Barbara A. Sasso
1) Foundations: Welcome to Shakespeare
For students of all socio-economic backgrounds, introducing Shakespeare is critical. The language is hard. A first glance, his world is foreign. His metaphors are unrecognizable to most young people living in the 21
st
century. Why are we forcing him on fourteen-year-olds? Why not present an interactive video game that they can download on their iPhones that deal with the same issues?
We have to sell Shakespeare. This is just a matter of showing your students that you respect them. You are asking them to go on a very difficult linguistic voyage with you. To earn their trust, you have to explain why you, not the district or the principal, think this is important for their lives. Selling Shakespeare becomes an act of grace, a leap of faith, a statement that your think your students are capable of absorbing the same therapeutic, intellectually and ideological enrichment as everyone else.
We will never know what Shakespeare thought of homosexuality, but this year a transgender student in my lower-level academic class chose to read lady Macbeth’s “unsex me here” soliloquy, with gusto. She later told me the moment gave her a sense of pride in who she was as well as a new respect for Shakespeare. Recently an all-female
Taming of the Shrew
was staged in New York. By giving students free reign as directors, we can help students discover how the genius of Shakespeare can resonate for them.
Shakespeare had keen insight into the traumas of family life, and of love and depression, and thoughts of suicide. These are always relevant issues to young people from all walks of life. It almost seems immoral
not
to teach
Romeo and Juliet
with conviction, love and compassion to teens who need to know that waiting can make all the difference, or not – to teach
Hamlet
with an eye to unspeakable family sexual abuse.
To get students to buy in, we must explain why Shakespeare can change their lives. To do so, we need to be passionate about Shakespeare ourselves.
2) The Play’s The Thing: Scenes of Instruction
4
When thinking of methodology to teach human truths in Shakespeare, we need look no further than Shakespeare himself, who many times in his plays reinforces the very power of stagecraft, of acting out parts, and conveying truths through scenes of plays-within-the-plays or references to life as a stage. Consider such passages in
Hamlet, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Henry IV Part I, Twelfth Night,
and
Macbeth.
To encourage students to discover these truths let them become the stage directors for scenes in Shakespeare where characters are “struck to the soul” with a truth, and reveal them in ways that only come through via theatrical presentation. Students will need to think deeply about their own understanding of human nature, to discover truths about themselves, and to gain thoughtful ways of understanding their own actions. One might want to start by telling students that someone has just given them a pile of money to film the latest adaptation of
Romeo and Juliet
, for example. The only caveat is that they need to justify all choices to very demanding producers – which would be our role as teachers.
Students could work in groups, individually, or as a whole class. Depending on academic levels, scenes might be assigned or chosen by the students. Teachers can help struggling students by posing questions about a character’s motives to consider for staging particular scenes.
There is much to gain by showing different film versions of a key scene from different directors. Many films of Shakespeare’s plays are accessible online. Students should compare aspects of the production that model their tasks for the lesson. Why would a director choose this particular setting? In the scenes presented, compare the personas of the characters as played by different actors. How do different ways of delivering lines, physical actions, use of props and edits made to Shakespeare’s text reveal subtleties that shed light on the characters’ unspoken emotions? For example, compare Francesca Annis’ very passive-aggressive portrayal of Lady Macbeth in Roman Polanski’s 1971 film to the more domineering vision that Kate Fleetood portrays in the 2010 film directed by Rupert Goold. The settings and costumes are extremely different as well. How are both types justifiable as representations of someone who would, and could, push her husband to murdering his king? A third comparison could be made to Victoria Hill’s rendition of Lady Macbeth in Gregory Wright’s brutal and sexual 2006 film of the play. Hill, who is also a writer for this film, portrays Lady Macbeth as an angry, broken, cocaine-addicted wife of a drug dealer. Choose a key scene to view, such as Act 2, scene 2, the aftermath of Duncan’s murder, or Act 1, scenes 5 and 7 as she manipulates him into the murder. Students should have a project response handout on which to write their observations, and class discussion should follow to help all students understand what will be expected of them.
Next, students can choose or be assigned scenes and write a scene analysis. Why is this scene important? Why not drop it from your production? How does it develop conflicts or theme, advance our understanding of the characters and shape a character’s development? This will allow students to consider thematic elements that have to do with character motivations: why do people behave the way they behave? Are characters discovering something in this scene about themselves that is very important? What is it?
Students should also write up fairly detailed character analyses for key characters in the scene. These should look back in the play and explain how characters’ previous struggles are developing further in this scene. The analyses should also include a description of where the characters are heading emotionally, so that their actions or delivery of lines in this scene will connect. This will allow students to see characters’ transitions over time, and see where wrong choices were made and why.
Students could then closely analyze the words they choose to use in the scene. It is important to clarify that directors often cut many lines from the printed text. Which ones are important? Which would they choose to keep and why? Which lines absolutely need to be heard, spoken slowly, or perhaps even directed at the audience? Close analysis of language is always a skill we wish to build in students. Here, students have editorial authority to edit out words, and asking themselves why they would keep other words forces them to analyze the meaning and weight of text. It is a sneakier way of getting them to annotate, and can improve both comprehension and skill in analysis of language.
Students should then describe and justify the setting, costumes, lighting and props. Where do you envision your version of the scene taking place? Why choose this time and place? How do these help you reveal the play’s universal themes? Do the same for costumes and props. Students will see how Shakespeare’s truths connect to ours, and perhaps create a personal universe for the scene that is more relevant for them.
Students then create a script with stage directions, either using a split page format or a playwriting format. They would include expressive gestures, physical actions and a description of line delivery. Students could then act the scene out so they might embody the characters themselves. Even if students know that directors often take liberties with Shakespeare to change things, they will have to justify whatever they change. Students thus have an opportunity here to get inside the psychology of a character and vicariously experience this moment of human growth, from within the character’s shoes and from the perspective of the other characters.
The most important aspect of this lesson is the reflection: How did the characters’ journey teach me something about myself, or the people I love? What might I change in my life, based on what I’ve discovered? What insights do I have now that I might not have had before about a character who is confronting heartache or grief? The main goal of this lesson is to have students expand their knowledge of the human heart and for them to become more self-aware and compassionate. By asking them to create and inhabit the world of a significant scene in Shakespeare’s plays, and embody the characters who live in it, they have an opportunity to vicariously experience the transformative emotions of the characters themselves.