Did you ever have a friend ask: "What was that again?" as you finished telling him something?

Then you repeated exactly what you had said—this time stressing certain key words for emphasis, and giving them a special connotation to bring out a particular significance beyond their literal and obvious meaning.

Audiences can't ask, "What was that again?" Actors have to use stress and connotation as tools of interpretation. These tools can answer every possible question that the speech prompts in the mind of the listener.

Every sentence has several words in it which might give the answer to specific questions.

For instance, take the line, "This is Helen Hayes speaking to you."

There are at least seven questions you could answer in this simple remark.

Read the line, accenting, or stressing, the first word, "this."

"This is Helen Hayes speaking to you."

You have answered the question "Who?"

Read the line again, stressing the second word, "is."

"This is Helen Hayes speaking to you."

You have not only established, but emphasized the identity of the speaker.

Accent the word "Helen" and you know which member of the Hayes family is speaking.

If you accent the word "Hayes," you stress which particular Helen is speaking. Not Helen Smith, not Helen Jones, but Helen Hayes.

Stress the word "speaking" and that answers the question of what Helen Hayes is doing.

Accent the word "to" and it's clear that she's talking directly to you.

By accenting the word "you," there is no doubt to whom Helen Hayes is talking.

The variety of meanings you can acquire by the ability to stress and give special connotation to any word in a line gives the line authority, vitality and color.

In the first line of the "quality of mercy" speech, Portia says: "The quality of mercy is not strain'd."

Helen Hayes would be able to answer all these parenthetical questions in that single phrase:

(The what?) . . . The quality ... (of what?) ... of mercy . . . (is not what?) ... is not strain'd.

By answering those three questions in that one phrase, its reading gains much more color, or vividness, than it would have if the actor thought of it as answering only one question.

Practice the "quality of mercy" speech, answering each of the following parenthetical questions.

(The what?) The quality (of what?) of mercy (is not what?) is not strain'd, (it what?) It droppeth (as what?) as the gentle rain (from where?) from heaven (to where?) Upon the place beneath: (it is what?) It is twice blest—It blesseth (whom?) him that gives, and him that takes, (how great is it? ) 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest, (how does it affect kings?) it becomes The throned monarch (how?) better than his crown, (why?) His sceptre shows the force (of what?) of temporal power, (what's that?) The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit (the what?) the dread (and what?) and fear of kings. But mercy is (is what?) above this sceptred sway, (why?) It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute (to whom?) to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's (when does mercy become thus?) When mercy seasons justice.

Here are the five Ws and an H that will help you with stress and connotation.

Who                       When
What                      Where
Why                       How

Using the "quality of mercy" speech—controlled by the five Ws and an H—as a pattern, read aloud as much as you can. Especially read dialogue. This will give you a solid interpretative background, and prepare you to take the fast direction that is necessary today.

If you conscientiously practice answering these "who, what, why, when, where, how" questions, you will develop word flexibility and be able to get more out of the scenes in a later chapter.

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