Illustrated by Diane Stanley
Holiday House, 1992

Summary: Information gathered from many sources is skillfully woven into a beautifully illustrated account of Shakespeare's life and times. Special emphasis is given to his plays and the structure of the Globe Theater; thus, this is an excellent theater history book as well as a biography.

Level: RL: 5IL: 4 - 10

Themes:

Shakespeare's life and writings

life and times in Elizabethan England

the Elizabethan playhouses

Activities:

1.a. In the "Authors' Note" at the beginning of the book, the authors say they "have tried to show how historians investigate a life lived long ago." What problems did the authors have gathering information on Shakespeare? What types of sources did they use? How does writing a biography of a life lived long ago differ from writing a biography of a contemporary figure? See question 2b of A Twilight Struggle in this issue of the Maine Sampler.

b. "Like detectives, historians gather all known facts together until a pattern begins to appear," say Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema. What pattern(s) do they see in Shakespeare's life? in the Elizabethan theater? Use a webbing diagram to analyze the content and structure of the book.

2a. Learn more about the plays written by Shakespeare. Locate a copy of Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare (see the resource section below). If this book are not available in your library, ask your librarian to order it through interlibrary loan. Work with a group of three or four students. Have each student read two different stories from this book. Answer the following question: do the plot and characters appeal to today's preteens and teenagers? Be sure to find three or four examples from the text to support your opinion. Share the results with the other members of your team. Has your opinion changed or been reinforced by the ideas of other members of the group? Explain.

b. Read or view the videotape of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and the 1950's musical West Side Story (see the resource section below). Compare and contrast the setting, plot, and characters. How does each version of the same story reflect the social, political, and/or economic conditions of the period when it was written? Develop an outline for the 1990's version of Romeo and Juliet. Consider the following points:

• What part of the world provides the best setting for the current version?
• What is the cause of the feud? What are the backgrounds of the feuding families?
• What contemporary obstacles do the lovers face? How will they try to overcome these obstacles?
• What will be the form of the play: a tragedy, musical, or another theatrical form?

Write a script for you new version of Romeo and Juliet. Cast the script and have your actors read it to the class or perform your play complete with scenery, costumes, and props.

3a. Shakespeare lived during the "Elizabethan" period. How did this period get its name? Compare and contrast a theatrical production during Shakespeare's time as described in this book with plays performed today. Use the chart below to generate ideas on the subject.

Imagine you are living during the Elizabethan period. Write a story about a trip to see one of Shakespeare's plays at the Globe Theater. In your narrative provide information on your character's background. Who is he? What is his profession? How did he find out about the time of the performance? What transportation did he use to reach the theater? What happened before, during, and after the performance? (How did the audience behave? What was the play about? Describe the costumes, scenery, behavior of the actors, etc.) Use sensory detail, words appealing to each of the five senses, to make your narrative "come alive" for the reader. To complete your project, add illustrations.

b. In Jim Ugly, a Maine Student Book Award nominee included in this Sampler, Jake has a father who was an actor in the American West during the 1890's. Learn more about the theater of this period by completing activities 4 and 5 for Jim Ugly. Then compare the information you gathered with information from the chart above. Use what you have learned to create a HyperCard program comparing the three periods of theater production.

c. High school students, need a topic for a research paper? Try one of the items below:

• What is a "metaphor"? During the Elizabethan period, the theater was a miniature world. What aspects of the architecture of the Elizabethan theater support this metaphor? What does this metaphor tell us about the Elizabethan view of human beings and their relationship to their world? How is this relationship reflected in Shakespeare's plays? How does this compare or contrast with today's views?
• Consider other aspects of the Elizabethan view of the world such as the great "Chain of Being." How did this hierarchy effect family relationships? social classes? the government? How were these views reflected in Shakespeare's plays? How does the Elizabethan world view compare/ contrast to our world view today?
• The Elizabethans used "humors" to explain human physiology and psychology. Explain using examples from Shakespeare's plays. How do we explain the same types of human behaviors today?

3. As a class project, write a letter to the president of your high school's drama club. Invite members of the club to your elementary or middle/junior high school to perform a play. (Be sure to consult your teacher and/or principal before extending the invitation.) You might ask the actors to prepare scenes from Romeo and Juliet and/or the comic story of "Pyramus and Thisbe" from A Midsummer Night's Dream. If the answer is "yes," work with your classmates to "produce" the show. You might consider some or all of the following:

• When will you schedule the performance? Whose permission do you need to do this? How will you obtain that permission?
• Who will be invited to the play? (Which students? Will parents be included?) Where will the play be performed? Will there be enough seats for all the invited guests? How will you invite these people?
• What are the special needs of the actors -- acting space, lighting, dressing rooms, bathrooms? Other considerations?
• Do you need programs? ushers?
• Will you serve refreshments before or after the show?
• Who will clean up after the show?

After assessing your needs, create a list of jobs. How many committees will you need to complete these tasks? Who will serve on each committee? What is the deadline for accomplishing each job? Who will be in charge of making sure each committee completes its task(s)?

After the performance, evaluate the process you used to produce the show. What worked? What didn't work? What would you do to improve similar projects in the future?

4a. If you live in the Bangor area, use the phone book to locate the telephone number of the Maine Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Maine. Call the box office and ask to have the brochure of this year's productions sent to your school or home. Or, write to the Maine Center for the Arts, 5746 Maine Center for the Arts, Orono, Maine 04469-5746. When you receive the brochure, select a performance you might want to attend and plan the trip. (Note the two performances of Shakespeare's plays!) How many people will go with you? Use the seating diagram in the brochure to select a seating area. How much will the tickets for this section cost? What transportation will you use? If you plan to travel by car, calculate the mileage and estimate how much it will cost for gas. Use the list of restaurants included in the brochure to select a place to eat before or after the show. Determine how much money you will need for this dinner or snack and for the entire day or evening out.

b. Imagine that you have a job doing public relations for your school's drama club. Use a desktop publishing program to develop a brochure to mail to parents and other members of the community. What information should you include in your brochure? What advertising techniques will you use to persuade these adults to attend one of the club's performances? How can you make your brochure more attractive and "eye catching" by using color and design. [You might want to ask your art teacher to help you with this.]

5a. Read the "Postscript" at the end of Bard of Avon. Why did the authors have problems with spelling?

b. Many words have changed in meaning since Shakespeare's time. For example, "blood" meant "anger" or "lust" while "speed" meant "thrive" or "prosper." Because so many words have changed over the years, modern editions of Shakespeare's plays have notes explaining words or lines in the text. Find a copy of one of Shakespeare's plays with notes in the margins. Use these notes to make a list of words that have changed in meaning. Create your own dictionary of words from Shakespeare's plays. Give both the Elizabethan meaning and the meaning today.

See if your school or public library has the Oxford English Dictionary. What makes this dictionary so special or different? Select a word that is common in Shakespeare's plays such as "cousin." Use the entry in the dictionary to trace the changes in the word's meaning. As noted by the authors of Bard of Avon, Shakespeare created many words or phrases that are still used today. Look up several of these words in the Oxford English Dictionary. Does the dictionary credit Shakespeare with the invention of that word? Record what the dictionary says about the word's origin.

c. Read the article "Folksy Lingo Traced to England" (see Resources below). What is the relationship between Maine dialect today and the language of Shakespeare's day?

Resources:

The authors of Bard of Avon include a good bibliography of books about Shakespeare. Some additional sources and highlights follow:

"Folksy Lingo Traced to England: Ayuh, There's a Little Shakespeare in Down East Talk." Bangor Daily News, August 18, 1993, p. 1.

Hodges, C. Walter. Shakespeare's Theatre. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc. 1964.
[Hodges, a famous Shakespearean scholar, has created an excellent book for children. Not only does it give details about the architecture of Shakespeare's theater, but it also shows how the Elizabethan stage evolved from early religious and secular forms of theater.]

Lamb, Charles and Mary. Tales From Shakespeare. Viking/Penguin, 1987.
[A retelling in prose of twenty of Shakespearean plays.]

Papp, Joseph and Kirkland, Elizabeth. Shakespeare Alive! Bantam Books, 1988.
[Joseph Papp, founder and producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival and creator of Shakespeare in Central Park, and Elizabeth Kirkland take you on a tour of Shakespeare's theater and world. The conversational tone of this book will appeal to young adults.]

Partridge, Eric. Shakespeare's Bawdy. E.P. Dutton and Co., 1969.
[This scholarly "dictionary" of Shakespeare's sexual allusions serves is an excellent conversation starter for high school students. It's also impossible to interpret the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet or the "get thee to a nunnery" scene of Hamlet without first consulting this work.]

Price, George R. Reading Shakespeare's Plays. Barron's Educational Series, 1962.
[This is still the best little handbook on how to read and understand Shakespeare's plays. Special emphasis is given to the Elizabethan world view and how it is reflected in the Bard of Avon's works.]

Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story. Dell, 1965.
[To enhance the use of this text, use Franco Zeffirelli's version of Romeo and Juliet (1968) available on videotape through Paramount Pictures and West Side Story (1961) available on videotape through CBS/Fox Video.]

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Prepared by Marilyn Joyce, Stearns High School, Millinocket

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