Texts: The Rhythm Texts
Though many theatre folk and high-school and university students have had drummed into them the importance of poetry in Shakespeare (via the often dreaded terms ‘scansion’ and ‘iambic pentameter’) two key items are often ignored, ‘why’ does scansion need to be done (i.e. of what practical use is the poetry) and is there an easy way of doing it. These new texts are an attempt to answer both points.
Instead of using the traditional poetic terms (dactyl/spondee etc) the premise is that in Shakespeare lines - occasionally what seems to be prose - can be read/spoken either as heartbeat (what the poetry-minded term would term as ‘iambic pentameter’) or cannot be spoken as heartbeat and make sense. As a logical outcome, in these new texts a character can be said to be in control of itself when it speaks via heartbeat and not in control when that heartbeat breaks.
To that end the “Rhythm Texts” are the first texts ever to portray heartbeat and heartbreak visually on the printed page by altering the font or adding symbols whenever heartbeat cannot be spoken and make sense. In essence these new texts do the scansion for you, and thus feature
- A comprehensive series of introductions to the supposed mysteries of scansion showing
- how easy it is to distinguish between heartbeat and heartbreak
- how using the heartbeat can clarify the logic of each character’s argument, aid the speed of delivery, and in performance seduce an audience.
- Clear visual on-page indication of what is heartbeat text.
- Clear visual on-page indication of what scholars accept as heartbroken text.
- Clear visual on-page indication of where there would be disagreement between scholars and theatrical folk as to whether heartbreak exists or not.
- Clear visual on-page indication of devices scholars/academics use to turn what appears to be a heartbroken line into a regular line of iambic pentameter (i.e. pure heartbeat).
- Clear visual on-page indication of where a reader/actor/director has a meaningful choice between heartbeat and heartbreak.
- Clear visual on-page indication of where a word may have more than one form of pronunciation, thus adding to a character’s enjoyment of or the deliberate holding back of language, (e.g. ‘heaven’ as one syllable – ‘heav’n’ – or ‘two – ‘heav/en’).
In addition, these texts feature many of the features offered in the individual ‘Applause First Folio Editions’, including:
- Faithful reproduction of the words (including capitalisation and spelling), line structure and punctuation as presented in the First Folio of 1623, in clear and legible modern type.
- Footnotes discuss many of the Quarto and modern text variations.
- Glosses highlight scholarship of the last four centuries with original compositors indicated.
- New easy coding system guides readers directly to single topics far more swiftly and efficiently than comparable attempts in modern editions.
- New visual clues allow readers to explore where modern texts have altered the original First Folio line structure (in some plays involving as many as 200 lines or more).
TO ORDER PRINT COPIES or CD-ROM COPIES FOR EDITING PURPOSES - each text will have to be individually prepared once ordered. Please order via the Publications Order Form.
Sample Pages
Click on the following link to view a sample page of the Rhythm Texts:
