This unit should prove useful in any course on Shakespeare, Elizabethan theater or World theater as a model for teaching plays not merely as dramatic literature but as a theatrical script that can be staged in the classroom. I suggest various theater games and warm-up activities for Christopher Marlowe’s “Doctor Faustus” that can allow students to connect to the underlying emotional content of the play. I discuss them in terms of how they relate to individual soliloquies, specific scenes and the whole play; how they fit in with some of the themes of “Doctor Faustus;” and how to best do them in class—what to watch out for, what has worked for me. The goal is to introduce students to a fascinating play in a manner that conveys the excitement of experiencing it as theater. (“Doctor Faustus,” by the way, is an excellent companion piece to “Macbeth.”)
(Recommended for 9th through 12th grade Shakespeare and Elizabethan Drama and World Drama.)
Key Words
Drama Literature Marlowe Christopher Doctor Faustus
