Reading & Teaching a Shakespeare Play: Getting Started
READING & TEACHING A SHAKESPEARE PLAY:
Getting Started
Table of Contents
Reading & Teaching a Shakespeare Play: Getting Started
Resources that provide techniques and tools for reading and understanding Shakespeare’s texts. Includes defini�ons, as well as both text and theatre-based exercises for improved comprehension and understanding plot and characters/their mo�va�ons.
1 The Basics: Shakespeare’s Words, Krista Apple
A resource for teachers and students alike which introduces some of the noncontemporary uses of language that you’ll find in Shakespeare’s plays.
5 How to Read a Shakespeare Play, Julie Crawford
Tips for how to best practices and approaches when reading a Shakespeare play
8 Exploring Shakespeare’s Language: Paraphrase & Transla�on as learning tools, Krista Apple
A guide, including exercises, to using paraphrasing and translation as tools to understanding the language in Shakespeare’s plays
10 Exploring Shakespeare’s Language: Paraphrase & Transla�on, Krista Apple
A companion handout to the previous document to practice paraphrasing and translation
12 Exploring Shakespeare’s Language: “Reading” with Punctua�on, Krista Apple
A guide, including exercises, to using punctuation to “shape” thoughts and ideas in Shakespeare’s texts
16 Introduc�on to Scene Analysis, Claudia Zelevansky
A theatre director’s approach to introductory scene analysis, using “given circumstances” to understand character and what is happening in a scene
18 Envisioning the World of a Shakespeare Play, Maria Fahey
An English teacher’s approach to introductory scene analysis, with activities to help your students read the text for clues about context, objects, and actions
20 Teaching Shakespeare to Students who Need Extra Support, Maria Fahey
Suggested activities and links to supplemental materials to support students of all ages and with various reading skills who are learning to read a Shakespeare play
Click �tles above to be taken to that sec�on.
The Basics: Shakespeare’s Words
A primer to reading and comprehension
Krista Apple
Below is a resource for teachers and students alike which introduces some of the non-contemporary uses of language that you’ll find in Shakespeare’s plays. Knowing what you’ll encounter along the way can improve your ability to navigate and interpret the text!
Verb Tenses: Contraction, Expansion & Elision
Since Shakespeare was writing in verse and rhythm, he took liberties with word length. Here are some word forms that were common in Shakespeare’s day, and that you’re guaranteed to come across:
Contraction is when a two-syllable word (“over”; “even”) gets condensed to one syllable (“o’er”; “e’en”).
Elision is like contraction on steroids: two full words that get smushed together into one word and syllable: “On it” becomes “on’t”; “It is” becomes “’Tis”.
(Today, contraction and elision remains in words like don’t [do not], can’t [cannot], etc.)
Expansion is just the opposite: a word gets stretched, and an extra syllable gets added at the end. You’ll know expansion by its trademark: an accent mark over the final syllable.
Banishèd (normally pronounced BA-NISHD; now BA-NI-SHED)
Deliverèd (normally DEE-LI-VRD; now DEE-LI-VU-RED)
Other words you might come across
In addition to contracted, elided and expanded words, here’s a brief list of words common in Shakespeare’s day to become familiar with, along with typical pronunciations:*
Adieu = “goodbye” uh-DYOO
Ay / Aye = “yes” / word of agreement rhymes with ‘eye’
Doth = “does”, as in “she doth protest” same vowel sound as ’cup’
E’en = “even” one syllable – “eeyun”
Ere (“before in time / when in time”) rhymes with ‘hair’
Err (“to mistake”) same vowel sound as “bird”
Liege (“lord, sovereign” rhymes with ‘siege’
Ne’er (“never”) rhymes with ‘hair’
Sirrah (“sir) SEAR-uh
Troth = (“truly”) rhymes with ‘oath’
Trow = (“swear”) rhymes with ‘know’
Other pronunciations –
Amen (ahhh-MEN)
Either/neither (EYE-thur, not EE-thur)
I’ll (as in “aisle”)
Leisure (LEH-zur, not LEE-zur)
Our (like “hour”)
Poor (POO-er, one syllable; not like “pour”)
Your (YORE, not ‘yer’
Pronoun & Verb Forms
• [You – your – yours] often becomes [thou – thee – thy – thine]
• The endings [-est, -‘st or -st] often gets added in second person familiar (“you go” becomes “thou goest”)
• The ending [-s] often gets replaced with [-th] in third person singular (“she goes” becomes “she goeth”)
• The articles [a, an, and the] also often get dropped.
• And there are the odd verb forms:
So….
You are wonderful becomes Thou art wonderful
You were the most wonderful Thou wast most wonderful
Give me your hand
Give me thy hand
You all should return home Thou shouldst return home
My love was yours, and yours alone My love wast thine, and thine alone I give them all to you I give them all to thee
“Words, words, words”
When Shakespeare couldn’t find the right word for what he wanted to express, he just made it up! As a result, his plays included many words that had never been recorded in writing before (though many may have been in the vernacular). We believe he coined many of the words and phrases we use today, including: accessible accommodation admirable amazement anchovy arch-villain assassination barber baseless bubble to cater (as “to bring food”) catlike to champion circumstantial clutch cold-blooded coldhearted colourful to comply courtship critical day’s work to dishearten to dislocate downstairs to educate embrace (as a noun – ‘a hug’) employer & employment engagement epileptic eventful exposure eyeball farmhouse fashionable fortune-teller full-grown to grovel half-blooded hint (as a noun) hostile hot-blooded to humor to hurry ill-tempered impartial to impeded inaudible
indirection indistinguishable invitation lackluster lament to lapse laughable love letter madcap majestic manager marriage bed misquote money’s worth monumental moonbeam motionless muddy to negotiate never-ending noiseless to operate outbreak
Created by Krista Apple, Associate Professor of Acting, and the TFANA Education Team, 2023 Inspired by TFANA’s 2022 NEH Institute: Teaching Shakespeare’s Plays through Scholarship & Performance
Scholar James Shapiro describes Shakespeare’s process as chemistry: he would smash two existing words together to make a brand new one (“eyeball”; “bedroom”). His tendency to expand a word or smush two words together to fit the poetic meter, as discussed above, was also part of his invention. He was messing with the English language in a way that none of his contemporaries were doing.
Listen to James Shapiro on NPR’s Radiolab (22 minutes into the program): http://www.radiolab.org/story/91728-words-that-change-the-world/
Exercise: Invent a word that doesn’t exist – but should – to describe something about your current day-to-day experience.
References: Shakespeare often references some or all of the following, so be prepared to reference them:
Greek & Roman mythology / Ovid’s Metamorphoses
The story of the Trojan War / Homer’s Iliad & Virgil’s Aeneid
The workings of the natural world – plants, trees, birds
Body humors (considered scientific fact at the time)
Music of the Spheres and the Great Chain of Being
Word Order
A mark of Shakespeare’s artistry was his manipulation of word order. It’s new for us, reading it; and, in ways, it was also new for his time. It was part of his innovation: that the English language of poetry didn’t have to follow the rules everybody thought/said it did.
Manipulating word order served two main purposes:
• It allowed the structure of his plays to mirror the structure of Latin grammar, which was the popular thing to do at the time
• It allowed him to fit the structure of metrical rhythm, while still saying what he wanted to say.
reated by Krista Apple, Associate Professor of Acting, and the
From Wikipedia’s entry on Word Order:
In Latin, the endings of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns allow for extremely flexible order in most situations. Latin lacks articles (a/an/the)
The Subject, Verb, and Object can come in any order in a Latin sentence, although most often the verb comes last.[28] Factors such as topic and focus play a large part in determining the order. Thus the following sentences each answer a different question:[29]
• "Romulus Romam condidit." ["Romulus founded Rome"] (What did Romulus do?)
• "Hanc urbem condidit Romulus." ["Romulus founded this city"] (Who founded this city?)
• "Condidit Romam Romulus." ["Romulus founded Rome"] (What happened?)
In Classical Latin poetry, lyricists followed word order very loosely to achieve a desired scansion.
So:
“I saw your son walking early this morning” becomes “So early walking did I see your son.”
“He’s been seen there many mornings” becomes “Many a morning hath he there been seen.”
“Do you mean the king?” becomes “Mean you his majesty?” “Are you riding this afternoon?” becomes “Ride you this afternoon?”
Exercise:
Describe an event from your day yesterday, intentionally inverting word order for dramatic/linguistic effect.
Exercise: Tell a friend how much you appreciate them, using thee/thy/thine.
Exercise: Find all the unfamiliar language in your text. Make notations in your text as necessary to make it ‘familiar.’
HOW TO READ A SHAKESPEARE PLAY
Julie Crawford
It takes at least 3 hours to read a Shakespeare play, and even then you’ll only get the gist. If you don’t mind spoilers, I recommend that you read a plot summary first (although don’t believe it!) and then the play. Read the play once for story and theme, and then once again according to your own readerly sensibilities and noting the following:
1. Each character’s first lines. They often serve as an index of a character. See, for example, Hamlet’s “A little more than kin and less than kind.”
2. Characters’ entrances and exits. While act and scene breaks are often editorial interventions, characters’ entrances and exits often give us a lot of crucial information about character, plot and theme. Note, for example, Lady Macbeth’s entrances, particularly after Macbeth claims he has “no spur/To prick the sides of [his murderous] intent” (1.7).
3. Embedded stage directions. See, for example, King Lear’s “Give me that map there,” Othello’s “this handkerchief is too little,” Desdemona’s “Why do you speak so startingly and rash?” and Macbeth’s “Look to the Lady!”
4. The play’s prop list, which is indicated primarily through embedded stage directions. The props in Romeo and Juliet, for example, tell a great deal about the arc of the play: a transition from torches and masks to crowbars and poison. (Note for example “Give me that mattock and the wrenching-iron” [5.3.22]). See as well Brutus’s line, “Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so;/I put it in the pocket of my gown. (4.2.302-3), which indicates a less-noted theme in Julius Caesar, and the ambiguity of Macbeth’s “Is this a dagger which I see before me,” which opens up a range of interpretive and performance possibilities.
5. The Image sets associated with specific characters or places. Note, for example, the contrast between Macbeth’s “borrowed robes” and Banquo’s organic, vegetal metaphors.
Created by Professor Julie Crawford, Mark van Doren Professor of Humanities, Columbia University.
6. Key words. Oft-repeated and thematically-important words in Hamlet include “dispatch,” “kind,” and “matter”; in King Lear, “superfluous,” “poor,” “nothing”; in As You Like It, “brother,” “cousin,” and “even.” Use the Oxford English Dictionary to research words that you sense might have meant something (surprisingly) different in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than they mean now. Examples include “conceit,” “maid,” “effeminate,” “character,” “glass” and “fashion,” “gossip,” and “friend.”
7. When and which characters speak in prose, blank verse and rhymed verse (and what kind of verse. Note, for example, the difference between the verse spoken by Phoebe and Orlando in As You Like It). A great way to teach the differences between verse and prose is via the first scene in King Lear, in which Gonoril and Regan shift from (“glib and oily”) verse to (brutally truth-telling) prose.
8. Metrical completion. When one character completes another’s line of iambic pentameter, Shakespeare is often telling us something about intimacy or enmity.
Note, for example, Kent’s interruption of Lear’s rant at Cordelia:
LEAR As thou my sometime daughter.
KENT
Good my liege – .
Note as well a crucial exchange between Macbeth and Banquo which illustrates their moral differences:
MACBETH If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis, It shall make honour for you.
BANQUO
So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep My bosom franchised and allegiance clear, I shall be counsell'd (2.1).
Created by Professor Julie Crawford, Mark van Doren Professor of Humanities, Columbia University.
Or this one, between Malcolm and Macduff:
MALCOLM Dispute it like a man.
MACDUFF I shall do so; But I must also feel it as a man (4.3.219-22)
A note on editions. Scholarly editions of the plays are useful for their introduction and notes. Popular ones include Oxford World Classics, Arden, Norton, and Folger. (I have taught using all four. Folger editions are the least expensive.) The Bedford “Texts and Contexts” include primary documents. (They don’t have editions for all the plays, but see their Romeo and Juliet for an example.) You can find all the plays – and all the factual information about Shakespeare’s life –on the Folger Library website, for free. You can examine what is known as the First Folio, the collection of Shakespeare’s plays published in 1623, as well as “quarto” editions (referring to the number of times a sheet of paper was folded – four! – to make a pocket-/pamphlet-sized book) that were published as stand-alone volumes, often immediately following successful performances. Some plays, including Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and Hamlet were published in more than one quarto edition, thus the monikers Q1 and Q2, which you often see in scholarly editions. You can also get a general companion to Shakespeare in book form. (I like this one.) There are also useful reference volumes on topics of particular interest including race and sexuality.
Created by Professor Julie Crawford, Mark van Doren Professor of Humanities, Columbia University.
Exploring Shakespeare’s Language: Paraphrase & Translation as learning tools
Krista Apple
Some people balk at the idea of saying Shakespeare with any words other than Shakespeare’s. But we all know how challenging comprehension can be, even for the savviest reader. Subject-verb order is often switched; many words and phrases have complex meanings; and there are those pesky Thee’s and Thou’s! (Professional actors always ‘put Shakespere into their own words’ as part of their rehearsal process!)
This is the work that is usually done by companion texts like No Fear Shakespeare; but encouraging students to do the translations themselves is a great way to slow down reading and encourage close analysis.
Use this exercise to:
● Encourage close reading of the text
● Parse subject-verb agreements of Shakespeare’s sentences
● Uncover important words and phrases
● Discover the throughline of character thought
Individually or in pairs/groups, have students re-write a line or section of Shakespeare text in their own words. Consider splitting up a famous monologue or scene among the class, so that the final ‘translation’ can be performed by the full group.
We’ve provided Cassius’ monologue from Act 1 scene 2 of JULIUS CAESAR as an example, in a companion handout. The monologue has been split up into relatively equal parts, for assigning to different groups and students.
Some guidelines:
Be sure that the translations honor the full complexity of the original. “He’s a big statue” is NOT an accurate paraphrase of “Why man, he doth bestride the world like a Colossus.”
Created by Krista Apple, Associate Professor of Acting, and the TFANA Education Team, 2023
Don’t confuse paraphrase with subtext.
“Men at some time are masters of their fates” does NOT translate to “We should kill Caesar.”
Don’t worry about verse/poetic structure.
Keep thoughts and ideas together, but a translation doesn’t have to ‘fit’ the structure of any particular line of verse. (This exercise can help you discover how single thoughts flow across multiple lines of verse.)
Variation for Performance: “Shakespeare Sandwich”
If you’re working with students who will be performing Shakespeare for an audience, or would like to reinforce verbal reading fluency, continue the exercise by having them speak their own translation, one phrase at a time, then returning to Shakespeare’s text.
Ideally, their translation will help them find useful vocal intonations, appropriate word emphasis, etc.
(The “sandwich” is made up of Shakespeare’s words on either side, and a contemporary interpretation in the middle.)
Example: (the speaker says everything below):
“Men at some time are masters of their fates…. Sometimes we’re in charge of our own destiny…. Men at some time are masters of their fates.”
Created by Krista Apple, Associate Professor of Acting, and the TFANA Education Team, 2023
Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
2 Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that'Caesar'? Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Paraphrase:
CASSIUS
Aw, man, he stands like a giant with his big legs straddling the tiny world between his feet, and us little guys have to walk around under his gigantic legs and peek around to find ourselves a place to die in shame.
3 Write them together, yours is as fair a name; Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em, Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
4 Now, in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed! Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
5 When went there by an age, since the great flood, But it was famed with more than with one man? When could they say till now, that talk'd of Rome, That her wide walls encompass'd but one man? Now is it Rome indeed and room enough, When there is in it but one only man.
6 O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king.
Created by Krista Apple, Associate Professor of Acting, and the TFANA Education Team, 2023.
Exploring Shakespeare’s Language: “Reading” with Punctuation
Krista Apple
There are many useful tools for analyzing Shakespeare’s text; punctuation is one of our favorites! The exercises below introduce punctuation as a way of ‘shaping’ the thoughts and ideas in Shakespeare’s texts, and are inspired by the work of renowned vocal coach and teacher Cicely Berry.
Use this exercise to:
● Encourage slow reading, and help students find the smaller thoughts and ideas
● Discover the ‘shape’ and journey of a character’s thought
● Experience the difference between reading Shakespeare’s plays and embodying them by speaking the character’s words
● Analyze characters’ inner subtext, motivation and ‘state of mind’
Preparing for the exercise:
● Clear desks and chairs from the center of the room, so that students have ample room to walk and move around as they work.
● Hand out a physical, printed copy of a speech to each student. Be sure that the font and spacing is large enough to read easily. (We’ve provided Claudius’ speech from Act 3 scene 3 of HAMLET below.)
● For this exercise, we recommend that all students work - and speak! - simultaneously. Being able to read the words aloud while no one is actively listening can ease the pressure off for students, who are often nervous or scared to ‘perform’ in front of each other, and who may have varying levels of comfort with reading Shakespeare’s language.
The exercise: “Walking” the text and punctuation:
● Give the speech a ‘first read’ - speak the speech aloud while standing still.
● Speak the speech a second time while walking around the room.
Pause and check in with students - where can you build vocabulary, and look up words you don’t immediately understand?
● Speak/walk the speech again; this time, each time there is any kind of punctuation, change direction before you continue walking.
Created by Krista Apple, Associate Professor of Acting, and the TFANA Education Team, 2023
● What do you hear? What rhythms (or changes in rhythm) do you notice? Where is the speech difficult to ‘walk’ – where does the punctuation get erratic, constant, etc.? What might that communicate about the speaker’s state of mind or ability (or inability) to find the right words?
● Walk the speech again; this time, mark the difference between end stop punctuation and everything else (“end stops” are anything that end a sentence: periods, question marks, exclamation marks.) Notice how many - or how few - complete sentences there actually are.
● How does the punctuation help shape the character’s thoughts and ideas, and provide clues to their inner state of mind?
Working with the HAMLET speech below:
● Notice how the punctuation changes, and gets more irregular, over the course of the speech. How is this a reflection of Claudius’ state of mind? Why?
● How many questions does he actually ask, and what are they?
● What are the complete, unbroken thoughts (no punctuation)? Why is Claudius able to speak these thoughts so easily and clearly?
Variation: for Performance
Punctuation helps parse meaning, and can help us find the initial ‘frame’ of the thoughts. It is also a barometer for pace, energy, and rhythm. (Shakespeare used punctuation like contemporary playwrights use stage directions: as indicators of emotional, physical and dramatic effect.)
Be sure to consult multiple editions and choose your preferred punctuation. MIT Shakespeare is usually reliable; the First Folio is definitive.
● Full stops/end stops indicate completion of a thought. (periods, exclamation marks, question marks)
● Commas and hyphens indicate thinking and elaboration of thought. You, the speaker, are working something out in real time as you speak.
● Colons and semi-colons are like gear shifts. They mark the end of a phrase, but not the end of the full thought. They tell the actor that a shift in energy is needed.
● Question marks are a legitimate query, and demand an answer of the listener(s).
● Note: Be cautious of exclamation marks in contemporary texts. These are often editorial additions.
A note about punctuation in Shakespeare: Most punctuation that we see in Shakespeare today has been emended by contemporary editors. If you read different editions of the same Shakespeare play, you might come across very different versions of how punctuation is used.
For more on different versions of Shakespeare, including the original ones, click here!
HAMLET Act 3, scene 3
From MIT Shakespeare online
King Claudius has just watched - and run away from - the performance of “The Murder of Gonzago,” which Hamlet had the players perform for the court. While watching the performance, Claudius’ guilt starts to catch up with him for killing his brother and taking his crown. Here, he’s trying to convince himself to pray to God/Heaven for forgiveness.
CLAUDIUS:
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above;
Created by Krista Apple, Associate Professor of Acting, and the TFANA Education Team, 2023
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd, Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: what can it not?
Yet what can it when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom black as death!
O limed soul, that, struggling to be free, Art more engaged! Help, angels! Make assay!
Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart with strings of steel, Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe!
All may be well.
Created by Krista Apple, Associate Professor of Acting, and the TFANA Education Team, 2023
Introduction to Scene Analysis
Exercise: Given Circumstances
Claudia Zelevansky
If working on Shakespeare or other text, the teacher can introduce the concept of the Facts or Given Circumstances as a way to begin to understand the text. The facts have to be just that: things that are IN THE TEXT (not an opinion or an interpretation). For example, if the text says, “Peter loves candy.” a fact would be just that. An opinion or interpretation would be, “Peter has cavities.”
Categories:
Who - facts about the characters in the scene (what do people say about them? What do they say about them?)
What - any facts related to the circumstances or events of the scene
Where - location, any reference to physical realities
When - time of day, time of year, time period?
Misc. - any other facts you find
The instructor can break the class into small groups and have them dig through the text for Givens. Create a comprehensive sheet of givens as a class.
Applying Given Circumstances to Shakespeare:
Especially given the unfamiliarity of the language, searching for Givens in a Shakespeare play or scene can be a great way to get to engage with the text. Depending on the grade level of the students, the teacher can either assign scenes to the students in small groups or work with the whole class to dig for Givens. Here is an example below of a few lines from MACBETH, Act V, i.:
Below you’ll see highlighted words or phrases that capture different kinds of Givens: characters, actions (“she rubs her hands”), and objects/scenic elements (light, taper etc.).
Created by Claudia Zelevansky, czcoaching.com
Created by Claudia Zelevansky, czcoaching.com
Envisioning the World of a Shakespeare Play: Reading Clues for Context, Objects, and Actions
Maria Fahey
As students read a Shakespeare play, it is helpful for them to be aware of the various kinds of informa�on they might glean from what characters say. What does the dialogue reveal about the se�ng, such as the �me of day or the weather? What does it reveal about objects characters have or garments they are wearing? What does it reveal about what characters are doing? As students read a play and discover its story, you might ask them to look specifically for clues about context, objects, and ac�ons: such clues will help students to envision more fully the world of the play.
Context
Since Shakespeare’s theater did not include sets or lighting, audiences would have to glean important context from the characters’ speeches. Consider, for instance, the moment in Macbeth when the Murderer, waiting for Banquo, observes:
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day. Now spurs the lated traveler apace
To gain the timely inn [.] (3.3.5-7)
The Murderer’s description lets the audience know that it is almost nighttime with only the last light of dusk visible, the time of day when any traveler out would be hurrying to secure a place at an inn.
⇒ Ask students to mark and briefly explain a moment where a character’s speech depicts the scene’s context. What lighting design or scenery might they include in a modern stage production of the scene? If they were making a film of the scene, where and at what time of day might they film it?
Objects
Characters’ speeches also contain clues about the presence of specific props or costume elements. Consider, for instance, the scene in Romeo and Juliet when Capulet instructs his servant, Peter, to invite guests to the feast:
Go, sirrah, trudge about Through fair Verona; find those persons out Whose names are written there, and to them say, My house and welcome on their pleasure stay. (1.2.32-35)
“Whose names are written there” indicates that Capulet gives Peter a list of names.
⇒ Ask students to mark a moment that indicates the need for a specific prop or costume element. Assign a group of students to keep a running list of props needed for the play.
Created by Maria Fahey, Friends Seminary Faculty, www.mariafranziskafahey.com
Inspired by TFANA’s 2024 NEH Institute: Teaching Shakespeare’s Plays through Scholarship & Performance
Actions
The earliest editions of Shakespeare’s plays include relatively few stage directions Instead, the dialogue itself often provides clues about what characters are doing about their actions. In contemporary editions of Shakespeare’s plays, editors add stage directions, which they usually distinguish from those in the earliest editions of the plays by enclosing them in brackets. Editors arrive at these stage directions from their reading of the play: your students can do so as well!
Consider, for example, a moment in Hamlet when the Ghost appears:
Hamlet
It waves me still.
Go on; I’ll follow thee.
Marcellus You shall not go, my lord.
Hamlet
Hold off your hands.
Horatio Be ruled. You shall not go. (1.4.78-80)
You might add the following stage directions:
Hamlet
It waves me still. [The Ghost waves to Hamlet.]
Go on; I’ll follow thee. [Hamlet starts to follow the Ghost.]
Marcellus You shall not go my lord. [Marcellus physically restrains Hamlet.]
Hamlet
Hold off your hands. [Hamlet tries to break free.]
Horatio Be ruled. You shall not go. [Horatio joins Marcellus in restraining Hamlet.]
Textual clues for actions always present choices for interpretation and performance. Another reader of this scene might imagine Hamlet staring blankly into space rather than a Ghost beckoning him with a wave. Maybe Marcellus and Horatio both restrain Hamlet before he moves toward the Ghost. Another reader might add these stage directions:
Hamlet It waves me still. [Hamlet stares blankly.]
Go on; I’ll follow thee.
Marcellus You shall not go my lord. [Marcellus and Horatio physically restrain Hamlet.]
Hamlet
Hold off your hands. [Hamlet tries to break free.]
Horatio Be ruled. You shall not go.
⇒ Ask students to mark a moment where a character’s speech reveals an action and to write their own stage directions for that moment. They may choose a moment where the editor has not included any stage direction, or they may choose a moment where they envision stage directions different from those the editor has indicated. Ask students to write two different sets of stage directions that imagine two different ways the scene could be staged.
Created by Maria Fahey, Friends Seminary Faculty, www.mariafranziskafahey.com Inspired by TFANA’s 2024 NEH Institute: Teaching Shakespeare’s Plays through Scholarship & Performance
Teaching Shakespeare to Students Who Need Extra Support
Maria Fahey
Students of all ages and with various reading skills who are learning to read a Shakespeare play will be supported by the approaches explored during the ins�tute, including table reads, tableaux, and performances of short scenes. Below are some further ways to support students who find it par�cularly difficult to decipher a Shakespeare play.
Audio Recordings
Any audio recording of a play performed by trained Shakespeare actors can be an enormous boost to a student having trouble understanding a play.
I find the Caedmon recordings par�cularly helpful. Here, for example, is their recording for Macbeth, and here is their recording of The Tempest. Direc�ng students to a recording you have heard is key because students some�mes find recordings on the internet in which a single actor reads all of the parts. It is far more helpful to students when the characters are dis�nguished by different actors' voices.
When students feel lost trying to read a Shakespeare play on their own, I recommend that they listen to a full scene once through as they follow along in their text. As �me permits, or an assignment demands, students can then reread the scene more slowly as they consult the editor’s notes
Like any performance, an audio recording presents one of many possible interpreta�ons. Thus, when I introduce an audio recording to students, I play a few lines from it, invite students to say the lines in alternate ways, and discuss the differences in interpreta�on.
When pressed for �me with a class of students who have difficulty reading Shakespeare aloud fluently, I some�mes alternate between having students read aloud and playing a recording as students follow along in their text.
Summaries
Knowing the basics of a play’s plot and characters can be grounding for students who feel overwhelmed by the language or details of a Shakespeare play. I try to steer students away from summaries that offer interpreta�ons of the play. Two reliable sources for summaries are:
1. The Royal Shakespeare Company (“RSC ”) website
Here is the RSC’s summary of King Lear, for instance. And here is their summary of Romeo and Juliet I like that the RSC ’s summaries include direct quota�ons of the play’s language.
2. The Folger Shakespeare Library website
Even if you don’t teach from the printed Folger edi�ons (which include summaries), you can find a synopsis of the full play and of each scene on the Folger website. Here, for instance, is the Folger’s synopsis of King Lear. And here is the synopsis of King Lear act 1, scene 1.
Created by Maria Fahey, Friends Seminary Faculty, www.mariafranziskafahey.com
Inspired by TFANA’s 2024 NEH Institute: Teaching Shakespeare’s Plays through Scholarship & Performance
Children’s Books
Some students find it easiest to understand the plot of a Shakespeare play as told in a children’s book Such children’s books include the classic Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare but also more recent retellings such as Bernard Miles’s Favorite Tales from Shakespeare. Tales from Shakespeare is available from Penguin Random House, and you can find a digital facsimile of it here.
Although such children’s books may be more engaging than a summary, they also take more liber�es with the text as they atempt to make the plays “age-appropriate.” Once your students begin to read the play itself, you can engage them in conversa�ons about what the children’s versions include and omit.
Graphic Novels
Some students have read more comic books and graphic novels than any other kind of book, so this format can be par�cularly helpful to them. I par�cularly like Gareth Hind’s graphic novel adapta�ons of Shakespeare plays because he uses Shakespeare’s language.
The disadvantage of students’ reading a graphic novel is that seeing an illustrator’s vision of the play’s characters and world can interfere with their envisioning the play’s world for themselves. I ask students to story-board a very short scene from the play and to reflect on how their own vision of the characters compares to that of the graphic novel’s author. I also show students a variety of images of the play’s characters from a selec�on of illustrated edi�ons.
Film Produc�ons
When a student con�nues to struggle a�er reading a summary and listening to an audio recording, I some�mes recommend that they watch a film version. Seeing a film can make it harder for students to envision the film on their own, but seeing and hearing actors speak the play’s language in a specific se�ng can be helpful in a way nothing else is. So that students avoid equa�ng any one director’s vision with the play itself, I show two or three versions of at least one scene and invite students to make observa�ons about the director’s choices. For instance, when teaching A Midsummer Night’s Dream I have shown students scenes from Max Rheinhardt’s 1935 film and Peter Hall’s 1968 film.
Some�mes I invite students to imagine themselves a director and ask them to cast contemporary actors in their version of a film of the play. I ask them to find clues in the play that support their cas�ng choices and to discuss how an actor’s celebrity and previous roles would affect their presenta�on of a Shakespeare character. If audiences see Chris Rock playing Macbeth’s porter or Hamlet’s gravedigger, for instance, how much does the audience think about Chris Rock and how much about the porter or the gravedigger? What happens to the status of a character like the porter or gravedigger if played by a famous comic actor? Such discussions can help students ponder how an Elizabethan audience might have experienced a famous clown like Robert Armin.
Other Approaches and Exercises
Reading Excerpts from a Play
Created by Maria Fahey, Friends Seminary Faculty, www.mariafranziskafahey.com
Inspired by TFANA’s 2024 NEH Institute: Teaching Shakespeare’s Plays through Scholarship & Performance
Guiding students’ reading of a Shakespeare play can take a great deal of �me. If you don’t have enough �me to teach an en�re play, consider choosing scenes or parts of scenes to work on in detail: you can fill students in on the other parts of the play by telling them the needed background. I have found that students find reading and interpre�ng part of the text for themselves far more rewarding than reading the en�rety of a translated edi�on of the play, such as a No Fear Shakespeare edi�on.
Learning A Speech by Heart
Some�mes asking students who have the most difficulty reading Shakespeare to memorize a speech— even before they begin reading the play works magic. Learning a speech by heart can give students, especially those new to Shakespeare, the confidence to read Shakespeare’s language. I some�mes begin a play by having a class of students all learn one speech.
Imagining the Play’s World
Assignments that invite students to use their observa�ons and their imagina�ons to extend the world of the play include:
• wri�ng an imagined leter from one character to another
• wri�ng an imagined diary entry for a character
• wri�ng an imagined lost soliloquy for a character who does not speak one
• wri�ng a short scene that does not appear in the play
• adap�ng and filming a short scene (Many students know how to do this with their mobile phones.)
Created by Maria Fahey, Friends Seminary Faculty, www.mariafranziskafahey.com
Inspired by TFANA’s 2024 NEH Institute: Teaching Shakespeare’s Plays through Scholarship & Performance
