A Taste of Shakespeare

A Taste of Shakespeare

We are going to be starting a unit on Shakespeare in February. We will be reading What Fools These Mortals Be, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Shakespeare's Sonnets. and some of the things we will be covering are:
  • Questions about Shakespeare. Students can ask questions about Shakespeare  Students will be given a mini-history lesson about Shakespeare and his life and times in 16th Century England.
  • Physical and Vocal Warm Up. Students will learn first hand why it’s important to keep the body and voice alive. Through vocal and physical warm-ups with the students, they will earn that stage acting is not unlike preparing for a big game. Students will rise from their chairs and get their bodies and voices moving!
  • Theatre Games. Acting isn’t just moving and speaking. It’s also thinking. In this workshops students will be asked to play a variety of games that will engage both body and mind. Listening, improvisation and reacting will give students a taste of just how much skill the art of acting requires.
  • Iambic Pentameter. Iambic Pentameter teaches the essential components of Shakespeare’s language. Students will learn the basic definition of iambic pentameter, and then be asked to demonstrate what they have just learned through actual quotes from Shakespeare’s plays. Discover how iambic pentameter is fundamental to both actors learning his text AND a student’s ability to understand Shakespeare’s plays.
  • Stage Combat. Stage Combat offers a fun, interactive means for students to fuse physical activity with learning Shakespeare. Some of the most exciting fight scenes in history are in Shakespeare’s plays, with a brief history lesson and explanation of the basics of Stage Combat, reality vs. film and stage and why it’s so important to be safe.
  • Cooling Down. The cool down will give students the opportunity to calm and reflect on the points covered by the workshop. Through controlled breathing and stretching they will relax and then return to their chairs and be given opportunity to ask any additional questions about the workshop. The points covered will be reiterated, and thus concludes the workshop.
Curriculum standards: History, Movement and Voice Work, Shakespeare Verse, Language Arts, Theatre Arts, Stage Combat and Improvisational.


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