Speaking Shakespeare with

Andrea Ainsworth and JCT advisors

Oral Language Reading Writing

Learning Outcomes

Main Learning Outcomes:

Reading 6: Read their texts for understanding and appreciation of character, setting, story and action: to explore how and why

characters develop, and to recognise the importance of setting and plot structure.

Reading 8: Read their texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use

and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns, and images, as appropriate to the text

Supplementary Learning Outcomes:

Oral 5: Deliver a short oral text, alone and/or in collaboration with others, using appropriate language, style and visual content

for specific audiences and chosen purposes

Oral 08: Listen actively in order to interpret meaning, compare, evaluate effectiveness of, and respond to drama, poetry, media

broadcasts, digital media, noting key ideas, style, tone, content and overall impact in a systematic way

Oral 10: Collaborate with others in order to explore and discuss understandings of spoken texts by recording, analysing,

interpreting and comparing their opinions

Reading 1: Read texts with fluency, understanding and competence, decoding groups of words/phrases and not just single word

Writing 3: Write for a variety of purposes, for example to analyse, evaluate, imagine, explore, engage, amuse, narrate, inform,

explain, argue, persuade, criticise, comment on what they have heard, viewed and read

Key Skills: Main

Literacy

Workshop Outline

Communicating Staying Well

Working with Others Being Creative

Key Skills

Communicating: Listening and expressing myself Discussing Using language

Staying Well: Being confident Being social Being positive about learning

Working with Others: Developing good relationships Co-operating Respecting difference Learning with others

Being Creative: Imagining Exploring options and alternatives Learning creatively

Drama provides many benefits, among

them:

Development of imagination and aesthetic

awareness

Independent and critical thinking

Social growth and the ability to work with

others

Improved communication skills

Healthy release of emotion

Knowledge of self

Fun and recreation

An introduction to the theatre

1. Encourages the students to be

playful.

2. Demonstrates how the different

physical states affect how you feel

and speak.

3. Introduces students to the

extremes of emotion.

4. They are embodying the idea of

great love returned and unrequited.

We understand things better by

embodying them.

RATIONALE

She loves me, she loves me not…

Instructions:

1. Hold out your hand and imagine it is a five petaled flower.

2. Recite all together - "He loves me, he loves me not."

3. Add another petal - comment on tension.

4. Do again, do something really simple with a physicality. She loves me not hunched down, she loves me stand up.

5. Strike a physical posture for not being loved. Now exaggerate it. Repeat the words - "S/he loves me not."

6. Do the same thing for he loves me. Then go from the most open position to the most closed position.

7. Discuss the difference.

3. This helps set the pace and

encourages the notion that this is

NOT a performance. It’s about getting

the words out. There is no

expectation of perfection

4. Don’t expect many answers here

now. Remark on the ones that come

but then move on to the next group

5. Explain to the students that there

is no necessity to come up with new

ideas, if someone has already said

what they intended to say it is still

their idea.

6. We are detectives. We are looking

for clues in the language that will

give us an insight into who this

person is and what is going on.

RATIONALE AND TIPS

But, soft! What light…

1. Divide into three groups. Create an inner circle and an outer circle. There should

only be ten scripts.

2. Explain any of the language that you think the students will might not understand.

3. The inner circle reads the script with the teacher.

4. Hold the page to your chest to ensure there is no looking at the page. What words

struck you?

5. Invite the second group of students into the inner circle, the first group will take

their place in the outer circle. The students will be more attuned now. Go straight into

the activities. Slowly and carefully. Stop them if they are going too fast. Ask them the

same question. They should not be looking at the page. They will have remembered by

hearing and speaking it.

6. Repeat with the third group: What about repetition? Are there any words, phrases,

images that are repeated?

BUT, SOFT! WHAT LIGHT…

ROMEO

[JULIET appears above at a window.]

2 But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

3 It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

4 Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

5 Who is already sick and pale with grief,

6 That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

7 Be not her maid, since she is envious;

8 Her vestal livery is but sick and green

9 And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

10 It is my lady, O, it is my love!

11 O, that she knew she were!

12 She speaks yet she says nothing; what of that?

13 Her eye discourses; I will answer it.

14 I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks.

15 Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

16 Having some business, do entreat her eyes

17 To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

18 What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

19 The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,

20 As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven

21 Would through the airy region stream so bright

22 That birds would sing and think it were not night.

23 See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!

24 O, that I were a glove upon that hand,

25 That I might touch that cheek!

The idea here is to encourage the

students to engage with the text as a

spoken text.

Generally, when we read in pairs we

focus less on what the other person

has said and more on what we are

about to say.

This method encourages active

listening and engagement with what

the other person has said. It adds

meaning to the words that we are

about to utter and slows the whole

process down.

The swapping over allows each

students to experience saying each

line.

RATIONALE AND TIPS

“Each line in Shakespeare is an atom. The energy that can be released is infinite

- if we can split it open.” Peter Brook – Evoking Shakespeare

1. In pairs, use all pieces of punctuation to turn this speech into a conversation

changing reader at each punctuation mark.

2. Like any good debate or conversation people respond to what they have heard.

We are going to do the same thing again but this time we are acknowledging

what you have heard by adding in a ‘yes, and’.

3. Do not rush this, take your time. There is a tendency to exclude the' yes, and'

but discourage this.

4. Do again starting this time with the opposite person.

Atmosphere and Setting

Adding in imaginative stimuli

What are they doing?

What time is it?

Who are they?

How are they feeling?

What is there heartbeat like? Show on your chest how the heart is beating? Now say the first line

or two of the speech. See the effect of this on the reading of the script.

Followed by questioning- is it different when you add those changes?

In what way? Again the focus on listening (how important the listening is in the performance)

Let’s give praise

Pairs of A and B: One person offers something and the other person tops the praise.

Move in to He/She statements for this.

Participants chose their favourites and shares them with the rest of the group.

This exercise energises the voice and

helps the students to develop an

understanding that there is a build

in expression. It also lifts students

out of reading mode

We are 'physicalizing' the new ideas,

grabbing them, and building on

them. The clearer you are with this

physically the greater the benefits.

The teacher must model this

commitment. Pull people away from

auto pilot mode.

RATIONALE AND TIPS

The Ladder

...her eyes in heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

Instructions 1. Draw students’ attention to ‘Her eyes in heaven… line’ - people notice that this

sentence is longer, why, what does it say about how this character feels?

2. Take the arch of thought and divide it into three sections.

3. Grab and hold the words as you say them, have them in your hand and then move

on. The more you commit to this the greater the impact.

3. Take the gesture away but maintain the life in the words.

Give the sections of Friar L’s speech

Divide the class into groups of three ,

give each group a different section of

the speech to focus on. It is Act Four

Scene 1 Friar L. Group 1 needs to

figure out the instructions: What you

need to do?

Group 2 will figure out the symptoms,

(more challenging and will need

scaffolding)

What will happen to you?

Group three figure out the rescue

plan:

What we will do?

When they are finished read out their

lists.

INSTRUCTIONS AND TIPS

Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent

To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow:

To-morrow night look that thou lie alone;

Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:

Take thou this vial, being then in bed,

And this distilled liquor drink thou off;

When presently through all thy veins shall run

A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse

Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:

No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;

The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade

To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall,

Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;

Each part, deprived of supple government,

Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:

And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death

Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,

And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.

Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes

To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:

Then, as the manner of our country is,

In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier

Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault

Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.

In the meantime, against thou shalt awake,

Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,

And hither shall he come: and he and I

Will watch thy waking, and that very night

Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.

And this shall free thee from this present shame;

If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,

Abate thy valour in the acting it

Friar Laurence’s

Speech

Professional actors would section

this speech up in order to be able to

process and understand it. Explain

the difficult words before the choral

reading.

The reading at the end of these

exercises should illustrate a deeper

understanding for the meaning and a

greater appreciation of the language.

RATIONALE AND TIPS

What if…

Choral reading of the speech two or three times. Explain any archaic words.

Where in the text do you see what if or how if? Draw a line each time to get to what if or how if or if?

Divide the class into small groups of five. Assign each group a section to paraphrase. Leave off the first and

last section of the speech. Teacher will circulate and ensure that everyone is on track. Each group will read

their paraphrased section chorally.

Each group will then read the original section of text in sequence.

Pair work

Set up a pair work, A and B, they are best friends. What do you think about your friend’s plan– A is Juliet

that is just about to do this and B is trying to talk her out of it.

B – now wants to do it but is too scared and A – tries to convince her to go through with it.

Remember they are all working from a place of love.

What kinds of things came up?

End with back and forth, changing at the punctuation marks.

JULIET ACT 4 SCENE 3

Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.

I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins

That almost freezes up the heat of life.

I'll call them back again to comfort me.

Nurse! What should she do here?

My dismal scene I needs must act alone.

Come, vial.

What if this mixture do not work at all?

Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?

No! No! This shall forbid it. Lie thou there.

Laying down her dagger

What if it be a poison which the friar

Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead,

Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd,

Because he married me before to Romeo?

I fear it is. And yet, methinks, it should not,

For he hath still been tried a holy man.

How if, when I am laid into the tomb,

I wake before the time that Romeo

Come to redeem me? There's a fearful point!

Shall I not, then, be stifled in the vault,

To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in

And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?

Or, if I live, is it not very like,

The horrible conceit of death and night

Together with the terror of the place,

As in a vault, an ancient receptacle

Where for these many hundred years the bones

Of all my buried ancestors are packed,

Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,

Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say,

At some hours in the night spirits resort -

Alack, alack! Is it not like that I

So early waking, what with loathsome smells,

And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,

That living mortals, hearing them, run mad -

O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,

Environed with all these hideous fears,

And madly play with my forefather's joints,

And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud,

And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone

As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?

O look! methinks I see my cousin's ghost

Seeking out Romeo that did spit his body

Upon a rapier's point! Stay, Tybalt, stay!

Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, here’s drink! I drink to thee!

Theatre Resources in Ireland

Local arts venues http://www.artscouncil.ie/en/areas-of-work/feed/venue_links.aspx

Map of local arts venues https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zQUW3LjEXqho.kaCEY3d7yD8I

Local arts offices http://www.artscouncil.ie/en/areas-of-work/feed/local_arts_links.aspx

Current arts events listings www.culturefox.ie

Theatre reviews and criticism www.irishtheatremagazine.ie

National theatre resource or development organisations

National Association for Youth Drama www.nayd.ie Theatre for Young Audiences Ireland www.tya-ireland.org

Irish Theatre Institute www.irishtheatreinstitute.com

Theatre Forum www.theatreforum.ie

The organisations listed below have received direct support from the Arts Council in 2013-2014 in the area of Young, People, Children and Education (YPCE). Please see the theatre resource organisations above, as well as local arts offices and venues, for a more comprehensive view.

YPCE - Arts organisations supporting young people's engagement with theatre (age 12-18)

National Association for Youth Drama www.nayd.ie Dublin City Council National Youth Council of Ireland http://www.youtharts.ie/ Dublin City Council

Barnstorm Theatre Company Ltd http://barnstorm.ie/ Kilkenny County Council

Graffiti Theatre Company Ltd www.graffiti.ie Cork City Council

Waterford Youth Arts http://www.waterfordyoutharts.com/ Waterford City Council

Theatre Lovett www.theatrelovett.com* Dublin City Council Fibin Teo. http://fibin.com/* Galway County Council

Dublin Youth Theatre http://www.dublinyouththeatre.com/* Dublin City Council

Red Kettle Theatre Co. http://www.redkettletheatre.com/* Waterford City Council

TENDERFOOT at the Civic Theatre http://www.civictheatre.ie/index.php/civic_arts/civic_young_arts** South Dublin County Council

Crooked House Theatre Co. http://www.kildareyouththeatre.com/** Kildare County Council

Droichead Youth Theatre http://www.droicheadartscentre.com/youththeatre/** Louth County Council Barecheek Theatre Co. https://www.wexford.ie/wex/Departments/Arts/ArtsandOu

rYoungPeople/YouthTheatre/**

Wexford County Council

* Programme Activity 2013 ** Young Ensembles 2013

YPCE - Arts organisations supporting children's engagement with theatre (12 and under) The Ark www.ark.ie

Dublin City Council

Baboró International Arts Festival for Children

www.baboro.ie Galway City Council

Barnstorm Theatre Company Ltd www.barnstorm.ie

Kilkenny County Council

Graffiti Theatre Company Ltd www.graffiti.ie Cork City Council

Branar Dramaiochta www.branar.ie Galway City Council

Theatre organisations receiving regular or annual support from the Arts Council (2014)

The following organisations develop, create, and/or present theatre for general audiences. Please check with each organisation about the age appropriateness of specific plays or programmes.

Blue Raincoat Theatre Company http://www.blueraincoat.com/ Sligo County Council

Druid Theatre Company http://www.druid.ie/ Galway City Council

Dublin Theatre Festival https://www.dublintheatrefestival.com Dublin City Council

Fishamble Theatre Company http://fishamble.com/ Dublin City Council

Irish Theatre Institute http://www.irishtheatreinstitute.com/ Dublin City Council

Pan Pan Theatre Company http://panpantheatre.com/ Dublin City Council

Rough Magic Theatre Company http://www.roughmagic.ie/ Dublin City Council

The Abbey Theatre http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/ Dublin City Council

The Gate Theatre http://www.gatetheatre.ie/ Dublin City Council

Bewley's Cafe Theatre http://www.bewleyscafetheatre.com/ Dublin City Council

Corcadorca Theatre Company Ltd http://www.corcadorca.com/ Cork City Council

The New Theatre http://www.thenewtheatre.com Dublin City Council

Corn Exchange http://www.cornexchange.ie/ Dublin City Council

Please note, a further wide range of theatre is supported by the Arts Council through festivals and projects awards, and through schemes or initiatives led by organisations in receipt of regular funding. For further information, please visit: www.artscouncil.ie