A Performance-Based Approach to Teaching Shakespeare in English Composition II: An Introduction to Literature Katherine M. DiMarca I. Introduction When I learned I would be teaching English Composition II: An Introduction to Literature (ENG 102) during the spring of 2011, I was genuinely pleased. After a semester in which I had only taught composition and basic writing, I was eager to teach writing through literature. As a relatively new community college instructor, this would be my first time teaching this particular course. With my background in Shakespeare studies, the thought of teaching A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the college level delighted me, but I wondered whether the performance-based approach I favored could be used to teach not only literature, but also composition. ENG 102 at Middlesex Community College in Bedford, MA, requires that students learn to craft an arguable thesis statement and support it with valid evidence. Odds seemed against me as widespread sentiment toward Shakespeare renders his plays challenging enough to read, let alone teach; in addition, performance-based activities take extra time than many other 1
Transcript
A Performance-Based Approach to Teaching Shakespeare
in English Composition II: An Introduction to Literature
Katherine M. DiMarca
I. Introduction
When I learned I would be teaching English Composition II: An Introduction to
Literature (ENG 102) during the spring of 2011, I was genuinely pleased. After a semester in
which I had only taught composition and basic writing, I was eager to teach writing through
literature. As a relatively new community college instructor, this would be my first time teaching
this particular course. With my background in Shakespeare studies, the thought of teaching A
Midsummer Night’s Dream at the college level delighted me, but I wondered whether the
performance-based approach I favored could be used to teach not only literature, but also
composition. ENG 102 at Middlesex Community College in Bedford, MA, requires that students
learn to craft an arguable thesis statement and support it with valid evidence. Odds seemed
against me as widespread sentiment toward Shakespeare renders his plays challenging enough to
read, let alone teach; in addition, performance-based activities take extra time than many other
types of learning activities. Could a performance-based approach to Shakespeare be engaging,
surprising, useful for literary interpretation through writing, and – dare I say– fun for students?
Or would students consider the high-energy activities inappropriate for their age group and level
of education? Another ENG 102 course outcome requires students to “recognize and articulate
connections between literature and themselves and the world beyond the text” (“Learning
Outcomes for English 102”). My professional philosophy toward teaching literature has always
been to make literary works relevant to students’ lives and experiences; I want students to extract
truth from literature to better understand and navigate the world, and to approach their goals and
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dreams realistically, but with new inspiration. Would I succeed in making Shakespeare
accessible to students in this profound and lasting way?
Middlesex Community College’s Bedford, Massachusetts, campus is suburban and
largely homogenous with mostly white students. My class of 15 students was comprised of two
students in their mid to late forties, at least one student in her late 20’s, and many students in
their early 20’s, with a few in their late teens. The class met three days a week for 50 minutes.
My curriculum design positions the drama unit within the second month of the semester.
The drama unit follows a unit on fiction, while the final unit, poetry, ends the semester. By
choosing to teach a Shakespeare play as an example of drama, I felt this would prepare students
for the close attention to language required for poetry analysis. Furthermore, teaching from a
performance-based approach would enable students to discover creative ways to tackle
unfamiliar language in a text and give them confidence to persevere. My unit on Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (AMND) lasts about 3 weeks or 10 class days; however, in Spring
2011, students also had Spring Break between days 7 and 8 to finish their first draft of the major
essay of the unit. First drafts were due on Monday after Spring Break, and final drafts were due
that Friday. This paper will provide an overview of the performance-based approach to AMND
that I designed and implemented in the spring of 2011 for English Composition II: An
Introduction to Literature at Middlesex Community College. I will explain the procedure and
rationale behind two performance-based activities and identify the strengths and weaknesses of
the students’ final major essays. I will also highlight the areas of the curriculum that would
benefit from further development.
II. The First Day
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I decided to approach the first day of the unit as an introduction to both William
Shakespeare and performance-based learning. I reminded the students that on the first day of the
course four weeks prior, I had brought their attention to a statement in the syllabus that stated our
drama unit would be physically active; thus, by late February they had had ample time to adjust
to the idea of this different – perhaps, unusual – course component. In his English Journal
article, “‘What’s Past Is Prologue’” English Journal Roots of a Performance-Based
Approach to Teaching Shakespeare,” historian of Shakespeare instruction Joseph Haughey
explains that teaching Shakespeare through performance has been a strategy in America for at
least 100 years (60). How unfortunate then, that it seems the vast majority of students complete
their secondary education without learning to appreciate Shakespeare’s language and works
through their own performance of his texts. My students in ENG 102 seemed to validate this
notion as eleven of the fifteen students had not studied a Shakespeare play through performance
activities during their high school experiences.
To jumpstart the unit, I distributed a handout I wrote and designed to provide a brief
overview of William Shakespeare, both the man and the author. Referring to the handout, we
discussed the validity of Ben Jonson’s famous words about his friend, Shakespeare: “He was not
for an age, but for all time.” I went on to acknowledge students’ possible apprehension – or even,
fear – of Shakespeare. I told them, “You probably read some of Shakespeare’s works in high
school. Maybe you liked what he wrote. Maybe you didn’t. Maybe you were swearing at him
under your breath or even (horrors!) falling asleep in class. Forget all that – it’s in the past. Let’s
meet Shakespeare afresh this semester.” Next, I introduced the concepts of adaptation, comedy,
and dramatic choices. I also gave an explanation of the essay topics for the unit, and told students
that all of the activities and assignments for AMND would count as “process work” and directly
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inform their final essay – due in three weeks. Finally, I provided an overview of the type of
activities students would engage in to “meet” Shakespeare through his words. I encouraged
students to keep an open mind and advised them not to be afraid to participate. I told them that as
Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “the play’s the thing,” we would engage in play with the words
themselves.
I agree with Peggy O’Brien, founder of the Folger’s Teaching Shakespeare Institute of
the Folger Shakespeare Library and editor of the Shakespeare Set Free series of instructors’
guides to teaching Shakespeare through performance. In her introduction to Shakespeare Set
Free Teaching Twelfth Night and Othello, O’Brien writes,
The most important and powerful part of teaching Shakespeare has to do with teaching
Shakespeare’s language. Your students’ active connection with these words is the
greatest gift you can give them…. The moment of truth is when, in speaking his
language, your students discover their natural affinity for [Shakespeare]” (xii-xiii).
The Shakespeare Set Free series also includes a graphic entitled “O’Brien’s Unfinished
Taxonomy,” which illustrates the importance of students actively engaging with the words of a
play over all other aspects of a text. Shakespeare scholar Miriam Gilbert writes, “perhaps it is
because there are so many enticing fields of study to which Shakespeare’s plays lead us –
Elizabethan history or social customs, connections with other playwrights, human nature itself –
that we sometimes skip over the obvious and difficult problem of the words” (604). As Gilbert
states, instructors may often choose to focus on other fields of study for a particular play, but I
agree with O’Brien and Gilbert that the words of the play hold the most power and potential for
significant and transformative student learning (Gilbert 604; O’Brien, Shakespeare Set Free
Twelfth Night xii). In my curriculum design, I deliberately chose to downplay other aspects of
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Shakespeare study in favor of Shakespeare’s language and interpretations of it through
performance. I believe that when students engage with a Shakespeare work as a performance-
text, they are more likely to appreciate it and learn from it. Performance-based learning, paired
with reflective writing, allows students to undergo a series of discoveries. As they decipher the
language, they discover meaning in the text, they discover themselves and what they did not
know that they were capable of, and they discover how collaboration can make challenging tasks
possible. Moreover, students develop their abilities to solve problems creatively, think critically,
and write critically.
III. Performance-Based Learning: Line Toss
After providing an overview of Shakespeare’s life and works on the first day of the unit, it
was time to introduce the first performance-based activity: Line Toss. Line Toss takes little
preparation and immediately energizes a class of students– needless to say this proved invaluable
for my 7:30 AM class, Spring 2011. The activity works well to introduce a scene, a monologue,
or an entire play. The version of Line Toss that I use is adapted from a Folger’s Shakespeare
Library Shakespeare Set Free “Lesson 2” activity in the instructor’s guide, Teaching A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. Before the activity begins, I write
a sentence on the board and ask four volunteers to read it. Each volunteer should read the line
emphasizing a different word. Careful consideration of the content of this sentence helps to
maintain a light-hearted mood and create the energy needed for the upcoming Line Toss.
Ex. I didn’t say Elvis was here.
I didn’t say Elvis was here.
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I didn’t say Elvis was here.
I didn’t say Elvis was here.
I ask the class if the meaning of the sentence changes depending on which word is emphasized.
They realize that it does! We discuss the meaning of each sentence based on where the stress is
located.
Next, Line Toss begins. During the Spring 2011 course, I asked my students to stand up
and move their desk-chairs into a circle. I walked around the circle and gave each student a slip
of paper with an important line of text from Act II of AMND. I kept one for myself, too. I then
unveiled “Mr. Peep” – a yellow stuffed animal rabbit we could toss around the room with each
line of text. (A soft object that is somehow connected with the play works best - a Koosh ball
also works well.) There were smiles and soft chuckles around the room. I asked students if they
had questions about unfamiliar words in their line of text and we reviewed definitions. I
instructed students to practice reading their line to themselves for about a minute while choosing
a different word to emphasize each time. Next, I told students, “Choose one of the ways you
practiced saying the line for this activity. Make eye contact with someone else in this circle, and
then say your line to that person while making sure to emphasize one of the words. Then, toss
the object to that person.” We began. Students were immediately amused by the romantic
passion in many of the lines (“And run through fire I will for your sweet sake”), the strong
feeling in others (“I love thee not; therefore pursue me not”) and the playfulness of others (“But I
shall do thee mischief in the wood”). Because the class was relatively small, with 15 students, we
tossed Mr. Peep until each student spoke his or her line at least twice. The discussion afterward
was two-fold: we discussed what could be happening in Act II based on these isolated lines, and
also how emphasizing one of the words and making eye contact with another person helps to
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express the emotion in the line of text.
By working with lines in isolation, students are able to immediately access the inherent
emotion in the words by both observing and hearing their peers, as well as participating
themselves. Students have the option and are encouraged to reflect upon this activity in the
required journal assignment. 1 As Miriam Gilbert suggests, if the language of the play is not
carefully considered, “whole sections of the play float past us…full of sound and beauty, but
without power or meaning” (604). Line Toss enables students to actively engage with the words
themselves, find enjoyment in the language, and finally, begin to lose their fear of Shakespeare’s
language. Furthermore, students become primed for more in-depth performance-based learning
including scene analysis from films.
IV. Performance-Based Learning: Film Scene Analysis
“When I watch a film clip or view my classmates acting the play out, I, for some reason, do
not need the translation from the older text to modern English. The actors’ facial expressions
and movements, for the most part, complete the story in my mind so that I can decipher the
meaning of the scene.”
– Student in ENG 102, Spring 2011
When instructors choose to show a film version of a literary text, they often wait until the
end of the discussion of that text. Rather than waiting until the end of a unit to view a film, I
believe it is important to use film as a learning tool with different film adaptations of the same
scene. In the spring of 2011, film scene analysis formed the basis of four lessons. I support
1 To extend this exploration, Mr. Peep can be put aside and students can then speak their line again, but this time with an accompanying gesture. A potential pitfall of this extension activity is students doing the gesture but forgetting to emphasize a word. Students must be reminded they need to do both. A Line Toss incorporating gestures enables students to become comfortable with movement on stage and visualizing Shakespeare’s words.
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Miriam Gilbert in “Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance,” who argues that the “central
problem in understanding (or performing) Shakespeare” is the language, and that students, like
actors, need to “get involved directly” with the language (604). When students view film clips
and describe them in detail in terms of how the language of the play activates actors’ specific
choices in movement, vocal intonations and facial expressions, students will develop a keener
understanding of the text. I generally explain to students that each performance of a text is an
interpretation of the director’s and actors’ understanding of a play, and each performance reveals
its own specific insight into Shakespeare’s text. Students must uncover that insight through
identifying and describing the specific choices made by the actors and director and how effective
these choices are. Through this assignment, students engage in critical thinking while developing
their ability to write detailed descriptions, a useful writing and communication skill. According
to Gilbert, asking students to describe what they see in the film clips is an exercise that generates
more meaningful learning that students merely passing simplistic value judgments such as “I
liked it/I didn’t like it” or “It was good/It was bad.” (606-607).
In the spring of 2011, I used trailers from Michael Hoffman’s AMND (1999) and William
Dieterle and Max Reinhardt’s 1935 AMND. I also had students watch the first 10 minutes of the
AMND episode of director Ed Fraiman’s ShakespeaRe-Told (2005), the BBC’s made-for-
television modern production. Students viewed them for homework and wrote predictions of
what the films might portray based on how the trailers introduced the productions. This
homework formed the basis of part of the next day’s class discussion. Homework for the next
three classes required students to analyze film clips of scenes from two or three film adaptations
of Acts I, II, and III. The film clips were available on Youtube and the Royal Shakespeare
Company’s website. The first analysis focused on Act I, scene i from the Hoffman (1999) and
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Hall (1968) films. The second analysis focused on Act II, scene i from the Hoffman (1999),
Moshinsky (1981), or the Dieterle and Reinhardt (1935) films. The third analysis focused on Act
III, scene ii from the Hall film (1968) and the Royal Shakespeare Company stage performance
directed by Gregory Doran (2005).
I will describe the specific procedure that I followed for teaching both Act II, scene i and
Act III, scene ii. Students left class with instructions to read the entirety of the act, view the
different film adaptations of this scene on Youtube, record their observations, and analyze the
differences between the scenes on the Film Analysis worksheet that I developed. During the next
class meeting, I collected their work at the start of class to give them credit. While I checked
their work, students discussed the following questions in small groups:
1. Did this scene remind you of anything from real life, literature, or film?
2. What do you think Shakespeare is expressing about human nature in this act? How can
you tell?
3. What surprised you about the film adaptations? Did the choices made by the actors and
directors seem to make sense based on the language in Shakespeare’s text?
I returned their Film Analysis worksheets with my comments, and then as a class we revisited
the film clips they viewed for homework. During this second viewing, students could look for
the particular moments and details from the film clips their classmates mentioned in their
discussion groups. Next, I moderated a whole class discussion with two main objectives 1)
discover important differences between two adaptations of the same scene, and 2) determine
which adaptation is more effective at revealing a specific insight. I advised students to take notes
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during the discussion so that they could use any relevant information in their upcoming essays.
Thus, Film Scene Analysis enables students to understand new language, uncover important
literary insight, and through their engagement in both individual and collaborative work, think
critically about literature.
V. Process Writing and the Essay
As English Composition II: An Introduction to Literature is a composition course, I never
allow students to lose sight of the end goal: writing a three to five page essay that expresses
insight into Shakespeare’s AMND. I designated two weeks out of the three-week Shakespeare
unit for students to engage in the writing process for their essays. As performance-based learning
involves a series of discoveries of self, literature and others, these new insights become most
transparent to students when they are required to reflect on their participation in learning
activities. A journal assignment enables this type of learning to take place and can also work as a
foundation for the final essay of the unit. I instruct students to write a two-page journal reflecting
on how performance-based activities enabled them to understand at least two specific aspects of
the play. In terms of the actual essay, I instruct students to write a paper proposal, craft a
tentative thesis and outline, identify useful quotations for the essay, cull their Film Analysis
worksheets for insight, write a first draft, participate in peer response, meet with me for a
conference (extra credit), create a revision plan, and write a final draft. When students’ final
essay folders were due (in which they also submitted all “process work”) each student wrote a
final self-reflection on the writing process and self-evaluated his or her final essay. I allowed
students to choose an essay topic from a list available to them (see Appendix).
VI. Results
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In terms of measuring success of this project, I will first consider the students’ final
essays. Were students able to use textual evidence to support their arguable thesis
statements? Students used quotations successfully to support their ideas regardless which essay
topic they chose. However, while most students’ Film Analysis worksheets were highly detailed
with information that would have greatly enhanced their essays, several students who wrote Film
Analysis essays did not use their Film Analysis worksheets to help them write their essays. Other
students’ Film Analysis worksheets were not detailed enough to use in writing their Film
Analysis essays. This is puzzling as many students indicated in their final self-reflections that the
Film Analysis worksheets were useful to them in the writing process. Perhaps students may have
tried to rely too much on their memories, instead of referring back to what they had written on
their worksheets. Another problem area in the essays, regardless of essay topic, involved students
making broad generalizations instead of referring to specific details in the film clips, in the text,
or in their descriptions of classroom performance-based activities. Yet another problem involved
students’ thesis statements being too general or weak; for example, one student wrote the
following thesis, “The films have many more differences than similarities such as details like the
directors’ choices, tones, costumes, and actors.” This student’s thesis not only should have had a
more narrow focus on a scene rather than the entire film, but it should have indicated what,
specifically, these differences reveal, and which film adaptation of a particular scene was more
effective at revealing a singular insight. The last problem area involves two students who
analyzed entire films rather than focusing their arguments on a specific scene in two different
film adaptations.
Going forward, I will have students submit drafts of introduction paragraphs including
their thesis statements for approval. I will also provide models of descriptive writing created by
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sharp observation on the writer’s part, and provide examples of generalizations vs. specific
details. With these pitfalls in mind, the handout entitled “Essay Topics and Sample Thesis
Statements” and the worksheet entitled “Film Analysis” in the appendix of this paper are revised
versions of the originals that I distributed to students during my Spring 2011 course.
Were students able to recognize and articulate connections between literature,
themselves, and the world beyond the text? Some students’ essays were very insightful –
especially the students who chose the essay topic of creating their own director’s vision for
AMND. For example, one student envisioned a New York City setting with the rude mechanicals
as blue-collar employees of Central Park, the court royals as Wall Street executives, Demetrius
as a Wall Street trader, and Lysander as an actor struggling to make it to Broadway. This student
was clearly able to see modern day relevance in Shakespeare’s four hundred year old literary
text. However, other students’ essays just brushed the surface of insight. For example, one
student wrote how Hoffman’s 1999 adaptation of AMND “reveals the hilarious and strange
things people do for love” and she described the scenes during which the characters play
outrageous tricks on each other without any sense of pride or regard for social decorum.
However, this student failed to explore the relevance of this theme in the world beyond the text.
If the student had connected the plot of AMND with real life situations or with her own life, she
would have met this learning outcome. As mentioned above, the documents in the appendix that
follow this paper are revised versions of assignments I used during my Spring 2011 course. As
these revised assignments indicate, I will emphasize the importance of connecting all ideas and
themes within a literary work with real life. Going forward, I will also base in-class discussions
and writing prompts on the following questions: “What is the meaning of the play in your own
words?”, “What is Shakespeare expressing about love and people in love?”, “What insights into
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life does he express – and how?” and “How does the language of the play work in revealing
these insights?”. I will tell students to consider these questions carefully, regardless of what
writing prompt they chose.
Finally, what were students’ general feelings toward performance-based learning?
Did they find performance-based learning engaging, surprising, useful for literary
interpretation through writing, or even fun? This is where my Spring 2011 Shakespeare unit
had the highest level of success. Students greatly enjoyed the performance-based activities.
During one lesson, I used a Shakespeare Set Free activity described by Michael Tolaydo in his
article, “Three-Dimensional Shakespeare” that proved to be very popular as a few students chose
to describe and reflect upon it about in their journals. The activity involves a collaborative
reading, directing, and performing of Act I, scene ii, BEFORE students begin to read the entire
play on their own. One student, Rebecca2, writes,
The experience of playing the role of Nick Bottom in Act I, scene 2 of AMND was
helpful in two ways: understanding the language, and understanding Nick Bottom’s sense
of self-importance. This experience has certainly made Shakespeare’s work easier to
comprehend and far less frustrating than in past experiences. Although I initially wanted
to observe this exercise, I am now glad I participated…. When I performed the role of
Nick Bottom, I immediately became aware of how often he used the word ‘I’ when
interrupting Peter Quince. The language he used is a key to his inner character.
Through her own performance and active engagement with the language, Rebecca made a
specific and accurate discovery about a personality trait of the character Bottom. Writing in her
journal helped her to make this connection. Domenic writes how this same performance-based
activity enabled him to contextualize AMND as more than a work of literature to read: “ I believe
2 Student names have been changed.
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the exercise of the class performing even this one scene has enabled me to at least have a starting
point to appreciating this art.” Rebecca also explained that this same activity gave her “a clear
understanding that Quince was a ‘leader,’ Bottom was a ‘diva,’ Flute was a ‘manly man,’ and
that Snug may have been ‘slow.’” In addition, she reflects that the active involvement in class
gave her “a better understanding of the Shakespearean language and a better handle on the
characterization…this experience has helped me get over the hurdle I needed in order to read the
following acts with more confidence.” Perhaps best of all, Alex summarizes his experience with
I have realized that simply reading the text is not sufficient. To get a more accurate
portrayal of the play, you need to witness a set of participants actively performing the
scenes. Whether it is a group of students in a classroom, or a full-blown film adaptation
with professional actors, performance allows the words of Shakespeare to come to life.
AMND is a play that cries out for performance; between magical fairies, mysterious love
potions, and interesting characters such as “Puck,” Shakespeare intended his words to be
realized through live production.
Alex’s journal reveals how he has discovered the true nature of drama as a literary genre, as well
as relates an accurate sense of the magical playfulness of AMND; his tone indicates these
discoveries were happy ones. Finally, Susan and Domenic share thoughts that reveal how the
performance-based approach had been truly successful in terms of student engagement. Susan
writes, “This course is exciting. I am learning new ways to read and write about literature.” And
Domenic concludes his journal with “Who said English Composition II was supposed to be fun?
Well, it was and I hope that I will be able to act some lines out in the near future. Count on it.”
VII. Conclusion
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Michael Lomonico, Senior Consultant on National Education at the Folger Shakespeare
Library, is quoted by Joseph Haughey in the English Journal: “The best way to get students to
like Shakespeare is by getting them to perform Shakespeare (24)” (Haughey 64). Teaching a
literary work through performance, particularly Shakespeare, engages students and, in helping to
build their confidence, also empowers them. In my six years of using performance-based
activities in the classroom (high school, junior high, and most recently, community college), the
ability of performance-based activities to motivate and build students’ confidence has become
overwhelmingly evident to me. Students who participate and enjoy performance-based activities
often discover that public speaking is not to be feared after all. They may go on to excel in
making presentations in business courses, win debates in law courses, or approach any in-class
presentation with less far less fear and more self-confidence.
Although students’ final essays were not as strong as I had hoped in terms of students
crafting arguable thesis statements and making connections between literature, the world, and
themselves, I foresee final essays becoming significantly stronger in future iterations of English
Composition II: An Introduction to Literature. I am now aware of how I can adjust my
instruction to better suit students’ needs. Students did, however, demonstrate skill and gained
practice in reflective writing, collaboration, oral communication, and visual literacy. They also
gained confidence in approaching and persevering though a challenging literary text. Finally,
these students no longer regard Shakespeare with trepidation or disinterest. They understand
AMND to be a humorous, insightful and engaging literary work. They discovered meaning and
relevance through both watching and taking part in its performance.
At the community college, students’ pragmatic approach to education may lead to their
disregard of the significance and relevance of the arts and humanities in their own lives, but
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creativity is a skill that applies to every academic discipline and every career possibility.
Students of all disciplines need to be creative problem solvers, and they need to be able to
communicate well and work collaboratively if they are to succeed in their chosen career paths –
whether in technology, science, the social sciences, or other areas. Studying Shakespeare through
performance-based activities helps students build the confidence, communication skills and
critical thinking skills they need for life.
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Bibliography
English Department, Middlesex Community College. “Learning Outcomes for English 102.”
(2011): 1-2. Print.
Gilbert, Miriam. “Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance.” Shakespeare Quarterly 35:5
(1984): 601-608. Print.
Hansen, Mark C. “’O Brave New World’ Service-Learning and Shakespeare.’” Pedagogy:
Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition on Culture 11:1
(2010): 177-197. Print.
Haughey, Joseph. “‘What’s Past Is Prologue’” English Journal Roots of a Performance-Based
Approach to Teaching Shakespeare.” 101.3 (2012): 60-65. Print.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dir. William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt. Perf. James Cagney,
Dick Powell, ad Ian Hunter. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1935. Film.
---. Dir. Peter Hall. Perf. Derek Godfrey, Barbara Jefford, and Nicholas Selby. Filmways
Pictures, 1968. Film.
---.Dir. Michael Hoffman. Perf. Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Rupert Everett. Fox
Searchlight Pictures, 1999. Film.
---. Dir. Elijah Moshinsky. Perf. Estelle Kohler, Nigel Davenport and Hugh Quarshie. British
Broadcasting Corporation, 1981. Film.
O’Brien, Peggy, ed. Shakespeare Set Free, Teaching A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and
Juliet, and Macbeth. Washington, D.C.: Washington Square Press, 1993. Print.
---. Shakespeare Set Free, Teaching Twelfth Night and Othello. Washington, D.C.: Washington
Square Press, 1995. Print.
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Tolaydo, Michael. “Three-Dimensional Shakespeare.” Shakespeare Set Free, Teaching A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. Ed. Peggy O’Brien.
Washington, D.C.: Washington Square Press, 1993. 27-34. Print.
---.“Up on Your Feet with Shakespeare: The Wrong Way and the Right.” Shakespeare Set Free,
Teaching Twelfth Night and Othello. Ed. Peggy O’Brien. Washington, D.C.: Washington
Square Press, 1995. 41-49. Print.
Trounstine, Jean. Shakespeare Behind Bars One Teacher’s Story of the Power of Drama in a
Women’s Prison. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2001. Print.
“Video - The Lovers.” Dir. Gregory Doran. Royal Shakespeare Company. Web. 25 February
2011.
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ESSAY TOPICS AND SAMPLE THESIS STATEMENTS
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy expressing insights into life. Regardless of which essay prompt you choose, make sure that your essay addresses what you believe Shakespeare expresses about life or an aspect of human nature. An essay without this key component is missing essential insight.
1. FILM SCENE ANALYSIS: Analyze film clips of the same scene in two different productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Describe the differences between the directors’ and/or actors’ choices regarding at least three of the following: vocal expression, facial expression, movement, setting, scenery, costumes, sound and lighting. Explain the effect that each choice creates. Which adaptation of a scene do you believe to be more effective at revealing a universal truth that Shakespeare expresses?
Sample Introduction and Thesis (in bold):
The 1999 and 1968 adaptations of Act I, scene i of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act are strikingly different, yet each production reveals insight into the characters and themes of the play. The scene from the 1999 adaptation shows how extreme passion can move people to quick action while the scene from the 1968 adaptation focuses mainly on Hermia’s anguish at being told she cannot marry her love. When one compares the actors’ movements, facial expressions, and vocal expressions, it becomes clear that the 1999 adaptation of Act I, scene i is more effective at expressing how intense passion makes people act without thinking and leads to unexpected
consequences.
2. DIRECTOR’S VISION: Write a director’s vision for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Imagine you are the director and you are responsible for making the main choices in your production: setting, sound, set, lighting, costume, how actors will portray their character roles, etc. Explain how your choices work together to express a specific theme in the play. You have creative freedom!
If I were a director, my adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream would bring the hippies, rock music, and psychedelic ambiance of late 1960’s San Francisco, California to the stage and highlight the theme of love as liberation.
3. THEME ANALYSIS: Write a theme analysis for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Shakespeare reveals the theme “the course of true love never did run smooth” in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream through the three pairs of lovers: Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, and Titania and Oberon.
4. CLASS PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS: Write about how your experiences as a performer and/or spectator in this class helped you better understand specific aspects of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
By performing in class and watching my classmates perform Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream this semester, I discovered that this play truly teaches us “the course of true love never did run smooth.”
What effect did these choices have on you? How did they make you feel about the characters and their situations in the play? What insight did you gain about the characters or the play itself?
What effect did these choices have on you? How did they make you feel about the characters and their situations in the play? What insight did you gain about the characters or the play itself?
What effect did these choices have on you? How did they make you feel about the characters and their situations in the play? What insight did you gain about the characters or the play itself?
What effect did these choices have on you? How did they make you feel about the characters and their situations in the play? What insight did you gain about the characters or the play itself?
