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  • 1.  Shakespeare

    Posted 07-25-2023 14:01

    Hi friends, 

    I am thinking about broaching Shakespeare with my students for our Fall play and am more than a tad intimidated and overwhelmed at the prospect. Any advice, words of wisdom, etc. would be most appreciated and helpful. Leaning towards A Midsummer. Any great adaptations you know of? Recommendations? 

    Thank you so much for your time!



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    Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
    Director of Theatre & Film
    Holy Names Academy
    Seattle, WA
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  • 2.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-26-2023 06:56

    I've done Much Ado twice, separated by nine years. I think setting the play in an interesting place helped win over the cast. The first production was set in a 70's era disco. We used lots of disco music between scenes and Don Pedro and his Men, dressed in white suits, entered strutting to "Staying Alive." Last year we set it in a wild west saloon. If you haven't figured out the setting yet, ask the students for suggestions. I also talked to the students about how special the language is, and empowering it is as an actor to perform those lines. Doing Shakespeare is one of those turning points for actors, and they will feel so much more confident about their abilities afterwards.



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    Ken Buswell
    Drama Teacher
    Peachtree City, GA
    http://mcintoshtheater.org/

    Theater kills ignorance
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  • 3.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-26-2023 09:14

    We just completed our first Shakespeare performance this past spring. My advanced theater students, who are eighth and seventh graders, recently performed a series of scenes together. We titled the evening, Shakespeare Then & Now.  

    Ultimately, act one before intermission was all of the original scenes in the original language with period costuming.  

    Side note here: Our program was set to perform this concept back in the spring of 2020 when the world went into lockdown and never got to perform it.  Originally we didn't have the ability to do all the period costumes and we're going to have the performers wear all black like we would for competition.

    After intermission, the students performed modern original interpretations of their Shakespeare scenes. They wrote modern adaptations, inspired by the original. They were not simple translations into modern-day English. They were inspired in some way by a piece of the storyline in the original.

    We had great success with this. The students learned Shakespeare in a manageable chunk. I was also able to assign the partner scenes based on each pair's capabilities.  We had an odd number of students and so we had one monologue too.

     If I do this again, I definitely would do a mix of monologue, partner, and ensemble scenes instead of just partner scenes. The issue was simply the length of the entire performance. However, you were students can do it if you believe in them. Best of luck with your Shakespeare, no matter which play you choose to do. 



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    Amy MacCord
    Musical Theatre Teacher
    Westwood Middle School
    FL
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  • 4.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-26-2023 09:16

    Hi Sarah,

    I adore teaching and directing Shakespeare! What age group are you considering? How large of a cast? You can always do your own cuttings/adaptations or I'd be happy to help! While Midsummer is fun, my kiddos loved doing stage combat in R&J, Hamlet, and the Scottish play. The Tempest is also a fun one when it comes to staging a wild storm, but also a bit wild storyline. Let me know if you want to chat :)

    Best,

    Desi



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    Dr. Desi Cameron
    www.drdesicameron.com
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  • 5.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-26-2023 10:06

    I'm not sure what age group you teach, but I like scripts from "Shakespeare for Kids" because I teach middle school.  I have never used these scripts in a performance, only for study of Shakespeare in class.  There are numerous plays available (even others besides Shakespeare), and three versions of each script are included in each book.  If you teach high school and are looking for a full-length show, they may not be right for you.  The good news is each script is cheap, so you could buy several different scripts to peruse and not be out much money.  (Both digital and hard copies are available for purchase.)  Hope this helps! 

    https://playingwithplays.com/



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    Jennifer Bruno
    Theatre Director
    Hewitt-Trussville Middle School
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  • 6.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-26-2023 14:20
      |   view attached

    A Midsummer Night's Dream is a great place to start with high school students.  

    Having directed this play four times, I think the most important thing in design is to costume the three groups of characters--Athenians, Fairies, and Rude Mechanicals--very differently.  That helps the audience keep up with the various plot lines.  

    In general, Shakespeare requires a set that doesn't get in in the actors' way and doesn't require scene changes.  My favorite sets for my productions of Midsummer were comprised of sonotube "trees" with fabric draped to connect them and something for characters to sit or recline on. 

    I'll attach a picture and my abridgment, which is formatted to be printed into 4 1/4 X 5 1/2" scripts.  As a general rule of thumb, I preferred to abridge Shakespeare myself and print my own copies, putting the money saved into production costs or toward helping my students get to festivals.  While I am very happy to pay royalties and script costs to living playwrights, Shakespeare has been dead for a long time.  If you like this adaptation, feel free to use it, or use it as a starting point for your own adaptation.

    Asheville High 2017

         



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    CJ Breland
    Retired Theatre Arts Educator
    NC
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    Attachment(s)

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    MIDSUMMER - Breland.doc   123 KB 1 version
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  • 7.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-26-2023 14:35

    Thank you to all for your amazing feedback! My apologies for not including more thorough information in my initial post. We are an all girls high school, grades 9-12. Our girls do not mind playing male roles, but I also try to choose things that can be more flexible with casting and/or are more powerful vehicles for female identifying leads. In the past we have done Stage Door, The Election, Decision Height, She Kills Monsters, Radium Girls, Steel Magnolias, and Clue. I wanted to look at Shakespeare as a way to garner them (and me!) some new skills for the tool belt, as well as expand their theatre experience. Thanks again to all who are contributing to this helpful conversation! 



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    Sarah Aanderud Wahlen
    Director of Theatre & Film
    Holy Names Academy
    Seattle, WA
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-27-2023 10:11

    I've done a lot of Shakespeare (and classics in general) in the professional and collegiate sides of my career and, when I started working with MS and HS kids a decade or so ago, I kept working with that material and it's been fun and rewarding.  So I'd say go for it. 100%. I'm at a K-12 girls school in Houston and have done Comedy of Errors with the Middle School and Much Ado (and Earnest, The Rivals, and Antigone) with the Upper School. A few pieces of advice I'd give: Don't be shy about cutting. You and your students will have an easier time meeting the challenge of the language if there is less of it. Midsummer is a wonderful script and good for young performers, but I think Comedy or especially Much Ado are better starting points.  Much Ado has the advantage of being mostly in prose (while still having some lovely verse to play with as well) and having a much simpler plot than Midsummer. When we did it a couple of years back, we cut it absolutely to the bone and used only 7 actors, with some people playing two roles in the same scene at the same time. (Imagine actors holding up Hero's wedding veil or Don John's jacket while the actor slips out and steps into the other as appropriate.)  It was fast and silly and so much fun.  I'd be happy to share that cutting, if you'd like – email me at rob.kimbro@duchesne.org.  I'd also say not to underestimate the appeal of the darker stuff.  I haven't tackled a non-comedy Shakespeare here yet (though I'm thinking about doing something with Richard III), but Antigone may still be my favorite directing experience with high schoolers.  In that case, we reimagined all the characters as women (where in the others we played most male roles as male).  That was really only tricky in the Haemon/Creon scene, but we were cutting and freely adapting anyway.  For that project, I pulled as many translations as I could get my hands on and the core cast members worked collaboratively to write the dialogue.  The Choragos (a strong vocalist) decided not to do literal versions of the Choral sections, but to use thematically appropriate Queen songs as transitional pieces – which was an absolute stroke of genius. 

     

    Anyway – go for it. Try to have as strong a sense of the story in everyone's minds as possible and then be as playful as you can be in telling that story. You can't break these scripts, so don't be delicate with them. 

     

    Rob Kimbro

    Head of Fine Arts

     

    713.468.8211, ext. 3191

     

     


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  • 9.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-28-2023 11:36

    Hey Sarah,

    I've done several Shakespeares - both for classwork and for competitions.  Midsummer is a great choice and I echo the suggestions about costuming and staging that others have mentioned.  Another way to ease kids into Shakespeare is with Romeo & Juliet.  I actually used a 50-minute adaptation for One Act competition last year and we won with it.  We beat several musicals and some very elaborate costume dramas.  The adaptation allows for lots of creative staging and combat.  I got permission to use real swords and those scenes really helped the actors focus on how language informs movement, and vice-versa.

    The adaptation I used can easily be expanded to any time frame you wish.  The key to this version is that the kids need to make entrances and exits in a timely (even rhythmic) fashion.  It keeps urgency of the story and characters on the top of the actors' minds.  It also forces kids to stay "in-the-moment" because there is so much movement happening during and between scenes.  Simple set and the actual Shakespeare text is kept (albeit edited for time).

    If you'd like a copy, let me know and I'll be happy to send a PDF



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    Josh Ruben, M. Ed.
    Fine Arts Head
    Northwest Whitfield HS (dba, The Northwest Theatre Co.)
    Tunnel Hill, GA
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 07-31-2023 09:38

    I am gearing up to open the latest in my "Breakneck" series, "Breakneck Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Minnesota Fringe Festival (August 4!). This version has been adapted to feature six actors, each (except Puck) playing 3-4 characters apiece. (You can always divide up the roles differently.) No reviews on it yet, but we're having a blast in rehearsal! 

    This is the latest in a series that includes "Breakneck Hamlet," "Breakneck Julius Caesar," "Breakneck Comedy of Errors" and "Shakespeare's Histories; Ten Epic Plays at a Breakneck Pace." I'd be happy to share scripts. (A recent grant of a significant sum has me aiming at "breakneck" versions of Shakespeare's entire catalogue.)

    I also have a book on performance style: "Acting at the Speed of Life; Conquering Theatrical Style" which takes aim at the two biggest challenges of young actors: "Being Seen" and "Being Heard." (available via Amazon and others)

    Tim



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    Tim Mooney
    www.TimMooneyRep.com
    www.Moliere-In-English.com
    www.BreakneckShakespeare.com
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    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Shakespeare

    Posted 08-01-2023 17:46
    Over 40 years of teaching High School Theatre, I directed 25  Shakespeare titles, several of them more than once. It might seem overwhelming at first, but it eventually became the bedrock of my program, along with student-written plays.

    Do you have a favorite Shakespeare play? Start there.
    If you don't have a favorite title, most Schools start with Midsummer Night's Dream or Romeo and Juliet. Although one is a comedy and one is a tragedy, they're both about young people who don't want to follow their parents' wishes.

    I recommend you do your own script editing. You can download the whole script, (I like The Complete Works of William Shakespeare) stick it in a word document, and have your way with it. If you do your own editing, you'll have a better idea of the author's intent.

    Get a Shakespeare Glossary and a Shakespeare Pronouncing Dictionary. 
    My favorite Shakespeare editions are the Folger Shakespeare Library editions. 
    They have the Shakespeare text on the right hand side and notes on the left hand side. Very handy.

    Allow your students extra time for line memorization, and have fun!
     
    If you have any specific questions, I'd be glad to help.

    Billy Houck
    Theatre Teacher, Retired
    Carmichael, CA



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