My philosophy on scansion

The greatest resistance to using the tool of scansion in Shakespeare is the reticence of the actor to be "told" how to say a line, as if knowing the scansion means there is only one way to deliver a line. Actors fear that they will have no freedom to "do their own thing" and that this will lock them into doing it "the right way". I sometimes feel actors see me as Barry Fife in Strictly Ballroom, screaming "NO NEW STEPS!" But that's not it at all. (I'm more like Fran's abuela at the beginning of this clip, telling you to feel the rhythm and don't worry about your feet!)