I can't even imagine what these acting techniques would feel like...

[plumtreeblossom]

Rehearsals at the Globe Theatre Actors - 'cue acting' and 'cue scripting"

The Globe Theatre was known to produce "eleven performances of ten different plays" in just two weeks. It was essential to beat the competition for attracting vast audiences and this was achieved by an extremely rapid turnover of plays. Rehearsal time was therefore limited. On many occasions the Globe Theatre Actors only got their lines as the play was actually in progress. Parts were often only allocated on the day of the performance. Sometimes the actors didn't even get any lines. Working with a method called "cue acting " which meant that there was a person backstage who whispered the lines to the actor just before he was going to say them. This rapid turnover led to another technique called "cue scripting", where where each actor was given only his own lines. The complete scene and content of the play was not explained to the actors until it was actually being performed. These techniques allowed for zero rehearsal time, thus enabling a fast turnover in terms of new productions at the Globe Theatre and a huge portfolio of different roles.

Much more here: http://www.globe-theatre.org.uk/globe-theatre-actors.htm

Comments

[moria923.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine doing that: it sounds terribly stressful. (And forget trying to develop a character!)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I think I would hate it. It might be an interesting exercise to try in an acting class, but I wouldn't want to do it in front of an audience.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Sounds like guided improv. Given where things were in the development of theatre from passion plays and commedia dell'arte to scripted work, this makes sense to me as an intermediate phase. Could be fun!

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

When I read this article, I thought of the movie Shakespeare In Love, and realized that the movie was apparently inaccurate with regard to rehearsals -- it showed numerous scenes of modern-style rehearsals just like we have today.

Cue acting would be an interesting class exercise, though.

[minkrose]

I just re-watched SiL last week (twice, once with commentary), and I don't think it's actually that far off. The actors are constantly complaining about not having their lines or knowing how the play ends. They specifically state in the movie that they have three days to write/rehearse it and then three days of putting on the show, though the theatres are closed and things happen, so it's more than three days rehearsal. I think the entire film takes place over the course of about a week, though the days are hard to keep track of.

So yes, they do rehearse at all, but mostly because it makes sense for the climax of the movie to be the first production. They do seem to each have only their own lines in rehearsals.

Most importantly: the Globe post-dates Shakespeare in Love. I know (from the commentary) they tried to be accurate to the time but I would believe theatre was more popular after the Globe was built and Shakespeare was more famous; or at least, that the Globe itself might have put on more shows than previous theatres. It's a difference of a few years, but who knows how things changed.

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

Geeze, Louise. How did the actors make a complicated play make sense if they had no idea what it was about.

No wonder Method acting is a modern invention. :-)

[wellstar.livejournal.com]

My Acting Shakespeare professor in college told us that cued scripting was designed to elicit natural reactions from actors. The example he always used was the opening scene in...The Tempest, I think? Apparently one character turns to another and says "what's going on here?" or "where are we?" or something but the person he says it to doesn't have the next line, so all he (the person being asked the question) can do is stand and look befuddled and desperately try to figure out whether he has something to say.

Don't know if it's true, haven't tested it with actual scripts, but it made sense at the time. Ah college.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

That's what the guy at the Globe Theatre in London told us during the tour lecture, too, though he used a different Shakespeare example that I can't remember. (Someone who was always interrupting and that was part of his character.)

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a fun improv exercise, and a terrifying way to do live performance.