During the Middle Ages, the prompter may have stood mid-stage and pointed to the actor’s speeches with a baton. Scholars believe that the eventual inclusion of cues marked a change in acting style from the medieval to the early modern eras, accompanied by a lessening in the conspicuousness of a prompter on the stage. The earliest extant English parts provided the actors only with their spoken lines and no cues at all. Some concessions, however, had been made over time in the history of cue scripts. On a basic level, cue scripts were convenient and economical and easy for private study. In addition to the closing words of all preceding speeches, stage directions for the character were included in the left-hand margin. First, a sheet of paper was divided lengthwise and cut into six-inch widths, which were then pasted end-to-end to form a continuous strip.
A copyist was hired by the company, and it was his job to write out the part for each character. In the sixteenth century, constructing these cue scripts was a specialized job. It is from this practice that the term “role” derived, in reference to an actor’s part. Physically, early modern cue scripts were comprised of multiple sheets of paper pasted together and secured with wooden dowels at either end, which allowed them to be rolled up into a small scroll. Looks it not like the King? Mark it, Horatio.
In the same figure, like the King that’s dead. Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, Had made his course t’ illume that part of heaven When yond same star that’s westward from the pole The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. Here is an example of a basic cue script format for a scene in Hamlet :Įnter two Sentinels- Francisco, Bernardo. The cue script amounted to the actor’s knowledge of the play he was in. This meant that there was little room for improvisation at the end of each speech. By the same token, an actor had to be careful to articulate at least the end of each of his speeches correctly, so that he would provide an identifiable cue for his fellow actor. Consequently, the actor had to essentially always be “on cue” in order to not miss any of his lines.
All cues also had to be listened for with great concentration, because if a cue was missed, the onstage action would come to a halt. To further complicate matters, cue scripts did not specify by whom the cues were spoken, so an actor was required to be alert at all times for his cue, which could come from any other player onstage at any time, and which could be unmistakably unique or as mundane as “my lord.” This meant that it was just as crucial for an actor to memorize his cue as his own speech. It was based on these last few words that an actor had to learn when to deliver his lines, a challenging exercise which required a good amount of mental dexterity. Instead, players were only presented with their individual parts in the shape of cue scripts. Cue scripts were a way of ensuring that one actor could not sell his copy of the play to a competing playhouse or publisher, as he was only ever given his own part of the script.įull scripts were a luxury and a rarity, especially given the malleable nature of crafting a play and prepping it for performance. Given the proximity of the playhouses in London during the early modern period, acting companies were competing for audiences and thus revenue. The word cue or queue derives from the Latin quails meaning “what” and quando meaning “where.” Cue scripts were used both because of the high cost of parchment at this time, and also to ensure the concealment of the prompt book. These parts came in the form of cue scripts, which contained only one character’s complete lines, along with each line’s “cue,” a mere two or three words of the preceding speech. English satirist Stephen Gosson put the matter succinctly in 1579 when he wrote, “Players action, doeth answere to their partes.” This statement is true on multiple levels not only did an actor craft his performance based on his assigned character within a play, but also on the literal, tangible “part” which he received in order to learn his lines for that character. “Were it my cue to fight, I should have known itĪs with numerous other theatrical practices, learning one’s lines in the world of early modern theater was dramatically different than the way in which the same task is undertaken today. Listen to our recent podcast on this topic!
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