How to hear a play
Yep, hear. Not see.
Answering: What does it mean to hear a play?
Estimated read time: 5 minutes
TLDR
Theatre is historically audio-first, visual second. That's why RGS does story-focused theatre that de-emphasizes spectacle. Simplifying. Humanizing.
What does it mean to hear a play?
In Shakespeare's day, when choosing the day's entertainment, you probably wouldn't hear folks saying, "Let's go see the new play at the Globe!"
What you'd more likely hear is, "Let's go hear the new play at the Globe!"
There's multitudes of reasons for this.
Firstly, the Elizabethans were culturally used to receiving information audibly, partly because many couldn't read.
You didn't read the Bible on your own. You went to church and a select few read it to you while you heard it.
Same thing for entertainment.
The spoken word was highly prized. Poetry, in particular.
It's theorized that the Elizabethans were more attuned to rhythm in speech, which lines up with the popularity of iambic pentameter and other rhythmic verse structures in Elizabethan drama.
Since their ears were tuned to rhythm and spoken poetry, they had the perfect skillset to understand plays in verse without ever seeing a word.
Kind of like pre-microphone audiobooks, I guess.
Additionally, since performances were often outdoors, the visual elements were minimal.
We think of Shakespeare costumes as being elaborate, but they often were using their version of street clothes.
So what does this have to do with today?
Well, if you ever had a poor high school experience reading Shakespeare by yourself, you're not alone. And you're not broken, missing something, or bad at Shakespeare.
Shakespeare wasn't designed to be read silently like a novel.
Shakespeare is designed to be heard live.
Experienced in person.
Witnessed with other humans.
We pick up so much just by listening for tone, inflection, and how others react.
Shakespeare and other verse playwrights deliberately chose the words they did to guide you through the story.
I'll share more over the next weeks on how that works as I share my Shakespeare Cheat Codes.
Whether you're an actor or an audience member, I hope these tidbits give you some aha moments :)
My Invitation For You
RGS is starting to plan for our first outdoor shows (grant funding pending)! Subscriber revenue helps us produce them consistently.
Plus, you get on demand access to every show we do, so you can keep hearing plays even when the weather's bad!
