This article will examine a fresh way of reading and understanding Shakespeare through, what is called, "parallel scenes."
Sometimes it's not enough for students to perform the scenes. What happens, you wonder, when students only skim the lines and read them monotonously? Isn't there a better way to have learners play the scenes?
The short answer is yes! But how do we accomplish this?
In his article, "Teaching Shakespeare through Parallel Scenes," Michael Flachmann explores the practice of "parallel scenes" and describes them as "one of the easiest and most effective devices for involving students in the action of a Shakespearean play."
Wow, where do we sign up?
There are myriad ways to practice parallel scenes. First of all, decide upon a scene within the play you are reading. As an example, we'll look at The Tempest, Act 1, Scene 2 in which Prospero is describing his history to his daughter Miranda, who falls asleep listening to his stories.
Flachmann says that first he asks his students to read the scene while deciding on a more contemporary setting. Prospero and Miranda are in a cave on an isolated island. Perhaps your learners could substitute that scene for a typical child's bedroom in a modern home. Assemble contemporary props for the scene and ask your students to "play" the scene without looking at the actual text. Allow your students to make up their own dialogue while sticking to the overall plot of the scene.
For example, "Prospero" could say to Miranda: "Your uncle is a terrible person! I was studying at night school, working on my Ph.D., and so I let your uncle run the family business for a while. You remember, I was at my desk typing out papers late in the night, highlighting books and articles and essays, and running off nothing but coffee. Are you even listening?"
To which "Miranda" could pretend she's falling asleep from boredom: "Yeah, I know, Dad."
"Prospero": "I know I started neglecting the store and my family, but it was for a good reason! I was only trying to be better educated, so I could get an even better job and take care of you. I thought your uncle knew that, so I trusted him. But all that time, he was plotting to take over the store, and he did! Are you listening?"
"Miranda": "Yeah, yeah. The neighbors can probably hear you."
"Prospero": "I got all wrapped up in my school work. It felt great to be a student again! And your uncle, never owning a thing in his life, started thinking that he could run the store. He updated the computer system and claims that 'I don't know what I'm doing anymore,' but he shut me out!"
"Miranda": "He shouldn't have done that!"
Notice that I do not sound a bit like Shakespeare, but rather I created a contemporary parallel to that scene. Doing so, Flachmann says, "helps students identify closely with the characters," as they become contemporaries of Shakespeare. Creating these contemporary parallel scenes allows learners to play with Shakespeare, to interpret the scenes first and the language second.
Ordinarily, lessons rely on left-brain approaches--reading, writing, logic, etc., but parallel scene creations "encourages right-brain conceptual involvement." These types of interpretations also work for those students who get tripped up on Shakespeare's language. It provides students with the free reign to creatively interpret a scene and make it their own.
The next time your family gets stuck on a scene, try creating contemporary parallel scenes!
Flachmann, Michael. "Teaching Shakespeare Through Parallel Scenes." Shakespeare Quarterly. 35: 5. Special Issue: Teaching Shakespeare. (1984). 644-646. JSTOR. Web.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Workshop Approach to Teaching Shakespeare
Reading Shakespeare is difficult, no doubt about it. However, casting Shakespeare off as unreadable or trudging through his antiquated words and rhymes is not necessary either. There are other methods, if we believe Patricia K. Meszaros, who encourages the teaching of Shakespeare workshop-style with emphasis on what she calls “creative dramatics.”
In her article, “Notes on a Workshop Approach to Shakespeare,” Meszaros says that often the plight of students results from a “silent reading” of Shakespeare, in which students suffer through the difficulty and glaze over important plot points and characterizations. Using her article as a guide, I will explore a workshop-style plan for teaching Shakespeare, using Midsummer Night’s Dream as an example.
First of all, do not marry the annotated textbook. Meszaros says that the “heavily annotated school text […] meant to enhance [students’] understanding and appreciation of the text, frequently only succeeds in increasing their frustration.” Therefore, use the annotated text as a tool rather than a vehicle for teaching Shakespeare.
Second of all, emphasize "creative dramatics." Meszaros’s preference for “creative dramatics” illustrates the important of performance-based teaching. Especially for those students who are not linguistically-gifted, watching someone else’s facial expressions, for example, helps them understand the meanings of the words much better.
There are a number of films of Midsummer Night's Dream to use as models, but remember that every performance is interpretive, so your learners do not have to merely mimic other actors’
performances, though watching them is helpful.
J.J Henry, in his performance of Bottom’s Dream in Act 4, Scene 1 of Dream, is very expressive, both orally and physically.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kizd2sg5CUE
Kevin Kline’s version of Act 4, Scene 1, Bottom’s Dream, is another good example of an expressive performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llDzj7hIG38&feature=related
Watching a variety of performances of a scene helps students understand the meaning behind
the words based on actors’ facial expressions and bodily movements. After watching a few interpretations, you can act out a scene with your students, allowing them to interpret the words as they see fit. I would recommend first watching other scenes before your performance; otherwise, students might only read the words on the page and fail to apply any emotions and expressions in the scene. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The first step is getting through the play!
During the first day of teaching Shakespeare in a workshop-style, Meszaros instructed her
learners that they would all be part of a Shakespeare company, which meant that they weren’t all required to act, but they had to involve themselves somehow. I would argue that Shakespeare needn’t be performed by an individual for that person to understand a play. Some learners are able to understand based on the “creative dramatics” of others. However, these types of learners could help the home-based Shakespeare production by being assigned different jobs such as scene decorating, costuming, staging, directing, filming, etc. as long as they are an active participant on a level that is most comfortable and natural to them.
Of course, it is important for all participants to understand the basic plot of the play. An easy way to do this, without trudging through the difficult language is to acquire a recorded version of the play with which to follow along. Meszaros encouraged her students “to listen as they read, and to finish the play in one sitting.”
Next, choose certain scenes to re-read. This can be a collective decision based on which scenes “stand out” to your learners or how many players you have available. Staging in Meszaros’s class was, she says, determined by other students. In the same way, your learners can decide how a scene could be staged.
An important distinction must be made though. Meszaros, though supportive of “creative dramatics,” stresses that scenes need not be performed, per say. Rather, students read and place themselves on the “stage,” so full-on acting performances are not necessary, only engaged reading and kinesthetic involvement.
This kind of engaged reading comes after becoming familiar with the text. “Listening to all the plays on tapes,” says Meszaros, “allowed them gradually to feel more comfortable with the sound of Shakespearean verse. The excitement of working out the physical action of a difficult scene seems to have stimulated a desire to get the whole effect by hearing as well as seeing what the author had written.”
With Dream, Meszaros found that students “performing” scenes and staging their characters help them to understand the imbalance between the characters. Specifically, when two
students read Act 1, Scene 1 between Theseus and Hippolyta, the entrance of the character Egues threw the couple “off-balance,” as Meszaros notes. Imagine the possibilities when staging the scenes with Lysander, Helena, Hermia, and Demetrius! Thus, in a silent reading, these types of issues never occur, as the reader can simply graze over the lines, but when the scene are enlivened with a living cast of players, the dynamics are more easily understood.
While a workshop method is generally unconventional (but then, so is homeschooling!),
Meszaros says that her workshop students gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Shakespearean texts than her traditional students in lecture classes. Furthermore, she declares that her students “learned a little about textual problems, a great deal about characterization in drama, and even more, perhaps, about the dramatic structure of Shakespeare’s plays.”
This workshop approach can certainly work in the homeschool realm, with families, friends,
and co-op groups. What seems most vital to the success of this method includes:
· listening of plays on audio tapes/cds as students read along, preferably in one sitting.
· Students staging scenes as they see fit.
· Allowing students to interpret characterizations based on the text and placement of
characters.
·Comfort-level and cooperation of the group in “playing with” Shakespeare’s plays.
Meszaros, Patricia K. "Notes on a Workshop Approach to Shakespeare." Shakespeare Quarterly. 25: 2. (1974) 188-197. JSTOR. Web.
In her article, “Notes on a Workshop Approach to Shakespeare,” Meszaros says that often the plight of students results from a “silent reading” of Shakespeare, in which students suffer through the difficulty and glaze over important plot points and characterizations. Using her article as a guide, I will explore a workshop-style plan for teaching Shakespeare, using Midsummer Night’s Dream as an example.
First of all, do not marry the annotated textbook. Meszaros says that the “heavily annotated school text […] meant to enhance [students’] understanding and appreciation of the text, frequently only succeeds in increasing their frustration.” Therefore, use the annotated text as a tool rather than a vehicle for teaching Shakespeare.
Second of all, emphasize "creative dramatics." Meszaros’s preference for “creative dramatics” illustrates the important of performance-based teaching. Especially for those students who are not linguistically-gifted, watching someone else’s facial expressions, for example, helps them understand the meanings of the words much better.
There are a number of films of Midsummer Night's Dream to use as models, but remember that every performance is interpretive, so your learners do not have to merely mimic other actors’
performances, though watching them is helpful.
J.J Henry, in his performance of Bottom’s Dream in Act 4, Scene 1 of Dream, is very expressive, both orally and physically.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kizd2sg5CUE
Kevin Kline’s version of Act 4, Scene 1, Bottom’s Dream, is another good example of an expressive performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llDzj7hIG38&feature=related
Watching a variety of performances of a scene helps students understand the meaning behind
the words based on actors’ facial expressions and bodily movements. After watching a few interpretations, you can act out a scene with your students, allowing them to interpret the words as they see fit. I would recommend first watching other scenes before your performance; otherwise, students might only read the words on the page and fail to apply any emotions and expressions in the scene. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The first step is getting through the play!
During the first day of teaching Shakespeare in a workshop-style, Meszaros instructed her
learners that they would all be part of a Shakespeare company, which meant that they weren’t all required to act, but they had to involve themselves somehow. I would argue that Shakespeare needn’t be performed by an individual for that person to understand a play. Some learners are able to understand based on the “creative dramatics” of others. However, these types of learners could help the home-based Shakespeare production by being assigned different jobs such as scene decorating, costuming, staging, directing, filming, etc. as long as they are an active participant on a level that is most comfortable and natural to them.
Of course, it is important for all participants to understand the basic plot of the play. An easy way to do this, without trudging through the difficult language is to acquire a recorded version of the play with which to follow along. Meszaros encouraged her students “to listen as they read, and to finish the play in one sitting.”
Next, choose certain scenes to re-read. This can be a collective decision based on which scenes “stand out” to your learners or how many players you have available. Staging in Meszaros’s class was, she says, determined by other students. In the same way, your learners can decide how a scene could be staged.
An important distinction must be made though. Meszaros, though supportive of “creative dramatics,” stresses that scenes need not be performed, per say. Rather, students read and place themselves on the “stage,” so full-on acting performances are not necessary, only engaged reading and kinesthetic involvement.
This kind of engaged reading comes after becoming familiar with the text. “Listening to all the plays on tapes,” says Meszaros, “allowed them gradually to feel more comfortable with the sound of Shakespearean verse. The excitement of working out the physical action of a difficult scene seems to have stimulated a desire to get the whole effect by hearing as well as seeing what the author had written.”
With Dream, Meszaros found that students “performing” scenes and staging their characters help them to understand the imbalance between the characters. Specifically, when two
students read Act 1, Scene 1 between Theseus and Hippolyta, the entrance of the character Egues threw the couple “off-balance,” as Meszaros notes. Imagine the possibilities when staging the scenes with Lysander, Helena, Hermia, and Demetrius! Thus, in a silent reading, these types of issues never occur, as the reader can simply graze over the lines, but when the scene are enlivened with a living cast of players, the dynamics are more easily understood.
While a workshop method is generally unconventional (but then, so is homeschooling!),
Meszaros says that her workshop students gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Shakespearean texts than her traditional students in lecture classes. Furthermore, she declares that her students “learned a little about textual problems, a great deal about characterization in drama, and even more, perhaps, about the dramatic structure of Shakespeare’s plays.”
This workshop approach can certainly work in the homeschool realm, with families, friends,
and co-op groups. What seems most vital to the success of this method includes:
· listening of plays on audio tapes/cds as students read along, preferably in one sitting.
· Students staging scenes as they see fit.
· Allowing students to interpret characterizations based on the text and placement of
characters.
·Comfort-level and cooperation of the group in “playing with” Shakespeare’s plays.
Meszaros, Patricia K. "Notes on a Workshop Approach to Shakespeare." Shakespeare Quarterly. 25: 2. (1974) 188-197. JSTOR. Web.
California Shakespeare Festivals
This article will list local Shakespeare Festivals and performances for California residents as well as other Shakespeare-inspired field trip ideas.
December is a wonderful time for planning a Shakespeare curriculum because most Shakespeare Festivals announce their 2012 season far in advance. Selecting a future field trip to see a performance of a play means that you can purpose yourself to read, explore, and enjoy a play with the reward of a performance at the end.
Let's take a look at what performances will be available next season!
The Cal Shakes Theatre in Orinda, near Berkeley, has released its 2012 schedule. They will be offering:
December is a wonderful time for planning a Shakespeare curriculum because most Shakespeare Festivals announce their 2012 season far in advance. Selecting a future field trip to see a performance of a play means that you can purpose yourself to read, explore, and enjoy a play with the reward of a performance at the end.
Let's take a look at what performances will be available next season!
The Cal Shakes Theatre in Orinda, near Berkeley, has released its 2012 schedule. They will be offering:
- The Tempest, from May 30-June 24
- Hamlet, from Sep. 12- Oct 7
For more information, visit www.calshakes.org.
The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival has also announced its 2012 season and will be showing:
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Another fun side-trip that can work in conjunction to a trip to The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival is a visit to Vikingholm, a "castle" available for public tours. For more information about The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, visit http://www.laketahoeshakespeare.com/.
The Shady Shakespeare Festival in Santa Clara will be performing:
- King Lear, from July 27- Aug 31.
They also offer Shakespeare summer camps for children! For more information, visit http://shadyshakes.org/index.php
The Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival, in Thousand Oaks, released its 2012 schedule which includes:
- Much Ado about Nothing, from June 29- July 15
- Romeo and Juliet, from July 20- Aug 5
They also provide a Shakespeare camp and workshops for younger learners. For more information, visit http://www.kingsmenshakespeare.org/.
The Festival Theatre Ensemble, in Los Gatos, will be having summer performances of:
- Mucho Ado about Nothing
- Romeo and Juliet
They also provide a Shakespeare camp and workshops. For more information, visit http://www.festivaltheatreensemble.org/.
Since both the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival and the Festival Theatre Ensemble are showing Much Ado and Romeo and Juliet, you can visit multiple performances for a compare/contrast activity!
If your young learners are not ready for the theatre, though most of these performances take place outdoors, there are other destinations in California that would be well-suited for a Shakespeare-inspired field trip. These include:
The Shakespeare Garden in San Francisco, which features flora mentioned and emphasized in a number of Shakespeare's plays. This field trip can range from a casual trip with an informal visit to a more intensive unit study focusing on plant life within the plays and their roles as symbolic elements.
For more information about the garden, visit http://www.golden-gate-park.com/garden-of-shakespeares-flowers.html.
Nearly any play can be read out-of-doors, using the scenery as a performance stage. Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest are two plays that work exceptionally well outdoors, perhaps in a state park.
No matter where you choose to read, perform, or be audience to a professional performance, Shakespeare need not be taught indoors. As you read his plays, look for local opportunities to bring his plays to life.
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