The word “beat” can represent several different things in theater terminology. For example, if the playwright writes “a beat” in the script, this indicates a pause. It may also indicate some subtle dramatic action: the turn of a head, a hand to a mouth, a choice made, and so on. For our purposes, a dramatic beat will be a unit of dramatic action smaller than a scene, but whole in that it has a beginning, middle, and end. In that beat, one should be able to discover an imbalance, character action, and an outcome (in other words, a crisis, climax, and resolution).
A dramatic beat often will have similarities to a “French scene.” As we saw in the assigned reading for Lesson 1, a French scene begins every time a character enters or exits. We often find that the beginnings and endings of dramatic beats coincide with characters entering and exiting, although this is not always true. The entrance of a waiter carrying drinks, for example, may have little effect on the ongoing dramatic momentum. The important thing is character engagement, which has an organic shape of its own.
The French scene is a mechanical designation. The dramatic beat is a practical designation. When we rehearse a play, dramatic beats will generally mark the beginning and ending points for short run-throughs. The director would not want to choose too short or too long a run-through, thereby losing the flow of action.
Let’s start by a taking a familiar play, Hamlet, and dividing a scene into beats. In Act I, Scene 2, we find five easy-to-distinguish beats:
- Claudius’ formal address on matters of state (lines 1–45)
- Laertes is given leave (lines 46–76)
- Claudius and Gertrude pressure Hamlet (lines 77–155)
- Hamlet’s first soliloquy (lines 156–190)
- Horatio brings news of the Ghost (lines 191–365)
Notice that Shakespeare’s division of scenes into beats is pretty straightforward. For example, once Claudius has addressed the matter of the war and sent off Voltemand and Cornelius (note the character exit), he says, in obvious transition, “And now, Laertes, what’s the news with you?” With this, the second beat is started. Then, once Laertes’ request to leave Denmark is aired and granted, Claudius turns to the dour Hamlet:
Claudius: Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will!
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,—
Hamlet: [Aside] A little more than kin, and less than kind.
Claudius: How is it that the clouds still hang on you?
When Claudius and Gertrude manage to extract only a grudging statement of deference, they take their leave and Hamlet’s first soliloquy begins. Hamlet’s soliloquy is a new beat with its own momentum and shape—it is “bookended” by a company exit and a three-character entrance led by Horatio bringing news of the Ghost. The final beat is a relatively lengthy exchange in which Hamlet’s curiosity is roused.
DRAMATIC BEAT ANALYSIS: REWRITING TEXT AND SUBTEXT
In dramatic beat analysis, in addition to event summaries and plot elements, we write out—in everyday language—what is really being said or thought or felt by the characters. With Shakespeare, this would involve rewriting text—that is, translating Elizabethan poetry or vernacular into modern English. With Chekhov, the translating has already been done (from Russian into modern English), and it’s the subtext we’re concerned with—what the characters are thinking and feeling but not expressing.
One reason The Cherry Orchard is hard to understand is the degree to which the characters do not say what they mean or ask for what they want. Traditionally in drama, language is used to reveal character and character need. Oedipus says exactly what he thinks and wants. What Shakespeare does in Hamlet, though—and this has been an ongoing evolution in drama, amplified since the time of Chekhov—is explore how language can conceal character. Hamlet, for example, strives to hide his motivations from all the other characters, and it is only through the soliloquies that we learn his true thoughts and feelings.
Chekhov, however, offers us little in the way of soliloquy and we are in peril of utterly missing the point if we take his characters “at their word.” This is not to say that they all seek to dissemble or deceive (as Hamlet does). In The Cherry Orchard, it is the characters’ own limitations, such as their inability to articulate, their lack of self-knowledge, and their denial of reality, that can throw us off-track. Consider what is said versus what is not said. When does silence or avoidance “speak”? What is it that the character wants that is being obscured by language?
DRAMATIC BEAT ANALYSIS: ANIA AND VARIA IN ACT I
Let’s look at a beat from Act I of The Cherry Orchard between the sisters Varia and Ania. An untrained director may see this scene as merely expositional and try to get through it as efficiently as possible. This would be a mistake, as there is much of dramatic interest going on underneath the surface. [The following text is taken from a translation by Julius West (1916).]
VARYA. Well, you’ve come, glory be to God. Home again. [Caressing her] My darling is back again! My pretty one is back again!
ANYA. I did have an awful time, I tell you.
VARYA. I can just imagine it!
ANYA. I went away in Holy Week; it was very cold then. Charlotta talked the whole way and would go on performing her tricks. Why did you tie Charlotta on to me?
VARYA. You couldn’t go alone, darling, at seventeen!
ANYA. We went to Paris; it’s cold there and snowing. I talk French perfectly horribly. My mother lives on the fifth floor. I go to her, and find her there with various Frenchmen, women, an old abbé with a book, and everything in tobacco smoke and with no comfort at all. I suddenly became very sorry for mother—so sorry that I took her head in my arms and hugged her and wouldn’t let her go. Then mother started hugging me and crying ….
VARYA. [Weeping] Don’t say any more, don’t say any more….
ANYA. She’s already sold her villa near Mentone; she’s nothing left, nothing. And I haven’t a copeck left either; we only just managed to get here. And mother won’t understand! We had dinner at a station; she asked for all the expensive things, and tipped the waiters one rouble each. And Charlotta too. Yasha wants his share too—it’s too bad. Mother’s got a footman now, Yasha; we’ve brought him here.
VARYA. I saw the wretch.
ANYA. How’s business? Has the interest been paid?
VARYA. Not much chance of that.
ANYA. Oh God, oh God …
VARYA. The place will be sold in August.
ANYA. O God ….
LOPAKHIN. [Looks in at the door and moos] Moo!… [Exit.]
VARYA. [Through her tears] I'd like to …. [Shakes her fist.]
ANYA. [Embraces VARYA, softly] Varya, has he proposed to you? [VARYA shakes head] But he loves you…. Why don’t you make up your minds? Why do you keep on waiting?
VARYA. I think that it will all come to nothing. He’s a busy man. I'm not his affair… he pays no attention to me. Bless the man, I don’t want to see him…. But everybody talks about our marriage, everybody congratulates me, and there’s nothing in it at all, it’s all like a dream. [In another tone] You’ve got a brooch like a bee.
ANYA. [Sadly] Mother bought it. [Goes into her room, and talks lightly, like a child] In Paris I went up in a balloon!
VARYA. My darling’s come back, my pretty one’s come back! [DUNYASHA has already returned with the coffee-pot and is making the coffee, VARYA stands near the door] I go about all day, looking after the house, and I think all the time, if only you could marry a rich man, then I'd be happy and would go away somewhere by myself, then to Kiev… to Moscow, and so on, from one holy place to another. I’d tramp and tramp. That would be splendid!
ANYA. The birds are singing in the garden. What time is it now?
VARYA. It must be getting on for three. Time you went to sleep, darling. [Goes into ANYA’S room] Splendid!
Event Summary:
So we’ll begin by doing an event summary. Notice that, in the following, I track four moods (three mood shifts) over the course of this dramatic beat. This is not necessary—it just seemed to be useful in describing the shape of this particular beat.
Event Sentence: Amid the excitement of telling Varia of her adventure, Ania broaches the subject of marriage and encourages Varia to marry Lopakhin, but Varia resigns herself to happiness in seclusion and seems intent on Ania’s marrying a rich man (and not Petya) to save the cherry orchard—a prospect that Ania evades.
Driving Questions:
• What happened on Ania’s trip?
• How can the estate be saved?
• Which, if either, of these two young women will marry a rich man to save the estate?
Even though a lot of expositional material is provided in the scene, there is an underlying tension apparent in the relationship. Notice how Ania is trying to prove how grown up she is and how Varia accepts some of this, but soon reverts to a more comfortable posture of dominance, treating Ania like a child. What is being played out—in addition to normal sibling dynamics—is the unspoken burden that each feels to marry rich in order to save the family and the estate. Varia seems to have the upper hand when she pushes aside the subject of Lopakhin and focuses on Ania marrying rich (which would certainly not mean Trofimov!). Ania, who seemed so full of adult energy, now reverts to childlike behavior, perhaps in an effort to avoid committing to Varia’s suggestion. As a negotiator, Ania is unsuccessful in changing Varia’s mind about marrying Lopakhin; Ania is also ineffective in establishing equality in the sisters’ relationship.
Plot Elements
Having gained some appreciation of the emotional interplay in the sisters’ relationship, we are ready to do plot elements.
• Crisis: Both women feel pressure to marry in order to save the estate
• Characters (established beforehand and now in flux):
• Ania: precious, thoughtless child
• Varia: worried, responsible adult
• Desires:
• Ania:
o to unburden herself after a long period of restraint
o to show Varia how grown-up she is and realign their relationship
o to persuade Varia to marry Lopakhin (to save the estate)
• Varia:
o to comfort and welcome her sister
o to assert her role as protector and decision maker
o to persuade Ania to marry a rich man (to relieve herself of this burden)
• Actions and Obstacles:
• Ania:
o tells a story with details that assert her position as an adult (which seems to work, at first)
o becomes involved with cares of the estate (also seems to work)
o tells Varia to discuss marriage with Lopakhin (obstacle: Varia’s resignation)
• Varia:
o pushes away the notion of marriage with Lopakhin
o changes subject to something light (which succeeds in that Ania reverts to childlike behavior)
o tells Ania her dream of Ania’s marriage to a rich man (obstacle: Ania’s avoidance and subversion)
• Climax: Varia’s refusal and Ania’s reversion
• Reversal: Ania’s change in tone—resignation of her own
• PONR: Ania’s failure to confront Varia after her “wandering pilgrim” monologue
• Resolution:There seems to be a return to the state of inequality between the
sisters and the conflict over the marriage question remains unresolved.
We see a deeper crisis at play in the imbalance of respect and responsibilityin the sibling relationship. This crisis is felt and acted upon by Ania, resisted by Varia, and then abandoned by Ania.
WRITING THE SUBTEXT
Now, having done all of that work, we can see much more clearly what is going on in this interaction, and write the following subtext:
ANIA: I need to talk to someone; all this time I haven’t been able to talk to anyone.
VARIA: Talk, sister.
ANIA: You should recognize I’m an adult and I don’t need a babysitter.
VARIA: You’re still a child.
ANIA: Oh yeah? Well, listen to the adult-like situations this “child” went through …. Really, I was the adult and Mamma was the child.
VARIA: Maybe I believe you.
ANIA: Not only that, Mamma still can’t handle money, but I’m an adult and I see what needs to be done. So include me in the important discussion of the estate.
VARIA: Okay.
ANIA: You see, I’m level-headed and understand things.
LOPAKHIN: Oh, hi. I don’t want to come in there; Varia scares me.
VARIA: It tears my heart out every time I see Lopakhin and he doesn’t take me seriously.
ANIA: If you marry Lopakhin, then I can marry Petya. One of us needs to marry for money. It’s not like I’m asking too much. You love each other, I think.
VARIA: I wish I could, but neither he nor I have the courage to do it. Changing the subject, aren’t you a sweet child?
ANIA: It’s very sad to me that you can’t work it out. Okay, it doesn’t seem like I’m going to get what I want here, so I’ll act like a child.
VARIA: It makes me feel better when you act like a child—I feel more in control. Now, we should marry you off to a rich man and get you far away from Petya. Then all the pressure will be off me. Wouldn’t that be terrific?
ANIA: I’m not going to answer you directly. I better cut this short and go to sleep.
VARIA: That’s okay. It seems as if I’ve reestablished our unequal relationship, which makes me feel more stable.
Sample Solution