Life as an apprentice

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Sheryl Powers
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1 Life as an apprentice Imagine that you are an apprentice in a Tudor theatre. Write a letter home to your parents describing your daily life. What do you most enjoy about your life in the theatre? What is the most difficult, boring or unpleasant task that you have to do? What do you miss from home?

2 An apprentice s day A day in the life of an apprentice in a Shakespearean theatre would have been packed full of tasks. Use this sheet to create an itinerary or daily schedule for an aspiring actor. Would they have lines to learn, rehearsals to attend or costume fittings, for example? TIME TASK

3 Shakespeare s language (1) Lots of phrases in modern English were first used by Shakespeare. Can you match the Shakespearean phrase with the correct explanation? Draw a line linking the phrase to its explanation. A sorry sight Macbeth Indefinitely; going on and on All that glisters is not gold The Merchant of Venice When making a choice between options, any one is as good as another All one to me Troilus and Cressida Bad or dishonest behaviour. Now often used to describe violence or rule-breaking in sports As cold as stone Henry V Used to describe a person who is very happy The be all and end all Macbeth Something unwelcome. Nowadays also used to describe someone or something that is untidy or messy As merry as the day is long Much Ado About Nothing For ever and a day The Taming of the Shrew Foul play Love s Labours Lost Good riddance Troilus and Cressida Being pleased to be rid of someone or something Not everything that looks good is valuable Something that is the last word or complete solution to an issue Very cold

4 Shakespeare s language (2) Lots of phrases in modern English were first used by Shakespeare. Can you match the Shakespearean phrase with the correct explanation? Draw a line linking the phrase to its explanation. Green-eyed monster The Merchant of Venice To be in a very difficult position; stuck Heart's content Henry VI, Part II Said to someone who is doing something silly or foolish High time Comedy of Errors To laugh and laugh and laugh... Hot-blooded The Merry Wives of Windsor Complete satisfaction; being very happy with something I will wear my heart upon my sleeve Othello A feeling of jealousy In a pickle The Tempest In stitches Twelfth Night Lie low Much Ado About Nothing More fool you The Taming of the Shrew The correct time to do something To hide or keep yourself away from others attention Having a bad temper Not hiding your feelings

5 Shakespeare s language (3) Lots of phrases in modern English were first used by Shakespeare. Can you match the Shakespearean phrase with the correct explanation? Draw a line linking the phrase to its explanation. Off with his head Henry VI Part III Is it better to live or to die? Out of the jaws of death Twelfth Night To make short work of something or give it little thought Pomp and circumstance Othello A complete transformation A sea change The Tempest The action is happening Send him packing Henry IV, Part I The plain truth; what something is Short shrift Richard III The game is afoot King Henry IV Part I This is the short and the long of it The Merry Wives of Windsor To be, or not to be Hamlet With great show or magnificent ceremony To send someone away, often in disgrace Literally, chop off his head! The phrase was famously used by Lewis Carroll in Alice s Adventures in Wonderland To be saved or rescued at the very last minute

6 Shakespeare s language (4) Lots of phrases in modern English were first used by Shakespeare. Can you match the Shakespearean phrase with the correct explanation? Draw a line linking the phrase to its explanation. A foregone conclusion Othello Having too much of something can be bad for you All of a sudden The Taming of the Shrew Something that is frightening Dash to pieces The Tempest A hopeless or impossible quest Fancy free A Midsummer Night s Dream Suddenly Makes your hair stand on end Hamlet Whatever is true will eventually be discovered. You cannot hide the truth Wild goose chase Romeo and Juliet Too much of a good thing As You Like It Truth will out The Merchant of Venice Star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet Being without responsibility Break into small pieces A name for two people who are unlucky in love An inevitable or obvious result

7 Shakespeare bingo! Choose nine of the Shakespearean phrases from the selection on the Shakespeare s language activity sheets and write them into the grid above, one in each space. Your teacher or one of your classmates will now read out the phrases from the sheets at random for a game of Shakespeare bingo! If the phrase is in your grid, cross it out. If you are the first person to match all of the phrases in your grid with those called out, you are the winner! To make it more difficult, why not try using the explanations, rather than the phrases themselves? Remember when you have crossed out all of the phrases in your grid, call out Hark You! This is what Shakespeare would have said to get people to listen to him!

Sonnet 116 By William S hakespeare Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O, no!

8 Sonnet 116 By William S hakespeare Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth s unknown, although his height be taken. Love s not Time s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle s compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

9 The seven ages of man By William Shakespeare All the world s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse s arms. Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress eyebrow. Then, a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon s mouth. And then, the justice, In fair round belly, with a good capon lined, With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws, and modern instances, And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything As You Like It (Act II Scene VII)

10 Costume design!

Make a tussy mussy This activity is reproduced with kind permission from the Young Archaeologists Club (www.yac-uk.

People carried pomanders small balls of scented gum or wax to sniff regularly to try to ward off illnesses. An alternative to a pomander would have been a simple tussy mussy.

Method: A4 cardboard A pair of compasses Pencil Ruler Material String or embroidery thread about 25cm long Scissors Teaspoon Dried or fresh herbs, such as lavender, thyme, sage, rosemary, bay and

11 Make a tussy mussy This activity is reproduced with kind permission from the Young Archaeologists Club ( Many people in Shakespeare s time believed that sweet-smelling herbs could help to fight or prevent the plague. People carried pomanders small balls of scented gum or wax to sniff regularly to try to ward off illnesses. An alternative to a pomander would have been a simple tussy mussy. Follow these instructions to make your own tussy mussy. Method: A4 cardboard A pair of compasses Pencil Ruler Material String or embroidery thread about 25cm long Scissors Teaspoon Dried or fresh herbs, such as lavender, thyme, sage, rosemary, bay and mint Draw a circle about 14cm in diameter on your A4 cardboard using a pair of compasses. Cut it out with scissors. Draw around your circle template onto your piece of material, and cut this out so you have a circle of material. Pick three or four different herbs to go into the tussy mussy and add a teaspoon of each into the centre of the material. Fold your material in half and then gather the edges of the material together to make a small bag containing the herbs. Tie the neck of your bag together with the string or embroidery thread leaving enough thread to attach the bag to a belt or the wrist. Sniff at regular intervals to protect from diseases such as the plague! Photographs Young Archaeologists Club You will need:

You Wouldn t Want to Be a S hakespearean Actor!

You Wouldn t Want to Be a S hakespearean Actor! BOOK HOUSE Teachers Information Sheet by Nicky Milsted It is the late 16th century, and the book follows the fortunes of a young boy who aspires to be an actor. He lives just outside London, in Shoreditch,