Good morning, RIII readers! Feel free to begin posting your passage-with-stage-directions in the comments. Speaking for myself, I found it interesting to read these scenes with a specific focus on potential physical action. I'm sure actors and directors do this constantly, but I tend to get distracted by language and overlook the fact that plays are enacted by actual bodies. So I'm looking forward to your notions.
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Caveat: I've never done this before, so I'm unsure if there's a recommended format!
RIII, 3.1
RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER
Stage directions:
Richard is, as always, on the edge of rude and his speech is accompanied by some physical swagger and gestures that are somewhat sexual in nature. He is condescending in his tone; the prince is young, and Richard publicly reminds the youth of his lack of worldly experience.
Sweet Prince, the untainted virtue of your years
(he reaches out with gentle hand to lightly stroke the boy’s cheek, inferring that there is no beard there as yet, then drops his hand to his own hip)
Hath not yet div’d into the world’s deceit;
(dived rhymes with swived, and a hip-sliding gesture accompanies the words)
Nor more can you distinguish of a man
(a rueful shake of his head)
Than of his outward show, which, God he knows,
Seldom or never jumpeth with the heart.
(Vocal inflection and smirking leer indicates it’s not the heart he’s thinking of jumping with)
Those uncles which you want were dangerous;
(emphasis on “you”—and he puts his hand on the youth’s shoulder in a slightly threatening grip)
Your Grace attended to their sug’red words,
But look’d not on the poison of their hearts.
(all said with mock concern and sincerity, hand still gripping the boy’s shoulder)
God keep you from them, and from such false friends!
(Using the hand on the shoulder, he spins the boy ¾ turn, angling him in such a way that they are looking outward in the same direction, with Richard at his back. The hand is still on the shoulder—apparently protective, but also as a control)
EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES
God keep me from false friends!—but they were none.
(Tries to shrug the hand off his shoulder and step aside, asserting his independence as best he can—he doesn’t trust Richard)
Richard III Stage directions
Act 3 Scene 2
At the very end of this scene there is an exchange between Buckingham and Hastings.
Buckingham feigns surprise, lifts his eyebrows when he chances upon Hastings in whispered conversation with a priest. He jokes about Hastings not needing a priest. His manner is overly nonchalant and his speech should be overly precise. He shakes his head, tilting it slightly. He has a slight smile.
Hastings is relaxed, feeling safe, and inquires politely about Buckingham's trip to The Tower. He says he will be gone before Buckingham arrives.
Buckingham turns away and speaks sotto voce with closed eyes, and hand palm facing forward as if to swear that he would not tell us a lie. This is to let the audience know that Hastings will be imprisoned.
Mess. [panting, scraping mud from his boot] My lord! My lord!
Hast. [Within] [audible sound of a creaking bed and then the shuffling of feet] Who knocks?
Mess. [patting his pockets as if he's lost something] One from [pause; unearths letter from coat] the Lord Stanley.
Hast. [Within] [yawning] What is't o'clock?
Mess. [jingling spurs] Upon the stroke of four.
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So, like Carlene, I've never done this before, but I'm finding that it's an interesting exercise. Suddenly the dialogue becomes portentous in a new way. It points to bodily action but doesn't describe it, as a novel might. Thus, even in this tiny sample, I had to think slowly about exactly how someone might show up at a door at 4 a.m., how someone might respond to the knock, what kinds of variations in response one might include . . . or whether it's best to have the person repeat an action. I'm also finding that individual readers are going to respond differently. Carlene used her stage directions to dramatize Gloucester's evil. Ruth used hers to demonstrate the difference between trust and deceit. I used mine to evoke how bodies react at a specific time of day.
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