But then Casey said that most of us have vocabularies in the range of 2,000-4,000 words. He gestured to a woman in the audience who knew the answer, and asked “How many words were in Shakespeare’s vocabulary?” The lady replied, “23,000.” Can you believe that!!! Being a word person, I immediately felt better.

The excerpts began - I’ll quote a portion of each speech. (Note: for Elizabeth’s and Dwight’s speeches, I am fairly sure, but not positive, that I have excerpts from the correct speeches.)

Casey was first, quoting from Benedick in “Much Ado about Nothing”.

I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviors to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn by falling in love; and such a man is Claudio…

May I be so converted and see with these eyes? I cannot tell, I think not…

But till all the graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that’s certain; wise, or I’ll none; virtuous, or I’ll never cheapen her; fair, or I’ll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what color it please God.

For the DC run of Much Ado, Casey chose to play Benedick as a man unknowingly in love with Beatrice. A father and his 7-year-old son came to a performance. After the above speech, so someone later told Casey, the 7-year old said (and I quote), “Bull shit, bull shit, bull shit.” The boy not only understood the Shakespearean English, he also understood that the only person who didn’t know Benedick was in love with Beatrice was Benedick himself!

Vaughn Armstrong’s speech was about Queen Mab, the bringer of dreams. Vaughn works out to Shakespeare because it gives him more energy, and gave a demonstration. Not only does reciting Shakespeare give him more energy; it gives him grace of movement.

O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes in shape no bigger than an agate-stone on the fore-finger of an alderman, drawn with a team of little atomies athwart men’s noses as they lie asleep - Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene 4.

Elizabeth Dennehy stood center stage, closed her eyes, and quietly got herself into character as Joan of Arc.

Virtuous and holy; chosen from above, by inspiration of celestial grace, to work exceeding miracles on earth. I never had to do with wicked spirits: But you, that are polluted with your lusts, stain’d with the guiltless blood of innocents, corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices- Henry VI, Part 1, Act 5, Scene 3.

Afterwards, she said that she hadn’t given this speech in sixteen years! She attributed her perfect memory to Shakespeare’s beautiful words.

Dwight Schultz knelt at (his) stage right for the longest time, perhaps getting into character, perhaps rehearsing the words in his mind. Then he was Othello deciding to kill Desdemona.

Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her! Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw, to furnish me with some swift means of death for the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant. - Othello, Act 3, Scene 3.

Casey continued his tutorial, including questions from the audience. He had spoken of monologues and soliloquies. Loretta asked a question I was too timid to ask, “What’s the difference between the two?” Answer: A soliloquy is a solo speech directed to the audience. A monologue is a character’s (long) speech in conjunction with other characters.

Even in high school, Casey had good acting instincts. One of his teachers, Sister Gemma, would recite Shakespeare in a monotone, rather like (I suppose) one might recite a definition from a dictionary. This drove Casey nuts. One day he couldn’t stand it anymore and walked out of the classroom. You can guess where he wound up. The principal, a priest, said, “Sister Gemma? Say no more - I know what you mean.” There was no punishment.

Casey and J. G. had a spirited discussion of what accent should be used to recite Shakespeare. J. G. said English, and Casey said American (i.e., the actor’s natural accent). The discussion then turned to, if an actor were to recite in the accent of Elizabethan times, would we be able to understand it today? Might it be similar to the contemporary accents of Tangier Island, MD - a long-isolated community that is said to have retained the Elizabethan speech of its original settlers? They were rhetorical questions, but interesting ones.

Casey could not neglect the sonnets, and recited two. I heard both of them two years ago as part of “What Shakespeare Leaves Behind” at the Framingham, MA con. There, Marc Alaimo quoted Sonnet 29 and Casey quoted Sonnet 116. Glad to hear them again.


Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.


Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! it is an ever-fixèd mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.