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| A Winter's Tale |
Today we FINALLY used the Masterpuppet Theater set that was donated to us by Eric at Quirk Books and we had a blast!
We started with clips of Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth from The Reduced Shakespeare Company to get a feel of the stage and the actors. Despite some remarks about the language and having trouble with what was being said, there were many chuckles from the group as we watched the performances.
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| Thou venom rude-growing scut! |
Our next activity was a game of snaps using the Shakespeare Insult Kit. By far Thou goatish fat-kidneyed foot-licker was the favorite. This part was so much fun that we carried on a few extra minutes and made up a few of our own. Copies of the insults were made to be given to group members!
We finally used the puppets and performed scenes from The Winter's Tale (Act 3, scene 3 lines 15-38),
Macbeth (Act 4, scene 1, lines 1-38) and Hamlet (Act 3, scene 1, lines 55-89).
A discussion of Hamet began and the group wanted to explore that at a future meeting.
We talked about modern takes on Shakespeare's works and watched a bit of West Side Story. We compared the begining riot with the Sharks and the Jets to the Family fued in Fair Verona.
Here is (an abbreviated) list of plays to help introduce you to the world of Shakespeare.
The Tragedies.
Hamlet
Macbeth
Romeo & Juliet
The Comedies.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Taming of the Shrew
Much Ado About Nothing
Books available at our meeting:
Adaptations
Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper
The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet by Erin Dunne
Romeo’s Ex by Lisa Fiedler
Dating Hamlet, Ophelia’s Story by Lisa Fieldler
Something Wicked by Alan Gratz
Something Rotten by Alan Gratz
Wicked Will by Bailey MacDonald
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Graphic Novels
Romeo and Juliet
Twelfth Night
Picture Books
Romeow and Drooliet by Nina Laden
Web Sites
Shakespeare's insults sound so good!
http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/dryfoo/Funny-pages/shakespeare-insult-kit.html
http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/
Words Shakespeare invented: http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-words.htm
Films
Hamlet:
The Lion King (2001) Let the Devil Wear Black (1999)
The Taming of the Shrew:
Kiss Me Kate (1948)
10 Things I Hate About You
Macbeth:
Men of Respect (1991)
Scotland, PA (2001)
Romeo and Juliet
West Side Story (1961)
Romeo Must Die (2000)
