ABSTRACT
In speaking the words the key is appropriateness, to the mode of performance, to the character, to the occasion, both that within the play and that of the performance, and to the speech. Any speech will have its own clues and directives for performing built into it, which should guide the actor. Gesture, movement and mode of delivery spring from the interpretation of character and text. As far as one can tell plays in England until late in the fifteenth century were occasional plays, written and performed to celebrate specific occasions or to further specific purposes. The occasion is often a particular calendar festivity, Candlemas or Shrove Tuesday or Midsummer Day, for example, with significance for the whole community, though it should be said that the significance may often have had more to do with holiday than with holy day.
