Woosh to give students an understanding of general plot

• you can end the woosh early enough to allow students to be surprised to guess the ending

• discuss predictions

slight scene work to get a major plot point anaysis going

students dont need to understand everything

• "I give you permission to just go and enjoy"

Example: Midsummer Night's Dream

• assign specific roles for groups

  • how they use the stage

  • set and costume design

  • mechanicals- physicality of the actors

  • lovers

  • faries

  • insults

  • notice a specific word (in this case, vision)

• give a specific question to answer

• ideally, students would experience/read a play as much as possible prior to seeing the play. 

• question bank- what questions are we, as a community, looking to answer?

We want to give them tools to notice something

Is it important that students read every word of Shakespeare, or is it important that they connect with every word they read?

Performance reflection of The Globe's Midsummer production

• One thing from the play that stuck out and gave you a new perspective?

  • Go around to each group and receive feedback. Use that time to engage with students as they share, allow feedback from other groups.

  • How can we prompt students to have strong opinions and passionate observations that would mirror the kinds of observations we experienced in this room?

    • connecting to "prepping students for performance"-- would assigning focal points work to help students feel something

Activating performance as a tool for teaching

History as context

• Shakespeare uses his own current and distant history to shape his plays, including Macbeth

• written in the early 1600s

  • transitional period

    • regime change

    • religious crack-down

    • first taste of mass terrorism

    • a variety of riots

    • queen is very old, dies in 1603

      • no heir

      • political factions are forming and strengthening

        • Succeeded King James

    • King James of Scotland becomes the king with little to no bloodshed

      • boosts cultural scene

        • brings theatre a boost

        • gives theatre leaders power

      • brings family along (wife and three children)

      • let down the Catholics in the country, as James does not repeal the laws that were oppressing them

        • terrorist attack planned and failed- 1605

          • goal was to invite a Spanish invasion

      • Goes from very popular to very unpopular in a very short period of time

  • Shakespeare is also rising sharply to fame, contrasting the world around him

    • 1580s--> is Shakespeare's career

    • Shakespeare, as a result of his new status, is in the middle of the fall out of the failed revolution in 1605

• historical context, especially when they play-write is involved in politics, is important to understand.

Macbeth

• written in 1606 English, set in 11th century Scotland

• he is writing about real people in history and taking liberties, making it a drama

  • real people paired with witches and the supernatural

• The Crown in Scotland

  • The origins of Scotland, Wales, and England have all, at this point, been traced back to the same mythical figure of Brutus of Troy, who landed with his sons. His sons had a falling out and divided up the land into three countries

  • Duncan reigned 1034-1040

  • Macbeth reigned 1040-1057

  • Lulach reigned 1057-1058

  • Malcolm reigned 1058-1093

  • ...

  • James VI/I 1567-1625

• History from Shakespeare given by Holinshed

• Duncan 

  • kindly ineffectual ruler

  • subject to rebellions because he's soft on rule-breakers

  • dependent on others

  • Macbeth leads fight against the invasion of the Norwegians 

  • dies in battle 

    • Holinshed says he was murdered, but not the way Shakespeare portrays

      • Shakespeare used the story of the slaughter of Duff by Donwald who was encouraged by his wife to kill the king to get inspiration for the murder

        • thinking about the retelling of history as a dramatic choice, why were these choices made?

• Macbeth

  • witches are mentioned in history book

  • nature of Macbeth's rule from Holinshed

    • good and effective king

      • Holinshed notes that it was disingenuous

    • supports people, tough on crime

    • antithesis of Duncan

    • deeply effected by the prophecy and plans Banquo's death

  • MacDuff does kill Macbeth and his family

  • Shakespeare's portrayal of Macbeth

    • transfers some of the characteristics of Duncan to Macbeth

    • expands the role of Lady Macbeth

    • embraces the witches to drive the plot

  • Banquo, Thane of Lochaber

    • He was never a real figure, but Shakespeare likely doesn't know this

      • the origin point for the ruling house of Stuart (stewart?)

        • origin of King James's line

      • Play is set as a origin myth for the new King of England, as it is showing that he is legitimate

        • King also asserts that he is the king of Great Britain, rather than just of England

        • this is not reality, he is kings of two places at once

          • this continues with the line of succession, his son also becomes the king of two places

• Macbeth plays into the fear of terrorism and the chaos of overthrowing the crown

Set standards from the start

• understanding the weight of language without accompanying it with shame

• ensuring that students understand the things they say and the impacts that words have on others

  • "I'm surprised to hear you say that.."

• Safe space, brave space

• "Oops and Ouch"

  • not confrontational, just informative

  • If I am offended, I can say ouch

    • this gives the facilitator and the offending person the opportunity to address

    • should be followed by an easy acceptance of correction, acknowledgement of hurt, and moving on

  • If I make a mistake, I can say oops 

    • this gives the members of the community the chance to acknowledge mistakes without the fear of attack

    • people can address their mistakes knowing that their community will accept their apology and move on

• entrance practices, timing, structure, expectations the students can have of you and your classroom

• "why" disengagement reflection

  • Why is this student in my class disengaged? How can I reengage them in my class?

  • Can I control it?

    • room? content too easy? content too difficult? issues at home? etc.

• All people, most people, some people, a few people

  • What will all students recieve from class/workshop?

  • What will most student receive from class/workshop?

  • There are also some people that will receive this from class/workshop?

  • Only a few people will get to this highest level and experience this from class/workshop?

• Break down into chunks to more easily differentiate lesson or activity 

• Make students feel heard

• How can you recreate the classic to make it fresh and engaging

  • how can we transform our presentation of the environment

  • news reports? law arguments? etc.

• Taking on the text

  • don't read the whole play!

  • use audio books

  • skip and then summarize parts you breeze past

  • clarify character names prior to starting

  • break up the text into more digestible pieces

    • streamline

    • only one scene

    • make it managable

  • start in the middle, wherever you feel like your students will most heavily engage

  • make them the experts

• Eye-rollers

  • don't allow them to suck the energy in the room

  • one-on-one

  • let them see the fun so they join the fun

  • model it yourself

  • "I'm not going to do something just so I can laugh at you. There is always something to gain."