ABSTRACT
The problem of speaking Shakespeare’s score is twofold; on the one hand the actor has to give his audience an experience of the lines as poetry. On the other he must sound natural, like a real human being putting his thoughts and feelings, his intentions and desires, into the words. In changing or missing the sense the actor can easily miss some of Shakespeare’s implications, and even miss some of the strengths or subtleties of characterization. Yet the art of speaking Shakespeare’s score depends very much on the actor’s ability to convey implications and sense as melody, on his ability to speak a line with the meaning which he has in his mind. This ability lies at the core of his art, and when applied to what Shakespeare has actually organized in a precise arrangement of words, it produces the most triumphant results.
