Children's Theatre My Journal - Shakespeare Week One

Well, what a way to begin a semester. A half an hour before today’s lecture started, I received a phone call informing me that my gorgeous dog, Jukie, had passed away. The shock, the disbelief, the tears… lots of tears… and the grieving continued for the next hour, well up until, and throughout, the lecture. I mention this as it was pointed out in the lecture, that ‘all things are born and all things die.’ This way of viewing the world is not pessimistic, rather, simply just a way of life. It would appear that Shakespeare’s view of the world, or his representation of it, communicated well in his time; including some period after his death. My investigation this semester, among other things, is concerned with how Shakespeare may have lost his connection with modern culture. Specifically, as today’s guest lecturer said, ‘The area of common ground’. How does Shakespeare communicate with today’s society? Can Shakespeare become popular culture or is he already?

My main area of research will look at Shakespeare in the classroom, namely how to make his work accessible to the modern school student. It appears to me that when the concept of Shakespeare, or his work, is presented in schools, a large ‘sigh’ normally follows. This is of course a huge assumption, based on my own schooling and my limited school experience practices. This view, however, is often reiterated through films, television, books and university life. The mere mention of Shakespeare can send shivers down the spine of hardworking and intelligent university students. Many times I have mentioned to my friends that I am doing the Shakespeare unit again, and their response is normally, ‘…that sounds too hard!’ One friend even said he would rather complete ‘European Mythology’ than examine the Bard. How can this one word… ‘SHAKESPEARE’… produce so much fear?

When initially speculating over the semester break, I would assume the ‘fear of Shakespeare’ is a result of not being able to identify with its content. It could be that people fear him, as his plays, they believe, have no relevance to their world. What could a guy who died four hundred years ago tell us about life? Once again, as mentioned in today’s lecture, Shakespeare had a brilliant ability to communicate to his audience, irrelevant of their class or sex. He works beyond the boundary, as the guest lecturer pointed out, ‘talking about others to create discussions and inform’. Even for myself, I’m taking this unit again because I fear being unprepared to teach such an important subject in schools. I believe my basic knowledge compiled from last year’s semester was crucial in gaining confidence, however, much more is still needed.

As the semester progresses, I hope to include examples of Shakespearean references that appear in my daily travels. Be it either from a book, a conversation or from television, I hope these examples will help to enlighten the way that Shakespeare is observed in the world around me. For instance, in a recently aired episode of Parkinson (1971 – 2005)[3], comedian Stephen Fry used an analogy of Shakespeare to point out the length of time that parents have spanked their children throughout history. He illustrated this precedent of spanking children, compared to the only recently challenged disciplinary methods, by suggesting that even Shakespeare would have been spanked as a child. On the same episode, Parkinson interviewed both Ozzy and Sharon Osborne. Michael Parkinson mentioned that Sharon was ‘going into the theatre for the first time’. Upon mentioning that she would be performing in the Vagina Monologues the reply was…

This gap between classes and culture is interesting. Why does high culture own Shakespeare and popular culture own music and video games? Perhaps neither class owns anything? While cultural products represent the era in which they were constructed, these same artefacts are not entirely confined to their period. Shakespeare’s work has the ability to communicate through a variety of levels. My mission is to find out how.

Sitting in on the first tutorial class was quite interesting. The range of reasons for completing a Shakespearean unit was quite vast. Some students mentioned a personal interest and motivation, or they had studied English Literature in High School or even had previously had nothing to do with Shakespeare’s works. Reasons also included an interest in the language, an additional unit to complete their English degree and one student who said her father would never forgive her if she didn’t study Shakespeare. The rationale for mentioning these comments is to highlight the variety and reach that Shakespeare still has, from the ‘never’ studied to the ‘expectation’ to study.

Finding contemporary comparisons and attempting to make Shakespeare accessible is a major purpose for me this semester. I believe that there are many examples in Jenny’s own teaching and assessment objectives that demonstrate some of these endeavours to bridge the gap between Shakespeare and popular culture. The introduction of visual examples is a great technique, as most of the university students, and definitely the majority of high school students, are visual learners. To describe a scene from Shakespeare may loose some student’s attention, to act it out may assist, whereas to show a video or DVD production should allow a visual example of what is being discussed. The camera angles, close-ups, quick editing, lighting and additional background music are techniques that most students would be used to. Using a familiar cultural artefact can allow students who are used to the technology of a video or DVD to decode an ‘alien’ text.

I assume that, to bridge the gap, a combination of both popular culture and Shakespeare must be established. Although it is not being introduced this year, I felt that the I.T. exercise in last year’s assessments provided an avenue for students to search through the ‘foreign’ (Shakespeare) via the familiar (Internet). By using a known and frequently utilised research tool such as the Internet, students were asked to examine Shakespearean websites to eventually construct a critical review. I feel that by inviting students to search on a culturally accepted, and known, artefact of the current generation, the quick leap into Shakespearean ideology might not seem as scary. In addition, Jenny runs a New Historicist competition throughout the semester, which invites students to highlight the examples of Shakespeare that appear in our current society.

I think that finding New Historicist examples of Shakespeare’s influence on popular culture is brilliant for students. I feel it promotes student awareness of the culture around them by pointing out how Shakespeare’s work has influenced our society. More importantly, however, the New Historicist competition illustrates examples of modern society’s ‘take’ on the Bard’s work. This would definitely be an exercise that I would conduct in my teaching as it allows students to investigate their culture, rather than trying to decipher Shakespeare’s. I believe that this is crucial as investigating a ‘foreign’ text from a ‘foreign’ culture could be too much for most students to handle. ‘Shakespeare’s status as the chief monument of literature imposes a terrible burden’ (Charney, 1971:viii).

The language used by Shakespeare can also be quite overwhelming. His ‘dramatic language also seems somewhat foreign to us in manner and style’ (Robinson, 1989:1). I know I have a lot of trouble learning my lines for a Shakespearean performance. ‘The language is not only old-fashioned but also complex and dense’ (Peck & Coyle, 1985:1). Could language be the ‘gap’ between popular culture and the theatrical society? ‘There are obvious differences in language, thought, and convention between Shakespeare’s time and ours, but these difficulties are easily overcome’ (Charney, 1971:ix). Language may be a ‘gap’ now, but as Darren pointed out in the tutorial today, Shakespeare was often addressing the grounding level of the audience. His plays were directed for them and towards them, most often as a soliloquy. ‘Elizabethan actors must have known that their success or failure depended upon the "groundlings," and they took pains to win them over’ (Charney, 1971:39).

With this in mind, Darren conducted a ‘Skinhead reading’ of one of the sonnets. This is an approach I had never heard of, however it does make quite a bit of sense. The Bard’s language is ‘so different from the English of our student’s homes and playgrounds’ (Robinson, 1989:1). If Shakespeare’s text was, indeed, the language of the ‘street’ in his time, clearer interpretations would be achieved through a restructuring and a new depiction of the text and it’s language. The skinhead approach is a clear example of a New Historicist interpretation of the Elizabethan society. Judgements have been made on the construction of the auditorium, placement of the audience and the choice of language used.

My New Historicist examples this week include both magazine and television examples. The phrase, ‘What’s in a name?’[6] was used in the TV Week to connote a Big Brother (2001 – current) housemate’s change of name. Although the line itself is derived from ‘Romeo and Juliet’, I believe it was used to instruct the reader of the magazine that Kate is still the same person we ‘know and love’. The second example was on an episode of CSI: New York (2000 – current). In this episode titled ‘blood, sweat and tears’, the circus was in town and a young man was found dead; stuffed in a box. The parallels between this episode and, once again, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ are seen through the boy’s suicide, and the ringmaster’s introduction. ‘Two households, both alight in dignity in fair New York City where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge rig to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean’.[7] The young lovers clearly represent the couple of Romeo and Juliet. The narrative is repeated in the same way, only offering a slight difference in its unveiling; namely through forensic investigation.

'Mr chairman, I want William Shakespeare in our classrooms, not Ronald McDonald' [8]

Interesting day. Firstly, I discovered two graphic novels in the bookshop this morning; one of The Tempest [9] and the other of MacBeth.[10] These comics are not only great examples of New Historicism moments, but also brilliant texts that I could use in the classroom. These graphic novels offer a means to communicate a complex text in an approach that is non-threatening. In fact, a comic can be an identifiable artefact to students that may help to communicate a better understanding than that reached through the direct reading of Shakespeare’s plays. The second major event today was a read through of the short play, ‘All’s Well That Ends As You Like It’.[11]

If you have read my other journals, or indeed seen me in rehearsals, I would assume that you will realise that… I don’t read so good now! (Not write so good too much either!) I may be a high achieving student, however, my inability to read ‘cold’ is frustrating for me, and indeed for others to hear. I bring this up for the hundredth time, in yet another journal, for a particular reason; how would I teach a student who had the same problems? I would assume planning ahead would be the way to go, or else the ‘student may come to believe themselves incapable of ever reading Shakespeare’s well, and thus, being discouraged’ (Robinson, 1989:1).

Unlike the weekly and limited preparation time in a university workshop, I assume that my daily classroom planning would allow me to distribute scripts the day before a reading, thus allowing ‘uncomfortable’ readers the opportunity to have preparation time. I believe that this would allow the student an opportunity to feel comfortable with the text, and therefore have a relaxed and reduced, stress-free reading. I’m not going to say that reading out aloud should not be attempted, in fact, quite the opposite. Such an activity could help bridge the ‘gap’ between popular culture and Shakespeare in the classroom. ‘Only by reading aloud can they [the students] adequately experience the connections between Shakespeare’s language and their own’ (Robinson, 1989:41).

While I think about it, it is possibly, but not solely, a lack of identity that creates fear with Shakespeare as I mentioned previously, but a combination or a lack of language comprehension, as ‘words cause particularly significant difficulties for readers of Shakespeare’ (Robinson, 1989:4). As I pointed out last week, Darren completed a skinhead analysis of a sonnet to decode what Shakespeare may ‘really’ have been saying. Language is possibly the biggest barrier when investigating and interpreting the Bard. Shakespeare’s vocabulary range is estimated at ‘around 30, 000 words’. [12]‘Shakespeare and his contemporaries could still think of English as a fluid, changing, developing language that had not yet been fixed’ (Charney, 1971:54). For modern ‘audiences’, English is fixed and indeed inflexible to the extent that Shakespeare ‘played’ with it. I believe it would be quite difficult, then, to solely approach Shakespeare in the classroom through language; different pedagogies must be undertaken.

I believe that the best approach would be in the preparation of a lesson, as with any successful classroom method. Classes should start with the common experiences of the students, and create a connection with the chosen topic. I’ve always felt rather confident with the lesson plans that I have been asked to create over my university years, however just recently I have discovered the best template to design and structure my intended classes. During Drama and the Curriculum, I discovered this template in a section on… funnily enough… lesson planning. I have since used it on a 4-week program for Media and the Curriculum, and in the construction of my Drama and the Curriculum portfolio.

The design comes from a lesson plan titled ‘The Giant who Threw Tantrums’.[13] Although this is a drama-based approach, I can design my lessons to reflect either a topic in a Shakespearean text, and/or a connection within the structure of society. For instance, the structure of the lesson plan allows me to address my class with a situation, thus allowing the student to ‘Imagine that they are a director, choreographer or even advertising marketer. With the various approaches, I can communicate to the student a comparison with the text or a theatrical role within society; in fact, Jenny conducted the second approach in the afternoon tutorial.

Today we were asked to imagine we were directing and designing a scene from Twelfth Night. Our group’s approach resulted in the viewed sword fight translated into a battle on a Playstation or Xbox. I believe that the strength in this activity lies in the fact that students are given a task that is connected with the real world. ‘Authentic assessment’ simulates ‘real world situations in which the students will eventually have to perform’ (Killen, 2005:126). I think giving a clear purpose can allow students to see the relevance and the rationale behind each lesson. The other approach allows students to imagine a similar situation to that of the characters in the play. By constructing clear parallels with current societal situations, I believe that students should be able to see the similarities that Shakespeare’s texts have with modern culture. I also think through the construction of a clear identification, students should be able to relate to the universal approach Shakespeare adds to his writing.

With this in mind I have constructed my first proposed lesson plan for the semester (MacBeth Lesson Plan). Using the graphic novel of MacBeth, I have created a lesson for the students to imagine they are indeed writing the comic. Although this activity would be carried out over an extended period of time or even just one lesson, the plan offers an introduction that establishes some of the basic concepts of the Shakespearean text being discussed. While I am still writing about these New Historicist examples, I should also mention the other sightings of Shakespeare that I found today.

In The Western Australian, the term ‘it’s Greek to me’ was used and in The Australian today, not so much a New Historicist moment but in fact a review of a Bell Shakespeare production of ‘Measure for Measure’ can be found. It is not so much the review that was interesting; it was more the description of the promotional poster; namely a nude female bound in fishing wire.‘The city and its wild characters absorb the chaos but society struggles with such abuse of power for personal gain. Bell Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure will be wickedly funny, outrageously raw and a sharp reflection of our own ethical dilemmas and prejudices’.[14] The reinvention of Shakespearean text has also translated into the re-representation of his plays.

'The study of Shakespeare can help pupils enjoy some of the greatest drama ever written' [15]

‘Shakespeare cannot be fully appreciated until he is read’ (Drakakis (ed), 1985:34)… really??? In a quick reflection, or perhaps even a defence, I’ve noticed that most of my comments focus on the aspects of reading Shakespeare as apposed to performing it. It is not my intention to focus on analysing the analysis of the Bard’s text, however I believe this to be one of the major problems with teaching Shakespeare. I find the text, most times, very unapproachable and long-winded. These plays were primarily created to be performed, not read, and indeed today, ‘most of us approach his works as readers, rather than spectators’ (Charney, 1971:x). An analysis is a vital component for comprehension. My ISC is investigating ways of performing Shakespeare in the classroom, however, I believe this cannot be achieved without firstly investigating the Bard’s written text. In fact, ‘by close and imaginative reading, we may invoke the subtext of a performance implied in the words of a play’ (Charney, 1971:15).

As I’ve mentioned before, I believe most textual analysis should begin away from the text itself. Through the viewing of a performance or visual media examples, understanding can be encouraged. Through a reading or a line-by-line investigation of Shakespeare’s work, perceptions of the language can continue to be encouraged. Such an exploration of the text ‘can help students associate themselves with the speakers of Shakespeare’s lines and, thus, help students associate Shakespeare’s language with their own’ (Robinson, 1989:2). It is vital to state, therefore, that a performance of Shakespeare would not be of any true value without an analysis of the play’s structure and meaning. ‘Comprehension of the language, in turn, enables analysis of four essential elements of the work: plot (including handling time), character, structure, and theme’ (Davis & Salomone (eds), 1993:4). With this in mind, I feel it is appropriate to look at the scenes that I shall be performing in this semester’s class.

The scenes are from Much Ado About Nothing and Titus Andronicus. I saw Much Ado for the first time this year, however previously I had no knowledge of the play except for its’ name. The production was performed in King’s Park ‘under the stars’,[16] which seemed to be an appropriate setting. The character that I shall perform is Benedick, a self-loving, arrogant and overconfident man; once again I attract the same characters (I believe I am being type-cast!!!… Please note the three exclamation marks!). Ironically, I enjoy performing these types of characters as the structure of the play allows me to both ‘rise and fall’ in the period of a scene or two. Is this, perhaps the strength of Shakespeare’s characters?

It appears to me that the preponderance (for use of a better word) of Shakespeare’s characters is the ability of the audience to instantly understand, or ‘seize’ control. Like Malvolio, who I performed last year, and indeed Benedick, these characters seem to demand respect from the audience; whether it is reciprocated or not. When performing characters like these, I believe the key is to attempt to control the atmosphere or mood of the audience through unjustified, assumed supremacy. If I seem to be in control at the beginning, my downfall would be more poignant as I relinquish control to the audience. Perhaps the audience’s point-of-view is most important to consider here.

‘As the product of a period removed nearly four hundred years from our own, the English of Shakespeare’s dramatic characters seems somewhat foreign to us in both content and idiom’ (Robinson, 1989:1). For a truly convincing performance, I believe the actor must understand their character, and even their performance, from the audience’s viewpoint. Through this type of analysis, an actor could investigate ways of improving their performance in order to be more believable and appropriate for the production. How is this translated into the classroom? At this moment, I have no idea. Over the next couple of weeks I hope to explore both of my roles, and suggest how such an investigation is appropriate and vital in the classroom. With this in mind, I would like to explore the text of Twelfth Night with a similar concept.

My Twelfth Night lesson plan focuses on the construction of advertising approaches to the promotion of a fictional class’ production. I have created a lesson plan that allows students to construct advertising paraphernalia, including their choice of a bookmark or a poster, and the design of a program. I believe this is a sound lesson plan, as it will hopefully encourage students to investigate the play’s characters or structure more deeply in order to create and justify their designs. The project should encourage creative skills such as computer graphics, advertising devices and promotional approaches that are more often attributed to current society than to Shakespeare.

My hope is to use appropriate, known, identifiable artefacts and friendly technologies for students to work with. I also believe the lesson plan is extremely appropriate as it simulates real life situations that graduating students will be expecting in the ‘outside’ world. Again, authentic assessment pieces are, I believe, crucial to sustaining a student’s interest. You need to be able to answer a student’s question…why are we doing this? If you cannot, perhaps your lesson approaches need to be more relevant.

For this week, my New Historicist moment focuses on the television show Boston Public (2000 - 2005).[17] A young girl, Riley (12 years-old), is trying to fit into her new school, however she is too much of an outsider. She signs up for the lunchtime Shakespeare class, on a small sign up sheet, only to rediscover that she can’t communicate properly to the 16 year-old boy she likes. The episode references sections from the sonnets, including a ‘date’ where the 16 year-old boy and another girl go out to see a production of Much Ado About Nothing. Riley, in this show, is a girl more gifted and mature than most people she meets. Although she displays an appreciation and great knowledge of the Bard, she is unable to fit in. It appears to me that Riley is a dramatic representation of Shakespeare trying to fit into our society.

[1] Drakakis, J (ed) (1985) Alternative Shakespeares, Routledge: London and New York, p. 147

[2] Gretel Killeen commenting on the housemates’ responses on nomination night, Big Brother Nominations, on Network Ten, broadcasted on the 25^th of July 2005.

[3] Parkinson (1971 – 2005) talk show, on the Australian Broadcast Corporation, broadcast on the 23^rd July 2005.

[4] Ozzy and Sharon Osborne interviewed by Michael Parkinson on Parkinson (1971 – 2005) on the Australian Broadcast Corporation, Broadcast on the 23^rd July 2005.

[5] A conversation between Lyn and Jenny in today’s tutorial, Murdoch University, on the 4^th August 2005

[6] ‘Reality’, in the TV Week, August 13 – 19, 2005, p.29.

[7] CSI NY, (2000 - current) ‘Blood, sweat and tears’, Network Nine, Broadcast Date Unknown

[8] David Buckingham (1994) Media Education: Beyond the Millennium, Metro Magazine, Autumn, No. 100, p.49

[9] David Messer (2005) William Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Complete Text with Explanatory Notes in Comic Book Format, Random House Australia: Australia.

[10] David Messer (2005) William Shakespeare’s MacBeth: Complete Text with Explanatory Notes in Comic Book Format, Random House Australia: Australia.

[11] Michael Green (1978) Four Plays for Coarse Actors, Samuel French: London

[12] Estimate on Shakespeare’s vocabulary, Shakespeare for Dummies, accessed on 11^th August, http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-1149,subcat-LANGUAGE.html

[13] Some parts modelled upon ‘The Giant who threw Tantrums’ in John O’Toole and Julie Dunn (2002) Pretending to Learn: Helping Children learn through Drama, Longman French’s Forrest.

[14] The Bell Shakespeare Company, Measure for Measure promotional poster, accessed on the 11^th of August 2005, http://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/flash_detect.html

[15] Andrew Goodwyn (1992) Media Education, English and the Future, English Teaching and Media Education, Open University Press: Buckingham, p117.

[16] Much Ado About Nothing (2004 – 2005 season), in the Botanic Garden, Kings Park. Presented by Bankwest.

[17] Boston Public, (2000 - 2005), Network Seven, Broadcast Date Unknown.