Shared Lines are lines of iambic pentameter shared between characters. They can tell us
a lot about the closeness the relationships of those characters, perhaps they are in love
or scheming about something or share a secret.
Does anyone got a brief synopsis of what they think a shared lines is, I mean it's it's
quite obvious, but,
It's like when one character starts a line and somebody else, another character there
in the scene with finishes it.
Good, so when one character starts a line and the other character finishes it,
rhythmically Yes, yeah, absolutely
It's an exchange from one person to another, where another person finishes a thought or
picks up on a thought or changes a thought but somehow there's a relationship between
the first thought and the second thought and it's in rhythm,
yeah what do we have to do to figure out whether
the lines are do the iambic exercise
absolutely, so we've got to try that iambic exercise, so lets have a go at that in your
pairs, take it slowly, lean into the iambic to start with, be really obvious and clear
about it and then as you get more familiar it'll start to flow, off you go.
My children Kings stirring, worthy thane?
Not yet. He did command me to call timely on him:
Thence! My wife kill'd too?
I have said.
In my opinion, it's all about exploring the choices, our job is to be detectives of the
text, to explore them and figure out what clues we can decipher from the text to be
able to make our inform opinion of how we think Shakespeare should be spoken and heard.
This isn't a must be, but for example, if you were to share the line, there has to be
something that I give in time, that is able to receive and pick-up, so it's pass the baton.
So, have a little play with that, so you're passing on your last word in time so that
the baton can be picked up by the next person, good, off you go.
My children too? Wife, children, servants, all
That could be found. And I must be from thence!
My wife kill'd too? I have said.
Share lines will always reveal something about the relationship between the characters who
are speaking, they may not always agree, but they understand each other, or the argument
enough to finish each other’s thoughts.
Is the king stirring, worthy thane? Not yet.
He did command me to call timely on him: I have almost slipp'd the hour.
I'll bring you to him.
Very nice, there's a little something, there's something to be had in the exchange of that
baton, and of course because it's a physical thing, it's slightly easier in terms of making
it tangible for your body to experience with it is to share the line with someone, that's
the aim.
There's a power in speaking and the bottle there became the symbol of I've got the power,
I'm in charge of this conversation and it's just highlights that the language is that
power, so when you get the chance to speak, you've got a moment to take charge of the
scene.
We've got something missing in the last exchange, my wife killed to, I have said, but the weird
this about that is it's like Ross is trying to shut MacDuff up, he doesn't want to say
anymore. Nice.
That's how it feels. Yeah.
And you feel the silence in the missing beats. Yes.
I must be from thence! My wife kill'd too?
I have said. The fact there aren't enough beats in that
last line, breaks my heart every time I hear it, because it's, there are no words, there
are no beats, there is an emptiness There is no one left.
There is a gap, there is no, there is no one left, they're all dead.
Yeah. It's almost there like he's interrupted MacDuff's
ten beats. Yeah.
And started his own short line. Yeah
And say he's wants to shut you up and I'm closing this down and you can see the Macbeth
line as maybe prose or it's a really short verse line.
Yeah, very nice. But the options within those possibilities
are there aren't they when we start to explore things like, is it a shared line, does it
share the rhythm, if it doesn't why, if it doesn't how then can I play it.
Yeah.