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THE MUSIC OF SHAKESPEARE
Jeff Williams, Christopher McCann
Speak the speech I pray you, as I pronounced it to
photos Doug Liebig
“I tend to think of Shakespeare as being pre-Freudian. In post-Freud
plays, characters haven’t a clue who they are, and when they say
something they don’t know if it’s true or not. In Shakespeare, the
characters discover themselves while they speak. The word—I don’t
mean to get biblical here—the word is the self. I say something, that’s
who I am. But they don’t know it before they say it.”
Oh, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow
tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings,
who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise.
you, trippingly on the tongue.
There is a natural music to Shakespeare, the way the Bard balances poesy
and prose, hard and soft, dark and light. That music is found in the text,
essentially a score for the spoken word.
Christopher McCann, who plays Polonius and Grave Digger #2, in Capital
Repertory Theatre’s production of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of
Denmark, has spent much of his life onstage, speaking the words of
William Shakespeare and his manifold characters.
He’s worked with a who’s who in the world of modern
theatre, ranging from Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard to
Tony Kushner and Moises Kaufman, and teaches a third year
acting class at SUNY Purchase—“third year work,” he says,
“is bent towards language and Shakespeare is the canvas
for that.
Additionally he is the text coach for this production,
helping director Kevin McGuire to anchor the acting crew
amidst the “wild and whirling words” of Hamlet.
But if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as
lief the town crier spoke my lines.
Shakespeare can be daunting to actors just as it can be to
audiences. Nervousness, a fear or doubt of the material,
can result in bluster, “as lief the town crier spoke my lines.”
One of McCann’s goals is to give actors the tools to navigate
Shakespeare’s language; to mine it for its richness and to
feel comfortable within it. He wants his fellow actors to Terry Rabine, Christopher McCann
As Polonius, McCann speaks some of Shakespeare’s most famous idioms,
feel clear enough about the material to make a choice.
including “Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice,” “Neither a
“Actors can be intimidated by the script,” he says. “As actors, we want borrower or a lender be” and “This above all: to thine ownself be true.”
to be able to connect to the audience, we want to be colloquial. So An actor, however, can’t be awed by such familiarities. In McCann’s mind,
when doing Shakespeare we want to appear as though we’re talking to of utmost importance is the order of action.
the other characters the same way we’d talk to each other. But that can
be a trap. Once we start to be colloquial, we can lose sight of how the “As the character is speaking, he is understanding who he is; ideally
story unfolds line by line. If you lose track of how the story unfolds, the the audience is understanding it at the same time. If you can have that
audience can become confused. It’s not just saying ‘line, line, line,’ not happen at the same moment, that’s gold.”
at all. It’s the process of allowing each step to be heard with its own If the actor is surprised by his utterings, the audience will be, too.
integrity.”
I would have such a fellow whipped for o’erdoing Termagant. It out“I try to point out to actors that there are opportunities in front of Herods Herod. Pray you, avoid it.
them.”
“You don’t tell the end of the play in the first scene,” McCann warns his
Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand thus, but use all gently, charges.
for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of passion,
you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. “One of my big things is the present tense of speaking. A character
doesn’t come out onstage having thought about something. The thinking
Even in the 16th century, the dreaded Shakespearean cliché was an actor is now. The process is now. ‘To be or not to be.’ That’s now. It’s about
waving his arms and shouting to display emotion. It’s true, too, that the each thought unfolding and the next thought invading on top of that.”
style of the day asked for exaggeration—as you’ll see in this Hamlet’s
play within a play. But McCann knows that Shakespeare can play very Enjoy our play. Don’t work too hard to understand. Listen like an actor,
and let the text unfold.
well in the modern world with a different tone.
HAMLET
APR 17 – MAY 10
STAGES
ACTING INTENSIVE
SPECIAL EVENTS
UPCOMING
SCENE WORK
AGES 14-17
OPENING NIGHT - TUE APR 21
Enjoy live music from jazz guitarist John
McIntosh before the show and meet the
cast at a post-show champagne and dessert
reception.
CHEF’S TABLE - TUE APR 28
Enjoy live music from jazz guitarist John
McIntosh and light hors d’oeuvres before
the show, courtesy of The Capital American
Eatery & Lounge and taste.
DISCUSSION NIGHTS
WED APR 29 & WED MAY 6
A post-show discussion with the cast.
BEHIND-THE-SCENES WITH
MAGGIE SUN MAY 10
This series features a pre-show “behind-thescenes” discussion with Producing Artistic
Director Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill. A light
continental breakfast begins at 12:30pm,
discussion 1-1:30pm and a 2pm curtain.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
MONOLOGUE WORK
GUIDANCE FROM
INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS
AUG 17 – AUG 21
MON – FRI, 9AM – 4PM
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visit capitalrep.org
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HAMLET
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