Season One, Episode Seven
What's My Line (Ending)?

December 16, 2020
What happens when you get a bunch of actors to try out some end-stopped and open-ended lines?  This episode, obviously!

So often, we rely on the magic of actors to fix our verse drama, that it's time to let the actors give their honest opinion about what they need from a line of verse.

Looking at King Arthur verse from 1587 to the 2008 Cupid and Psyche "Bad Quarto", we're moving gently and with laughter through the good, the bad, and the unactable in verse drama.

Featuring verse from: The Misfortunes of Arthur (Sir Thomas Hughes), and Cupid and Psyche (Emily C. A. Snyder)

Featuring the voices of:

Transcript

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Texts

To see correct formatting, please download the PDF file.
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End Stopped Verse: The Misfortunes of Arthur, Sir Thomas Hughes (Act I, Scene 4)

MORDRED.           
A likely thing, your faults must make you friends;
What sets you both at odds must join you both.
Think well, he casts already for revenge,
And how to plague us both. I know his law;
A judge severe to us, mild to himself.
What then avails you to return too late,
When you have passed too far? You feed vain hopes.

End Stopped Verse: Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene 2)

ROMEO.                
But, soft!  What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

“Count to Ten” Verse: Cupid and Psyche “The Bad Quarto (2008-2009),” Emily C. A. Snyder (Act I, Scene 1)

CUPID.                  
A tale there was!  A bawdy tale!  A tale
Of tails well chased!  Women, aye and men, too.
Caught in the May-morning brambles, and the
Red satyrs’ arms, well-wound with climbing nymphs
That seemed at night to women be and now
Were found to be heady herbs and no women
There at all!  This was much sport for Midsummer’s
Eve.  To make men mad is my delight.
And thou, Adonis, spurned our sport—for fear,
No doubt, of my mother’s rage or else of
Hades’ bride.  O be a man, Adonis!
Spurn the love of women, your mistresses
Curse and join us in the hunt for lusty
Swains and wretches and I swear you will be
Well-satisfied for your endeavor.
What say you?

Corrected Verse: Cupid and Psyche (NYC 2014 Script) Emily C. A. Snyder (Act I, Scene 1)

CUPID.                                       
A tale there was!  A bawdy tale!
A tale of tails well chased.  Women, aye, and men, too--
Caught in the May-morning brambles, and the Satyr’s
Hairy arms, well-wound with climbing nymphs
That seemed at night to women be, and now:
Were found to be herbs and no women there at all!
This was much sport for a Midsummer’s Eve.
To make all mortal men go mad is my delight.
And you, Adonis, spurned our night—for fear,
No doubt, of my mother’s rage or else…
Of Hades’ bride?  O, be a man, Adonis!
Spurn the love of women, your mistresses curse
And join us in the hunt for lusty swains
And eager wenches.  I swear you’ll be well-
Satisfied for your night’s endeavours.
What say you?

Original Soliloquy: Cupid and Psyche “The Bad Quarto (2008-2009),” Emily C. A. Snyder (Act III, Scene 3)

CUPID.       
A god of Passions, aye!—No more.
Two or five or twenty-five or fifty-two
Or more I’ve slain in search of Psyche’s heart
Which she, with cunning, hath safe hid away.
My every step Persephone hath shadowed,
And every murder hath been a deal with Death
Who is most hungry for Psyche’s soul…
Psyche, whom every day reviles me more.
O, she hath made a monster out of me!
Revealed me for what I truly am—a Beast,
A wretch, a god of lusts unsated.
For never was I a god of Love—O, no!
No god of Love could do what I have done.
Nor will she love, ‘til loving I become.
O, let me patient be.  But soft.  Her sisters.

Emotive Formatting/Emotive Grammatical Verse: Cupid and Psyche (NYC 2014 Script) Emily C. A. Snyder (Act III, Scene 3)

Note: To see the original formatting, please download the document above.

CUPID.
Go, fool!  Gloat. 
Your god is dead; the globe unhinged;
Th’unguarded gateways to Olympus’ crown
Exposed.  By Psyche—O!
We are weakling gods!  To be usurped
By Reason’s proud, unyielding ice-queen harlot!
Virgin.  (Nay, she’s a virgin sure…)—yet not so chaste;
There’s fire in her yet, ‘twill burn me cold.
I’ll have her.
Jade and strumpet!  Where do you hide, my sweet?
I’ll have thee, whore—know thee, inhabit thee--
Cleft thee in two and die in the remains—I’ll--
(To ADONIS.) But stay!...stay.  I will be well.
Sad confessor, fear me not.  Nay, sit.  Sit! 
Stay—and sit.  I cannot kill thee twice. 
But soft.
I am…
…Remembered of a thing.  What was it? 
Of something soft--remember!  Of something…
Fragile as a newborn’s sigh, as lovely
As the dawn when sea and sky are one, as…
Innocent as a window with new linens.
O, there was Eden-breath once in these lungs,
Eden-kisses on my lips, Eden-thoughts
Within my all-too fevered brain.  Pity me,
Confessor.  I am more Death’s bondslave--bitch--
Than thee in all thy chains.  But see, there’s blood
Upon my hands.  It’s strange there should be blood;
Is’t thine?  O—she is lovely.  My mistress,
And my murderer. 
Nay, friend—take pity, pray, and tell me, too:
Where the heart of Psyche lies?  I’ll eat it.
And be made whole at last. 

Homework

Here are some activities you can choose to do!
1) Try performing any of the pieces from above, taking a breath at the end of each line.  What do you discover?  Try performing them, only taking a breath on the punctuation, enjambing (running together) the lines of verse.  What does this do to your acting?

2) How would you rewrite these lines of verse?  What's helpful as an actor to get the same ideas across?

Resources

Sir Thomas Hughes
 
William Shakespeare
 
Emily C. A. Snyder
  • 2009 “Bad Quarto” and 2014 NYC Cupid and Psyche Patreon | Amazon
  • 2008 Cupid and Psyche Video
  • 2014 Cupid and Psyche Videos
 
The Shakespeare Forum
 
Turn to Flesh Productions