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We at ‘Shakespeare For Our Children’ want to highlight a wonderful and remarkable episode from “This American Life” NPR radio program. (Listen here.)

First broadcast in 2002, this episode chronicles the work of the Prison Performing Arts organization, and its staging of Hamlet at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center, all conceived and directed by the peerless Agnes Wilcox.

With the inmates themselves performing in the production, and reflecting on their lives as they inhabit the characters, this is a celebration of the transformative power of Shakespeare’s theatre.

Although a great deal of the content may be too intense for children, teachers can learn much from this documentary about the literally life-changing impact of entering Shakespeare’s world. As one inmate explained, “After doing this, I felt like I was human again . . . Like I really could do anything when I get out.”

This is truly among the greatest gifts which Theatre can provide: a feeling of shared humanity, of creativity and accomplishment. It also brings to mind the words of one of our young SFOC actors following a performance: “I felt like I was flying! I know I’m going to dream about this tonight.”

What unites the responses of a young child and an adult prisoner? Perhaps the shared feeling of liberation, of belonging, which occurs on the stage. It is a marvelous thing that Shakespeare continues to make possible, hundreds of years later; for with his profound understanding of human nature, the great Bard’s words allow us to express the truths of our universal experience ― no matter what may be our circumstances.

©2017

Theatre is all about the successful creation of illusion – and costumes have always been an integral part of that process. In Shakespeare’s day, actors usually took to the stage in contemporary Elizabethan dress. At the same time, wealthy persons would often leave their clothes to their servants when they died, and the servants would then sell these clothes to actors for use as costumes. In this way, costumes in Shakespeare’s day were either quite basic or very elaborate – but either way, they helped create the world of the play.

For our purposes today, thrift stores are a great place to find costumes. Old dresses and blouses can be made to appear wonderfully Elizabethan with puffy sleeves and empire waists; white shirts with elaborate collars and other items rich in design can readily become “such stuff as dreams are made on.” But be creative! For example: for one performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, our Shakespeare troupe opted for somewhat traditional costuming; but in still another production, the children wanted to emphasize the excitement and fantasy of the enchanted forest. We found an abundance of glamorous old evening gowns in parents’ and teachers’ wardrobes, and we decided to make our Fairies “Disco Fairies”!

Costuming provides ideal opportunities for imaginative thinking, whether a student wants to be on-stage or is happier in a tech-team behind the scenes. When you first begin talking about the plays, have the children sketch out how they think their characters should appear. Whether or not these designs are used in the final production, such activities allow every child to feel included. As ever – and especially with costumes – keep it simple.

We’re very excited about the BBC Radio program “Shakespeare’s Restless World”! Historian Neil MacGregor explores Shakespeare’s day and age in a series of broadcasts, each one focusing on an object held in the British Museum – including a clock, a peddler’s trunk, a glass goblet – to highlight the real-life dramas of the Elizabethan era. You can listen to all 20 episodes, archived on the BBC website.

In our own highly-digitized day and age, how wonderful it is to reflect on the material objects – the props, if you like! – that have made up our world over time. Listen to these broadcasts with your students and ask them to think about the things they treasure. In hundreds of years, what objects would tell the children’s life stories? Certainly a question for all of us to consider…

Now that we are bidding adieu to winter, it’s a good time to introduce your students to the joys of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – a play that will always evoke the splendor of Spring and Summer days. This was one of our troupe’s favorite works by Shakespeare, and most popular among the characters was Puck. With his sense of mischief and merriment, Puck is a figure that speaks to the sense of play in all of us, but especially children.

In fact, one of the first monologues on which we worked with the young actors was the play’s epilogue, in which Puck speaks directly to the audience: “If we shadows have offended . . .” (Find it here.) It is a perfect piece to help build the confidence of the children. The lines are lighthearted couplets which are easy to remember, and fun to say; and the directly addressing the audience helps highlight the importance of bridging on- and off-stage worlds. This is, of course, a key element in the spirit of the epilogue itself. For in inviting his audience to regard the play as a shared dream, Puck celebrates the magic of Theatre and the bond it creates between actors and their audience.

With this in mind, remind your young performers that, although they might be standing alone on the stage when speaking this monologue, they are nonetheless sharing an entire world of imagination with the audience – as well as with the character they have created.

With history and tradition being such important aspects of theatre, we must always try to familiarize children with the entire world of Shakespeare – rather than focus exclusively on performance. On days when rehearsals are not going particularly well, or when the children simply need a break, gather the group together for a discussion about Elizabethan London in Shakespeare’s time. Both Shakespeare of London and The Bard of Avon are excellent resources for this contextual information.

For example, you can describe the daily life of an actor in London, or discuss the vendors and buskers who crowded the street named “Cheapside” along the way to the Globe Theatre. In some of our Shakespeare For Our Children classes, we spoke of how competition for audiences was intense in Shakespeare’s day. Our children even learned how spies from other theatres would attend performances at the Globe, write down as best they could the lines of one of Shakespeare’s new plays, and then go back and try to produce their own version!

Through these glimpses of the practical, daily workings of Shakespeare’s London, the children can take their places on stage and perceive themselves as continuing on in the grand tradition of the Globe – perhaps imagining themselves really being there. Totally immersed in another time and able to take their audiences with them, the young performers set out on that great adventure of theatre with both a vision and a context.

Shakespeare’s romantic couples are legendary: Romeo and Juliet; Antony and Cleopatra; Beatrice and Benedick – among so many others – continue to capture our hearts and imaginations. Yet some of Shakespeare’s most beautiful words can be found not in his plays, but his Sonnets. (Read and listen to one of his most famous here.)

This beauty was born of great difficulty. In 1592, all of the theatres in London were closed because of the plague; but it is believed that Shakespeare wrote the sonnets, a collection of 154 short poems, around that time. By 1594, when the theatres reopened, Shakespeare’s poems were popular and highly anticipated. But writing for the theatre remained Shakespeare’s most enduring love, and where he devoted his genius thereafter. Shakespeare and the theatre: A marriage of true minds, as it were.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, “Shakespeare For Our Children” bring you one of Shakespeare’s loveliest Sonnets. Highly romantic and yet accessible to children with its compelling imagery, the sonnet offers an excellent point of departure for Valentine’s class discussions. And for ideas about performance and how to capture the rhythm of the piece, be sure to listen to Janice Salzberg’s audio recording of the Sonnet as an accompaniment to early readings!

In his day, William Shakespeare was considered “a total man of the theatre.” Along with his position as the legendary playwright, it is important to keep in mind that he was also an accomplished and acclaimed actor. At the very time that he was creating his masterpieces for the ages, he was performing in the works of other Elizabethan playwrights who are now long forgotten.

Appropriately, then, the Bard offers sage advice to all actors in Hamlet’s famous speech to the players (Act III, Scene 2). These are indeed words to act by, reminding us to “suit the action to the word, the word to the action.” Indeed, children should be taught to speak their dialogue naturally, without affectation, interpreting the author’s work for the audience as if they were speaking to a friend. Remind the children that actors use their complete selves to tell the playwright’s story: spirit and intelligence to animate their characters; voices that shade and color the dialogue to heighten its impact; and bodies that move confidently on the stage. There is no more powerful or effective instrument than the total commitment of the actor to the play – for in each of us, we have it all.

We at Shakespeare For Our Children wish you a very Happy New Year! In honor of Twelfth Night – the Feast of the Epiphany – we have rounded out our trilogy of scenes from the play of the same name (click here).

The scenes from Twelfth Night that we have published in the latest blog posts could stand alone, or be performed together to create a dramatic arc featuring four characters – the Duke, Viola, the Captain, and the Narrator. In past classes, we would often explore the evolution of characters from a particular play in this fashion: taking key moments and linking them together in order to give the students more breadth in their performances, but without the pressure of staging the play in its entirety.

However you decide to approach these materials, SFOC is always happy to offer advice or answer questions – please feel free to contact us by using the form in the yellow menu column at left.

Always stress relaxation and natural movements in the Stage Directions. A primary part of the Director’s job is to oversee movement and flow; that is, to direct each actor precisely where they are to be on stage and how they should move as they deliver their lines. This is known as “blocking” the production. With children it is essential to explain the reasoning behind the direction, and to have them be a part of it. Explain that blocking helps develop the characters they play – so much is expressed through body language, on-stage and off!

When we say Stage Right and Stage Left, it is exactly that: As we are standing on the stage looking at our audience, Stage Right is our right; Stage Left, our left. Upstage and Downstage are likely self-explanatory (with Downstage being closest to the audience).

Please see here for our second scene from Twelfth Night, and note how Stage Directions are incorporated to add a dynamic quality to the exchange between Viola and the Captain. Also have a look at the Theatre Games link under Resources for more fun techniques that will help the children become more comfortable with moving on-stage.

Nothing can damage the rhythm of a performance like an unscripted silence! In all of our productions, we have included a Narrator to provide the guarantee and reassurance of a safety net for our fledging performers. As well as serving as one of the key characters in the production, the Narrator holds a copy of the play and follows along “on book,” always ready to instantly supply a line when and if necessary. This role could be filled by a teacher or an older student.

The Narrator and a podium (a simple music stand can also serve) should be positioned at either Stage Right or Left, where the children can easily look over and get help if they forget a line. The children’s confidence and self-esteem should never be at risk, and a responsive figure such as the Narrator helps to ensure that the young actors have everything in their favor to be comfortable on stage.

Speaking of Narrators – see how we incorporate that role in this scene from Twelfth Night!