O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? SUBTEXT EXCERCISE for ALL Actors

Here is a simple fun exercise to teach line analysis. Read the famous line from Romeo and Juliet. Right before you say ROMEO each time, click GENERATE, and breath in that word or phrase as the subtext for ROMEO.

Repeat the above exercise over and over. Deprogram how you think it should sound. HAVE FUN reimagining the meaning of some of the most famous words ever spoken on stage.

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

How do the full monologue. Click GENERATE for each ROMEO. Then 2-3 more times at random spots, not necessarily where it would make sense to shift focus.

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself.

Repeat this excercise with any Minogue. Learn to memorize your lines free of locked in preconceived readings. This how Christopher Walken speaks with bizarre rhythm and pitch choices. In your rehearsal, do that. Try random bizarre choices.

How about Hamlet?

Click GENERATE "To be, or not" GENERATE "To be," GENERATE "That is the question:"

To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub:

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause—there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action.

When you analyze monologues more carefully, you will make more poignant choices, but this exercise is designed to show that making these random choices makes us think out of the box as actors. A lot of the choices we make are overly simple or unnecessarily complex.

With this exercise, just once in a while, tap the button and make a dramatic shift, whatever the new subtext choice suggests, almost like an improv exercise superimposed on top of a known monologue. Try this for any monologue—modern, Shakespeare, or otherwise.

In your work as an actor or improviser, constantly make simple choices to shape your work rather than worrying about the words. The meaning behind the words is always more important than any specific phrasing. Even with Shakespeare, making these choices helps break down unattainable text into simple, playable chunks for modern speakers.