LAMDA Performing Shakespearean Text 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does it mean to 'act on the line' in Shakespearean performance, as opposed to between the lines?
- To deliver lines while physically moving across the stage
- To let the action and intention live in the speaking of the words themselves (Correct answer)
- To pause before every major speech
- To perform each line as a separate unit with silence between them
Correct answer: To let the action and intention live in the speaking of the words themselves
Shakespeare's text is the action — 'acting on the line' means the character's thought, feeling, and intention are expressed through the precise words, not in pauses around them.
Question 2: In the verse line 'The quality of mercy is not strained,' what is the metrical pattern of the opening foot?
- A regular iambic foot (da-DUM)
- A trochaic inversion (DUM-da) (Correct answer)
- A spondee (DUM-DUM)
- An anapaest (da-da-DUM)
Correct answer: A trochaic inversion (DUM-da)
The line opens with 'THE qua-' — 'THE' receives stress as a trochaic inversion, drawing attention to the word 'quality' that follows.
Question 3: When preparing a Shakespearean monologue for LAMDA, why is paraphrasing the text into modern English a useful rehearsal tool?
- Because LAMDA allows performers to deliver a paraphrase in the actual assessment
- To ensure the performer genuinely understands the meaning before returning to Shakespeare's words (Correct answer)
- To replace difficult vocabulary with simpler alternatives for the audience
- Because modern English paraphrase is more emotionally accessible
Correct answer: To ensure the performer genuinely understands the meaning before returning to Shakespeare's words
Paraphrasing tests genuine comprehension of sense and intent, so the performer can then bring that clear understanding back into Shakespeare's exact language.
Question 4: The dramatic device of 'aside' in Shakespeare requires the performer to:
- Leave the stage briefly before returning
- Address the audience directly while other characters pretend not to hear (Correct answer)
- Whisper the line to the nearest actor
- Deliver the line with their back fully turned to the audience
Correct answer: Address the audience directly while other characters pretend not to hear
An aside is a convention where a character speaks directly to the audience (or themselves) while other onstage characters are understood by convention not to hear.
Question 5: Which element does LAMDA particularly assess in a candidate's handling of long Shakespearean speeches?
- How quickly the speech is delivered
- Sustained thought and the ability to track the argument from beginning to end (Correct answer)
- Perfect grammatical accuracy in speaking archaic forms
- The number of gestures used
Correct answer: Sustained thought and the ability to track the argument from beginning to end
LAMDA looks for the ability to follow and communicate the arc of a speech's reasoning, showing that the performer holds a single continuous thread of thought.
Question 6: In Shakespeare, 'prose' is often used for characters who are:
- Always villains
- Of lower social status, or in moments of madness, comedy, or informality (Correct answer)
- Purely supernatural beings
- Delivering prologues only
Correct answer: Of lower social status, or in moments of madness, comedy, or informality
Shakespeare frequently gives prose to servants, clowns, low-status characters, or uses it to signal a character's mental disruption or informal register.
Question 7: What is a 'feminine ending' in Shakespearean verse, and why might a performer use it interpretively?
- A line spoken only by female characters
- An extra unstressed syllable at the end of a line, which can suggest incompleteness or hesitation (Correct answer)
- A line ending with a rhyming couplet
- A stage direction indicating a female character exits
Correct answer: An extra unstressed syllable at the end of a line, which can suggest incompleteness or hesitation
A feminine ending adds an unstressed eleventh syllable to the iambic pentameter line, and performers often use this as a clue to unresolved thought or emotional uncertainty.
LAMDA Performing Shakespearean Text 3
What does it mean to 'act on the line' in Shakespearean performance, as opposed to between the lines?