5.2: Performance of Prose

Overview

Prose is often the easiest genre for new oral interpretation performers because it resembles natural speech. It generally appears as either expository prose (which explains or argues) or narrative prose (which tells a story). To perform prose effectively, the interpreter must understand the narrator’s point of view, personality, and emotional tone.

Narrative prose may include dialogue, so performers should differentiate characters through subtle, consistent changes in voice, expression, or posture. Prose pieces are sometimes shortened through “cutting,” selecting excerpts that preserve the story’s tone and flow; tag lines like “he said” can be removed if the performer shows them through delivery.

Strong prose performance relies on clear diction, varied intonation, appropriate pacing, eye contact, and purposeful physical expression. With careful analysis and rehearsal, performers bring the text’s imagery and emotion to life for an audience.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Anna Kim Wien in performance. (CC,BY-SA; Manfred Werner - Tsui - Anna Kim Wien)

Learning Objectives

1. Analyze the narrative voice and author’s intent.
2. Identify effective interpretation and cutting techniques.

Performance of Prose

Since prose is written in a style most like our natural speech, it is often the first genre you may tackle in your adventure through the world of oral interpretation.

Sometimes, a work of prose is more expository in nature rather than narrative (telling a story), focused on providing information or developing an argument as opposed to developing a plot. A narrative prose piece, on the other hand, tells a story from a first- or third-person narrator’s point of view. A performer of prose should understand the author’s intention behind the style of the work. The performer should thoroughly analyze the narrator or primary voice of the work to choose a performance approach that honors that voice’s point of view, personality, biases, feelings, etc.

Particularly in narrative prose, you will sometimes see more than one persona represented in the work. These may exist in the form of character dialogue throughout the piece. As a prose performer, you must examine these characters and determine how to perform them in a way that makes them distinct from the primary voice (narrator). You can do this using body language and vocal variety. All characters should have some sort of body and/or vocal change that works with the interpretation given to that character. It can be your stance, how you hold your shoulders/head/posture, specific gestures to that character, or an accent or higher vocal tone. Do not go overboard, this should be subtle. Most importantly, be consistent with these choices, doing them each time the character speaks so as not to confuse your audience. Consider the following to add depth to your characterizations:

• Feel free to commit to an emotion that the character experiences.
• Consider adding reaction moments even when characters do not have anything to say. Characters can react whether they speak or not.
• Avoid nervous rocking back and forth or nervous twitches such as wiggling your foot or playing with your pant leg (unless the character is supposed to be portrayed as someone who is nervous).
• Use facial expressions. Your face should be “alive” at all times. Every narrator’s/character's facial expressions should be appropriate for that character. Practicing in front of a mirror can help.
• Use appropriate focal points such as facial expressions, eye contact, posture, and gestures. If you determine through analysis that the narrator or primary voice is speaking to a group of people, engage the audience with eye contact using an audience focal point. Use the layout of classroom to your advantage, scanning and picking individuals to look at for an extended time during specified intense moments add to the performance. Though, if you determine whether the primary voice is speaking to no one in particular, perhaps rather to his or herself, you may need to use the inner-expressed focal point, looking into space as one may do while talking on the phone. When interpreting character dialogue, use different off-stage focal points to indicate characters looking at one another while speaking.
• Use appropriate vocal characteristics for the various personae. Play with tone, rhythm, volume, and all forms of dynamics. The secret with vocals is variation, and this can help make your various personae in a piece more distinct.
• Get to know the personae of the piece beyond the words in the literature. For deeper characterization, consider the possible history, backstories, and the relationships that exist between the characters and voices of the prose. Most of the time, these conclusions will be drawn simply from your own understanding and assumptions. That is fine. You can use those to help you make performance and delivery decisions for characterization.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Activity 1: Character Differentiation Practice

Objective:
Develop and apply subtle physical and vocal changes to portray multiple characters within a prose piece.

Instructions:

1. Choose a prose passage that includes at least two characters.

2. Create a character map for each persona, including:

   • Age, background, relationship to the narrator

   • Vocal traits (pitch, pace, accent)

   • Physical traits (posture, gestures, facial expressions)

3. Rehearse reading the dialogue, using distinct vocal and body language cues for each character.

4. Present the piece to a small group, who will identify which cues correspond to which character.

5. Receive feedback on consistency and clarity of differentiation.

Cutting

Often, a prose piece may be too long for you to perform it in its entirety, and you will have to make a “cutting.” This involves selecting a chunk(s) from the entire work that still fit within the theme or message the performer is aiming to convey to the audience to include within a performance. Later, this chapter addresses cutting literature for performance, but in short, it works best to select large chunks for performance rather than piecing small lines and segments together to preserve as much of the rhythm and flow of an author’s words as possible. One key exception to this might be in the cutting of “tag lines,” or the short bits of narration after a line of dialogue. These are phrases such as “he said,” “she shouted angrily,” or “they paused.” Since performers are using character vocalizations to bring literature to life for audiences, they will likely be doing the actions indicated in these tag lines (e.g. shouting angrily or pausing). Including them when performing often seems unnecessary, and many performers choose to omit them in performance.

Any fiction or non-fiction novel, essay, journal, or short story can be selected to be cut for a prose performance. The use of diction, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, intonation, pace and other elements of delivery will offer a rewarding experience for both interpreter and audience. Every delivery choice made for prose should benefit the piece, help tell the story or convey the information, and aid interpretation. Performing prose effectively, particularly a narrative piece with several characters, takes lots of practice, devotion, and creativity. The more work you have done analyzing the work and understanding it, the better you can bring the piece to light for your audience. Strive to convey the crisp mental imagery you had when you read it when you perform for your audience.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{2}\)

Activity 2: Cutting for Performance

Objective:
Practice cutting a longer prose work to create a cohesive, performable excerpt that maintains the original meaning and flow.

Instructions:

1. Choose a longer short story or essay (3+ pages).

2. Identify a central theme or emotional arc you want to highlight.

3. Select 1–2 substantial sections that support this theme while maintaining the author’s voice and rhythm.

4. Omit tag lines where appropriate, relying on vocal and physical interpretation to convey character actions.

5. Justify your cutting in a brief reflection:

   • Why did you choose this portion?

   • How does it preserve the intent and tone of the original work?

6. Perform your cut piece in class or for peer review.