than ten syllables and is followed by a different character’s line, which is also less than ten syllables. The two short verse lines are supposed to be played as one complete verse line.
Instruct learners that practically, this means the second character to speak needs to quickly pick up their cue.
Once learners have experienced this in practice, a discussion centred on the characters’ intentions is a helpful conclusion to the tool. Why do the learners think their character has a need to respond so quickly?
Tray Four : Back to the Text