The Experiential Shakespeare operates in four basic modes. Upon opening the app a colored dot appears in the bottom right corner of the screen, which can be clicked to expand the modes menu. Clicking any one of the mode names will display the playscript in that mode. The dot will change to the color of the current mode.
Clicked once, the red "Reader" mode provides the basic edited text. Clicking it a second time turns the mode name purple, and begins displaying the text with line numbers and interlinear textual glosses in small red type. This allows the beginning reader to get an instant sense of the content of the line without losing her place, and without resorting to modern paraphrase.
The blue "Student" mode switches to the basic text with annotated words and phrases rendered in blue type. Notes can be accessed by clicking directly on the word or phrase. The full note will scroll up from the bottom of the page. Clicking on the [X] which appears behind the word or phrase will make the note disappear. Notes in this section include critical insights, explanations of mythological references and classical allusions, and editorial elucidations of textual variants.
The emerald green "Performer" mode is designed to assist the oral delivery of the text by displaying significant rhythmic (scansion) issues in green text, and wherever possible indicating with typographic symbols the expansions or contractions necessary to maintain the iambic meter. As in the "Student" mode, the full note can be accessed by clicking on the word(s). Notes contain an explanation of what the scansion issue is, an indication of contemporary performance practice, a loose rendering using a dictionary-style phonetic system, and a more exact rendering in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This mode also includes indications of exemplary rhetorical devices using interlinear text like "Reader" mode. Of course, virtually every line in Shakespeare's plays employs some classical rhetorical strategy, so only a few prototypical devices can be featured, but these will serve to give a novice performer some idea of the nature of the oratorical assistance built into the speeches.
Finally, the olive green "Practice" mode provides a basic text. Clicking once on a speech heading will highlight all of that character's lines in the entire play. Clicking twice will hide the character's lines. This mode can be used to assist the early and intermediate stages of memorizing lines.
Clicking on the vertical black bar in the right margin will open a full Table of Contents giving access to all supporting materials, and making quick navigation possible. Clicking again will close the menu.
To begin using the app, simply scroll down the page until the text begins. To read the prefatory materials first, click on the button below instead.