FELIX HAYES
I think almost immediately, there is a certain sense of the clown about them,
FELIX HAYES
about the six of them. About how they enact with other. And I think you've had a very serious scene previously, and so there is this sense of tension which they come into.
CHIKE OKONKWO
We have it in this scene, when as soon as we come out the trap sometimes
CHIKE OKONKWO
the door slams, and people are uproarious with laughter. Because they're like, "Yeah, I know this bit, that bit's really funny."
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
I think their expectations are telling them, to start with,
CHIKE OKONKWO
Yeah.
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
that it should be funny.
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
So they-- It's like a release.
CHIKE OKONKWO
Yeah
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
But then I think, if you're not funny, they'll stop laughing pretty quickly.
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
Think of what's gone before. It's a very steamy scene, and then suddenly us, and it's a kind of鈥 HE WHISTLES Is all our company here?
FELIX HAYES
You're best to call them generally, man by man, according to the script.
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
Masters, here is the scroll of every man's name who is thought fit through all Athens to play in our interlude before the duke and the duchess, on his wedding day, at night.
FELIX HAYES
The language begins to become slightly wrong. It's like they're being self-contradictory as they go along. "You're best to call them generally, man by man, according to the script" is a contradiction. Call them all at once, but individually. Which you can't do. And so there's this sense of fun.
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
All of them are using language, or trying to use language, above themselves.
FELIX HAYES
Yeah, above their station.
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
Like, "Discharge it".
CHIKE OKONKWO
And getting it slightly wrong.
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
And Bottom, "I will condole in some measure." He doesn't mean that.
CHIKE OKONKWO
The very first things you say often get a laugh which is, "On his wedding day, at night". You know that quite-- It tickles you slightly. And then, the tragical comedy.
UNKNOWN MALE
Lamentable.
CHIKE OKONKWO
Yes.
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
Yeah. It should be, "LAM-entable", but I actually bend the word, so, "la-MENT-able." Our play is The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe.
FELIX HAYES
A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry. Then you go and say, "It's a good play, and a merry."
CHIKE OKONKWO
And I go, "Hang on, but it's about death, and it's merry, "and it's lamentable and it's a comedy?"
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
Comedy. Lamentable comedy.
UNKNOWN MALE
That often gets a laugh.
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
Yeah.
FELIX HAYES
In all Shakespeare's comedies, thereare jokes that are written that youread and you think, "Oh, that's ajoke."
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
They're really inaccessible.
FELIX HAYES
But I have no idea what that's about.
DIRECTOR
Well, absolutely. I think there isone particular joke in this scenewhich is Quince's.
UNKNOWN MALE
The straw-colouredbeard.
DIRECTOR
Yeah, absolutely.
FELIX HAYES
What beard were I best to play it in?
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
Why, what you will!
FELIX HAYES
Yeah, I will discharge it in either your straw-coloured beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-ingrained beard, your French crown-coloured beard, your perfect yellow.
CHRISTOPHER GODWIN
Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, then you may play bare-faced. bare-faced! LAUGHTER
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
Bare-faced!
CHIKE OKONKWO
I would have no idea what that joke was, but because it sounds like a joke, it's paced like a joke. It goes, da dum da dum da dum, da dum, punch line, and people react, but you know that people are laughing even though they don't really know what they're laughing at.
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
A lot of comedy is about rhythm. It's about how a line is structured, and how it sounds on the ear. You know you're communicating through that to an audience, that they know when to laugh.
DIRECTOR
Let's have a look at a bit of this scene when Felix, you as Bottom, do the "raging rocks and shivering shocks", and whether you consciously play that thinking, "I'm going to be funny as an actor." Or whether-- We'll try a few different options.
FELIX HAYES
OK.
DIRECTOR
So, shall we get on our feet? Let's try it, with you trying to be funny.
FELIX HAYES
The raging rocks And shivering shocks Shall break the locks Of prison gates And Phibbus' car Shall shine from far And make and mar The foolish Fates.
DIRECTOR
Very good!
ALL
LAUGHTER
UNKNOWN MALE
I quite like that.
UNKNOWN MALE 2
It was the leg. Wasn't it.
UNKNOWN MALE
It was like some sort of funky chicken.
DIRECTORSo what did that feel like to do?
FELIX HAYES
It felt weird. I felt very self-conscious because I was鈥
CHIKE OKONKWO
Just making silly voices.
FELIX HAYES
Yeah, slightly. A bit trying too hard, as if I was trying to be funny. I'm not sure鈥
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
What makes that speech funny, though?
FELIX HAYES
I think what makes that speech funny is the attempt to do it as well as you can.
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
It's like a kind of honest misunderstanding, almost, isn't it? It's what he believes an actor should be.
FELIX HAYES
I've seen a few. That's what they do, they stand there and they, they stand at the front and put their arms like this and then they do the speech.
CHRISTOPHER CHILTON
Because if it isn't an honest misunderstanding, then he just becomes rather dislikeable, doesn't he?
DIRECTOR
Yeah.
DIRECTOR
There's a sort of disjunction between his idea of his own talent and the execution of it. And I suppose that's what's really funny.
DIRECTOR
As soon as you have an actor who suddenly becomes a little self-aware, or a Bottom that becomes self-aware that it's not going that well, or that it isn't the best performance he could have given, then that's not funny, or not so funny.
DIRECTOR
But if he believes he's doing the best he possibly can, and that actually he might win an Oscar at the end of it, then that's going to be priceless.
The company discuss the language of comedy.
They explore comic timing, playing for laughs and how to make Bottom funny.
This short film is from the 大象传媒 series, Shakespeare Unlocked.
Teacher Notes
This short film offers an exploration of comic techniques and study of the language of comedy.
Before watching the workshop, ask your students how they think that comedy can be created on stage (for example, through physical humour, wordplay, character interaction).
While watching, ask them to jot down any examples they notice in each category.
In particular, what examples do they notice of characters getting words and meanings muddled?
Students could be asked to work in small groups to create their own comedy sketch, using some of the techniques they have noticed.
This short film is suitable for teaching GCSE English literature and drama in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4/ 5 in Scotland.
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Act 2, Scene 1 - Playing Helena (workshop) video
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Act 2, Scene 1 - The Lovers. video
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Act 2, Scene 1 - Titania crosses Oberon (workshop) video
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