shakespeare

how does shakespeare make the opening of the play dramatically effective :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: 8)

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Is this test multiple choice? :wink:

A dramitically effective opening would require the author to effectively grab the audience's attention and keep. The answer is fairly simple for this play (and many others)... ACTION! We hear Orlando confess to Adam his tense situation between himself and Oliver. And who shows up right away? Oliver! We know this is gonna be tense.

"ORL. Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will shake me up."

And then we are told right away that they're gonna have a little show down. So already Shakespeare tells us what the given circumstances are (in this subplot of the play), tells us that we're going to have a fight (which audiences love). Then he gives us the fight. The brothers have their little brawl. Not much is solved, Oliver then meet with Charles the Wrestler who agrees to harm Orlando when they wrestle. OOH! The plot thickens. Now we have a wrestling match to look forward to in the next scene!

Then of course the Ladies are introduced before the match, and the play sort of takes off from there. But it's all about the action or something similarly exciting device that Shakespeare will employ to win his audience's eyes and ears at the start of his plays.

how does Shakespeare make the opening of the play dramatically effective?

Usually, in a very big way-with very little words--more succinctly-In a Word. How many plays begin with the word 'Now' ? Small words such as, If, now, and, but, for, etc., are put to great use as attention-getters, both at the beginning of plays and the beginning of scenes. It behooves an actor to take note of these small but powerful 'notes' and let the energy from the initial opening operate as an undercurrent that drives the rest of the line, and supports (while initializing, to a certain extent, in itself) any further dramatic accentuation that may be ahead; many times expository, with a tendency to flag while the actor 'sets the scene'.This is one reason why attention to vocalization & projection are important initial components.