Open Forum

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

We are just starting our production of Macbeth for All-State Drama.  We are using the script found at 30-Minute Shakespeare.  I purchased quite a few of the play cuttings they offer.  Look over the titles there and find one that fits your groups needs.

For Shakespeare, I'd recommend gender blind casting.  Who says Lady Macbeth has to be played by a girl?

Good luck!!

30MinuteShakespeare.com | Home

30minuteshakespeare		remove preview
30MinuteShakespeare.com | Home Home | About | The Plays | Media | Reviews © 2017 * 30MinuteShakespeare.com * All rights reserved. Website by Paul Reisman Design View this on 30minuteshakespeare >

------------------------------
Mike Hancey
Musical Theatre, Drama, Theatre Guild, & Theater Manager
Laramie High School
Laramie, WY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

This sounds like the Folger Secondary School Festival!

My kids and I had a great time with it when I worked in the area.
Although our first year I cut a 25-minute version of Macbeth, my other years I tended to do compilations of scenes around a theme. One year we did "Such Sweet Sorrow" which combined scenes of parting from As You Like It (2 girls), Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Henry VI part 2, and Henry IV part one. In between the scenes we did movement montages of farewell quotes. It worked well, and wasn't too hard tout together.  In the past I've done "Law and Order" which had trial scenes (Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, etc.) and legal quotes . Then there was "The Crown," which was scenes of kings and queens and the burden of ruling. We had scenes from Henry V, Richard II, Henry IV part I, and something else that I don't remember. It's very common for most of the schools at Folger to be doing gender-blind casting. Another good theme would be jealousy: throw in some Winter's Tale, add a bit of Othello...there's a lot to do with that vein.

I'd offer you any of these, but I don't know that I can find them--my eternal hard drive got stolen just after I moved and I lost a lot of work. I'll see what I have.

If you and your kids come up with a theme or idea you like, I'm happy to point you toward scenes.

It's a really fun event--your kids are going to love it!

------------------------------
Meg O'Connor
theatre artist on the loose
oconnormainstage.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

30 minute Shakespeare is a great place to start if you're on a time crunch. Some of the cuts are better than others, but, again, cutting Shakespeare is time-consuming. If you have the time, I would cut it yourself, if you can; that way, you focus on the themes and main ideas or coolest scenes you want to bring out, and aren't beholden to anyone else's interpretation of it (which is what any cutting is, ultimately: it's one person's interpretation of what is most important to include and discard).

One thing that I saw done recently that I thought was GENIUS and so OBVIOUS I'm still face-palming myself each day since I saw it, was that they rotated ALL of the cast through all the roles. New scene, New Romeo and Tybalt. Scene changes again, fresh actor playing Nurse and Juliet. New scene, fresh actor playing Romeo and Friar Lawrence. And so on. I thought this was genius as it allowed every member of the ensemble to rotate through all the roles, giving a much bigger sense of equity and therefore eliminating the thankless exposition roles that crop up in Shakespeare all the time, and that everybody is sharing the load, as opposed to just 4 or 5 and then 12 extras with one or two lines a piece. It worked very well, and once you accepted the conceit of different actors playing the major roles, became very easy to follow and enjoy. 

We did a 36 minute Macbeth that had some music in it. If you cut out our music pieces, it might run to something more like 29 minutes or so. If you're interested, I can send you that script. Email me. My 29 minute version (and yes, it's my interpretation of it :) might be easier to cut down to 25 than cutting the whole thing down.

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

Oh, and sorry, but also: rotating the lead role characters through the ensemble also allows gender-blind casting too.

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2017 16:15
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

30 minute Shakespeare is a great place to start if you're on a time crunch. Some of the cuts are better than others, but, again, cutting Shakespeare is time-consuming. If you have the time, I would cut it yourself, if you can; that way, you focus on the themes and main ideas or coolest scenes you want to bring out, and aren't beholden to anyone else's interpretation of it (which is what any cutting is, ultimately: it's one person's interpretation of what is most important to include and discard).

One thing that I saw done recently that I thought was GENIUS and so OBVIOUS I'm still face-palming myself each day since I saw it, was that they rotated ALL of the cast through all the roles. New scene, New Romeo and Tybalt. Scene changes again, fresh actor playing Nurse and Juliet. New scene, fresh actor playing Romeo and Friar Lawrence. And so on. I thought this was genius as it allowed every member of the ensemble to rotate through all the roles, giving a much bigger sense of equity and therefore eliminating the thankless exposition roles that crop up in Shakespeare all the time, and that everybody is sharing the load, as opposed to just 4 or 5 and then 12 extras with one or two lines a piece. It worked very well, and once you accepted the conceit of different actors playing the major roles, became very easy to follow and enjoy.

We did a 36 minute Macbeth that had some music in it. If you cut out our music pieces, it might run to something more like 29 minutes or so. If you're interested, I can send you that script. Email me. My 29 minute version (and yes, it's my interpretation of it :) might be easier to cut down to 25 than cutting the whole thing down.

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

Phillip, I'd love to see your Macbeth. Would you mind sharing it with me?
drowe@hoover.k12.al.us

Thank you!

------------------------------
Dianne Rowe
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2017 16:18
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

Oh, and sorry, but also: rotating the lead role characters through the ensemble also allows gender-blind casting too.

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2017 16:15
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

30 minute Shakespeare is a great place to start if you're on a time crunch. Some of the cuts are better than others, but, again, cutting Shakespeare is time-consuming. If you have the time, I would cut it yourself, if you can; that way, you focus on the themes and main ideas or coolest scenes you want to bring out, and aren't beholden to anyone else's interpretation of it (which is what any cutting is, ultimately: it's one person's interpretation of what is most important to include and discard).

One thing that I saw done recently that I thought was GENIUS and so OBVIOUS I'm still face-palming myself each day since I saw it, was that they rotated ALL of the cast through all the roles. New scene, New Romeo and Tybalt. Scene changes again, fresh actor playing Nurse and Juliet. New scene, fresh actor playing Romeo and Friar Lawrence. And so on. I thought this was genius as it allowed every member of the ensemble to rotate through all the roles, giving a much bigger sense of equity and therefore eliminating the thankless exposition roles that crop up in Shakespeare all the time, and that everybody is sharing the load, as opposed to just 4 or 5 and then 12 extras with one or two lines a piece. It worked very well, and once you accepted the conceit of different actors playing the major roles, became very easy to follow and enjoy.

We did a 36 minute Macbeth that had some music in it. If you cut out our music pieces, it might run to something more like 29 minutes or so. If you're interested, I can send you that script. Email me. My 29 minute version (and yes, it's my interpretation of it :) might be easier to cut down to 25 than cutting the whole thing down.

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

Philip,

I am also intrigued by your MacBeth cutting (as well as your music choices!) if you wouldn't mind sharing.

fidalia@gmail.com

------------------------------
Fidelle Hopper
Drama Instructor, MAS
Alpharetta GA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2017 16:15
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

30 minute Shakespeare is a great place to start if you're on a time crunch. Some of the cuts are better than others, but, again, cutting Shakespeare is time-consuming. If you have the time, I would cut it yourself, if you can; that way, you focus on the themes and main ideas or coolest scenes you want to bring out, and aren't beholden to anyone else's interpretation of it (which is what any cutting is, ultimately: it's one person's interpretation of what is most important to include and discard).

One thing that I saw done recently that I thought was GENIUS and so OBVIOUS I'm still face-palming myself each day since I saw it, was that they rotated ALL of the cast through all the roles. New scene, New Romeo and Tybalt. Scene changes again, fresh actor playing Nurse and Juliet. New scene, fresh actor playing Romeo and Friar Lawrence. And so on. I thought this was genius as it allowed every member of the ensemble to rotate through all the roles, giving a much bigger sense of equity and therefore eliminating the thankless exposition roles that crop up in Shakespeare all the time, and that everybody is sharing the load, as opposed to just 4 or 5 and then 12 extras with one or two lines a piece. It worked very well, and once you accepted the conceit of different actors playing the major roles, became very easy to follow and enjoy.

We did a 36 minute Macbeth that had some music in it. If you cut out our music pieces, it might run to something more like 29 minutes or so. If you're interested, I can send you that script. Email me. My 29 minute version (and yes, it's my interpretation of it :) might be easier to cut down to 25 than cutting the whole thing down.

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

Here be it, then.

If you do end up using this exact cutting, I'd appreciate the credit, but that's all. 

Music choices (all permissions sought): (Title of track, then the artist) 
Beethoven Havok, John Ottman (from the X-Men: Apocalypse soundtrack)
Numb, Portishead
Building Steam with a Grain of Salt, DJ Shadow
Celestial Annihilation, UNKLE
Don't Go Into That Barn, Tom Waits
Beyond the Death Ray, The Prodigy
Memphis Bells, The Prodigy
Stem, DJ Shadow
Hurt, Johnny Cash

So mostly electronica, but with some wail-pop (Portishead), some classical, and Johnny Cash and Tom Waits, because why not?

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2017 08:41
From: Fidelle Hopper
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

Philip,

I am also intrigued by your MacBeth cutting (as well as your music choices!) if you wouldn't mind sharing.

fidalia@gmail.com

------------------------------
Fidelle Hopper
Drama Instructor, MAS
Alpharetta GA

Original Message:
Sent: 09-20-2017 16:15
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

30 minute Shakespeare is a great place to start if you're on a time crunch. Some of the cuts are better than others, but, again, cutting Shakespeare is time-consuming. If you have the time, I would cut it yourself, if you can; that way, you focus on the themes and main ideas or coolest scenes you want to bring out, and aren't beholden to anyone else's interpretation of it (which is what any cutting is, ultimately: it's one person's interpretation of what is most important to include and discard).

One thing that I saw done recently that I thought was GENIUS and so OBVIOUS I'm still face-palming myself each day since I saw it, was that they rotated ALL of the cast through all the roles. New scene, New Romeo and Tybalt. Scene changes again, fresh actor playing Nurse and Juliet. New scene, fresh actor playing Romeo and Friar Lawrence. And so on. I thought this was genius as it allowed every member of the ensemble to rotate through all the roles, giving a much bigger sense of equity and therefore eliminating the thankless exposition roles that crop up in Shakespeare all the time, and that everybody is sharing the load, as opposed to just 4 or 5 and then 12 extras with one or two lines a piece. It worked very well, and once you accepted the conceit of different actors playing the major roles, became very easy to follow and enjoy.

We did a 36 minute Macbeth that had some music in it. If you cut out our music pieces, it might run to something more like 29 minutes or so. If you're interested, I can send you that script. Email me. My 29 minute version (and yes, it's my interpretation of it :) might be easier to cut down to 25 than cutting the whole thing down.

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor

Etobicoke ON

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

I have about 30 minute versions of Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale, and As You Like It. I use them with my 8th grade classes -- I can send them to you or post them if you'd like.

------------------------------
Cora Turlish
Metuchen NJ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

Thank you so much to everyone who shared their amazing ideas! My students and I truly thank you!!! :)

Kindly,
Angela

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2017 15:16
From: Cora Turlish
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have about 30 minute versions of Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale, and As You Like It. I use them with my 8th grade classes -- I can send them to you or post them if you'd like.

------------------------------
Cora Turlish
Metuchen NJ

Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2017 21:46
From: Angela Ramacci
Subject: 25 min Shakespeare play (minimal male roles)

I have a group of 10 students who want to take part in a local Shakespeare festival. Our piece cannot be longer than 25 minutes. I would love suggestions for a great cut of a Shakespeare play, that has minimal male roles, as we only have one boy in the group. (Please note: While some of the girls can certain play male roles, I thought this might impact your suggestions. Also, we presented Midsummer last year, so I would like to steer clear of that.) Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions!

------------------------------
Angela Ramacci
Director of Theatre Arts
Leesburg VA
------------------------------