SHAKEN SHAKESPEARE ACTIVIDADES - …produccionespelycano.com/pdf/shaken_act.pdfThis is homage to...
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. A sketch comedy for Adolescents and Adults WORKPACK
Transcript of SHAKEN SHAKESPEARE ACTIVIDADES - …produccionespelycano.com/pdf/shaken_act.pdfThis is homage to...
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A sketch comedy
for Adolescents and Adults
WORKPACK
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Characters
Suzie, Austin, Steve and Anna playing:
Juliet- Hamlet –Romeo- Richard III - Adrianna - King Hamlet -Ophelia-
Tybalt –Puck - Dromio - etc, etc, etc.
Our play
This is homage to William Shakespeare. It is satirical, innovative and it is slightly irreverent, that’s why we thought he could be quite SHAKEN…
Always as a farce, and as a play within a play, we retell Shakespeare’s most famous Romances, Histories, Tragedies and Comedies.
Using a very fresh style, the audience will have a glance at Romeo & Juliet, Richard the Third, Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, and more…
Plot summaries Romeo & Juliet Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are teenagers who fall deeply in love but their families are bitter enemies. They seize the moment and marry in secret, they make every effort to conceal their actions but these end in tragedy after Romeo unwillingly kills Juliet’s cousin Tybalt and is forced to exile.
Hamlet Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge.. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. . Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behavior drives her to madness. The Comedy of Errors Two sets of twins are separated at the age of two during a shipwreck. They grow unaware of the other’s existence. One couple lives in Ephesus, the other in Syracuse. Dromio of Ephesus is the slave of Antipholus of Ephesus, and Dromio of Syracuse is the slave of Antipholus of Syracuse. Farcical mix-ups occur when all the twins finally meet. Richard III One of the great history themed plays by William Shakespeare. Richard is the evil hunchbacked Duke of Gloucester who becomes King Richard III through a series of terrible acts. Richard kills off his enemies, his kinsmen, his wife and most of his supporters In his famous soliloquy, Richard complains that he was born deformed and ugly, and bitterly laments his bad luck as he vows to make everybody around him miserable as well.
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ACTIVITIES
For teachers:
This workpack is divided into different levels, taking into account learners’ age and level of
language acquired. As you may notice, the same play may cater
for an ample age range. This is due to an important innovation meant to suit different students’ needs and interests. This means that while different age groups may be viewing the same play the various pre and post language activities in the workpack
attend to a different level.
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ALL LEVELS BEFORE GOING TO
THE THEATRE
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In the left column you can see a collection of phrases and sayings found in Shakespeare’s writings and still in use today. Find out and write each meaning in the right column.
Activity 1 - Start getting used to the slang...
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Work in pairs or groups. Try to solve the crossword WITHOUT any additional research. Just complete it using your previous knowledge and logic.
Activity 2 – Shakespeare wrote 34 plays.
How many can you name?
ACTIVITY 3: Here are some of the more identifiable acting/staging conventions common to Elizabethan theatre: Find one example of each in some famous plays.
Soliloquy: dramatic technique in which a single character talks aloud inner thoughts to him or herself, but while he is alone and not within earshot of another character.
Example: Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…”
Aside: is a convention that usually involves one character addressing the audience “on the side”, offering them valuable information in relation to the plot or characters that only the audience is privy to. The audience now feels empowered, knowing more about the events on stage than most of the characters do.
Example:
Boys Performing Female Roles: Acting in Elizabeth’s England was frowned upon my many in society as a profession unsuitable for women, as it was rough and rowdy instead of genteel. As a result, women were not legally permitted to act on the English stage. Also some characters ON the plays are actual men dressed as women or vice versa
Example:
Eavesdropping: is a dramatic technique that sat neatly between a soliloquy and an aside. Certain characters would strategically overhear others on stage, informing both themselves and the audience of the details, while the characters being overheard had no idea what was happening.
Example:
Play Within A Play: This Elizabethan convention was a playwriting technique used by Shakespeare and others that involved the staging of a play inside the play itself.
Example:
LEVEL1 AFTER WATCHING
THE PLAY
Activity 4
CRITICAL THINKING Answer the questions and give reasons a) Did you like the play? Why?
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b) Give your opinion about the costumes. Justify it.
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c) Do you enjoy sketch comedies? Why?
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d) Do you prefer interactive or non-interactive plays? Why?
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e) Which famous plays by Shakespeare did you know before this show? Why did you
remember them?
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USE OF ENGLISH
ACTIVITY 5: Write an opposite adjective:
INSENSITIVE
JEALOUS
OBEDIENT
COMPLIANT
VINDICTIVE
FOOLISH
Match ONE of them to EACH of the characters you’ve seen.
ROMEO _________ JULIET _________ HAMLET _________ DROMIO _________
PUCK _________ RICHARD III _________
ACTIVITY 6: Remember the first sketch: Romeo and Juliet. Retell it using this storyboard and summarize each part in as few words as possible
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ACTIVITY 7: Remember the second sketch: The Comedies. Try to find out which comic strip represents which Comedy AS YOU LIKE IT – COMEDY OF ERRORS – A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM – CYMBELINE -TWELFTH NIGHT – THE MERCHANT OF VENICE – THE TEMPEST
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Read this text (part of Richard’s soliloquy) and answer:
Are these sentences TRUE or FALSE?
At last, our winter of troubled history has been transformed into glorious summer by my brother, King Edward
I am cut out to admire myself in a mirror. I am in great shape and have the looks to feel at ease in front of a pretty girl
This weak, tedious period of peace bores me, so I´m determined to become a hero
We´ve won the war, so now we’re wearing the wreaths of victory and our weapons hung up as decorations
ACTIVITY 8: Remember the third sketch: Richard III
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang’d to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag’d war hath smooth’d his wrinkled front;(…)
Deform’d, unfinish’d, sent before my time
Into this breathing world scarce half made up,(…)
And therefore,–since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,–
I am determined to prove a villain,
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Answer these questions:
1-Explain Hamlet's relationship to Claudius
2. Why did he marry Gertrude?
3. Who is the Ghost and what message does it give to Hamlet? What does he ask Hamlet to
do?
4. How does King Hamlet really die?
5-What happens to Ophelia?
6- Right before Hamlet’s soliloquy: who died and is being buried?
ACTIVITY 9: Remember the last sketch: Hamlet
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WRITING
ACTIVITY 10: Write a paragraph to give one of the plays depicted a different ending.
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LEVEL 2 AFTER WATCHING
THE PLAY
(Some activities from level 1 can be also used
or adapted to this level)
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As in Elizabethan times, we’ve used Presentational Acting Style: this means
the actors were aware of the presence of an audience instead of completely
ignoring them as part of their art. Movements and gestures were more
exaggerated and dramatic than one might ordinarily expect in a naturalistic or
realistic drama, and puns, humor and interaction directly connected characters to
the audience watching.
Describe whether you prefer this style of acting or not, and why
Activity 11
CRITICAL THINKING
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Choose your favorite character in the play and write a short description of him/her. You SHOULD use AT LEAST 3 adjectives from the chart:
IMPOLITE RUDE
GREEDY GORGEOUS SILLY STUBBORN
EASY-GOING NAÏVE GENEROUS TALENTLESS
HONEST SCATTER-BRAINED HANDSOME DULL
AMBITIOUS TALKATIVE BOSSY SILLY
DOTTY LOYAL NASTY SHY CLEVER
SENSITIVE SENSIBLE FUNNY SMART
DISHONEST LOYAL DEVIOUS
HUMOROUS SCARED
Activity 12
USE OF ENGLISH
ACTIVITY 13: Remember the first sketch: Romeo and Juliet. Being the most famous theater scenes of all times…we skipped it! Recreate the balcony scene using the style and vocabulary used on the play.
ACTIVITY 14: Remember the second sketch: The Comedies. Try to match the mentioned comedies and the plot overviews (REMEMBER, MORE THAN ONE PLAY PER PLOT, MORE THAN ONE PLOT PER PLAY)
AS YOU LIKE IT – COMEDY OF ERRORS – A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM –
CYMBELINE -TWELFTH NIGHT – THE MERCHANT OF VENICE – THE TEMPEST
MEASURE FOR MEASURE – ALL´S WELL THAT ENDS WELL - THE MERRY WIVES OF
WINDSOR -MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - THE TEMPEST -TWELFTH NIGHT
ACTIVITY 15: Remember the third sketch: Richard III. In the speech we see how the York Family has won the War of the Roses and Edward is crowned King. His younger brother Richard is angry that he has not been crowned instead of him.
He compares WINTER with DISCONTENT. Why is this effective? What does it describe?
Is he describing a victory or a defeat? Why?
WRITING
At the end of the play, there’s an interactive scene, where we try to help Ophelia create her “inner monologue” Write in your own words: who was Ophelia, what was she feeling and why?
ACTIVITY 16: Remember the last sketch: Hamlet
Extra activities for Level 1 and 2
These additional activities can further develop the learner’s general communicative and creative skills.
Choose an incident from a Shakespeare play (this may be from one of the sketches you’ve seen). Transform this text into one of your own by writing a MODERN TAKE on the content or ideas in the play.
Here are some different approaches to consider:
The diary
Imagine Macbeth writing about his plans and ambitions, or Juliet expressing her love for Romeo and frustration with her parents. To transform this further, you could apply the situations of Macbeth or Romeo to someone facing a similar situation today.
The police statement
Police witness statements have a very particular form. You could use this to re-tell the fight scenes in Romeo and Juliet. Or one of Richard III murders…
The daytime talk show
Shakespeare's characters often have secrets that lead to big problems. They use soliloquies to get things off their chest when they are on their own. Would a daytime confession on TV have helped them? You could imagine Macbeth trying to stand up to his ambitious wife on television. Or you could throw the Capulets and Montagues together in the hopes that they could sort their problems out.
The celebrity profile
Shakespeare's main characters are usually upper class. If they are not kings or important nobles and generals (like Macbeth or Othello) then they are rich young people about town (like Romeo and his friends). You could write about these characters as if you were from a magazine. You could write about what they do and try to help your readers understand them better.
The modern film adaptation
Directors love updating the story of Romeo and Juliet. The film of West Side Story is an updated version of the story set in 1950s New York. Director Baz Lurhmann set the story in modern day Los Angeles in his 1996 film. You could do something similar. The political background of Shakespeare's history plays could also work in a modern setting.
