Because of the movement. If you are standing up you are more likely to gesture or move when reading. Even if you don't complete the movement the fact that you can feel yourself starting to make the movements can help you understand what the text means. If you are reading aloud a particular character's speech and standing you might naturally gesture towards where you image another character to be standing which tells you who your point of view character is addressing. If you feel enthused or energised when reading a speech, up on the balls of your feet, that tells you that the speech is probably intended to be a rousing call to arms. If you find yourself inclined to poke your fingers when making the speech that tells you that the speaking character is aggressive and argumentative.
And you feel the natural pauses more because you are working more of your body and the breath control matters more.
The RSC rehearsal process turns out to be very efficient and effective and surprisingly easy to do for a reasonably well organised amateur group.
You get a understanding of your character, a common understanding of the text and a good portion of the physical movement and other physical blocking all in one iterative process.
I've never used it with a modern playwright with a settled script but I've been involved in new works where the iterative process has flagged up the need for some re-writes.
There's an interesting series (radio or television, I can't recall) where Akala the British hip hop performer looks at Homer's epics and how they would work as semi-improvised spoken performance pieces. It's not quite on all fours with understanding Shakespeare by reading aloud but it has a similar conclusion, that the easiest way to get the guts of the literature is to read it aloud.
The RSC rehearsal process is basically speaking aloud and preferably with others. with someone else making helpful suggestions like "what would it be like if everyone in this scene were a dick?" or "later on in the play you stab this guy in the face, does your character know they are going to do that in this scene"?
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andrewducker) wrote2023-03-05 12:00 pm
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Why does standing up make a difference?
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And you feel the natural pauses more because you are working more of your body and the breath control matters more.
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That’s fascinating thank you!
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You get a understanding of your character, a common understanding of the text and a good portion of the physical movement and other physical blocking all in one iterative process.
I've never used it with a modern playwright with a settled script but I've been involved in new works where the iterative process has flagged up the need for some re-writes.
There's an interesting series (radio or television, I can't recall) where Akala the British hip hop performer looks at Homer's epics and how they would work as semi-improvised spoken performance pieces. It's not quite on all fours with understanding Shakespeare by reading aloud but it has a similar conclusion, that the easiest way to get the guts of the literature is to read it aloud.
no subject
no subject