Richard 3

10/22: HOMEWORK: Continue to work on the projects. Due on Friday. In class, please continue to work on your projects. If you submitted a proposal via Google Docs, I made comments on that proposal. Please READ those and proceed accordingly. Send me questions of you are confused. MAKE SURE you read the grading criteria. Textual support is KEY.

10/19: HOMEWORK: Continue to work on the projects. Here's the grading criteria. Due next Friday.

In class: we performed (in groups) the end of Richard 3 (Grading criteria for performance). Final proposals for the project.

10/18: HOMEWORK: Continue to work on the projects. Here's the grading criteria. Due next Friday. By end of class tomorrow, I want a final proposal.

10/17: HOMEWORK: Come ready for a work day tomorrow. Bring all materials.

In class, we worked in groups to prepare for the end of the play. Grading criteria for performance

10/16: HOMEWORK: Continue working on the assessment. Here are my thoughts, based on your topics. In class work day on Thursday.

Working on the orations

10/15: HOMEWORK: Continue working on the assessment. Here are my thoughts, based on your topics.

In class, 5.1 and 5.2 - Buckingham's end and Richmond and Richard's dreams

10/11: HOMEWORK: two pages of notes about your assessment on Monday. These should be developed from close reading sections of the play and exploration of the ideas generated by that close reading work.

We worked on the first stages of developing the assessment today.

10/10: HOMEWORK: Keep working on ideas for the assessment. Bring them with you to class tomorrow. In class- we worked our way through 4.4 an 4.5. We examined the very sketchy wooing scene and watched as Elizabeth challenged Richard and then acted to thwart him. Lord Stanley is torn between conscience and Richard's threats to kill his son, but as we leave act 4, he's made a choice. Buckingham has been captured. Getting ready for battle. Planning for assessment: Taking our cue from Bryan: what questions do you have about the play? What character(s), relationship(s), etc. warrant further examination? What performance ideas are you thinking about? What issues in the play resonate with you and how would they inform your thinking/ why do they matter to us now? What have you come to understand about Shakespeare's writing (through Forsyth) that bears more study? THINK too about what strengths you've developed: as a thinker, as a writer, as a performer and how can you bring those strengths to show me what you know about the play?

10/9: HOMEWORK: Read and respond to Forsyth. See earlier Forsyth assignment sheet. In class: 4.3 we listened to Tyrrel's speech in an effort to better understand his character, his reaction to the murders and what this tells us about Richard's reign. Continuing 4.3 - Tyrrel's reaction, Richard's impatience and his paranoia since Buckingham. Troops starting to form - we are headed to war. Brian's question: Is Buckingham the key figure in this play? In small groups, we read a cut script version of the beginning of 4.4 - Margaret and her curses (Every one of them was fulfilled. She thanks God for this. Is she remorseful??), Richard's plan, etc.

10/5: HOMEWORK: Continue to work on your reflection. Due by Saturday morning). In class - we crowned Richard. Long discussion about Buckingham and about who he is, why he is so important to Richard, etc. On the front of the notecard: list the three women and tell me what you think their reaction to the news LordStanley brings would be and why. On the back of the notecard: spend some time reflecting about Buckingham. Richard tells him that without him he would not be taking the throne. What's your impression of Buckingham's character and why? How much credit would you give him for Richard's rise and why? What do you think he wants? Do you think he has a moral bottom line or is he as willing as Richard to do what needs to be done? What does your answer say about his character? Fill the back of the notecard.

10/4: HOMEWORK: Continue to work on your reflection. Due Friday. In class, we worked on the Scriviner's speech and on strengthening paraphrasing skills.

10/3: HOMEWORK: Continue to work on your reflection. Due Friday. Complete the paraphrase if you did not do so in class.

In class, strategies for paraphrasing, Richard 3 in the age of social media, of #MeToo and such discord an disrespect.

10/1HOMEWORK: Work on your reflection. Due Friday. Keep in mind what we talked about in class today, the comments I made on the previous one, the assignment and criteria, etc.

In class: 3.5, including work on paraphrasing.

9/28: HOMEWORK: A new reflection assessment will be due by Friday. This weekend, spend some time reviewing/reflecting about what we've done and pull together notes/draftwork. In class: we pulled together notes about Richard's plots and inductions (accomplished and promised), about what motivates each character and what they have to lose, In small groups, read 3.2-3.3: Catesby's double-dealing, Stanley's dream and his fear, Hastings' loyalty to the prince and his very poor ability to judge character. Power plays (Joker scene in Dark Knight and what we can learn about ways to wield, shift and gain power), and we applied these ideas to 3.4.

9/27: HOMEWORK: Reread cast list and the beginning of the play so that you remember who Hastings and Stanley are, their relationship to others, who Mistress Shore is, etc.

In class: neutral scripts and 3.1.

9/26: Improv today, and finishing act 2. At the end of the act, we did some revisiting of plots laid, inductions dangerous, motives, motivations, worries, etc.

9/25: In class: Small groups finishing through 2.3 and thinking about whether to keep or cut.

9/24: HOMEWORK: Read and respond to Forsyth's "Polyptoton" chapter. In class: Richard and power and our role as co-conspirator. We read 2.1 - 2.2 (until Richard's entrance).

9/20: HOMEWORK: Reflect about your role as a co-conspirator. In class - we killed Clarence. Richard's path to the crown just became a little shorter.

9/19: In class - tapestries + finishing 1/3. Getting ready for the murderers. Neutral script practice.

9/18: HOMEWORK: Get yourselves ready for tapestry tomorrow by reading the background to the War of the Roses.

In class - finishing Margaret's scene in 1.3 and keeping track of all of the curses. THINK what it means to curse, where the power comes from, why cursing is primarily the purview of women in the play, etc.

9/17: Working in War of the Roses groups, we read the first 1/3 of 1.3 with an eye to understanding who is who, alliances, worries, motivations, etc. We talked about Richard's view of women, about the many ways he works to persuade, about Elizabeth's wariness and her precarious position (and her willingness to challenge Richard), etc. As a class, we moved on to Margaret's reveal and her curses (and her strength). Things to watch for: men + power ad the position that puts women in (thinking in the age of #MeToo), persuasion/manipulation and power, the role of curses, etc.)

9/14:Homework (due Monday): Read and respond to Forsyth's chapter about metonymy and synecdoche (you can find the reading here and here). In class, we read through 1.2

9/13: Homework (due Monday): Read and respond to Forsyth's chapter about metonymy and synecdoche (you can find the reading here and here). In class, we wrote about and talked about power, how we see power, our relationship to power, etc. We also watched two versions of Richard's opening soliloquy (Ian McClellan's and RSC's) in an effort to think about performance choices, characterization, etc.

9/11: Homework: Keep working on the reflection (final due on Thursday). In class, we watched David Morrissey's reading of Richard's soliloquy in an effort to see what understanding it could offer. Then we worked our way through the speech, particularly thinking about the effects of the civil war, "excuses" for himself, his view of women, the idea of power in a kingdom and the plots he's laid.