Virtual theatre in the indirect avatar form can be approximated by a mix of traditional theatre with animated cinema and puppetry. We do rehearsals in two main parts — we begin with voice rehearsals, and then move onto blocking (”visual rehearsals”).

Here is the gameplan for OEP1 (Open-Ended run Production 1 - aka the open-ended run of Twelfth Night: Act 1) production:

Rehearsals:
We’ll begin using the Scansion script.
Week 1 - Analysis / solo voice rehearsals - I’ll meet with each of you to both talk about your character/analysis and (lightly) voice coach you.
Week 2 - Voice rehearsals - Broken up into scenes and segments of scenes; at the end, we’ll hopefully have a working radioplay.
By now, you should hopefully have memorized or become familiar with your lines. We’ll move onto the main script (where the lines run together).
Week 3 - Virtual Blocking - The art of moving your avatar with precision while acting
Week 4 - Full dress rehearsals

Before rehearsals begin, you are expected to do a bit of work on your own to both familiarize yourself with your part, as well as the medium.

_Part_

Scansion:

This is Shakespeare, and so keeping an ear tuned to the nuances of syllables and sounds is a first step in gaining key insights to the piece. Scansion analysis is simply marking up the script with adherence to the rhythm of the piece; it’s the art of noting when and where to stress each word - and both content and syllable count help decide on this. Please print out and *mark up* the scansion script as linked below — for your part, at least, and also others. Feel free to ask questions via email or IM (or both). Since others may be scanning your lines for practice, please try sending your analysis questions to the group, so that others may learn from it, too!

For those new to scansion, the general rule of thumb is that verse sounds “normal” (similar to lines before and after) until you have deviation from the pentameter. Think of the last syllable of an 11-syllable line (a masculine ending if it ends with a stressed syllable, or a feminine ending if unstressed) as a “spoken beat” (often without much of a pause) or as a point of uncertainty/epiphany or change. Unless there’s a way to contract it down to 10 syllables, there’s a point to be made, and thus your speech should deviate. The words between the beginning and end of a line are often iambs (da DUM), but variations that involve a mix of trochees (DUM da) and others help you figure out which words to emphasize. The variations also make the lines sound more natural–but, you’re the one who has to interpret them, and thus you bring life and spontaneity to the “music” of the lines. Make note of accented e’s, which have an extra syllable count to bring things back to pentameter. Sometimes, words with the letter “v” may be contracted - “oven” would sound like “o’en”. The parts where ambiguity come in play would depend on your interpretation.

Prose is a bit more difficult, as you don’t have the crutch of a known form to help guide you - but, you’ll notice that Shakespeare’s prose is full of double entendres and alliteration and all that. You may wish to emphasize those obvious ones, as well as phrases that sound of note to you.

Don’t breathe until either the end of a line or a full stop! Do try breathing (lightly) at the end of a line, even if there’s no formal punctuation. Stopping in the middle for breath would ruin the rhythm! Think of performing Shakespeare like you’re playing saxophone or a similar instrument. You’ve got the sheet music, which is the first folio, or your marked-up scansion script - your interpretation is what creates the variation to turn it into living jazz.

Reference: http://www.bardweb.net/content/readings/intro.html and Shakespeare’s Advice to the Players by Peter Hall

Character Analysis:

(I believe this is one of the most important things - keep in mind that we are doing Shakespeare, and likely, the language may be a bit foreign to many in the audience. Scansion is important, too. Your unique portrayal of your character - your voice - would be key in helping the audience understand what’s going on.)

Please note the challenge of mastering your part is not only memorizing your lines, but also to understand your character.

This is where your actor self bonds and melds with your character(s). You should be thinking about your character as a real person - stepping into the shoes of your character. You have probably already developed your own method for this transformation. But, some suggestions and resources follow:

1. Try your hand at answering everyday-questions, such as “What kind of tie (or dress) would your character wear to see __, and why?” … “If __ were to give your character a gift, how would your character respond, and why?”
2. Try answering abstract or rhetorical questions, such as “What is the meaning of life (from the POV of your character)?”
3. Try creating your own version of the character’s background based on what you know of your character–what kind of childhood did your character have; how did his or her goals or aspirations change through time?
4. Try freewriting about your character, or creating a word list that describes your character (and rank the top ten words that best describe your character).
5. Try cueing your interpretation of your character to that word list.

* Resources:

• a) Spark Notes summary and analysis of each scene http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/
• b) Spark Notes line-by-line modern English translation of the first folio text http://nfs.sparknotes.com/
• c) MIT Moby Shakespeare (though typo-ridden) is what our subtitles machine uses: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/twelfth_night/
• d) Open Source Shakespeare has several useful variations of script-views: http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/playmenu.php?WorkID=12night
• e) First Folio - this is where our script comes from.

_Medium_

Familiarity with SL Voice and SL navigation are crucial skills for a virtual avatar actor — and they require practice. Being able to talk while moving your avatar isn’t as it seems. Even more difficult is the feat of being able to do that under the inevitable SL lag during a performance. Please spend at least several hours using SL voice in your regular SL activities (after making sure your SL voice is tuned up). We also recommend teleporting to high-density regions, such as Welcome Areas, for navigation-under-lag practice. Please contact SLSC Technicians for help in either tuning your SL voice or navigation training.Please download Skype if you don’t have the software already. We will be using this software during performances in case any internal contact in real time is needed; we will also be using Skype in case Second Life is broken during voice rehearsals. (Don’t worry, Skype is free and is easy to setup!) http://skype.com

_Script_

Please note, we will use two different versions of the “same” script. Both can be found here: http://twelfthnight.slshakespeare.com/blog/tag/playscript/

The Scansion script has the lines properly broken and spaced. Gray numbers preceding a line mark an unusual syllable count (where pentameter or 10 syllables is the usual). Verse has an extra 3-space indent.

The “main script” is formatted so that each page is (almost) exactly one moment of run time. More detailed stage directions are also embedded in this script. When we’re ready for this, you will hopefully have developed your own pace–which may vary slightly from your scansion analysis–that sounds natural to you and to the particular character. You may wish to re-mark up this script with the revised scansion analysis, or leave it unmarked.