the last act, good god...
princess, in the scenes where you are with the ladies...you should feel free to show another side to the princess's character...so long as it is not so over-the-top. the change should be noticable to the audience, but should still have the ladylike manner. the change, of course, is love. so, what does love do to even the most upstanding women? perhaps you might try reverting to a more "schoolgirl" manner with the others. especially with maria, as her character should be the most giggly and girlish.
maria, after you say "the letter is TOO LONG by half a MILE!" you should give a loud, girly giggle to show that you think anything he does is funny.
princess, when you say "i think no LESS" you are saying that you think the letter could be no shorter than half a mile. something about the way you were stressing certain words made it sound like you were saying that you 'very rarely think.'
ladies, laugh after princess says her lines that end in "and wit's own grace to grace a learned fool."
laugh again after maria says her bit that ends in "to prove, by wit, worth in simplicity."
those two stanzas tell what this play is about...it is the underlying joke of the play. both maria and the princess must say those lines clearly and loudly.
boyet, before you enter and during your entrance...laugh as loud as you possibly can (or i may enlist the help of sir charles the propmaster to goose you each time before you go on.) when you enter, run directly to rosaline...ask her "where's her grace?"
boyet, in the following...keep smiling and laughing along with the girls because this is hilarious to you...so hilarious, in fact, that it changes your countenance for once in the play.
boyet, when you say "rubb'd his elbow thus" nudge elbows with one of the women. feel free to tell your story while walking up to each individual woman. use the whole range of the downstage area if you can.
moth, start to leave after "and that brings me out." but stop when berowne says his next line. when he has said it, shrug your shoulders and then exit.
princess, be careful not to sound like you are barking at berowne with "Gall! bitter." say "bitter" as if saying "that's better."
remember that when the couples are standing aside together, they are talking. katherine should be standing bored with her arms crossed while longaville is doing something silly to impress her. maria should be giggling silently the whole time, unable to contain herself enough to even act like katherine, and dumain...you should just be continuously talking to her, a little nervous. for the two men, this is your first time wooing these girls in person, and ladies...you might not be able to help stealing glances at the other man who thinks he is talking to you.
princess, try saying the line with stress on the following words, "you NICKNAME virtue...VICE you should have spoke."
berowne, make "how white the hand, god knows" as an aside to the audience.
princess, for "the fairest is confession" lines...add more sweetness to your voice so that when you reveal that rosaline was pretending to be you, the king will not have expected that you could think of such a trick...and his surprise will be more understandable.
armado, louder on your entry, in a booming voice like an announcer.
costard, you might try booting alisander (jaquenetta) in the butt to get her off stage...so that she may snap out of her stage fright...jaquenetta should give some kind of squeaky yelp like "eeek!" and then run backstage.
moth, actually flex those muscles of yours...ham it up in this section. use the whole range of the downstage area...go up to the ladies and flex for them...maria might feel your muscles and all will giggle.
princess, go over your monologue that starts with "a time, methinks, too short..." and break it down. realize what you are saying and why you are saying it, and how to speak it with the proper inflection so that it will make sense to the audience. right now it sounds robotic...and because of that, none of the sense of the words are able to be understood by the audience. at the start of this monologue, you have put off the melancholy tone in your voice and returned back to the sweet cadence of a lover.
maria, you might give longaville a quick kiss on the cheek after you say "i'll change my black gown for a faithful friend."
armado, again with this entrance...be much louder or else the audience does not know what this owl and cuckoo business is all about.
maria, after you say "the letter is TOO LONG by half a MILE!" you should give a loud, girly giggle to show that you think anything he does is funny.
princess, when you say "i think no LESS" you are saying that you think the letter could be no shorter than half a mile. something about the way you were stressing certain words made it sound like you were saying that you 'very rarely think.'
ladies, laugh after princess says her lines that end in "and wit's own grace to grace a learned fool."
laugh again after maria says her bit that ends in "to prove, by wit, worth in simplicity."
those two stanzas tell what this play is about...it is the underlying joke of the play. both maria and the princess must say those lines clearly and loudly.
boyet, before you enter and during your entrance...laugh as loud as you possibly can (or i may enlist the help of sir charles the propmaster to goose you each time before you go on.) when you enter, run directly to rosaline...ask her "where's her grace?"
boyet, in the following...keep smiling and laughing along with the girls because this is hilarious to you...so hilarious, in fact, that it changes your countenance for once in the play.
boyet, when you say "rubb'd his elbow thus" nudge elbows with one of the women. feel free to tell your story while walking up to each individual woman. use the whole range of the downstage area if you can.
moth, start to leave after "and that brings me out." but stop when berowne says his next line. when he has said it, shrug your shoulders and then exit.
princess, be careful not to sound like you are barking at berowne with "Gall! bitter." say "bitter" as if saying "that's better."
remember that when the couples are standing aside together, they are talking. katherine should be standing bored with her arms crossed while longaville is doing something silly to impress her. maria should be giggling silently the whole time, unable to contain herself enough to even act like katherine, and dumain...you should just be continuously talking to her, a little nervous. for the two men, this is your first time wooing these girls in person, and ladies...you might not be able to help stealing glances at the other man who thinks he is talking to you.
princess, try saying the line with stress on the following words, "you NICKNAME virtue...VICE you should have spoke."
berowne, make "how white the hand, god knows" as an aside to the audience.
princess, for "the fairest is confession" lines...add more sweetness to your voice so that when you reveal that rosaline was pretending to be you, the king will not have expected that you could think of such a trick...and his surprise will be more understandable.
armado, louder on your entry, in a booming voice like an announcer.
costard, you might try booting alisander (jaquenetta) in the butt to get her off stage...so that she may snap out of her stage fright...jaquenetta should give some kind of squeaky yelp like "eeek!" and then run backstage.
moth, actually flex those muscles of yours...ham it up in this section. use the whole range of the downstage area...go up to the ladies and flex for them...maria might feel your muscles and all will giggle.
princess, go over your monologue that starts with "a time, methinks, too short..." and break it down. realize what you are saying and why you are saying it, and how to speak it with the proper inflection so that it will make sense to the audience. right now it sounds robotic...and because of that, none of the sense of the words are able to be understood by the audience. at the start of this monologue, you have put off the melancholy tone in your voice and returned back to the sweet cadence of a lover.
maria, you might give longaville a quick kiss on the cheek after you say "i'll change my black gown for a faithful friend."
armado, again with this entrance...be much louder or else the audience does not know what this owl and cuckoo business is all about.