Drama Notebook

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2 Copyright 2015 Published in the United States by Drama Notebook a division of Rumplestiltskin Press, Portland Oregon USA All rights reserved. This guide is authorized for individual sale and use only, unless a group license is granted. Please contact the publisher to obtain group licenses for use in after-school organizations, school districts, theatre companies, etc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the express written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without prior permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author s rights is appreciated.

3 Contents Introduction... 6 Shakespeare for Kids-Outline... 7 Materials Needed for this Workshop... 9 Adapting the Content for Your Needs... 9 List of Pieces to Perform...11 Homework...11 Session One-Introduction...12 Session Two-Hamlet...16 Session Three-Romeo and Juliet...23 Session Four-Midsummer Night s Dream...28 Session Five-Macbeth...33 Session Six-Shakespeare s Words...37 Session Seven-Sword Fighting...41 Session Eight-Acting Shakespeare...44 Session Nine-Acting Shakespeare...47 Session Ten-Sets and Costumes...50 Session Eleven-Dress Rehearsal...52 Session Twelve-Performance...54 Physical and Vocal Warm-Ups...58 Performance Pieces...60 Opening Piece...60 Closing Piece...60 Hamlet Group...62 Romeo and Juliet Group...64 Midsummer Night s Dream Group...65 Macbeth Group...67 Shakespeare Trivia Game...69 Hamlet Tableaus...75 Macbeth Tableaus...76 Romeo and Juliet Tableaus...77 Midsummer Night s Dream Tableaus...78 Shakespeare s Words...79 Shakespeare s Words-Homework Activity...82 Shakespearean Insults...87 Midsummer Language Activities...89

4 Acting Practice Scripts...97 Macbeth Language Activities Shakespeare Mystery Characters Hamlet Characters Romeo and Juliet Characters Midsummer Night s Dream Characters Macbeth Characters Shakespeare Monologues Hamlet Monologues Macbeth Monologues Midsummer Night s Dream Monologues Romeo and Juliet Monologues Shakespeare Quotes Hamlet Quotes Romeo and Juliet Quotes Macbeth Quotes Midsummer Quotes Stories of the Plays Four Shakespeare Plays Told Quickly What happens in Hamlet What happens in Romeo and Juliet What happens in A Midsummer Night's Dream What happens in Macbeth The Story of Hamlet The Story of Romeo and Juliet The Story of Macbeth The Story of Midsummer Night s Dream Romeo and Juliet in One Week Scripts Hamlet Scripts Hamlet in One Page Hamlet in Four Pages Hamlet in Six Pages Hamlet Scene (Hamlet and Ghost) Romeo and Juliet Scripts Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines with Numbers

5 Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines without Numbers Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines with Storyteller Romeo and Juliet in Three Pages Midsummer Scripts Midsummer Night s Dream-Actor s Scene Midsummer Night s Dream-Fairies Scene Midsummer Night s Dream-Titania and Bottom Midsummer Night s Dream-Fairies Sing to Titania Midsummer Night s Dream in Three Pages! Macbeth Scripts Macbeth in Eleven Lines Macbeth in Eleven Lines with Storyteller Macbeth Witches Scenes Macbeth in Two Pages Macbeth in Seven Pages Simple Set Ideas Printable Homework Activities

6 Introduction Welcome to the exciting world of teaching Shakespeare! This lesson plan will give you everything you need to know to be able to successfully teach Shakespeare to students ages Whether you are a seasoned drama teacher or have never taken a theater class before, you will be able to artfully lead the students into the amazing world of the Bard by using this material. This content was developed over several years and tested in thousands of classroom settings by a team of talented teaching artists. The material is easy to use; accessible to anyone. All you need to have is a willingness to be playful, and a desire to give students a positive experience of performing. TIP: Use the Navigation Bar to access the Table of Contents to skip easily to different sections of this lesson plan! A navigation bar is usually on the left of the document. If you do not see it, you may have to go to view on your menu and check navigation bar depending on which program you are using. NOTE: Before you begin, you may want to take a moment to reflect on your own theatrical experience. How did theater shape and change you as a person? If you have never been in a play or pursued a theater career, think of a time when you felt creatively successful. What contributed to your feelings of success or joy in your creative endeavor? Now take a moment to think about the teachers you have had. Were there any who were particularly inspiring? What made them special? You might want to write down the qualities or traits of that teacher or teachers and keep them in mind now that you are in the role!

7 Shakespeare for Kids-Outline Here are the specific goals for each session: Session One- Students collaborate with others to build trust and create a theatrical ensemble and learn the story of Hamlet. Session Two- Students learn facts about Shakespeare and perform the story of Hamlet in a series of tableaus. Session Three- Actors learn the story of Romeo and Juliet and act out the play in just ten lines. They also learn to understand and follow stage direction. Session Four- Students learn the story of Midsummer Night s Dream. They practice moving as characters from the play and rehearse and perform a short scene in which each student plays a fairy. Session Five- Students learn the story of Macbeth and act it out in tableaus or short narrated plays. Session Six- Students deepen their understanding of Shakespeare language and rehearse their short plays in groups. Session Seven- Students learn basic techniques of stage sword fighting and practice their techniques by creating a stylized sword-fight. They also rehearse their Shakespeare pieces. Session Eight-Students further familiarize themselves with Shakespearean language by dramatically speaking lines that are given to them by prompters. Session Nine-Students use vocal techniques to develop a deeper understanding of Shakespeare dialogue. Session Ten- Students learn the names of the different parts of the stage and work together to create a simple set. Session Eleven-Students deepen their understanding of the theatrical process by polishing their pieces for performance during a dress rehearsal. Session Twelve- Students reflect on what they ve learned and share their work with an audience.

8 What if I Don t Know Much About Shakespeare? Everything you need in order to effectively teach Shakespeare is included in this lesson plan. However The goal of this class is to invite students into the world of William Shakespeare in a magical, engaging way. This is likely the first interaction your students will have with the Bard, so it s important to create an experience that is fun and full of mystery. This means that you should be excited about teaching this series of lessons. If you are not particularly knowledgeable about Shakespeare, you may wish to start by watching a Shakespeare play on film. First, read the synopsis of the play and then watch the film. Suggested films: Hamlet starring Mel Gibson (1990) Macbeth directed by Roman Polanski (1971) Romeo and Juliet directed by Franco Zefferelli (1968) Midsummer Night s Dream (1935) Excerpts from, and in some cases, the entire film for each of these titles are on Youtube. Additionally, you should be prepared to learn the basic plots of four plays (included) and be willing to recite some Shakespeare yourself!

9 Materials Needed for this Workshop Hat (for drawing slips of paper) Materials to create a simple set (optional) Copies of scripts, games, etc. in this lesson plan to distribute to students Adapting the Content for Your Needs This lesson plan contains more than enough material for twelve hours of instruction. In fact, there is so much material here that it can be easily used for even a week-long drama workshop. Read through the entire lesson plan first, so that you have a solid, grounded idea of how the process works. You may also want to count the number of weeks/sessions/hours you have, and make adjustments accordingly. For instance, if you are only teaching Shakespeare for six hours of class time, pare down the lesson. In this workshop, students will: Bond as a group Develop focusing and listening skills Begin to communicate information to peers via dramatization Learn basic acting skills such as sensory awareness, stage movement, and vocalization Learn the plots of four Shakespeare plays Become more familiar with Shakespeare language Work together to create tableaus, pantomime plays, and scripted work based on Shakespearean stories and text Celebrate by performing Shakespearean scenes, excerpts, monologues and/or abbreviated versions of Shakespeare plays This lesson plan intentionally contains more material than you will be able to use in each session. Don t worry about doing every activity listed. Different activities will appeal to different teachers or be more appropriate for certain groups. Students will naturally want to know if they are going to be putting on a play. Let them know that they will be performing pieces from various Shakespeare plays at the end of the class/workshop. You are free to decide which pieces fit best with your group, and how many can be performed according to their age and ability levels.

10 Teacher s Note about the Performance For most teachers who choose to take on drama, the biggest source of anxiety centers on putting on a Final Performance. Typically when teachers imagine putting on a play, the task feels overwhelming. But there is another way to put on a show that not only results in a darling performance, but is deeply satisfying for students. Rather than put on an elaborate play, the class can rehearse a series of very short scripts that when performed together, makes for a delightful evening of short Shakespeare plays, monologues and performance pieces. This method of teaching drama gives students an outlet for their creativity while helping them put into practice valuable life skills such as: collaboration; critical thinking; innovation; communication; body/spatial awareness; creativity; and more. During each session, students will be rehearsing shortened versions of Shakespeare plays, and excerpts, quotes or scenes from the plays. They are all included in this lesson plan. In addition, there are many classroom activities that can be turned into pieces to perform during a show at the end of the series. Each day, it is important to keep a record of which plays, skits and activities were most interesting. Use the Presentation Worksheet provided with this lesson to write down the plays and the students who were in them. TIP-Keep notes in a planning book with the title of each piece, the actual script, if they worked with one, and the names of the players. The showcase at the end should run about twenty to forty, minutes. When done this way, there is very little stress over what to share with an audience. It is helpful to impart the nature of the performance to parents/administrators in advance. When it is obvious that the class experience is designed for the full benefit of the students, an impressive show at the end becomes unimportant. No Presentation Option Students will likely want to share their work with parents and friends. However, there are some circumstances in which it is not achievable or possible. For instance, if you are working in a drop-in facility and different students are in class week to week, or if the space you are in will not accommodate the actors and an audience, you may choose to forgo a Last Class Celebration. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it is the process itself that benefits the students.

11 List of Pieces to Perform Although the entire class will be learning about four Shakespeare plays, for this workshop, the class will also be divided into four groups: Hamlet Romeo and Juliet Midsummer Night s Dream Macbeth Each group will be responsible for performing monologues, tableaus or shortened versions of the play with the same name as their group. Each group will be given a list of options of things that they can perform at the end. Lists, along with instructions are included in this lesson plan under Performance Pieces. Homework At the end of every session, there is a suggested activity, called Try this at Home. Giving actors a fun assignment to do between sessions helps keep a connection with the students, helps students further develop their skills, and often brings families together. This is completely optional for you as a teacher, and for the students, but it can make a big impact on the quality of your class/program. To make things very convenient, all of the activities are included in a separate printable worksheet with this lesson plan.

12 Session One-Introduction Supplies/Materials Printable Shakespeare Trivia Game (included) Bell (for Shakespeare Trivia Game optional) Learning Goal Students collaborate with others to build trust and create a theatrical ensemble and learn the story of Hamlet. In this session, you will: 1. Introduce yourself and the goal of the class 2. Play Shakespeare trivia game 3. Form Shakespeare teams 4. Go over class rules 5. Hear the story of Hamlet 6. Establish closing ritual Opening As students enter the room, play some Elizabethan music. (There are some excellent long lute pieces on YouTube.) Greet students with Good day m lady, and Good morrow m lord. When all students have arrived, say, To be, or not to be how many of you have heard those words? Does anyone know where they came from? Tell students that it is the character Hamlet, from a play by William Shakespeare. Say! Hamlet is a young prince who has discovered that his father is dead and his mother has immediately remarried his own uncle. He says these words because he wonders if life is worth living. (Then recite or read the following passage it s more impressive if you know this one speech in the beginning!) To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep (edited) To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For in such sleep of death what dreams might come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.

13 Shakespeare Introduction Next, give students an overview of what you will be doing in this class/workshop. Say! Over the next few days (or weeks), we will be learning about William Shakespeare. We will be learning a bit about his life, and about the theatre where he worked and acted in his plays. We ll also be learning all about what happens in four of his plays, and then acting out scenes from some of them. At the end, we will perform some short pieces for an audience. Let s start by playing a game. Shakespeare Trivia Game/Name Game In this game, actors have a chance to work together while learning more about William Shakespeare. Use the Shakespeare Trivia printout provided with this lesson plan under Printable Activities. Give one half of the students questions and one half, answers. Ask students to introduce themselves while mingling and then read their questions and answers until they think they have found their partner. In pairs, have students take the stage, introduce each other and read their question and answer aloud. If they got it right, ring a bell. If they got it wrong, make a buzzer sound. Switch out participants if needed, and then read the additional information about each question provided with the answer key included with the game. Class Rules Take a few minutes to establish classroom rules, behavior and consequences. A simple way to create a list of rules is to have a sheet of paper or poster-board and ask the students to make the rules. Fill in any rules that need to be added at the end. Ensemble-Building Activity In theater, actors start with trust-building activities. This helps bond the group, starts to build ensemble, and creates a supportive workshop atmosphere. Students expect to be on their feet acting during this experience and the sooner they are engaged, the more inner satisfaction they will feel. Shakespeare Teams This is a great game for helping kids to get to know one another. Divide the class into four groups: The Macbeth Team; The Romeo and Juliet Team; The Hamlet Team; and The Midsummer Night s Dream Team. Ask students to remember who is on their team and to choose a special location in the playing space where they will meet.

14 Once they are in their Shakespeare Teams, they must do three things- Find one general thing that they all have in common Find one book that they have all read and liked Find one activity that they all like to do The group then picks one person to be the spokesperson, and share what they learned about each other with the whole class. Purpose of Shakespeare Groups! Tell students that they will be learning about four plays during this class, but each group will be responsible for performing pieces from the play of their group name at the end. The Hamlet group will be performing pieces from Hamlet, the Macbeth group will be performing pieces from Macbeth, and so on! Tell the Story of Hamlet Use the Story of Hamlet provided with this lesson plan under Stories of the Plays; ideally telling the story in your own words instead of reading it. Practice telling the story with dramatic pauses and gestures, and turn the lights down in the room if possible. Closing Ritual Always end class by bringing everyone back together with a grounding ritual that signifies the end of class. Choose one of these below or make up your own! Energy Circle/ Pass the Love In a circle, have students join hands and close their eyes. One person starts by squeezing the hand of the person to his right very gently. That person passes the love along until it goes all the way around the circle. THEATRE! In a circle, leader very dramatically calls out How do you say THEATRE? Students call back while swooping one arm up into the air THEATRE! (It s kind of like the way football players end their huddle.)

15 Try This at Home Learn the Story of Hamlet Learn the story of Hamlet. One person may be asked to tell the story again during the next class. Memorize Hamlet s Speech Memorize this short speech and be prepared to recite it dramatically before the next class. To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep (edited) To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For in such sleep of death what dreams might come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.

16 Session Two-Hamlet Supplies/Materials Hamlet Tableaus Hamlet Scripts for the HAMLET GROUP Learning Goal Students learn facts about Shakespeare and perform the story of Hamlet in a series of tableaus. In this session, you will: 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Perform Hamlet tableaus 3. Discuss what students learned 4. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual The first class began with a Shakespeare quote, but for every class thereafter, you ll want to create a routine that sets the tone for good class energy. Choose one of the following, or you are free to come up with your own! Sing in a Round is highly recommended. Sing in a Round Teach students the classic song, Rose, Rose, Rose, and have them practice it until they can sing it in a round. Many examples of this song can be found on YouTube and other places online. This song is known for being used by actors to warm up before a show and it dates back to around Shakespeare s time! Here are two of the stanzas: Rose Rose Rose Red Shall I Ever See Thee Wed I Will Marry At Thy Will Sire At Thy Will Hey Ho Nobody Home Food And Drink And Money Have I None Still I Will Be Merrilly A'Roll And Nobody Home If you take the time to learn and teach students this song, it will stay with them all day, and they will come to love the start (and end) of class. Additionally, this can also be used to open your show.

17 Old Globe Check-In (Optional) Invite students into an area designated as the Old Globe Theatre area. You could take them on an Imaginary Tour of the Globe Theatre. If you do this activity, students will remember almost everything about the Old Globe! After the first day, have students choose an area in the Globe where they would like to meet to begin class each day. It could be the box seats area, or on the stage near the trap door, or backstage where they saw the skull in the wall. Say! Right now, we are going to imagine that we are in the Globe Theatre, which was the theatre where William Shakespeare s plays were performed, and the year is 1608, over 400 years ago! Every time we come to class, we are stepping back in time back to Shakespeare s time. (Have everyone stand and follow you around the space as you describe the Globe.) The theatre is built in a round shape, but since they didn t have any way of bending wood, the building has about twenty sides. There is no roof, the theatre is open to the sky! The rich people who come are seated up higher in box seats up there with roofs overhanging them. The groundlings, or the people who stand on the ground must wear hoods in case of rain. Even though the theatre seats 1500 people, it s not hard for everyone to hear the actors because when it s full of people, the sound travels fast, and the actors speak in strong, clear voices. Over here is the entrance; next to the entrance is a big wooden box with a slot in the top where theatre-goers would drop in their pennies. That s why they call it a box office, today. Over there, up a little higher are the box seats, where the rich people sat. Not only did these seats have a better view of the stage, but they allowed everyone to see the noblemen and women in their finest attire. Over here is our stage. Along the front are oil lamps used to light the stage. They are called footlights because they sit along the floor of the stage. Up here is a trap door (pick a spot upstage somewhere). In many of Shakespeare s plays, ghosts appear, or magic happens where characters must appear and disappear. There would be a burst of smoke, and the actor fell through a trap door that was opened by someone under the stage. During our class, we are going to remember to always walk around this hole in the floor, just in case so no one falls in! The stage could be hung with painted cloths, and pieces of scenery like beds, thrones or tents could be brought on, lowered from above or pushed up through a trap-door in the stage floor. The whole playhouse was brilliantly painted, especially the 'heavens' above the stage which was decorated with sun, moon and stars.

18 We are sitting in the second globe theatre. The first Globe burned down during a performance of Henry V111 when a prop cannon exploded during the first night s performance. One man s trousers caught on fire, and another play goer put it out by pouring beer on the man. No one else was hurt, but the Globe burned to the ground, and was quickly rebuilt. One of the things you may have heard is that audience members used to throw tomatoes at the actors when they didn t like the performance, have any of you heard that? Well, that s not exactly true. First, they didn t have tomatoes back then in England. Second, what really happened is that at the end of each show, the theatre manager would tell what play is coming next, and if they didn t like that play, they d throw their snacks at him. If you go backstage, you ll find something strange and twisted. Lodged into one of the walls is a human skull. No one knows exactly why it is there, but old professors seem to think that it was part of a ritual when they re-opened the theatre. Back then, there were no directors, only the actors and the playwright. We are the acting company for this Globe theatre. In this class, we ll be learning about a lot of Shakespeare s plays, and acting out scenes from some of them. Perhaps we will even be able to tell the entire story of one of his plays! One of the first things that actors do is to get to know one another a little before starting to rehearse their play. More ideas! Describe your favorite day on earth. What is your favorite holiday? Why? What do you like most about school? What do you like least about school? What is something you can do really well? What would you change about yourself if you could? How would you change the world if you could? What s your favorite book/story? If you could be really talented at something, what would it be? Do you like some teachers better than others? Why? Check-in Chain In a circle, or in the Old Globe area, invite students to say one word about how their day has been so far. The person next to them says the previous player s word, then his/her own word. Example: Joshua starts by saying fun. Amy repeats Joshua s word, then says her own, fun, tiring. Christina repeats Amy s word, then says her own, tiring, exciting.

19 Physical Warm-Ups All actors start by getting centered in their bodies and warming up their voices. Choose from the activities provided in this lesson plan (right after Session Twelve), or lead one of your own. Performance Activities Tell the Story of Hamlet Invite one student from the HAMLET GROUP, who did last sessions homework, to tell the story of Hamlet in a dramatic way. Hamlet Tableaus Tell students that they will now tell the story of Hamlet in sixteen frozen pictures. Ask students to get into their Shakespeare teams. Give each team four scenes (below) to depict and allow five minutes for the actors to come up with their tableaus. You may wish to have teams alternate tableaus (each team gets the first scenario from each section of the list below) or to have teams create four tableaus in a row before moving to a different team. Teams may be asked to go onstage and perform, or if you are in a large space, the teams can perform in the four areas of the room, with the audience moving from team to team to watch the tableaus. Facing the Audience This is an excellent time to start teaching the concept of staying open to the audience. Young actors often become engrossed in what they are doing and turn their backs to the audience. Give students the tips below, and then when an actor/actors forget about their body position while performing a piece, freeze the action and call out body! or actor s stance. All actors who are not open to the audience, must adjust their position before continuing with the scene. If necessary, move to the students onstage and physically adjust their position so that they are open to the audience. Tips for successful tableaus: All actors can easily be seen by the audience. All actors bodies are open to the audience, unless the scene specifically calls for an actor to be in a specific position (such as hiding, etc.). The focus of the picture is on the most important thing that s happening. Many levels (body positions) are used. Actors are showing emotion. Every team member is in every scene. For scenes that involve only one or two characters, the other actors can become parts of the castle, furniture, the moon, etc.

20 Hamlet in Sixteen Pictures Hamlet sees the Ghost of his Father, who demands revenge Polonius forbids his daughter to see Hamlet Hamlet feigns madness Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery Hamlet convinces the actors to put on a play about a King who is murdered by his brother The play is performed before the King The King reacts to the play and Hamlet realizes that the King is guilty Hamlet kills Polonius Ophelia goes mad Ophelia drowns herself At a graveyard, Hamlet talks to a skull The Queen drinks poison Laertes stabs Hamlet with the poisoned sword Hamlet kills Laertes Hamlet kills the King Hamlet dies

21 Discussion After all teams have performed their tableaus, gather everyone into a group/circle. Ask! What is a tableau? What was the biggest challenge in creating your tableaus? Which tableaus stood out to you? Why? Where there any tableaus you could not understand? Why? How important is it to keep your body open to the audience? Why? What is an ensemble? How did today s activities help us form an ensemble? Why is it important for actors to know each other and trust each other? What did you learn about Shakespeare today? Perform Hamlet Monologues If time permits, invite any students from the HAMLET GROUP to perform the monologue that was handed out last week as homework. Hand out Hamlet Scripts Included with this lesson plan are several short Hamlet scripts. The shortest is only one page and has parts for nine or more characters. Hand out scripts to the HAMLET GROUP. Students may take the scripts home and familiarize themselves with the script and learn their lines. Tell the Story of Romeo and Juliet Time permitting, use the Story of Romeo and Juliet provided with this lesson plan; tell the story in your own words instead of reading it. Practice telling the story with dramatic pauses and gestures, and turn the lights down in the room if possible.

22 Try this at Home Study Your Hamlet Lines-For Hamlet Group Only Today in class, we gave our Hamlet scripts and cast our short plays. Highlight your part and start to memorize your lines. Learn the Story of Romeo and Juliet Learn the story of Romeo and Juliet. One person may be asked to tell the story during the next class. Memorize Romeo or Juliet s Speech Memorize one of these short speeches and be prepared to recite it dramatically before the next class. ROMEO But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

23 Session Three-Romeo and Juliet In this session, you will: Supplies/Materials Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines Script Rome and Juliet Scripts for ROMEO AND JULIET GROUP Learning Goal Actors learn the story of Romeo and Juliet and act out the play in just ten lines. They also learn to understand and follow stage direction. 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Tell the story of Romeo and Juliet 3. Play stage direction game 4. Have students perform Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines 5. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual and Warm-ups Lead the class in your favorite opening ritual and physical warm-up. Tell the Story of Romeo and Juliet Use the Romeo and Juliet provided with this lesson plan; ideally telling the story in your own words instead of reading it. Practice telling the story with dramatic pauses and gestures, and turn the lights down in the room if possible. Say! All actors need to know the actual names for the areas of the stage, and must be able to move to those areas when directed. Actors also need to know how to use their bodies and movement to create the illusion of space and believable characters. Today we are going to learn stage directions and practice movement techniques. Stage Directions Stage Direction/Movement Actors must learn the various quadrants of the stage and must learn to move to those areas automatically when directed to do so. Start by defining your stage space and then mark off the grid by laying down blue tape much the same as a Tic Tac Toe design. There is a simple diagram on the next page.

24 Downstage is the area closest to the audience. It is called downstage because in the very early days of theatre, there weren t raised seats, so the play itself took place on a sloped stage. The stage was higher in the back than the front so that audience members could more easily see the action. Today, even though the audience is usually on graduated platform seating, called a raked house, we continue to call the area closest to the audience downstage, and the area furthest away, upstage. Stage Right and Stage Left are defined from the actor s viewpoint, not the audience. If an actor is standing onstage and the director tells him to move stage right, the actor will move to his right. (There is another term House Right and House Left which refer to the audience viewpoint.) UPSTAGE RIGHT UPSTAGE CENTER UPSTAGE LEFT Wings CENTER RIGHT CENTER STAGE CENTER LEFT Wings DOWNSTAGE RIGHT DOWNSTAGE CENTER DOWNSTAGE LEFT Apron-part of the stage that extends in front of the curtain Audience

25 To help students learn stage directions, play this simple game: Director Says Played like Simon Says. If the stage area permits, divide the class in half and have one group take the stage. Determine a caller, who will call out stage directions. This is a good time to introduce the word cross which means to move from one place to another, in theatre terms. If the caller says Director says cross stage right, players should move stage right. If the caller says, Cross stage right and players move without Director Says, they are out. Play until there is a winner and the winner gets to call the next game. Variation-After most students seem to have gotten the hang of it, have them cross to different areas of the stage as specific characters. Encourage actors to face the audience when they reach their destination! Say! All of these characters are in the Shakespeare plays we will be studying! Director says, cross stage right like a weird witch. Director says, cross downstage like the ghost of a King. Director says, cross upstage like Hamlet starting to go crazy. Cross stage left like you are soldiers marching toward battle. (Some players will be out because there was no Director says. ) Director says, cross to center stage like you are wearing heavy armor. Cross upstage like a depressed princess. Director says, cross stage right like tricky fairy. Director says, cross stage left like a jealous Queen. Cross downstage like you are sneaking off to meet your lover. Cross to center stage like a man whose head has been turned into a donkey head. Director says cross upstage like a knight accepting an award. Director says cross stage left like an angry father. Director says cross to center stage like a funny actor. Director says cross stage right like a prince who has been stabbed. Cross to center stage like a gravedigger.

26 Performance Activities Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines Use the printout provided by this lesson plan under Romeo and Juliet Scripts. There are three different ways to use this activity complete instructions are provided with the printout. You may choose to ask each Shakespeare Group to perform the piece. OR, you could choose to mix up the entire class. When all groups have rehearsed, invite them to take turns performing in front of the class. Ask the ROMEO AND JULIET GROUP to remember who played each part! Tell the Story of Romeo and Juliet Invite any actor from the ROMEO AND JULIET GROUP who did last session s homework to tell the story in an engaging and dramatic way. If none of the team members are ready, invite a student from one of the other groups to tell the story. Romeo and Juliet Speeches/Monologues Invite any actor from the ROMEO AND JULIET GROUP who memorized one of the short speeches from last session to perform the piece. If none of the team members are ready, invite a student from one of the other groups to perform a monologue. Vocal Projection This is an excellent time to start teaching the concept of projecting your voice for the stage. When a team of actors takes the stage, appoint a bell ringer from one of the other teams as the sound monitor. Have this student sit near the back of the room and any time he/she cannot hear an actor, have them ring a bell. The actor must then deliver the line MUCH more loudly. The sound monitor can ring the bell again if the actor is still not loud enough. Hand out Romeo and Juliet Scripts Included with this lesson plan are several short Romeo and Juliet scripts. The shortest is only one page and has parts for nine or more characters. Hand out scripts to the ROMEO AND JULIET GROUP. Students may take the scripts home and familiarize themselves with the script and learn their lines.

27 Tell the Story of Midsummer Night s Dream Use the Story of Midsummer Night s Dream provided with this lesson plan, ideally telling the story in your own words instead of reading it. Practice telling the story with dramatic pauses and gestures. Try This at Home For ROMEO AND JULIET GROUP ONLY Study Your Romeo and Juliet Lines- Today in class, we rehearsed a short Romeo and Juliet play. Highlight your parts and start to memorize your lines. Learn the Story of Midsummer Night s Dream Learn the story of Midsummer Night s Dream. One person may be asked to tell the story very dramatically during the next class. Memorize Puck s Speech Memorize this speech that Puck (the mischievous sprite who serves the King) delivers at the end of Midsummer Night s Dream. This speech is basically an apology to the audience in case anyone was offended by the play. We may be reciting this speech as a group at the end of our performance, so it s important to be familiar with it. PUCK If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend; If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearnèd luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call: So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.

28 Session Four-Midsummer Night s Dream In this session, you will: Supplies/Materials Ball or stuffed toy for Group Juggle Midsummer Night s Dream lines cut apart for Group Juggle Fairy Scene Lines printed and cut apart Midsummer Night s Dream Scripts for MIDSUMMER GROUP Learning Goal Students learn the story of Midsummer Night s Dream. They practice moving as characters from the play and rehearse and perform a short scene in which each student plays a fairy. 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Lead a short Midsummer Night s Dream movement activity 3. Lead Group Juggle using Shakespeare dialogue 4. Rehearse and perform a short fairy scene from Midsummer Night s Dream 5. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual and Warm-ups Lead the class in your favorite opening ritual and physical warm-up. Tell the Story of Midsummer Night s Dream Use the Story of Midsummer Night s Dream provided with this lesson plan; ideally telling the story in your own words instead of reading it. Practice telling the story with dramatic pauses and gestures. Say! I m going to tell you a story about Kings and Queens and fairies and sprites, and about funny working men who think they are great actors! The story takes place a long time ago in an enchanted forest outside of Athens Greece. Close your eyes and imagine that you are in an enchanted wood. What do you see? What do you hear? Softly, make the noises that you would hear in the forest. Continue this soundscape for a moment or two and then quiet everyone and tell the story.

29 Stage Movement Activity Enchanted Forest Tell students that there are three different worlds portrayed in this play. 1. The world of the noble people the Dukes and Queens 2. The world of the supernatural the fairies, sprites and hobgoblins 3. The world of the working men the funny, amateur actors Announce that you are now going to create some scenes that involve all of these different types of characters in the forest. Divide the class in half. Next, ask actors who wish to be noblemen and women to move to stage right. Ask actors who wish to be fairies and hobgoblins to move to the center of the stage, and ask actors who wish to be the funny actors to move to stage left. You should have three groups onstage. Say! We are now going to create a moving scene that portrays all of these characters in the forest. First, I want each group to form a frozen picture or tableau that represents your group. When I ring a bell, you will begin moving. Here are your instructions: Noble people must wander lost in the forest looking for each other. Fairies and sprites must try to hide and play tricks on other characters. Funny actors must pretend to rehearse their play. Allow the scene to play out for a few minutes and then have the second group take the stage and improvise their scene. At the end, bring everyone together in a group or a circle. Ask! When you were watching others perform, could you tell the difference between the different types of characters? What made the difference obvious? How could the actors have made it more obvious? What did you find most entertaining? How can we use this information as actors?

30 Language Activity Midsummer Night s Group Juggle NOTE-If you do not have time for this activity, it is offered again in session eight. Have students stand in a large circle with plenty of room between each person. This may be accomplished by having each person grab the elbows of the person next to them and then dropping their arms. Next, have players to toss a soft ball or small stuffed animal back and forth across the circle in no particular order. Once a rhythm is going and students are catching on, pause the game and very briefly, refresh students about the relationship between Demetrius and Helena. Staying in a circle, hand out key lines from a scene between Demetrius and Helena to the students (included with this lesson plan under Printable Activities--Midsummer Night s Dream Language Activities ). Give the students a minute or so to memorize their line. Before starting the group juggle again, go around the circle and have each person loudly say their line. Then play group juggle again, using the lines from the play! Once a player has caught the ball, he pauses, says his line and then tosses it to another player who then says her line and so on. Performance Activities Midsummer Night s Dream Fairies Scene Included with this lesson plan is a sixteen line speech from Act II Scene I given by one of the fairies to Oberon along with a helpful translation. This scene happens very early in the play and introduces the audience to the world of the fairies. Puck (also known as Robin Goodfellow) is a sprite or trickster fairy. He comes across some fairies in the wood. The scene has been also been adapted to be performed as individual lines delivered by a group of fairies and easily printed out and cut apart. You may find the script under Scripts Midsummer Night s Dream Fairies Scene. The text is included below. Have students break into their Shakespeare Groups and give them ten minutes to assign lines, rehearse and to incorporate movement and/or song.

31 ROBIN How now, spirits? Whither wander you? FAIRIES Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, We do wander everywhere, Swifter than the moon's sphere; And we serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green. The cowslips tall her pensioners be: In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours: We must go seek some dewdrops here And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. Farewell, thou lob of spirits; we'll be gone: Our queen and all our elves come here anon. Mixed up Lovers (For older students or advanced groups) Central to the plot of Midsummer Night s Dream is a lover s rectangle! Even scholars have trouble keeping the relationships straight. This fun activity can help students understand and keep track of the characters. Divide class into groups of four, and give each group a mini-script (included in this lesson plan under Printable Activities-Midsummer Night s Dream Language Activities ). You could use objects or costume pieces to identify the characters. (All of the Hermias wear scarves, all of the Lysanders wear hats, all of the Helenas wear Mardi-Gras beads, and all of the Demetrius s have vests.) Have the students rehearse their lines, and if you have extra students, they can direct the mini-scene, or create a tableau of the lovers. Hand out Midsummer Night s Dream Scripts Included with this lesson plan are several short Midsummer Night s Dream scripts and scenes to perform. The shortest is the fairy scene we rehearsed today. Hand out the appropriate scripts to the MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM GROUP. Students may take the scripts home and familiarize themselves with the scripts and learn their lines. Tell the Story of Macbeth Time permitting, use the Story of Macbeth provided with this lesson plan; tell the story in your own words instead of reading it. Practice telling the story with dramatic pauses and gestures, and turn the lights down in the room if possible.

32 Try This at Home FOR MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM GROUP ONLY Study Your Midsummer Night s Dream Script Today in class, we rehearsed a short fairy scene from Midsummer Night s Dream. Highlight your parts and start to memorize your lines. Learn the Story of Macbeth Learn the story of Macbeth. One person may be asked to tell the story very dramatically during the next class. Memorize Macbeth s Speech Memorize this speech that Macbeth delivers near the end of the play. In this speech, he has just learned that his wife, Lady Macbeth has killed herself and he is having to face the fact that his cruel deeds have terrible consequences. MACBETH Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

33 Session Five-Macbeth In this session, you will: Supplies/Materials Macbeth tableaus printed and cut apart Macbeth in Eleven Lines with Storyteller Scripts Macbeth witch s spell printed Macbeth scripts for MACBETH GROUP Learning Goal Students learn the story of Macbeth and act it out in tableaus or short narrated plays. 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Tell the story of Macbeth 3. Lead Macbeth tableau, short script, or witches activities 4. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual and Warm-ups Lead the class in your favorite opening ritual and physical warm-up. Tell the Story of Macbeth Use the Story of Macbeth provided with this lesson plan; ideally telling the story in your own words instead of reading it. Practice telling the story with dramatic pauses and gestures, and turn the lights down in the room if possible. Say! By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes! Say it after me! By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes! What does this mean? It means that when something terrible is about to happen, your fingers tingle. This is a line spoken by one of the witches in the play Macbeth. Have any of you heard the terrible story of Macbeth? This story is so bloody and tragic that some people believe that just saying the name of the play brings you

34 bad luck. You re especially not supposed to say it while in the theatre. You re just supposed to call it The Scottish Play! I m now going to tell you a story about a nobleman who came across three witches who predicted that one day he would be King. The story includes murder and ghosts and it mostly takes place in a castle. I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you are in a castle in the middle ages. It s dark and cold, and light from a candle flickers on the stone walls creating eerie shadows. What does the air smell like? What sounds do you hear? (Tell the story.) Performance Activities Macbeth Tableaus Have students get into their SHAKESPEARE GROUPS. Give each group four scenes (below) and ask them to appoint a narrator and then create four frozen pictures that tell the story of Macbeth in frozen scenes. (Refer to Session Two notes for tips on creating tableaus.) Returning from a successful battle, Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches The witches tell Macbeth that he will become King Macbeth returns to his castle and tells his wife about the prediction Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide to kill the King The King arrives at the castle to celebrate Macbeth s victory Macbeth murders the sleeping King Lady Macbeth smears blood on the guards to make them look guilty Macbeth kills the guards to cover up his guilt Macbeth is made King Macbeth hires assassins to murder Banquo and his son Banquo s son escapes At a feast, Banquo s ghost appears to Macbeth, the guests think Macbeth is insane Macbeth visits the witches again. They tell him to be afraid of Macduff Macbeth has Macduff s wife and children killed Macduff assembles an army and takes over the castle Macduff kills Macbeth

35 Macbeth in Eleven Lines with Storyteller Use the short script provided with this lesson plan (in the Scripts section). Ask students to cast their plays (narrator parts can be shared) and give them ten minutes to rehearse before performing for each other. Witches Scene There are three short scenes featuring the witches of Macbeth provided with this lesson plan. You may also use this excerpt in which the three witches take turns throwing things into a cauldron. Divide students into groups of three and give them this short excerpt. Tell students to imagine that they are making an evil potion that will allow Macbeth to become King, but will also secretly take away his happiness! Students may decide who says each line, but the chorus should be chanted by all. The Witch s Spell Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Round about the cauldron go In the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

36 Hand out Macbeth Scripts Included with this lesson plan are several short Macbeth scripts and scenes to perform. The shortest is the witch s scene we rehearsed today. Hand out the appropriate scripts to the MACBETH GROUP. Students may take the scripts home and familiarize themselves with the scripts and learn their lines. NOTE: Every session from here forward includes SHAKESPEARE GROUP rehearsal time. Students will have plenty of time to work on their pieces to perform. Try This at Home Study Your Lines Every group now has their scripts! Study your lines. Starting next session, we will be rehearsing our plays during every class. Find a Word that Shakespeare Invented As we learned in our first week, Shakespeare invented over 1700 words. Find one word that Shakespeare invented, learn the meaning, and be prepared to share your word during the next session.

37 Session Six-Shakespeare s Words In this session, you will: Supplies/Materials 2-3 copies of the Shakespearean Insults game Shakespeare Quotes printed and cut apart Lists of pieces for groups to perform (one for each group) Learning Goal Students deepen their understanding of Shakespeare language and rehearse their short plays in groups. 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Facilitate Shakespearean insults game 3. Introduce Shakespeare s quotes tableaus 4. Have students rehearse in their Shakespeare Groups 5. Have groups perform and receive feedback if they are ready 6. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual and Warm-ups Lead the class in your favorite opening ritual and physical warm-up. Shakespeare s Words Activities In this lesson, students will start to become more familiar with Shakespearean language, and how Shakespeare used his words for dramatic effect. Shakespeare s Words Ask if any students did last session s homework and learned one word invented by Shakespeare. Allow students to share what they learned. Say! We learned in the first lesson that Shakespeare invented a lot of words and phrases. Does anyone remember how many words Shakespeare contributed to the English language? (Over 1700.) Today we are going to do a couple of activities where we practice using some of his words in dramatic ways. The first game is called Shakespearean Insults. Shakespeare s characters often called each other names, but they were quite inventive about it. Normally, we do not allow this, but today we are going to call each other funny, nonsensesounding names!

38 Shakespearean Insults Use the printout provided in this lesson plan under Printable Activities. There are three rows of words on this printout. Have students take the stage two at a time and take turns insulting each other by reading one word from each column (three words total). In pairs in front of the class, kids insult each other by reading one word from each column. (They don t have to read the words straight across, they simply choose one word from each row.) Ask students to come up with a short intro of their own. For example: Student One: Why you frothy, clay-brained, hugger mugger! Student Two: How dare you call me that, you goatish elk-skinned flap-dragon! Ask! What did it feel like to read the words? How did it feel to be called names in this way? Why do you think Shakespeare would come up with ridiculous things for characters to call each other? Shakespeare s Quotes Tableau Use the printout provided with this lesson plan under Shakespeare Quotes. Cut and print apart the quotes and let students pick one at random (or draw from a hat). Put half of the class onstage and have them arrange themselves as frozen statues around the stage. Encourage actors to use different levels using all parts of the stage and different poses with their bodies. One at a time, have statues come to life and deliver their quote in dramatic ways. Establish an ending pose, such as hands folded, chin down, so that in the end, all actors are in the same pose. Shakespeare Groups Rehearsal Choosing Pieces for the Show Every class from here on will include rehearsal time during the second half of the class. Ask students to get into their SHAKESPEARE GROUPS. Lists of suggested pieces to perform are provided with this lesson plan under Performance Pieces. If you are allowing students to choose their own pieces to work on, give them the whole list. For example, there six suggestions for the HAMLET GROUP: Hamlet Tableaus Hamlet Speech Performed by the Group Hamlet in One Page Hamlet/Ghost Scene Hamlet Death Montage Hamlet Monologues For this meeting, have the groups choose TWO group pieces. Individual actors may choose to perform monologues or solo pieces, but tell students that not every monologue may make it into the show. After the groups have chosen their pieces, ask them to cast the parts.

39 Make sure to go around and visit each group to trouble-shoot and to make sure that students have not chosen too many pieces. Group Rehearsal Use the remaining class time to allow groups to start rehearsing their pieces. Allow groups to perform for each other at the end of class if there is time. Whenever groups rehearse, make sure to allow time for constructive feedback from you and from other students. NOTE: Remind students about actor s stance, and the importance of projecting their voices. Facing the Audience During every performance, reinforce the concept of staying open to the audience by freezing the action and calling out body! or actor s stance whenever you see actors who are turned sideways or away from the audience. All actors who are not open to the audience, must adjust their position before continuing with the scene. If necessary, move to the students onstage and physically adjust their position so that they are open to the audience. Vocal Projection When a team of actors takes the stage, appoint a bell ringer from one of the other teams as the sound monitor. Have this student sit near the back of the room and any time he/she cannot hear an actor, have them ring a bell. The actor must then deliver the line MUCH more loudly. The sound monitor can ring the bell again if the actor is still not loud enough.

40 Try This at Home Re-write a Monologue Take one monologue from your show and write it for modern times. You may completely change the words. It could be turned into a rap lyric, a modern poem, or simply written as though the character lived today.

41 Session Seven-Sword Fighting In this session, you will: Supplies/Materials None Learning Goal Students learn basic techniques of stage sword fighting and practice their techniques by creating a stylized sword-fight. They also rehearse their Shakespeare pieces. 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Lead stage combat activities 3. Have students rehearse in their Shakespeare Groups 4. Have groups perform and receive feedback if they are ready 5. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual and Warm-ups Lead the class in your favorite opening ritual and physical warm-up. Stage Combat Activity Sword in the Stone In this activity, students pull an imaginary sword from a stone. This is an excellent imagination game to warm-up actors before working on creating the illusion of stage combat. Have players spread out in the room and find their own space. Say! There are several sword fights in Romeo and Juliet. We are going to work on safely creating the illusion of a swordfight. Let s start by warming up our imaginations. Imagine that you are in a field, and just ahead, there is a stone with a large broadside sword stuck in it. What does the rock look like? What does the sword look like? Is it gleaming in the sun, or is it a cloudy day with mist creeping along the ground? What does the air smell like? New grass and flowers? Smoke from the fire burning in a nearby cottage? Make your way closer to the stone. Feel the

42 rock. Is it smooth, or bumpy? Now look closely at the sword. Is it rough and plain or is it decorated with ornate designs? Place your hand on the handle. Is it warm or cold? How does it feel in your hand. You ve been told that no one has been able to pull this sword from the stone for centuries, but somehow, you know that you will be able to do it. When you are ready, try to pull the sword from the stone. Did you succeed? If so, how does the sword feel? Did it make a noise as it came out, or was it whisper-quiet like some sort of magic was at work? Now that you are holding the sword, feel its weight. Is it heavy or light? Raise it up in front of you. Is the light reflecting off of the blade, or is the metal rough and dull? Try swinging it a few times. How does it feel? Does it make you feel powerful, or does it feel heavy and foreign to you? Imagine that you are wearing a hilt with a sheath for the sword. Carefully place the sword in the sheath. Does it affect your stance? How? Bring players back to a talking circle. Ask! Who would like to share what they imagined and experienced? What surprised you? Were you able to make the moment feel real? What helped you do so? OR What did you find challenging? How can we apply this experience to our scenes/play? Combat/Swordfight Scenes Professionally trained actors often spend months learning stage combat techniques or taking fencing lessons in order to ready themselves for performance. Some theatrical groups bring in specially trained stage combat artists to choreograph fight scenes for productions. Staging combat or swordfight scenes often requires a level of physical strength, agility, stamina and skill that most students do not possess. Working with novice performers can also be physically dangerous, so here are a couple of techniques designed to give an effective and powerful illusion/representation of stage combat without needing to bring in experts or risk the safety of the students. Stylized Sword Fight In pairs, ask players to imagine that they each have a sword and must fight one another to the death. Have actors imagine a reason for the battle (they need not share with each other). Next, ask actors to create a short fight scene in which three strikes are made, with the final blow being fatal to one of the actors. Tell actors that the goal is not to look realistic, but to portray the energy and emotion behind the battle. Guidelines: 1. Actors must include exactly three strikes of their swords, with the final blow being fatal. 2. Actors may choreograph moves other than swords actually clashing or blows being made. 3. Actors must remain at least two feet away from each other at all times, and must not actually touch.

43 4. Actors must focus intently on each other, maintaining eye contact as much as possible. 5. The goal is to communicate the energy of the violence-from both actor s viewpoints. 6. When swords clash, it must feel real to the actors and obvious to the audience. 7. Actors must make strong, clear choices and then rehearse the piece until they can repeat their moves exactly the same way each time. TIP: Blocking or staging the choreography in slow-motion or as a series of frozen slides can help solidify the moves in a scene. 8. Actors must show emotion through physicality, facial expression and nonlanguage verbalization. The effect should look like an artistic interpretation of a sword fight, infused with energy and practiced intention. After all pairs have rehearsed, have each pair perform their piece for the rest of the class and receive feedback from the audience. Time allowing, play a second round so that the other actor in each pair has a chance to play the dying role. Ask! How well did this work? Why? Why not? What did they do really well? How clear were each actor s intentions? How do you think the actors could improve this fight scene? Or try this! Stylized Fight Try the same activity as above, but create a fight or combat scene without using swords. Shakespeare Groups Rehearsal Allow students to break into their SHAKESPEARE GROUPS and rehearse the pieces for the show. Try This at Home Study Your Lines Work on memorizing your part. Learn About Your Character Find out as much as you can about a character you are playing in one of the pieces that your group is working on. Add something to your character based on what you learned. For example, if you are playing Puck, and you learned that he was based on an actual mythological figure, you may wish to make him more wise, even though he is a prankster.

44 Session Eight-Acting Shakespeare Supplies/Materials Acting Practice scripts Printed lines for the Midsummer Night s Dream Group Juggle Learning Goal Students further familiarize themselves with Shakespearean language by dramatically speaking lines that are given to them by prompters. In this session, you will: 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Introduce Midsummer Night s Group Juggle 3. Lead Instant Shakespeare Actors and Living Monologues activities 4. Have students rehearse in their Shakespeare Groups 5. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual and Warm-ups Lead the class in your favorite opening ritual and physical warm-up. Shakespeare Acting Activities Midsummer Night s Dream Group Juggle (The printable lines for this activity are in Printable Activities- Midsummer Language Activities included in this lesson plan.) Warm up with a group juggle using one Shakespeare word (each student chooses his own.) Then, very briefly, refresh students about the relationship between Demetrius and Helena. Staying in a circle, hand out lines from a scene between Demetrius and Helena to the students. Give the students three minutes or so to memorize their line. Before playing group juggle, go around the circle saying the lines in order about three times. Then play group juggle again, using the lines from the play!

45 Instant Shakespeare Actors Use the Acting Practice Scripts in the Printable Activities section. In this activity, two actors will play out a short Shakespeare scene by repeating lines that are fed to them by prompters. This allows actors to experience using Shakespearean dialogue immediately, without having to memorize or analyze beforehand. Have two actors go onstage facing each other and have two other actors (the prompters) stand directly behind each one. The prompters will feed the lines to the actors in a neutral fashion who will then repeat them with emotion. Instruct actors to focus on really hearing the words fed to them by the prompters and connecting with their partner when repeating them back. TIP: It is essential for this activity that the prompters be relatively skilled readers. If there are students with varying ability levels in your group or class, select two students who are excellent readers to be the prompters for the duration of the exercise. At the end of the activity, choose your next best readers to be prompters for the students who carried that role so that they may get a chance to try the activity. Ask! What was this experience like for you? Were you able to connect to the meaning of the dialogue and to each other better when you weren t distracted by a script? How does this activity benefit us as actors? Living Monologues In this activity, one person reads a dramatic Shakespeare monologue while a group of actors onstage physicalizes it. This helps students connect to the prose and understand the deeper meaning of the text. Divide the class or group in two. Ask one group to take the stage and select a monologue reader who stands downstage. As he/she reads the passage, the onstage actors depict what is being said through movement, tableaus or characterization. For each line read, or anytime the reader stops, groups may briefly work together to decide how to portray the words. TIP: Anytime there is confusion about a word, the actors may request help from the instructor or the rest of the class, OR the word may be put on a list to be looked at later in the meantime, actors form a consensus about what the word means, and proceed with creating their stage image(s). Shakespeare Groups Rehearsal Allow students to break into their SHAKESPEARE GROUPS and rehearse the pieces for the show.

46 Costume Discussion (Optional) Let students know that everyone will need to come up with a simple costume. Explain that actors are very creative, and that they need to find something they already have, or borrow something that would resemble what their character(s) would wear. Ask if any students think they may need help and invite other cast members to assist, or help that person yourself, or put word out to the other parents with what that student needs. Conversely, if you are working in a very affluent situation, you ll want to discourage parents from purchasing ANYTHING. The whole idea behind the students creating their own costumes is that they get to use their imaginations which is much more fun than putting on a ready-made costume. Try This at Home Make a New Version of a Shakespeare Story Write a story based on one of the Shakespeare plays we ve been working on, set in modern times. For instance, make up a story about a cowboy named Mac (Macbeth) who wants to own the biggest ranch in the state. Work on Your Costume If you are planning on wearing simple costumes for your plays and pieces, start to get ideas for what you can make or borrow.

47 Session Nine-Acting Shakespeare Supplies/Materials Acting Practice Scripts Learning Goal Students use vocal techniques to develop a deeper understanding of Shakespeare dialogue. In this session, you will: 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Lead Shakespeare acting activities 3. Have students rehearse in Shakespeare Groups 4. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual and Warm-ups Lead the class in your favorite opening ritual and physical warm-up. Shakespeare Acting Activities Lines in Slow Motion Reciting Shakespeare in slow motion can open actors to hear nuances they wouldn t ordinarily tap into. The dialogue instantly becomes more accessible and emotional. Use the Acting Practice Scripts in the Printable Activities section and ask players to get into pairs and practice saying the lines from a short passage to each other in slow motion. Whenever there is a vowel sound, encourage actors to elongate them. Ask! What did you experience while reciting the lines slowly? Why do you think that is? Emotional Vowels In Shakespeare, the emotion is in the vowels while the consonants carry the intellectual connection. Using the same scripts from the above activity, have students practice saying the lines using the vowel sounds only. Next, have them repeat the same line with just the consonants.

48 Ask! How did it feel to just say the vowels? How did it feel to just say the consonants? What does this tell you about Shakespearean poetry/dialogue? Shakespeare Groups Rehearsal Allow students to break into their SHAKESPEARE GROUPS and rehearse the pieces for the show. Closing Ritual Let actors know that next week we will be creating a set. Of course, this will entirely depend on the time and resources you have available. The pieces can be done without any kind of set at all. Let kids know that ordinarily in theatre, the set will include: flats; set pieces; sound; props; lights, etc. Talk about the Set Let actors know that next week we will be creating a set. Of course, this will entirely depend on the time and resources you have available. The pieces can be done without any kind of set at all. Let students know that ordinarily in theatre, the set will include: flats; set pieces; sound; props; lights, etc. Refer to the Simple Set Ideas section of this lesson plan for inspiration. Gather the students, and have the following discussion. Imagine the Set Ask students to identify where each of the plays takes place and make a list on the board. Narrow the list down to the three most important locations. Ask! What is the mood of each play? Would it be effective to create a simple backdrop rather than trying to create these three locations? What colors would we use for a simple backdrop? If we had music for this play, what kind of music would it be? If we had thousands of dollars to create our set, what would it look like? If we had twenty dollars to create our set, how could we create the illusion of these places?

49 Try This at Home Study Your Lines By next session, everyone should have their lines completely memorized! Shakespeare Mystery Characters Take a random character from the play you are working on and learn as much about him/her as you can. Be prepared to share the most interesting things about this character during the next session. Work on Your Costume Bring any costume pieces that you have to our next session!

50 Session Ten-Sets and Costumes Supplies/Materials Materials to build a simple set (optional) Learning Goal Students work together to create a simple set. In this session, you will: 1. Lead opening ritual and warm-ups 2. Build simple set 3. Rehearse pieces 4. Lead closing ritual Say! Acting in a play is only part of putting on a show. We ve already talked about costumes, but there are other important elements to putting on a show, such as: theatrical make-up; lighting; props; set design; ticket sales, etc. Today we are going to focus on creating a simple set for our show. Does anyone know what a set is? It s the backdrop and moveable pieces on the stage, such as furniture that give the audience a sense of place and time. Set is actually short for setting. Last week we started a discussion about the various settings of our plays, and we imagined what a set would look like. I ve brought some supplies and we are going to come up with some ideas that will help our audience imagine where our plays are taking place. Creating a Set If you have chosen to create a simple set, use the rest of the class time to invite students to work on painting boxes or backdrops, or signs. Refer to the Simple Set Ideas section of this lesson plan for inspiration. Students may also work on creating a simple box office, invitations, or home-made tickets. This is a good time to explain the various names for parts of the theatre. You may choose to physically walk through the space with your group showing them where the different parts of the theatre are. This works even if you are in an imaginary theatre (such as a classroom).

51 Say! When audience members enter, they usually go to the box office, to purchase tickets. It s called the box office, because in Shakespearean times, patrons would put their pennies in a big wooden box near the front entrance. Where the audience sits is called the house. The lights above the audience are house lights. The actors usually wait to go onstage, in a room called the green room. The arch above the stage is called the proscenium, and the area between the stage and the audience is called the pit. The areas on the sides of the stage are called the wings and the area that sticks out in front of the curtain is called the apron. There are also different stage configurations such as: thrust; arena; and proscenium. Some stages also have traps, through which the actors enter and exit. If you have chosen to create a simple set, use the rest of the class time to invite students to work on painting boxes or backdrops, or signs. Ask! Where does our play take place? If it s more than one location, is there a central theme? Is there a certain mood to our play(s)? What kind of colors relate to our theme or the mood of the play? How can we give the idea of a setting with the materials and time we have? Shakespeare Groups Rehearsal Allow students to break into their SHAKESPEARE GROUPS and rehearse the pieces for the show.

52 Session Eleven-Dress Rehearsal Supplies/Materials None Learning Goal Students deepen their understanding of the theatrical process by polishing their pieces for performance during a dress rehearsal. In this session, you will: 1. Lead opening ritual 2. Lead warm-ups 3. Lead dress rehearsal 4. Give director s notes 5. Lead closing ritual Opening Ritual Open the class with your favorite ritual/routine. Then gather the students and give them a rundown of the pieces they will be sharing with parents and friends. Let students know that today, we will be doing a dress rehearsal, which is where actors practice running through the whole show before opening night. Learning Goal Say! Today, we are going to do what is called a dress rehearsal. In theatre, this is one of the last rehearsals that an ensemble has before opening night. Next week we are going to perform our show, so today we are going to go through all of our pieces in order. We are going to try to do it without stopping! This helps us feel prepared for our actual show day. Physical Warm-Up Let the students choose their favorite physical warm-up!

53 Dress Rehearsal Dress Rehearsal Try running through your show a couple of times. Don t worry if students aren t absolutely focused. They will magically change when it s time for the real thing! And even if things don t go perfectly as planned, remember that the audience will love watching the students perform Shakespeare! TIP-On performance day, it s important to create a light and inviting atmosphere as parents enter the room. You can have music playing, or have the students take tickets and usher parents to their seats. They can be in costume, and they can be in character, welcoming people as they come in. Director s Notes In a real theatre environment, after a dress rehearsal, the director gives notes designed to put the finishing touches on the play. Inform kids that they are getting official Director s notes, and try to mention one thing for each student to work on. Here are some examples of things to say: Jonathan: you need to practice projecting your voice when you narrate. Emily: please remember to keep your body open to the audience-don t turn your back. Everyone: our play needs to have more energy, so make sure that you know your lines really well and that you are acting the whole time! Try this at Home Memorize Lines and Finish Costumes Our show is next week! If you have been having trouble remembering your lines, be sure to work with your parents, friends, or siblings on memorizing your part or parts. Also, be sure to finish your costume and to bring it with you on performance day.

54 Session Twelve-Performance In this session, you will: Supplies/Material Thank you notes to students (optional) Programs (optional) Feedback forms (optional Learning Goal Students reflect on what they ve learned and share their work with an audience. 1. Lead opening ritual 2. Discuss what students learned 3. Visualize success as a group 4. Set up the room 5. Lead warm-ups 6. Introduce yourself to parents 7. Perform the show 8. Wrap up 9. Thank yourself Opening Ritual In opening circle, let the students know how much you have appreciated working with them, and how much fun you ve had. If you feel compelled, write a simple card ahead of time for each student mentioning what you see as their strengths. Ask students what their favorite part of this drama class has been. This is a good opportunity to gain insight into what the students really loved, vs. what you think they loved. The answers are sometimes surprising! If too many students are saying the same thing, ask the next actor to share something different. Compliment Bombardment Break the class into groups of four to six; students focus on one member at a time. Have the students in the group tell all the positive things they can about that person. Encourage compliments that focus on behavior rather than something that cannot be altered or developed like a physical characteristic. No put downs are allowed. Every comment must be positive. Visualize Success as a Group Sometimes students feel nervous and feel pressured to get everything right. Let them know that there may be some mistakes, but it will be okay because you are all going to help each other! If someone forgets a line, and a person near them knows what it is, they should whisper

55 it to them. Have everyone hold hands and close their eyes and imagine that they have just performed the show for everyone, and it went GREAT! Have them imagine that everyone is clapping and cheering. This is a visualization technique used by performers and athletes; it can help young actors feel less nervous, and when they feel relaxed, the show can be a great experience for everyone! Set Up the Room This can be done ahead of time-before students arrive to class-or together as a group. 1. Arrange an area for the audience to sit. 2. Put a sign on the door Doors will open at 6:00 or whatever time your show is supposed to start. 3. Set up a table for treats. 4. If you are working with younger students and have time, provide some colorful halfsheets of paper, stickers and pens. Ask players to write a thank-you to their parents for sending them to this class. Invite them to say something very specific about their experience. Physical Warm-Up Group Relaxation Invite all the actors to lie down on the floor in a big circle with their heads in the center next to each other and their feet pointing toward the outside (like a sunflower) with the heads being the center. Or just have them lie down in their own space, but near each other. Let them know that you are going to guide them through a few relaxation exercises. Say! Feel the ground beneath you Let all of your muscles relax Like the ground is pulling you down into it Let your feet relax, Let your legs relax Let your torso, your tummy relax Let your arms relax All the way down to your fingertips Let your neck relax Let your head relax Relax all of the muscles in your face Take a deep breath in Let it out very slowly Take another deep breath in Let it out very slowly Take one last deep breath, and try to breathe at the same time as everyone else As if we are one big person Breath in And let it out, all together

56 I m going to hum a note. When you re ready, start humming with me Until we are all humming (Let this go until it naturally dies down.) Someone else can start a hum, now. Just allow it to happen, and when it happens, Join when you are ready (Let the hum last until it dies down naturally.) Now, keeping your eyes closed, imagine that our show is over Imagine that you are very happy with how it went. Send love to the other actors And to all the people who came to see us today. When you are ready, open your eyes Stand up slowly, and come join me silently in the circle. Next, bring everyone together for a brief moment before opening the doors to parents. Give them words of praise and encouragement and then call places. Perform the Show! As the audience come in, have music playing or have students taking tickets and ushering people to their seats. Curtain Speech Begin by introducing yourself and acknowledging the school or organization you represent. This part before the show is called a curtain speech. You might want to share a bit about your background. Say something specific about the group, and briefly describe what the group learned during the workshop or class. Ask audience members to stay after the performance, to help strike the set. Invite students and families to take home pieces of the set, and remind them to retrieve any items that were loaned to the show. Here is an example of what to say for your curtain speech: Say! Welcome! My name is Janea, and I m the drama teacher at Washington School. (If you represent an organization, describe the organization and the mission.) It has been my great pleasure to be the teacher for this group of students. Over the past twelve weeks, we have had a wonderful time together developing some of the skills required of actors. For the past twelve weeks these young actors have also been studying the work of William Shakespeare. In addition to rehearsing short scripted pieces, we did a lot of theatre activities, played theatre games and rehearsed the pieces we are going to perform for you. Please stay for a few minutes after our performance to help strike our set, which means to take it down. Many hands make light work!

57 Wrap Up Ask for Feedback if Applicable If your school or organization has provided you with feedback forms, circulate them to the parents. Thank Everyone Thank the families and the students for their participation. Promote other Offerings or Future Classes Give families a run-down of any upcoming classes, making sure to mention any drama classes happening later in the year! Ending Speech Close the show by thanking the audience, and inviting them to stay for treats (if available), and taking home part of the set. And Finally Take some time to thank yourself. If you gave out feedback forms, sit quietly and read them. Students and parents often write lovely things about their drama experience. Play back in your mind any highlights of the season, and think about how you have changed while engaging in this process. If you are a person who always likes to do better, make some notes about a week after the class has ended. Immediately after your last class celebration, try and focus on all of the good things! Parents and students will want your most vibrant, happy self to be available. Later on, you can write down some things you learned and some things you d like to try for the next session. Teaching drama or offering a drama club can feel like a whirlwind, crazy, fun experience. But beneath that frenetic joy lies true transformation and change. While in it, it is often hard to recognize that your contribution is making a profound effect on young people. Thank you for devoting yourself to working with children and teens. Janea Dahl Author, Drama Notebook

58 Physical and Vocal Warm-Ups All actors start by getting centered in their bodies and warming up their voices. Here are a couple of activities that accomplish getting physically warmed up. You may want to try all of the various warm-ups that will be offered in these lesson plans and settle on one that seems to fit you and your students. You can offer variations, but repeating the same great warm-up can allow students to really absorb the benefits and maybe use the technique as a relaxation tool later in life. Always start by calling, actor s neutral! Follow the physical warm-up with the basic vocal warm-up during every session. Actor s Neutral This is a stance in which the actor stands up straight, feet hip-width apart, arms hanging loosely, looking straight ahead. Think of it like Attention! in the army. Touching the Sky Group stands in a circle, or scattered around the room. Say something like: Imagine that you are a tree. Let your arms become branches that grow until they reach up toward the sky. Your fingers are the leaves at the top of the tree, very high up, reaching, reaching toward the sun and the clouds. Feel the reaching all the way down your trunk. Your legs are reaching too. You are standing on your tiptoes, but your roots are still in the earth. You are stretching with your whole body. Simple Physical Warm-up Routine Bending Stretch: Stand with your feet apart. Hang your trunk and arms down from your waist. Gently bend over, stretching your fingers to touch the floor if possible. Slowly stand back up. Swaying: Repeat, but this time, sway your arms gently from side to side, as you bend down and touch the ground. Slowly stand back up. Arms: Stretch each arm up over your head, lean to one side, then the other. Let your arms hang loosely at your sides. Clench your fists for ten seconds, then relax. Feet: Clench your feet, arching them as much as possible. Release them. Rest. Knees: Lock your knees back. Release them. Rest. Shoulders: Round your shoulders, keeping your arms loose. Release them. Rest. Neck: Hang your head. Gently swing it to the right and the left. Let it flop backwards. Swing gently to the right and left again. Let it fall to your chest. Face: Scrunch up all of your face muscles, then relax them. Repeat. Close your eyes tightly, relax them, then let them open. Open your eyes as wide as possible, wrinkle your brow, then relax. Smile as wide as you can, then relax your mouth. Open your mouth as

59 Energize: Bounce a little on your feet, swing your arms lightly, move your head easily. Feel your balance and posture. Your head should be erect, comfortable poised atop your neck. The Yawn Sigh In a circle, each actor opens his/her mouth wide and takes a deep breath while yawning. When exhaling, players let out a low-pitch sigh. This opens up the throat and relaxes the jaw and face. Upon exhale, have them release any tension in their faces, shoulders, and arms. Repeat a few times. Motorcycle Players vibrate their lips, making the sound of a motorcycle. They take the sound from high to low and back up again. Rubber Band Players pretend that their mouths are rubber bands that stretch right, left, up down, drawn in like an old person, pursed out like a fish, wide open, then stretching in all directions. Players make their faces very small, pushing every feature to a single point. Then make their faces very big, pushing all features out like an inflated balloon. Players smile a big, dumb smile, frown a big, angry frown, put on a sneer. Players chew a big wad of bubble gum.

60 Performance Pieces Opening Piece Sing a Round Teach students the classic song, Rose, Rose, Rose, and have them practice it until they can sing it in a round. Here are the two of the stanzas: Rose Rose Rose Red Shall I Ever See Thee Wed I Will Marry At Thy Will Sire At Thy Will Hey Ho Nobody Home Food And Drink And Money Have I None Still I Will Be Merrilly A'Roll And Nobody Home Many examples of this song can be found on YouTube and other places online. Shakespeare s Quotes Tableau Use the printout provided with this lesson plan. Cut and print apart the quotes and let students pick one at random (or draw from a hat). Put half of the class onstage and have them arrange themselves as frozen statues around the stage. Encourage actors to use different levels using all parts of the stage and different poses with their bodies. One at a time, have statues come to life and deliver their quote in dramatic ways. Establish an ending pose, such as hands folded, chin down so that in the end, all actors are in the same pose. Then, choose a final quote that all actors recite together as they come to life again. Closing Piece Puck s Speech from the end of Midsummer Night s Dream There are sixteen lines in the speech below that Puck delivers to end the play. Divide the lines up between all class members and perform the piece with actors taking turns delivering the lines. Decide where everyone will stand onstage and then recite the speech as smoothly as possible, with each actor paying close attention to the one before him/her. Staging Ideas All actors can stand in a horizontal line (across the stage) with their backs to the audience. One a time, actors turn to face the audience to deliver his/her line. They then turn back again and the next actor faces front.

61 Actors may stand in frozen poses scattered around the stage. Each actor should look troubled or crazy when frozen. The frozen statues come to life when it is their turn to deliver a line. Actors can stand in a vertical line (from downstage to upstage). The first actor in line delivers his/her line and then takes his/her place at the back of the line, allowing the next actor to step forward and deliver a line. At the end, all actors can quickly fan out to form a horizontal line across the stage and deliver the last line together. PUCK If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend; If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearnèd luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call: So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.

62 Hamlet Group Hamlet Tableaus Using the Hamlet Tableaus printout provided with this lesson plan, tell the story in sixteen frozen images. Be sure to appoint a narrator to tell the story as it moves along. Come up with a way to transition between scenes that relates to Shakespearean times. For instance, have the group hum an Elizabethan tune, or round while shifting from one frame to another, or use a sound effect of a sad sounding church bell ringing between frames. Hamlet Speech Performed by the Group Use the speech below and assign each actor in your group one or more lines to recite. Decide where everyone will stand onstage and then recite the speech as smoothly as possible, with each actor paying close attention to the one before him/her. In other words, try and make it sound as though it was delivered by just one person! Staging Ideas All actors can stand in a horizontal line (across the stage) with their backs to the audience. One a time, actors turn to face the audience to deliver his/her line. They then turn back again and the next actor faces front. Actors may stand in frozen poses scattered around the stage. Each actor should look troubled or crazy when frozen. The frozen statues come to life when it is their turn to deliver a line. Actors can stand in a vertical line (from downstage to upstage). The first actor in line delivers his/her line and then takes his/her place at the back of the line, allowing the next actor to step forward and deliver a line. At the end, all actors can quickly fan out to form a horizontal line across the stage and deliver the last line together. Hamlet in One Page There are parts for 10+ players in the one-page script included with this lesson plan. If your Hamlet group is fairly large, each person can have their own part. If your group is small, you can give actors more than one part. Hamlet/Ghost Scene An edited version of Act One, Scene Five is included in this lesson plan. This is the scene where the ghost of Hamlet s father, the dead King, appears to Hamlet at the top of the castle and tells him that he was murdered by his own brother. The Ghost asks for Hamlet to get revenge (kill King Duncan, his uncle). There are only two parts for this scene, but the rest of the players can form the atmosphere by becoming the sound of the wind, and other eerie sounds that provide a background for this chilling scene. Hamlet Monologues There are eight Hamlet monologues included with this lesson plan. If certain players in your group feel ambitious, they can perform a monologue. Additional players can form a setting or play silent statue characters during the scene. Also, group members can work together to create a set piece, lighting, or music that enhances the mood.

63 All monologues should include an introduction that can be given by the actor performing the monologue, or by one of the other members of the group. The introduction should explain who the character is, what has happened in the play up to that point, and what is happening in the scene. Hamlet Death Montage A lot of characters die in Hamlet. As a group, make a list of all of the characters that die, and stage a montage or a series of tableaus that portray each character s death. As a group, come up with a script to narrate the piece.

64 Romeo and Juliet Group Romeo and Juliet Tableaus Using the Romeo and Juliet Tableaus printout provided with this lesson plan, tell the story in sixteen frozen images. Be sure to appoint a narrator to tell the story as it moves along. Come up with a way to transition between scenes that relates to Shakespearean times. For instance, have the group hum an Elizabethan tune, or round while shifting from one frame to another, or use a sound effect of a sad sounding church bell ringing between frames. Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines There are two versions of this micro-script included with this lesson plan. Choose the one that your group likes best, cast the short play and rehearse it. Romeo and Juliet Monologues There are five Romeo and Juliet monologues included with this lesson plan. If certain players in your group feel ambitious, they can perform a monologue. Additional players can form a setting or play silent statue characters during the scene. Also, group members can work together to create a set piece, lighting, or music that enhances the mood. All monologues should include an introduction that can be given by the actor performing the monologue, or by one of the other members of the group. The introduction should explain who the character is, what has happened in the play up to that point, and what is happening in the scene. Swordfight Scene Choreograph a swordfight scene that looks like a dance. Choose a piece of music to go with the scene, and come up with a dramatic ending. Romeo and Juliet in Three Pages There are parts for eleven actors in this short version of the play. If your group has less than ten members, some actors can play multiple roles. Romeo and Juliet in One Week Using the printout provided with this lesson plan in the Stories of the Plays section. Improvise the story of Romeo and Juliet (including days of the week!) while acting it out as a group. Come up with a way to tell the audience what day of the week it is during each scene that happens. You may decide to make signs and have your narrator or another group member hold them up as the events unfold!

65 Midsummer Night s Dream Group Midsummer Night s Dream Tableaus Using the Midsummer Night s Dream Tableaus printout provided with this lesson plan, tell the story in sixteen frozen images. Be sure to appoint a narrator to tell the story as it moves along. Come up with a way to transition between scenes that relates to Shakespearean times. For instance, have the group hum an Elizabethan tune, or round while shifting from one frame to another, or use a sound effect of a sad sounding church bell ringing between frames. Midsummer Night s Dream Monologues There are seven Midsummer Night s dream monologues included with this lesson plan. If certain players in your group feel ambitious, they can perform a monologue. Additional players can form a setting or play silent statue characters during the scene. Also, group members can work together to create a set piece, lighting, or music that enhances the mood. All monologues should include an introduction that can be given by the actor performing the monologue, or by one of the other members of the group. The introduction should explain who the character is, what has happened in the play up to that point, and what is happening in the scene. Midsummer Night s Dream in Three Pages There are parts for ten actors in this short version of the play. If your group has less than ten members, some actors can play multiple roles. Midsummer Night s Dream-Titania and Bottom Scene In this short scene, Titania awakes and falls in love with Bottom (the actor whose head has been transformed into that of a donkey). Midsummer Night s Dream-Fairies Scene This scene can feature up to 16 fairies and Robin Goodfellow. It is the first interaction that the audience has with the fairies in the play. Midsummer Night s Dream Fairy Song Scene Included in this lesson plan is a script for the beginning of Act Two, Scene Two, in which Titania asks for the fairies to sing her a song. After she is asleep, her husband, who is mad at her, sprinkles the magic flower juice in her eyes. She doesn t know it, but when she wakes up, she will fall in love with man who has a donkey head. Choose one person to introduce the scene and describe what is happening to the audience. Choose one person to play Titania and one person to play Oberon, and the rest of the actors get to play fairies. As a group, create a melody for the song and come up with a simple dance that the fairies do around the sleeping Titania.

66 Midsummer Night s Dream Actors Scene In Act One, Scene Two (included in this lesson plan) Peter Quince casts five amateur actors in parts for a play they are to perform for the Queen on her wedding day. This is a fun, short scene to perform as it is written in prose rather than in iambic pentameter (rhythmic poetic language). Mixed-up Lovers In Midsummer Night s Dream, there are two couples who keep falling in out of love with different people. Demetrius loves Hermia, but Hermia loves Lysander (who loves her as well). Helena, Hermia s friend loves Demetrius. Due to a love-potion mix-up, the characters fall in and out of love with each other, until in the end, Hermia and Lysander are in love, and Demetrius and Helena are in love. Included in this lesson plan are a series of lines that the lovers say to each other as they fall in and out of love. Use these lines to create a scene onstage that shows how mixed-up everything gets in this play. Make sure to end with the characters being in love with the right partners!

67 Macbeth Group Macbeth in Eleven Lines There are eleven lines from the actual play listed in Macbeth Language Activities. They may be performed as lines accompanied by tableaus depicting what is happening when the line is spoken, or your group can add narration telling the story in-between each line so that the play makes sense to the audience. Macbeth Tableaus Here is a list of events to use to tell the story of Macbeth in ten frozen pictures, or tableaus. Be sure to use exaggerated poses to really get the point of the story across. And try to be creative by using music or sound effects such as wind or creepy noises. Some of your group can even play weird trees in the background during the scenes. Macbeth meets Three Weird Sisters Macbeth plots with his wife, Lady Macbeth, to kill the King Macbeth kills King Duncan (sees an invisible dagger) Banquo is murdered Macbeth sees Banquo's Ghost Macbeth meets Weird Sisters again Macduff's family is murdered Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, tries to wash the blood off her hands Lady Macbeth dies Macduff kills Macbeth Macbeth Monologues There are four monologues included with this lesson plan. If certain players in your group feel ambitious, they can perform a monologue. Additional players can form a setting or play silent statue characters during the scene. Also, group members can work together to create a set piece, lighting, or music that enhances the mood. All monologues should include an introduction that can be given by the actor performing the monologue, or by one of the other members of the group. The introduction should explain who the character is, what has happened in the play up to that point, and what is happening in the scene. Macbeth in Two Pages There are parts for twelve or more actors in this short version of the play. Macbeth in Seven Pages There are parts for up to twenty characters in this version of the play. Witches Scenes There are three short witches scenes strung together with parts for three witches and Macbeth and Banquo (optional). Macbeth and Banquo do not speak during the scene. They are silent observers. Witches may be played by males or females!

68 Macbeth s Conscience There are 28 lines in this soliloquy in which Macbeth struggles with his conscience. Should he kill King Duncan? This speech can be performed as a tortured conversation between two people, taking turns with the lines. Two actors can catch the see-saw effect of the lines by joining hands and gently pulling or pushing as they speak, or by simply leaning back and forth with each other. The lines are included in this lesson plan under Macbeth Language Activities.

69 Shakespeare Trivia Game Below are two printable pages. The first has eight questions and the second has the answers. Print on different colors of paper, cut apart and have half of the class choose questions and half of the class choose answers. Ask students to mingle, reading their questions and answers with the goal of finding the right match. When all students are in pairs, have them come up two-ata-time to read their question and answer. If they got it right, they get a standing ovation. If they got it wrong, students must pretend to throw rotten tomatoes, and the person with the correct answer must join the student with the question onstage. After the right question and answer are onstage, the teacher may share more information (provided in the teacher s answer key below).

70 What shape was the Globe Theatre? How many children did Shakespeare have? What was found stuck in a wall backstage in the Globe Theatre? How many portraits are there of Shakespeare? How much time did actors have to memorize their lines for Shakespeare s plays? How many of Shakespeare s plays were published while he was alive? Did William Shakespeare really write all of those plays? Theatres used to have a box by the door where patrons put their money for admission. What s it called today? When is Shakespeare s Birthday? What terrible tragedy did William Shakespeare live through? Where did Shakespeare go to college? What role in the theatre did Shakespeare play in addition to writing the plays? How many plays did Shakespeare write? Shakespeare had an eleven year-old son who died. What was his name? How many words did Shakespeare invent? Was William Shakespeare rich or poor when he died?

71 Round Eight A skull Two About a week None No one knows for sure Box office April 23, 1564 The plague Nowhere An actor 37 Hamlet Over 1700 Rich

72 Q: What shape was the Globe Theatre? Answer Key: A: Round. (Actually, the Globe Theatre was supposed to be round, but carpenters back then did not know how to achieve this, so instead, they built a round shaped building with as many as twenty sides. Q: What was found stuck in a wall backstage in the Globe Theatre? A: A skull. This was most likely part of a strange ritual/superstition before the theatre opened. Q: How much time did actors have to memorize their lines for Shakespeare s plays? A: Actors learned their parts in about a week; a leading man might have to memorize eight hundred lines a day! Q: Did William Shakespeare really write all of those plays? A: No one knows for sure that William Shakespeare wrote all of the plays. Some believe that the plays were written by many authors and that Shakespeare got the credit. Some believe that a man named Edward DeVere wrote the plays. He was a nobleman, very rich. At that time, it would have been unseemly to have a nobleman writing plays...as play-going was considered sinful. So, one theory is that the rich man wrote the plays and gave the credit to William Shakespeare. Q: When is Shakespeare s Birthday? A: Nobody knows Shakespeare s true birthday. The closest we can come is the date of his baptism on April the 26th, By tradition and guesswork, William is assumed to have been born three days earlier on April the 23rd, a date now commonly used to celebrate the famous Bard's birthday. Q: Where did Shakespeare go to college? A: Nowhere. Shakespeare, one of literature s greatest figures, never attended university. Q: How many plays did Shakespeare write? A: 37, but there is one play that has been lost forever. A play called Cardenio, was performed during his time, but has been lost in time.

73 Q: How many words did Shakespeare invent? A: Over 1700 including: amazement, bump, lonely, countless, useful, radiance and lackluster. Q: How many children did Shakespeare have? A: Shakespeare and wife had eight children, including daughter Susanna, twins Hamnet, Judith, and Edmund. Susanna received most of the Bard's fortune when he died in 1616, age 52. Hamnet died at age 11, Judith at 77. Susanna dies in 1649, age 66. Shakespeare has no direct descendants. Q: How many portraits are there of Shakespeare? A: There are only two authentic portraits of William today; the widely used engraving of William Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout first published on the title page of the 1623 First Folio and the monument of the great playwright in Stratford's Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. Q: How many of his plays were published while he was alive? A: William never published any of his plays. We read his plays today only because his fellow actors John Hemminges and Henry Condell, posthumously recorded his work as a dedication to their fellow actor in 1623, publishing 36 of William s plays. This collection known as The First Folio is the source from which all published Shakespeare books are derived and is an important proof that he authored his plays. Q: Theatres used to have a box by the door where patrons put their money for admission. What s it called today? A: Box office. As people entered the theatre, they would drop their coins into a large wooden box. Q: What terrible tragedy did William Shakespeare live through? A: William Shakespeare lived through the plague, or Black Death. This epidemic that killed over 33,000 in London alone in 1603 when Will was 39, later returned in Q: What role in the theatre did Shakespeare play in addition to writing the plays? A: An actor AND co-owner of the Globe Theatre. Few people realize that aside from writing 37 plays and composing 154 sonnets, William was also an actor who performed many of his own plays as well as those of other playwrights (Ben Jonson). He was also the co-owner of the Globe Theatre and was known to be a shrewd businessman.

74 Q: Shakespeare had an eleven year-old son who died. What was his name? A: Hamlet. Many say that the grief he felt about losing his son was the reason he gave named the sad play after him. Q: Was William Shakespeare rich or poor when he died? A: He was rich. Unlike most famous artists of his time, the Bard did not die in poverty. When he died, his will contained several large holdings of land.

75 Hamlet Tableaus Divide the class into four groups. Give each group four scenes (below) and ask them to appoint a narrator and then create four frozen pictures that tell the story of Hamlet in frozen scenes. Hamlet sees the Ghost of his Father, who demands revenge Polonius forbids his daughter to see Hamlet Hamlet feigns madness Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery Hamlet convinces the actors to put on a play about a King who is murdered by his brother The play is performed before the King The King reacts to the play and Hamlet realizes that the King is guilty Hamlet kills Polonius Ophelia goes mad Ophelia drowns herself At a graveyard, Hamlet talks to a skull The Queen drinks poison Laertes stabs Hamlet with the poisoned sword Hamlet kills Laertes Hamlet kills the King Hamlet dies

76 Macbeth Tableaus Divide the class into four groups. Give each group four scenes (below) and ask them to appoint a narrator and then create four frozen pictures that tell the story of Macbeth in frozen scenes. Returning from a successful battle, Macbeth and Banquo encounter three witches The witches tell Macbeth that he will become King Macbeth returns to his castle and tells his wife about the prediction Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide to kill the King The King arrives at the castle to celebrate Macbeth s victory Macbeth murders the sleeping King Lady Macbeth smears blood on the guards to make them look guilty Macbeth kills the guards to cover up his guilt Macbeth is made King Macbeth hires assassins to murder Banquo and his son Banquo s son escapes At a feast, Banquo s ghost appears to Macbeth, the guests think Macbeth is insane Macbeth visits the witches again. They tell him to be afraid of Macduff Macbeth has Macduff s wife and children killed Macduff assembles an army and takes over the castle Macduff kills Macbeth

77 Romeo and Juliet Tableaus The Capulets and the Montagues are two families that fight all of the time Romeo sees Juliet at a masquerade ball Romeo talks to Juliet that night while she is on her balcony Romeo and Juliet meet with Friar Lawrence and meet in secret Tybalt and Mercutio duel Romeo leaps between them, but Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo s arm Romeo kills Tybalt The Prince of Verona declares Romeo banished Romeo sneaks into Juliet s room and says goodbye Juliet s nurse tells her to marry Paris and to forget about Romeo Juliet goes to Friar Lawrence who devises a plan in which she will drink poison that will make her appear dead Juliet drinks the poison The Capulets grieve and put Juliet in a tomb Romeo finds her and drinks poison himself Juliet wakes up and finds Romeo dead Juliet stabs herself with Romeo s dagger and falls dead upon his body

78 Midsummer Night s Dream Tableaus Egeus goes to Theseus and presents his daughter Hermia and Demetrius (the man he wants her to marry) Hermia refuses, saying that she loves Lysander Theseus warns Hermia that she must obey her father Hermia and Lysander run away to elope while Helena and Demetrius follow The King and Queen of the fairies argue over a little boy The King tells his servant to find a magic potion to play a trick on the Queen A group of bumbling actors rehearse a play for the King and Queen of the fairies Puck plays a trick on one of the actors (Bottom), turning his head into that of a donkey Puck also sprinkles the potion on sleeping Lysander Lysander wakes up and falls in love with Helena The Queen wakes up and falls in love with Bottom (the actor with a donkey s head) The Queen follows the donkey around, waiting on him hand and foot Puck sprinkles the potion on Lysander again Lysander falls back in love with Hermia A group wedding is held and the actors perform their play When everyone is sleeping that night, the fairies come out and bless the couples with a protective charm

79 Shakespeare s Words William Shakespeare invented over 1700 words! In all of his work, Shakespeare uses 17,677 words. Writers often invent words, either by creating new forms of existing words or making up new words outright, because they are unable to find the exact word they require in the existing language. Shakespeare is the foremost of those. He was by far the most important individual influence on the development of the modern English that we speak today. Look at this short list of words below that we use in our daily speech and ask yourself if you could pass through a day without needing to use at least three of them.

80 Shakespeare s Words accommodation aerial amazement apostrophe assassination auspicious baseless bloody bump castigate changeful clangor control countless courtship critic critical dexterously dishearten dislocate dwindle eventful exposure fitful frugal generous gloomy gnarled gossip hurry impartial inauspicious indistinguishable invulnerable lapse laughable lonely madcap majestic misplaced monumental multitudinous obscene palmy perusal pious premeditated puke radiance reliance road sanctimonious seamy sportive submerge suspicious torture As if that were not enough, ask yourself how you could express yourself in normal conversation if Shakespeare had not put the following words together to make the language that you use in almost all the conversations that you have.

81 Shakespeare s Phrases it's Greek to me catch a cold disgraceful conduct elbowroom fair play green eyed monster heartsick hot-blooded housekeeping lackluster leapfrog long-haired clothes make the man method in his madness to thine own self be true dog will have his day mind's eye it smells to heaven live long day breathe one's last heart of gold give the devil his due too much of a good thing foregone conclusion break the ice wear one's heart on one's sleeve all that glitters isn't gold eat out of house and home be all and end all more sinned against than sinning one fell swoop the milk of human kindness neither a borrower nor a lender be witching time of the night

82 Shakespeare s Words-Homework Activity Print and cut apart the next few pages and allow each student to pick one slip of paper with a word and instructions on it out of a hat. Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! monumental Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! frugal Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! ode Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! dwindle

83 Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! rant Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! tranquil Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! majestic Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! Cater Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! pendant

84 Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! radiant Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! bandit Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! swagger Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! torture Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! mimic

85 Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! impede Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! jaded Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! gnarled Shakespeare invented over 1700 words, including this one. Find out everything you can about this word, and when you return to class, tell us the most interesting thing you discovered! pious

86 MORE Here is another word related activity to print, and cut apart: Create your own words! Shakespeare made up nonsense words (skimble-skamble, hugger-mugger, hurly-burly). He made verbs out of adjectives (happies, bolds). He added prefixes such as un (undeaf, unhair, unkinged); en (endanger, encircle, enlist). Using a character from one of the plays we ve studied, make up a word and use it in a Shakespeare-style line! For example, you could become Macbeth and say, The ghost, he speaks to me with spiritus breath. Create your own words! Shakespeare made up nonsense words (skimble-skamble, hugger-mugger, hurly-burly). He made verbs out of adjectives (happies, bolds). He added prefixes such as un (undeaf, unhair, unkinged); en (endanger, encircle, enlist). Using a character from one of the plays we ve studied, make up a word and use it in a Shakespeare-style line! For example, you could become Macbeth and say, The ghost, he speaks to me with spiritus breath. Create your own words! Shakespeare made up nonsense words (skimble-skamble, hugger-mugger, hurly-burly). He made verbs out of adjectives (happies, bolds). He added prefixes such as un (undeaf, unhair, unkinged); en (endanger, encircle, enlist). Using a character from one of the plays we ve studied, make up a word and use it in a Shakespeare-style line! For example, you could become Macbeth and say, The ghost, he speaks to me with spiritus breath.

87 Shakespearean Insults Print out the following page. In pairs in front of the class, students insult each other by reading one word from each column. They don t have to go straight across. Why you frothy, clay-brained, hugger mugger! Each student gets a turn. Or try this! Insults in Pairs Print out enough for students to work in pairs scattered around the room instead of one pair at a time in front of the class. Original Insults Invite kids to create their own insults as homework and bring them in to class. Insulting Skits Invite kids to create a short skit in which at least two characters have reason to insult each other using the insults from this list.

88 Shakespearean Insults artless bawdy beslubbering bootless churlish cockered clouted craven currish dankish dissembling droning errant fawning fobbing froward frothy gleeking goatish gorbellied impertinent infectious jarring loggerheaded lumpish mammering mangled mewling paunchy pribbling puking puny qualling rank reeky roguish base-court bat-fowling beef-witted beetle-headed boil-brained clapper-clawed clay-brained common-kissing crook-pated dismal-dreaming dizzy-eyed doghearted dread-bolted earth-vexing elf-skinned fat-kidneyed fen-sucked flap-mouthed fly-bitten folly-fallen fool-born full-gorged guts-griping half-faced hasty-witted hedge-born hell-hated idle-headed ill-breeding ill-nurtured knotty-pated milk-livered motley-minded onion-eyed plume-plucked pottle-deep apple-john baggage barnacle bladder boar-pig bugbear bum-bailey canker-blossom clack-dish clotpole coxcomb codpiece death-token dewberry flap-dragon flax-wench flirt-gill foot-licker fustilarian giglet gudgeon haggard harpy hedge-pig horn-beast hugger-mugger joithead lewdster lout maggot-pie malt-worm mammet measle minnow miscreant moldwarp

89 Midsummer Language Activities Below are three language activities designed to help students become more comfortable with Shakespearean prose! The first one is MIXED UP LOVERS Central to the plot of Midsummer Night s Dream is a lover s rectangle! Even scholars have trouble keeping the relationships straight. This fun activity can help students understand and keep track of the characters in a hands on way. Divide class into groups of four, and give each group a mini-script that helps define the relationships between the lovers. You could use objects or costume pieces to identify the characters. (All of the Hermias wear scarves, all of the Lysanders wear hats, all of the Helenas wear Mardi-Gras beads, and all of the Demetrius s have vests.) Have the students rehearse their lines, and if you have extra students, they can direct the mini-scene, or create a tableau of the lovers. Below are four different printable mini-scripts to hand out to your groups. If you have more than 16 students, give two or more groups the same scripts.

90 Group 1 Lysander: (to Demetrius) "You have her father's love, Demetrius; let me have Hermia's." Demetrius: (to Hermia) "Relent, sweet Hermia -- and, Lysander, yield thy crazed title to my certain right to marry Hermia." Hermia: (to Theseus, the King) "But I beseech your grace that I may know the worst that may befall me in this case if I refuse to wed Demetrius." Helena: (to Hermia) "Demetrius loves your fair: O Happy fair! O teach me how you look and with what art you sway the motion of Demetrius' heart." Group 2 Lysander: (to Hermia) "Fair love, you faint with wandr'ing in the wood; we'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good, and tarry for the comfort of the day." Demetrius: (to Helena) "I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more." Helena: (to Demetrius) "I am sick when I look not on you." Hermia: (to Lysander) "Good night, sweet friend: Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life ends!" Group 3 Lysander: (to Demetrius) "Demetrius be not so -- For you love Hermia. In Hermia's love I yield you up my part: And yours of Helena to me bequeath, whom I do love, and will do till my death." Demetrius: (to Helena) "O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?" Helena: (to Demetrius) "O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent to set against me for your merriment. If you were civil and knew courtesy, you would not do me thus much injury." Hermia: (to Helena) "O me, you juggler, you canker-blossom, you thief of love! What, have you come by night and stol'n my love's heart, Lysander's heart, from me?" Group 4 Lysander: (to Hermia) "And, which is more than all these boasts can be, I am beloved of beauteous Hermia." Demetrius: (to Helena) "And all the faith, the virtue of my heart, the object and the pleasure of mine eye, is only Helena." Helena: (to Demetrius) "And I have found Demetrius like a jewel, mine own." Hermia: (to Lysander) "Lysander has planted the blossom of love in my eye once again."

91 Midsummer Night s Dream Group Juggle Warm up with a group juggle using one Shakespeare word (each student chooses his own.) Then, very briefly, refresh students about the relationship between Demetrius and Helena. Staying in a circle, hand out key lines from a scene between Demetrius and Helena to the students (below). Give the students three minutes or so to memorize their line. Before playing group juggle, go around the circle saying the lines in order about three times. Then play group juggle again, using the lines from the play! Here is the text. It is repeated again on the following pages, with enough spacing so that they may be easily printed out and cut apart. I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? I do not, nor I cannot love you? I am your spaniel Use me but as your spaniel Spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me; What worser place can I beg in your love than to be used as you use your dog? Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick when I do look on thee. And I am sick when I look not on you. You do impeach your modesty too much, Into the hands of one that loves you not; Your virtue is my privilege. I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts. The wildest hath not such a heart as you. I shall do thee mischief in the wood. Fie, Demetrius! Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex: We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be wooed and were not made to woo. I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell, To die upon the hand I love so well.

92 I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more. Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair? I do not, nor I cannot love you? I am your spaniel Use me but as your spaniel Spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me;

93 What worser place can I beg in your love than to be used as you use your dog? Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit; For I am sick when I do look on thee. And I am sick when I look not on you. You do impeach your modesty too much, Into the hands of one that loves you not; Your virtue is my privilege. I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

94 The wildest hath not such a heart as you. I shall do thee mischief in the wood. Fie, Demetrius! Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex: We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be wooed and were not made to woo. I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell, To die upon the hand I love so well.

95 Titania s Boy Poem Activity With the students seated in a circle on the floor, hand out individual lines in order. Each student reads one after another to complete the passage. Ask! Can you guess who this is speaking? What won't she give up? Why? Set your heart at rest, the fairy land Buys not the child of me His mother was a Votress of my order And in the spiced Indian air by night Full often hath she gossiped by my side And sat with me on Neptune s yellow sands Marking the embarked traders on the flood. When we have laughed to see the sails conceive

96 And grow big bellied with the wanton wind Which she with pretty and with swimming gait Following her womb then rich with my young squire Would imitate and sail upon the land To fetch me trifles and return again As from a voyage rich with merchandise. But she being mortal of that boy did die And for her sake do I rear up her boy And for her sake I will not part with him.

97 Acting Practice Scripts ROMEO AND JULIET ACT II SCENE II In this scene, Romeo has just told Juliet that they have plans to get married the next day, but they have trouble saying goodbye to one another. JULIET: ROMEO: JULIET: ROMEO: JULIET: ROMEO: JULIET: ROMEO: JULIET: ROMEO: Romeo! My dear? At what o'clock to-morrow Shall I send to thee? By the hour of nine. I will not fail. 'Tis twenty years till then. I have forgot why I did call thee back. Let me stand here till thou remember it. I shall forget, to have thee still stand there, Rememb'ring how I love thy company. And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget, Forgetting any other home but this. 'Tis almost morning. I would have thee gone- And yet no farther than a wanton's bird, That lets it hop a little from her hand I would I were thy bird. JULIET: Sweet, so would I. Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

98 MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM ACT II SCENE II In this scene, Hermia and Lysander have run away and are deep into the woods. They stop to rest awhile. Lysander wants to lie down next to Hermia, but she reminds him that it is not proper. LYSANDER: Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood; And, to speak troth, I have forgot our way; We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good, And tarry for the comfort of the day. HERMIA: Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed, For I upon this bank will rest my head. LYSANDER: One turf shall serve as pillow for us both; One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth. HERMIA: Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear, Lie farther off yet, do not lie so near. LYSANDER: O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence; Love takes the meaning in love's conference. I mean that my heart unto yours is knit; So that but one heart we can make of it: HERMIA: But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off; in human modesty, Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid: So far be distant; and good night, sweet friend: Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end! LYSANDER: Amen, amen, to that fair prayer say I; And then end life when I end loyalty! Here is my bed: Sleep give thee all his rest! HERMIA: With half that wish the wisher's eyes be pressed!

99 HAMLET ACT III SCENE I In this scene, Ophelia, who was supposed to be married to Hamlet, tries to give him back some letters he had written to her. OPHELIA: HAMLET: OPHELIA: Good my lord, How does your honour for this many a day? I humbly thank you; well, well, well. My lord, I have remembrances of yours, That I have longed long to re-deliver; I pray you, now receive them. HAMLET: No, not I; I never gave you aught. OPHELIA: HAMLET: OPHELIA: HAMLET: OPHELIA: HAMLET: OPHELIA: HAMLET: OPHELIA: HAMLET: My honored lord, you know right well you did; And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed As made the things more rich: their perfume lost, Take these again; for to the noble mind Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. There, my lord. Ha, ha! are you honest? My lord? Are you fair? What means your lordship? That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your beauty. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty? Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty. I did love you once. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not.

100 OPHELIA: HAMLET: OPHELIA: HAMLET: OPHELIA: I was the more deceived. Get thee to a nunnery: We are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where's your father? At home, my lord. Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in his own house. Farewell. (He leaves.) O, help him, you sweet heavens! HAMLET ACT III SCENE III In this scene, Hamlet confronts his mother, Queen Gertrude. He is angry that she married his uncle so soon after his father s death. He suspects that she was in on the plan. HAMLET: Now, mother, what's the matter? GERTRUDE: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much offended. GERTRUDE: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue. HAMLET: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. GERTRUDE: Why, how now, Hamlet! HAMLET: What's the matter now? GERTRUDE: Have you forgot me? HAMLET: No, by the rood, not so: You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife; And--would it were not so!--you are my mother. GERTRUDE: Nay, then, I'll set those to you that can speak. HAMLET: Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not budge; You go not till I set you up a glass Where you may see the inmost part of you. GERTRUDE: What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder me? Help, help, ho!

101 Macbeth Language Activities Below are four language activities designed to help students decipher Shakespearean prose. The first game is called: Ghost Scene Students work in pairs, each student takes turns playing Banquo s ghost and Macbeth. First, demonstrate with two players onstage. Give students playing Macbeth a copy of his lines (below). The student playing Macbeth recites the lines as Banquo s ghost advances on him. (Banquo is silent but menacing.) Next, have students spread out throughout the room and try the activity in pairs. Give this lead-in, as a reminder of where we are in the story. Macbeth has had Banquo murdered. At the banquet, Banquo s Ghost returns from the dead to haunt Macbeth. But for Macbeth, it s like a nightmare, he can only move very slowly, as if a huge weight were tied to his legs. He wants to get away from the ghost, but he keeps following him. The ghost follows him slowly, never letting him get more than a few inches away! As the ghost follows Macbeth, he speaks the lines while trying to escape. After the students have played one round, have them switch places. Then, pull a few pairs of students to share their scene onstage. During a brief follow-up, you can ask students to tableau one or two phrases. Ask to see marrowless ghosts, or Hyrcan tigers, or ask the students to perform one or two lines from memory. Print and cut apart the lines on the next page for the students playing Macbeth to read as they try and escape the ghost!

102 MACBETH: Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless! Thy blood is cold. Thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with. What man dare, I dare Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear The armed rhinoceros Or the Hyrcan tiger Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves shall never tremble Hence horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence! MACBETH: Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless! Thy blood is cold. Thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with. What man dare, I dare Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear The armed rhinoceros Or the Hyrcan tiger Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves shall never tremble Hence horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence!

103 Three Weird Sisters One of Shakespeare s favorite methods with language is to accumulate words or phrases like a list. He knew that piling up language intensified descriptions, atmospheres and arguments. Here is the witch s scene from Macbeth. Break students into groups of three and have them take turns playing all of the witches. Print the scene below and give each student a copy. FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: ALL: SECOND WITCH: ALL: Thrice the brindled cat hath mewed. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Harpier cries, Tis time, tis time. Round about the cauldron go; In the poisoned entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty one Sweltered venom sleeping got Boil thou first I the charmed pot. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake; In the cauldron boil and bake: Eye of newt, and toe of frog; Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder s fork, and blind-worm s sting, Lizard s leg and howlet s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble Like a hell-broth, boil and bubble. Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

104 Macbeth s Conscience Macbeth struggles with his conscience. Should he kill King Duncan? Students can share this speech as a tortured conversation between two people, taking turns with the lines. They can catch the see-saw effect of the lines by joining hands and gently pulling or pushing as they speak, or by simply leaning back and forth with each other. Encourage students to express the rhythms of each phrase, line or sentence. Alternating lines are bold so that it s easier to keep track. If it were done when tis done, then twere well It were done quickly. If th assassination Could trammel up the consequence and catch With his surcease, success, that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all - here. But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We d jump the life to come. But in these cases. We still have the judgement here that we but teach Bloody instructions, which being taught, return To plague th inventor. This even-handed justice Commends the ingredience of our poisoned chalice To our own lips. He s here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then as his host Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath born his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angles, trumpet-tongued against The deep damnation of his taking-off. And pity, like a naked newborn babe Striding the blast, or heaven s cherubin horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition which o erleaps itself And falls on th other.

105 Macbeth in Eleven Lines! As a group, tell the story, and come up with the narrative between the lines. Then break students into small groups and have each group create an extremely short version of the play by using the lines below and movement and narration. 1. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! 2. Look like th innocent flower, but be the serpent under t. 3. Is this a dagger I see before me? 4. O horror horror horror! Ring the alarm bell! Murder and treason! 5. O, full of scorpions is my mind dear wife! 6. O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly. Thous mayst revenge. 7. Avaunt and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! 8. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 9. What you egg! Young fry of treachery! (he stabs himself) He has killed me, mother! 10. Out damed spot! Out I say! Here s the smell of blood still. 11. Lay on Macduff!

106 Shakespeare Mystery Characters This activity gives kids a fun way to learn more about the characters in four of Shakespeare s plays. Each student picks a mystery character out of a hat and does some detective work to find out more about him/her. There are characters from four plays below ready to print out, cut apart and give to students. Ways to use the printout: Character in a Minute Kids could give a one minute summary of each character including his/her most famous line. Character Pantomime Students could perform a short pantomime of something that character does. Shakespearean Improv Students could work in small groups with characters from their play to do an improvisation, such as what happened before the play began, or what these characters would be like today.

107 Hamlet Characters Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? The Ghost Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Hamlet Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Queen Gertrude Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? King Claudius Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Ophelia

108 Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Laertes Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Polonius Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Reynaldo Here is a character from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Horatio Here are two characters from Hamlet. What new information can you find out about them? Do they have any famous lines? What are these characters like? Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

109 Romeo and Juliet Characters Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Romeo Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Juliet Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Friar Lawrence Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Mercutio Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? The Nurse

110 Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Tybalt Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Lord Capulet Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Lady Capulet Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Montague Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Lady Montague

111 Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Paris Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Benvolio Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Prince Escalus Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Friar John Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Balthasar

112 Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? The Apothecary Here is a character from Romeo and Juliet. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Rosaline

113 Midsummer Night s Dream Characters Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Theseus Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Hippolyta Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Egeus Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Hermia

114 Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Lysander Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Demetrius Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Helena Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Robin Goodfellow Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Oberon

115 Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Titania Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Nick Bottom Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Peter Quince Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Francis Flute Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Robin Starveling

116 Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Tom Snout Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Snug Here is a character from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Philostrate Here are some characters from Midsummer Night s Dream. What new information can you find out about them? Do they have any famous lines? What are these characters like? Peaselblossom, Cobweb, Mote and Mustardseed

117 Macbeth Characters Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him? Does he have a famous line? What is this character like? Macbeth Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about her? Does she have a famous line? What is this character like? Lady Macbeth Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about her? Does she have a famous line? What is this character like? One of the Three Witches Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him? Does he have a famous line? What is this character like? Banquo

118 Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him? Does he have a famous line? What is this character like? King Duncan Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him? Does he have a famous line? What is this character like? Macduff Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him? Does he have a famous line? What is this character like? Malcolm Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Hecate Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Fleance

119 Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Lennox Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Ross Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Porter Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Lady Macduff Here is a character from Macbeth. What new information can you find out about him/her? Does he/she have a famous line? What is this character like? Donalbain

120 Shakespeare Monologues Below are 34 famous speeches taken from various Shakespeare plays. There are fifteen for men, fifteen for women and four that can be played by either a man or a woman. Unfortunately, the men s soliloquys tend to be longer than those for women. You may choose to allow those performing men s soliloquies to truncate or edit their speeches to a certain number of lines. Ways to use the soliloquies: Monologues Give each actor in class a soliloquy to memorize and perform. Assign them the task of researching the character and the play so that they can give a proper lead-in narrative to the piece they are performing. In Other Words Assign each actor the task of memorizing their soliloquy. When they deliver their speech, they must speak the subtext or underlying meaning of the line directly after each line as an aside. This will help all students learn to understand Shakespearean language.

121 Hamlet Monologues HAMLET ACT 1 Scene III In this passage, Polonius (Laertes and Ophelia s father) gives Laertes some last minute advice before he leaves for college. POLONIUS Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,(60) And you are stay'd for. There, my blessing with thee. And these few precepts in thy memory See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are of a most select and generous, chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell. My blessing season this in thee! You re still here? Shame on you get on board! The wind is filling your ship s sail, and they re waiting for you. Here, I give you my blessing again. And just try to remember a few rules of life. Don t say what you re thinking, and don t be too quick to act on what you think. Be friendly to people but don t overdo it. Once you ve tested out your friends and found them trustworthy, hold onto them. But don t waste your time shaking hands with every new guy you meet. Don t be quick to pick a fight, but once you re in one, hold your own. Listen to many people, but talk to few. Hear everyone s opinion, but reserve your judgment. Spend all you can afford on clothes, but make sure they re quality, not flashy, since clothes make the man which is doubly true in France. Don t borrow money and don t lend it, since when you lend to a friend, you often lose the friendship as well as the money, and borrowing turns a person into a spendthrift. And, above all, be true to yourself. Then you won t be false to anybody else. Good-bye, son. I hope my blessing will help you absorb what I ve said.

122 HAMLET Act II Scene II In this passage, Hamlet is alone, talking about one of the actors and how he could conjure up feelings from his own imagination (acting). He compares his own situation with a real circumstance to the actor who is merely in a play, and imagines that if the actor was in his situation, he would amaze the audience with the depth of his emotion. He s also starting to question his own sanity and doubts his courage regarding getting revenge on his father. HAMLET O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her working all his visage wann'd, Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing! For Hecuba! Now I m alone. Oh, what a mean low-life I am! It s awful that this actor could force his soul to feel made-up feelings in a work of make-believe. He grew pale, shed real tears, became overwhelmed, his voice breaking with feeling and his whole being, even, meeting the needs of his act and all for nothing. For Hecuba! HAMLET Act III Scene 1 In this passage, Hamlet reflects on the unfortunate circumstance of his life (and anyone s life) and wonders whether he s better off dead. HAMLET (edited version) To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep (edited) To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For in such sleep of death what dreams might come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. The question is: is it better to be alive or dead? Is it nobler to put up with all the nasty things that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles by simply putting an end to them once and for all? Dying, sleeping that s all dying is a sleep that ends all the heartache and shocks that life on earth gives us that s an achievement to wish for. To die, to sleep to sleep, maybe to dream. Ah, but there s the catch: in death s sleep who knows what kind of dreams might come, after we ve put the noise and commotion of life behind us.

123 HAMLET Act III Scene II In this passage, Hamlet is about to go speak to Queen Gertrude, his mother. He plans on confronting her about whether or not she was complicit in the plans to kill her husband, Hamlet s father. It s late and he is worried about speaking too harshly to her. HAMLET Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood, And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my mother. O heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom: Let me be cruel, not unnatural: I will speak daggers to her, but use none; My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites; How in my words soever she be shent, To give them seals never, my soul, consent! Nero Let me be cruel, but not inhuman. This is the time of night when witches come out, when graveyards yawn open and the stench of hell seeps out. I could drink hot blood and do such terrible deeds that people would tremble even in the daylight. But I ve got to go see my mother. Oh, heart, don t grow weak, like Nero(Nero was a Roman emperor known for his extreme cruelty.) I ll speak as sharp as a dagger to her, but I won t use one on her. And so, my words and thoughts will be at odds.

124 HAMLET Act V Scene I In this passage, a gravedigger has unearthed several skulls in a grave while he was preparing the grave for Ophelia. Hamlet watches and picks up one skull that belonged to a jester whom he had known as a young boy. He mocks the skull for just being a skull, with no ability to make people laugh any longer. (Hamlet is constantly reflecting on life s condition and how impermanent it is.) HAMLET Takes the skull Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that. Oh, poor Yorick! I used to know him, Horatio a very funny guy, and with an excellent imagination. He carried me on his back a thousand times, and now how terrible this is him. It makes my stomach turn. I don t know how many times I kissed the lips that used to be right here. Where are your jokes now? Your pranks? Your songs? Your flashes of wit that used to set the whole table laughing? You don t make anybody smile now. Are you sad about that? You need to go to my lady s room and tell her that no matter how much makeup she slathers on, she ll end up just like you some day. That ll make her laugh.

125 HAMLET Act III Scene III In this passage, King Claudius, who had killed his own brother in order to get the crown and his wife, feels guilt and remorse over his deed, but still admits that a part of him is glad that he has what he has. In the end, he asks the angels to help him feel remorse so that he can be forgiven. CLAUDIUS O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder. Pray can I not, Though inclination be as sharp as will: My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent; And, like a man to double business bound, I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect. Help, angels! Make assay! Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart with strings of steel, Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe! All may be well. Oh, my crime is so rotten it stinks all the way to heaven. It has the mark of Cain (In the Bible, Cain was the first murderer, killing his brother in Genesis 4:10-12.)on it, a brother s murder. I can t pray, though I want to desperately. My guilt is stronger even than my intentions. And like a person with two opposite things to do at once, I stand paralyzed and neglect them both. Help me, angels! C mon, make an effort. Bend, stubborn knees. Steely heart, be soft as a newborn babe, so I can pray. Perhaps everything will turn out okay after all.

126 HAMLET Act III Scene 1 In this passage, Ophelia is saddened by Hamlet s depression and descent into insanity. OPHELIA O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword; The expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, The observed of all observers, quite, quite down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That suck'd the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy: O, woe is me, To have seen what I have seen, see what I see! Oh, how noble his mind used to be, and how lost he is now! He used to have a gentleman s grace, a scholar s wit, and a soldier s strength. He used to be the jewel of our country, the obvious heir to the throne, the one everyone admired and imitated. And now he has fallen so low! And of all the miserable women who once enjoyed hearing his sweet, seductive words, I am the most miserable. A mind that used to sing so sweetly is now completely out of tune, making harsh sounds instead of fine notes. The unparalleled appearance and nobility he had in the full bloom of his youth has been ruined by madness. O, how miserable I am to see Hamlet now and know what he was before!

127 Macbeth Monologues MACBETH Act I Scene V In this scene, a messenger has just told Lady Macbeth that King Duncan is about to arrive. She wishes for the courage to follow through on murdering him under her own roof. LADY MACBETH The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry 'Hold, hold!' So the messenger is short of breath, like a hoarse raven, as he announces Duncan s entrance into my fortress, where he will die. Come, you spirits that asist murderous thoughts, make me less like a woman and more like a man, and fill me from head to toe with deadly cruelty! Thicken my blood and clog up my veins so I won t feel remorse, so that no human compassion can stop my evil plan or prevent me from accomplishing it! Come to my female breast and turn my mother s milk into poisonous acid, you murdering demons, wherever you hide, invisible and waiting to do evil! Come, thick night, and cover the world in the darkest smoke of hell, so that my sharp knife can t see the wound it cuts open, and so heaven can t peep through the darkness and cry, No! Stop!

128 MACBETH Act II Scene I In this scene, Macbeth is about to go and murder the King. He sees an invisible dagger in the air and he wonders if it real or exists only in his mind. MACBETH Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw. Is this a dagger I see in front of me, with its handle pointing toward my hand? (to the dagger) Come, let me hold you. (he grabs at the air in front of him without touching anything) I don t have you but I can still see you. Fateful apparition, isn t it possible to touch you as well as see you? Or are you nothing more than a dagger created by the mind, a hallucination from my fevered brain? I can still see you, and you look as real as this other dagger that I m pulling out now. (He draws a dagger.) MACBETH Act V Scene I In this scene, Lady Macbeth has already smeared blood on the sleeping guards to make them look guilty. She has started to go mad and imagines that there is blood on her hands that will not wash off. She rubs and rubs at her hands, yet she imagines that the blood remains.

129 LADY MACBETH (Doctor s lines omitted.) Out, damned spot! out, I say!--one: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.--hell is murky!--fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?--yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him. The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?-- What, will these hands ne'er be clean?--no more o' that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with this starting. Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh! Come out, damned spot! Out, I command you! One, two. OK, it s time to do it now. Hell is murky! Nonsense, my lord, nonsense! You are a soldier, and yet you are afraid? Why should we be scared, when no one can lay the guilt upon us? But who would have thought the old man would have had so much blood in him? The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will my hands never be clean? No more of that, my lord, no more of that. You ll ruin everything by acting startled like this. MACBETH Act V Scene V In this passage, Macbeth has just learned that Lady Macbeth has killed herself. He feels hopeless and the impact of his deeds have made him realize that it was not worth it. MACBETH Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The days creep slowly along until the end of time. And every day that s already happened has taken fools that much closer to their deaths. Out, out, brief candle. Life is nothing more than an illusion. It s like a poor actor who struts and worries for his hour on the stage and then is never heard from again. Life is a story told by an idiot, full of noise and emotional disturbance but devoid of meaning.

130 Midsummer Night s Dream Monologues MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM Act II Scene I In this passage, Robin Goodfellow (also known as Puck) comes across a fairy who explains that she is busy getting a meadow ready for an upcoming fairy dance. FAIRY Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere, Swifter than the moon's sphere; And I serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green. The cowslips tall her pensioners be: In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours: I must go seek some dewdrops here And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone: Our queen and all our elves come here anon. I go over hills and valleys, through bushes and thorns, over parks and fenced-in spaces, through water and fire. I wander everywhere faster than the moon revolves around the Earth. I work for Titania, the Fairy Queen, and organize fairy dances for her in the grass. The cowslip flowers are her bodyguards. You ll see that their petals have spots on them those are rubies, fairy gifts. Their sweet smells come from those little freckles. Now I have to go find some dewdrops and hang a pearl earring on every cowslip flower. Goodbye, you dumb old spirit. I ve got to go. The queen and her elves will be here soon.

131 MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM Act II Scene I In this passage, Robin (who is also known as Puck) tells a fairy to keep the fairy Queen Titania away from Oberon (the King) because he is angry at her for keeping the little Indian boy for herself. ROBIN GOODFELLOW (PUCK) The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight; For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, Because that she as her attendant hath A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling; And jealous Oberon would have the child Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild; But she perforce withholds the loved boy, Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy: And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen, But, they do square, that all their elves for fear Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there. The king s having a party here tonight. Just make sure the queen doesn t come anywhere near him, because King Oberon is extremely angry. He s furious because she stole an adorable boy from an Indian king. She s never kidnapped such a darling human child before, and Oberon s jealous. He wants the child for himself, to accompany him on his wanderings through the wild forests. But the queen refuses to hand the boy over to Oberon. Instead, she puts flowers in the boy s hair and makes a fuss over him.

132 MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM Act II Scene I In this passage, Robin Goodfellow is speaking to a fairy who has asked him if he is the trickster hobgoblin she has heard of. He tells her that she is right, and explains some of the pranks he has played on people. ROBIN GOODFELLOW (PUCK) Thou speak'st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon and make him smile When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal: And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In very likeness of a roasted crab, And when she drinks, against her lips I bob And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale. The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me; Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough; And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh, And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear A merrier hour was never wasted there. But, room, fairy! here comes Oberon. What you say is true. That s me you re talking about, the playful wanderer of the night. I tell jokes to Oberon and make him smile. I ll trick a fat, well-fed horse into thinking that I m a young female horse. Sometimes I hide at the bottom of an old woman s drink disguised as an apple. When she takes a sip, I bob up against her lips and make her spill the drink all over her withered old neck. Sometimes a wise old woman with a sad story to tell tries to sit down on me, thinking I m a three-legged stool. But I slip from underneath her and she falls down, crying, Ow, my butt! and starts coughing, and then everyone laughs and has fun. But step aside, fairy! Here comes Oberon.

133 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM Act II Scene I In this passage, Titania explains to Oberon that their arguing has prevented the fairies from doing their work to balance the seasons, causing the weather to go wild and the farmers to suffer. TITANIA These are the forgeries of jealousy: And never, since the middle summer's spring, Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead, By paved fountain or by rushy brook, Or in the beached margent of the sea, To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind, But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport. Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea Contagious fogs; which falling in the land Have every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents: The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard; The fold stands empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud, And the quaint mazes in the wanton green For lack of tread are undistinguishable: The human mortals want their winter here; No night is now with hymn or carol blest: Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, Pale in her anger, washes all the air, That rheumatic diseases do abound: And thorough this distemperature we see The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose, And on old Hiems' thin and icy crown An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer, The childing autumn, angry winter, change Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world, By their increase, now knows not which is which: And this same progeny of evils comes From our debate, from our dissension; We are their parents and original. These are nothing but jealous lies. Since the beginning of midsummer, my fairies and I haven t been able to meet anywhere to do our dances in the wind without being disturbed by you and your arguments. We haven t been able to meet on a hill or in a valley, in the forest or a meadow, by a pebbly fountain or a rushing stream, or on the beach by the ocean without you disturbing us. And because you interrupt us so that we can t dance for them, the winds have

134 made fogs rise up out of the sea and fall down on the rivers so that the rivers flood, just to get revenge on you. So all the work that oxen and farmers have done in plowing the fields has been for nothing, because the unripe grain has rotted before it was ripe. Sheep pens are empty in the middle of the flooded fields, and the crows get fat from eating the dead bodies of infected sheep. All the fields where people usually play games are filled with mud, and you can t even see the elaborate mazes that people create in the grass, because no one walks in them anymore and they ve all grown over. It s not winter here for the human mortals, so they re not protected by the holy hymns and carols that they sing in winter. So the pale, angry moon, who controls the tides, fills the air with diseases. As a consequence of this bad weather and these bad moods the seasons have started to change. Cold frosts spread over the red roses, and the icy winter wears a crown of sweet summer flowers as some sick joke. Spring, summer, fertile autumn and angry winter have all changed places, and now the confused world doesn t know which is which. And this is all because of our argument. We are responsible for this.

135 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM ACT II SCENE I In this passage, Oberon commands Puck to find the flower that can cast love spells on people. He s angry at Titania for stealing the Indian child and claiming him as her own and wants to play a trick on her. OBERON I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies. I know a place where wild thyme blooms, and oxlips and violets grow. It s covered over with luscious honeysuckle, sweet muskroses and sweetbrier. Titania sleeps there sometimes at night, lulled to sleep among the flowers by dances and other delights. Snakes shed their skin there, and the shed skin is wide enough to wrap a fairy in. I ll put the juice of this flower on Titania s eyes, and fill her with horrible delusions and desires.

136 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM Act II Scene II In this scene, Hermia wakes from a terrible dream and finds Lysander gone. This speech ends Act II. HERMIA Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast! Ay me, for pity! what a dream was here! Lysander, look how I do quake with fear: Methought a serpent eat my heart away, And you sat smiling at his cruel pray. Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord! What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word? Alack, where are you speak, an if you hear; Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear. No? then I well perceive you all not nigh Either death or you I'll find immediately. Help me, Lysander, help me! Get this snake off of my chest. Oh, my God! What a terrible dream I just had! Lysander, look how I m shaking from fear. I thought a snake was eating my heart while you sat smiling and watching. Lysander! What, is he gone? Lysander, my lord! What, is he out of earshot? Gone? No answer, nothing? Oh, God, where are you? Say something if you can hear me. Say something, please! I m almost fainting with fear. Nothing? Then I guess you re nowhere nearby. I ll find you or die right away.

137 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM Act III Scene II In this passage, Robin Goodfellow sees Helena (who is confused about who she loves) approaching and asks Oberon if he wants to watch his tricks in action. ROBIN GOODFELLOW (PUCK) Captain of our fairy band, Helena is here at hand, And the youth, mistook by me, Pleading for a lover s fee. Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be! Helena is nearby, boss. The young man who I mistook for this one is there too, begging her to love him. Should we watch this ridiculous scene? Lord, what fools these mortals are! A MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM Act V Scene I In this passage, meant to be sung, Oberon and Titania have made up and Oberon sings about their happy future. OBERON Now, until the break of day, Through this house each fairy stray. To the best bride-bed will we, Which by us shall blessed be; And the issue there create Ever shall be fortunate. So shall all the couples three Ever true in loving be; And the blots of Nature's hand Shall not in their issue stand; Never mole, hare lip, nor scar, Nor mark prodigious, such as are Despised in nativity, Shall upon their children be. With this field-dew consecrate, Every fairy take his gait; And each several chamber bless, Through this palace, with sweet peace; And the owner of it blest Ever shall in safety rest. Trip away; make no stay; Meet me all by break of day. Now, until morning, each fairy should walk through this house. Titania and I will go to the royal marriage bed to bless it, and the children conceived in that bed will always have good luck. Each of the three couples will always be faithful and in love, and their children will have no deformities.

138 MIDSUMMER NIGHT S DREAM Act V Scene II Puck ends the play. He asks the audience not to be offended by anything in the play and if they were, to regard it as just a dream. PUCK If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend; If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearnèd luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call: So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends. If we actors have offended you, just think of it this way and everything will be all right you were asleep when you saw these visions, and this silly and pathetic story was no more real than a dream. Ladies and gentlemen, don t get upset with me. If you forgive us, we ll make everything all right. I m an honest Puck, and I swear that if we re lucky enough not to get hissed at, we ll make it up to you soon. If not, then I m a liar. So good night to everyone. Give me some applause, if we re friends, and Robin will make everything up to you.

139 Romeo and Juliet Monologues ROMEO AND JULIET Act I Scene I In this scene, Romeo has seen Juliet for the first time. He talks about how beautiful she is. ROMEO O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night. Oh, she shows the torches how to burn bright! She stands out against the darkness like a jeweled earring hanging against the cheek of an African. Her beauty is too good for this world; she s too beautiful to die and be buried. She outshines the other women like a white dove in the middle of a flock of crows. When this dance is over, I ll see where she stands, and then I ll touch her hand with my rough and ugly one. Did my heart ever love anyone before this moment? My eyes were liars, then, because I never saw true beauty before tonight.

140 ROMEO AND JULIET Act II Scene II In this passage, Romeo has snuck into the garden of the Capulet manor and is watching Juliet out on her balcony. ROMEO But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it. I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks: Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek! But wait, what s that light in the window over there? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Rise up, beautiful sun, and kill the jealous moon ( Diana is the goddess of the moon and of virginity). Romeo implies that Juliet is a servant of the moon as long as she s a virgin. The moon is already sick and pale with grief because you, Juliet, her maid, are more beautiful than she. Don t be her maid, because she is jealous. Virginity makes her look sick and green. Only fools hold on to their virginity. Let it go. Oh, there s my lady! Oh, it is my love. Oh, I wish she knew how much I love her. She s talking, but she s not saying anything. So what? Her eyes are saying something. I will answer them. I am too bold. She s not talking to me. Two of the brightest stars in the whole sky had to go away on business, and they re asking her eyes to twinkle in their places until they return. What if her eyes were in the sky and the stars were in her head? The brightness of her cheeks would outshine the stars the way the sun outshines a lamp. If her eyes were in the night sky, they would shine so brightly through space that birds would start singing, thinking her light was the light of day. Look how she leans her hand on her cheek. Oh, I wish I was the glove on that hand so that I could touch that cheek.

141 Act II Scene II Juliet is on her balcony after just meeting Romeo. She talks to herself, imagining that Romeo should forget that he is a Montague swearing that if he does, she will forget that she is a Capulet. JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet. Oh, Romeo, Romeo, why do you have to be Romeo? Forget about your father and change your name. Or else, if you won t change your name, just swear you love me and I ll stop being a Capulet. Act II Scene V In this speech, Juliet talks to herself while she impatiently waits for her nurse to return with news from Romeo. She complains that it has been too long and that the woman is slow. JULIET The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse; In half an hour she promised to return. Perchance she cannot meet him: that's not so. O, she is lame! love's heralds should be thoughts, Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams, Driving back shadows over louring hills: Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw love, And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings. Now is the sun upon the highmost hill Of this day's journey, and from nine till twelve Is three long hours, yet she is not come. Had she affections and warm youthful blood, She would be as swift in motion as a ball; My words would bandy her to my sweet love, And his to me: But old folks, many feign as they were dead; Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead. I sent the Nurse at nine o'clock. Maybe she can t find him. That can t be. Oh, she s slow! Love s messengers should be thoughts, which fly ten times faster than sunbeams. They should be strong enough to push shadows over the dark hills. That s the way doves carry Venus so fast, and that s why Cupid has wings that let him fly as fast as the wind. Now it s noon. That s three hours since nine o'clock, but she hasn t come back. If she was young and passionate, she d move as fast as a ball. My words would bounce her to my sweet love, and his words would bounce her back to me. But a lot of old people act like they re already dead sluggish, slow, fat, and colorless, like lead.

142 ROMEO AND JULIET Act III Scene II In this scene, Juliet waits for her nurse to return with news from Romeo. She talks about how much she loves Romeo and how impatient she is for them to be together. JULIET Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-browed night, Give me my Romeo. And when I shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun. Oh, I have bought the mansion of a love, But not possessed it, and though I am sold, Not yet enjoyed. So tedious is this day As is the night before some festival To an impatient child that hath new robes And may not wear them. Come, gentle night. Come, loving, dark night. Give me my Romeo. And when I die, turn him into stars and form a constellation in his image. His face will make the heavens so beautiful that the world will fall in love with the night and forget about the garish sun. Oh, I have bought love s mansion, but I haven t moved in yet. I belong to Romeo now, but he hasn t taken possession of me yet. This day is so boring that I feel like a child on the night before a holiday, waiting to put on my fancy new clothes.

143 ROMEO AND JULIET Act V Scene III Romeo s last words. He is in Juliet s tomb, and believing that she is dead, he has drunk poison. ROMEO How oft when men are at the point of death Have they been merry! which their keepers call A lightning before death: O, how may I Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife! Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty: Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, And death's pale flag is not advanced there. Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet? O, what more favour can I do to thee, Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain To sunder his that was thine enemy? Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet, Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous, And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that, I still will stay with thee; And never from this palace of dim night Depart again: here, here will I remain With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love! O true apothecary, Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. How often are men happy right before they die! They call it the lightness before death. Oh, how can I call this lightness? Oh, my love! My wife! Death has sucked the honey from your breath, but it has not yet ruined your beauty. You haven t been conquered. There is still red in your lips and in your cheeks. Death has not yet turned them pale. Tybalt, are you lying there in your bloody death shroud? Oh, what better favor can I do for you than to kill the man who killed you with the same hand that made you die young. Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet, why are you still so beautiful? Should I believe that death is in love with you, and that the awful monster keeps you here to be his mistress? I don t like that idea, so I ll stay with you. And I will never leave this tomb. Here, here I ll remain with worms that are your chamber-maids. Oh, I ll rest here forever. I ll forget about all the bad luck that has troubled me. Eyes, look out for the last time! Arms, make your last embrace! And lips, you are the doors of breath. Seal with a

144 righteous kiss the deal I have made with death forever. (ROMEO kisses JULIET and takes out the poison) Come, bitter poison, come, unsavory guide! You desperate pilot, let s crash this seaweary ship into the rocks! Here s to my love! ROMEO drinks the poison. Oh, that pharmacist was honest! His drugs work quickly. So I die with a kiss. ROMEO (His last words, edited version.) From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love! O true apothecary, Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Eyes, look out for the last time! Arms, make your last embrace! And lips, you are the doors of breath. Seal with a righteous kiss the deal I have made with death forever. (ROMEO kisses JULIET and takes out the poison) Come, bitter poison, come, unsavory guide! You desperate pilot, let s crash this sea-weary ship into the rocks! Here s to my love! ROMEO drinks the poison. Oh, that pharmacist was honest! His drugs work quickly. So I die with a kiss.

145 Ways to use quotes: Shakespeare Quotes "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." --From As You Like It (II, vii, ) Print and cut apart the following pages of quotes from six Shakespeare plays. Give each student a quote to memorize, then stage a scene of quotes. All students can be onstage at once, randomly spread out across the stage area (this can be half of the class if the class is large, then the second half can do theirs at the end). Each student stands in closed pose, and comes to life as she recites her quote. You can use quotes from the particular play you are choosing to perform, or quotes from all of the plays if you have chosen to do scenes from each play. There are enough quotes here from each play for every student to have his/her own or even move than one. The last quote listed for each play could be offered as a powerful way to end the last class. Another option is to select six students to deliver all six LAST QUOTES at the end of class. Read one after another, they are powerful endings to our process. Or try this! Whose Line is It? The quotes cite the play, act and scene, but do not name the character delivering the line. Give each student a quote and have them find out who the line belongs to.

146 Hamlet Quotes (Print and cut apart the quotes!) "To be or not to be, --that is the question:-- Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?" Hamlet Act III, Scene I What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, The paragon of animals! Hamlet Act II, Scene II Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry Hamlet, Act I, Scene III

147 A little more than kin, and less than kind. Hamlet Act I, Scene II And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Hamlet, Act I, Scene III All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity. Hamlet, Act I, Scene II Unhand me, gentlemen. By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me! Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV Frailty, thy name is woman! Hamlet, Act I, Scene II Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Hamlet, Act I, Scene IV Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes. Hamlet, Act I, Scene II Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. Hamlet, Act I, Scene V

148 These are but wild and whirling words, my lord. Hamlet, Act I, Scene V Brevity is the soul of wit. Hamlet, Act II, Scene II The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Hamlet, Act III, Scene II LAST QUOTE This above all: to thine own self be true. Hamlet, Act I, Scene III. The play 's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king. Hamlet, Act II, Scene II

149 Romeo and Juliet Quotes A pair of star-crossed lovers. Romeo and Juliet, Prologue It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Romeo and Juliet,Act II, Scene II Never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. Romeo and Juliet, 5. 3 For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do that dares love attempt. Romeo and Juliet, 2. 2 My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Romeo and Juliet, 1. 5 O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable. Romeo and Juliet, 2. 2

150 O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast. Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene III Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze. Romeo and Juliet, 3. 1 For you and I are past our dancing day. Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene V A plague o' both your houses! Romeo and Juliet, 3. 1

151 O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright. Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene V Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun. Romeo and Juliet, 3. 2 See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek! Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II Death lies on her like an untimely frost Upon the sweetest flower of all the field. Romeo and Juliet, 4. 5 Her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light. Romeo and Juliet, 5. 3 LAST QUOTE Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow. Act II, Scene II

152 Macbeth Quotes To-morrow, and to-morrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Macbeth, Act V, Scene V I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none. Macbeth Act I, Scene VII There 's daggers in men's smiles. Macbeth Act II, Scene III I bear a charmed life. Macbeth, Act V, Scene VIII What 's done is done. Macbeth Act III, Scene II Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness. Macbeth, Act I, Scene V

153 Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Macbeth, Act I, Scene I Out, damned spot! out, I say! Macbeth, Act V, Scene I Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red. Macbeth, Act II, Scene II All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Macbeth, Act V, Scene I Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done, When the battle 's lost and won. Macbeth, Act I, Scene I

154 If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me. Macbeth, Act I, Scene III I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other. Macbeth, Act I, Scene VII Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it; he died as one that had been studied in his death to throw away the dearest thing he owed, as't were a careless trifle. Macbeth, Act I, Scene IV Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Macbeth, Act II, Scene I Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't. Macbeth, Act I, Scene V LAST QUOTE Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Macbeth, Act V, Scene V

155 Midsummer Quotes The course of true love never did run smooth. A Midsummer Night s Dream, 1.1 The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2. 1 Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. A Midsummer Night s Dream, 1.1 Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2. 1 Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; Brief as the lightning in the collied night. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1. 1 Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2. 1

156 So quick bright things come to confusion. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1. 1 My heart Is true as steel. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2.1 I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2. 1 Weaving spiders, come not here; Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence! Beetles black, approach not near; Worm nor snail, do no offence. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2. 2 You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2. 2 A lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 3. 1

157 Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 3. 1 What angel wakes me from my flowery bed? A Midsummer Night's Dream, 3. 1 Lord, what fools these mortals be! A Midsummer Night's Dream, 3. 2 LAST QUOTE If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumbered here While these visions did appear. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 5. 1 Cupid is a knavish lad, Thus to make poor females mad. A Midsummer Night's Dream, 3. 2

158 Stories of the Plays Four Shakespeare Plays Told Quickly Use these extremely condensed versions of the plays to help learn the plots yourself and to describe the main plot points easily to your students. Ways to use this printout: Pantomime the Play In small groups, have the kids silently act out each line of what happens. Ten Line Shakespeare In small groups, have students find a line of dialogue that reflects what happens on each line. Kids act out the play in ten-twelve lines! Abbreviated Shakespeare Based on the shortened versions of each play, have kids perform shorter versions of the scenes described using actual dialogue. Modern Shakespeare Have the students create a modern day version of the play based on the main events in the play. The idea is to use modern costumes/characters and dialogue.

159 What happens in Hamlet Hamlet sees the Ghost of his Father, who demands revenge Polonius forbids his daughter to see Hamlet Hamlet feigns madness Hamlet tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery Hamlet convinces the actors to put on a play about a King who is murdered by his brother The play is performed before the King The King reacts to the play and Hamlet realizes that the King is guilty Hamlet kills Polonius Ophelia goes mad Ophelia drowns herself At a graveyard, Hamlet talks to a skull The Queen drinks poison Laertes stabs Hamlet with the poisoned sword Hamlet kills Laertes Hamlet kills the King Hamlet dies What happens in Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet, the children of two feuding families, fall in love Romeo and Juliet rendezvous They are married in secret Juliet's cousin Tybalt kills Romeo's friend Mercutio Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished from Verona Juliet's father demands that she marry Paris; she refuses Juliet goes to the Capulet tomb and takes a drug that makes her appear dead Romeo, thinking her dead, comes to her tomb and kills Paris Romeo sees Juliet in a deathlike state and drinks poison Juliet awakes and, finding Romeo dead, stabs herself

160 What happens in A Midsummer Night's Dream Egeus demands that Hermia marry Demetrius or "die the death" Hermia and Lysander flee to the woods, followed by Demetrius and Helena A group of workmen also enter the woods to practice a play for the Duke. Oberon charms Titania, Puck charms Lysander Lysander falls in love with Helena The mischievous Puck gives Bottom a donkey s head, Titania falls in love with him Oberon charms Demetrius, who falls in love with Helena Lysander and Demetrius woo Helena, who thinks they are mocking her The lovers fall asleep, Puck removes the spell from Lysander Oberon restores order, forgives the Queen, and pairs up the human lovers to everyone s satisfaction A wedding feast is held and Bottom and his men perform their terrible play. What happens in Macbeth Macbeth meets Three Weird Sisters Macbeth kills King Duncan (sees an invisible dagger) Banquo is murdered Macbeth sees Banquo's Ghost Macbeth meets Weird Sisters again Macduff's family is murdered Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, tries to wash the blood off her hands Lady Macbeth dies Macduff kills Macbeth

161 The Story of Hamlet Once upon a time, there was a prince named Hamlet. He was away at college when he was called home because his father had died. Upon returning home, he is shocked to find that his mother, Queen Gertrude had already married his uncle, Claudius the dead king s brother. Shortly before Hamlet s return, some watchmen and a scholar named Horatio had seen a ghost walking along the ramparts of the castle. The ghost appears to be Hamlet s father, the dead king. The watchmen and Horatio bring Hamlet to see the ghost and the ghost speaks to him, claiming to have been murdered by Claudius. He says that Claudius poured poison in his ear while he was sleeping in the orchard, and the ghost tells Hamlet to get revenge on his uncle for stealing his throne and marrying his wife. Hamlet becomes very depressed and decides to act as if he is crazy so that he can observe what is going on in the castle. But this only confuses him more. He wonders if the ghost was really his father, or an agent of the devil sent to tempt him to do something he would regret. Queen Gertrude and Claudius worry about the prince s strange behavior and ask Hamlet s friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to keep an eye on him. Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain thinks that Hamlet is going crazy out of love for his daughter, Ophelia. But Claudius spies on Hamlet while he is talking to Ophelia and overhears him telling her that marriages should be banned and that she should become a nun. Meanwhile, a troupe of players arrives at the castle and Hamlet comes up with a plan to see if what the ghost had said was true. He convinces the actors to add some scenes to their play in which they recreate the murder as the ghost had described. While the play is going on, Hamlet watches his uncle s reaction very closely. Claudius reaction proves to Hamlet that what the ghost had said was true. He has trouble breathing and seeing, and has to leave the room. Hamlet decides that he will kill the king and avenge his father s death. He finds Claudius praying and decides not to kill him right then, as it would send his soul to heaven. He goes to his mother s bed chamber later to confront her and he sees someone moving behind a tapestry. Thinking that it s his uncle, he stabs the person through the fabric, but finds out that it was not his uncle, it was Polonius, Ophelia s father. As punishment, Claudius sends Hamlet away to England with his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. But the king also sends sealed orders to the king of England, demanding that Hamlet be put to death. Upon hearing that her father is dead, Ophelia goes mad with grief and drowns herself in the river. Her brother, Laertes arrives at the castle and finds out that his sister and father are both dead. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is to blame. About that time, they receive word that Hamlet s ship had been attacked by pirates and that he was returning to the castle. Claudius convinces Laertes that when Hamlet returns, he should challenge him to a duel, but Claudius takes extra steps to make sure that Hamlet will die. He poisons the tip of the blade of the sword and he also puts poison in a goblet that he plans to hand to Hamlet in case he wins the first or second round of the duel.

162 The swordfight begins and Hamlet wins the first round, but he declines the king s offer of wine and Gertrude drinks it instead! Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned sword, but Hamlet doesn t die immediately. Laertes is also wounded by his own poisoned sword and when that happens, he confesses that Gertrude had died because Claudius had poisoned the wine. Hamlet then stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and also forces him to drink the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and then Hamlet dies shortly after. A Norwegian prince arrives just in time to see the entire royal family lying sprawled in the hall of the castle dead. Horatio tells the prince Hamlet s tragic story and the prince orders that Hamlet be carried away and given a funeral fit for a hero.

163 The Story of Romeo and Juliet Once upon a time in Verona, there were two families that were constantly at war with one another the Capulets and the Montagues. The people of the city were tired of the fighting and so the ruler of Verona, Prince Escalus declared that if any of the family members disturbed the peace with more fighting in the future, they would be put to death. One evening, Romeo, the son of Montague ran into his cousin, Benvolio. Benvolio could tell there was something wrong, and he finally gets Romeo to confess that he is in love with a girl named Rosaline who doesn t love him back. Benvolio tells Romeo not to worry, that he will find another, more beautiful woman. Meanwhile, Paris, a kinsman of the Prince, is seeking Juliet s hand in marriage. Her father, Capulet likes Paris, but tells him he must wait two years because Juliet is only thirteen. Capulet invites Paris to a masquerade ball, hoping that Juliet will start to fall in love with Paris. He sends a servant out to deliver invitations. Romeo and Benvolio run into the servant with the list of people to attend and they decide that they will go too. Benvolio hopes that Romeo will see that there are many beautiful girls in Verona. Romeo only agrees to go because he sees that Rosalind s name is on the list. Romeo follows Benvolio and their funny friend Mercutio into the ball at the Capulet s house and once inside, he sees Juliet from a distance, falls in love with her and forgets about Rosaline completely! Just then, Tybalt, a Capulet recognizes Romeo as a Montague and prepares to attack him, but Capulet holds him back. Romeo manages to speak to Juliet and they kiss, without even knowing each other s names. Later, they both find out that their families are enemies and they become distraught. Romeo cannot leave the estate without trying to see Juliet one more time. He leaps over the orchard wall and sees her in a window. He calls out to her and they exchange vows of love. Romeo hurries to see his friend, Friar Lawrence, who agrees to marry them in secret because he hopes that this will end the feud between the two families. The next day, Romeo and Juliet meet with Friar Lawrence and get married. The next day, Tybalt, who is still angry about seeing Romeo at the ball, challenges Romeo to a duel. But Romeo refuses to duel and Mercutio says that he will fight Tybalt instead. Romeo tries to stop them by leaping between them, but Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo s arm and Mercutio dies. Romeo, in a rage, kills Tybalt and quickly flees. The Prince of Verona declares Romeo banished forever for his crime. Meanwhile, Juliet has been waiting for Romeo, when her nurse tells her the news. Romeo does sneak into her room that night and in the morning, they say goodbye, not sure of when they will see each other again. Juliet then learns that her father has changed his mind and has arranged for her to marry Paris in just three days. She asks for her nurse s advice, and the nurse tells her to go ahead and marry Paris because he is a better match anyway. Juliet seeks

164 out Friar Lawrence for advice. The Friar comes up with a plan in which Juliet will drink a potion that will make her appear dead, and after she is laid to rest in the family s crypt, the Friar and Romeo will retrieve her and they will run away together. The Friar sends a message to Romeo explaining the plan. Juliet drinks the potion that night and the nurse discovers her, apparently dead, the next morning. The Capulets grieve, and Juliet is put in the tomb, but Friar Lawrence s message never reached Romeo. When he returns, he believes that Juliet is dead. He decides to kill himself rather than live without her. He buys some poison and goes to Juliet s tomb, sees her dead body, drinks the poison and dies by her side. Right then, Juliet awakes. She sees Romeo and realizes that he has killed himself. She kisses his poisoned lips and when that doesn t kill her, she stabs herself with his dagger, falling dead upon his body. The Montagues and the Capulets arrive, and seeing their children s dead bodies, they agree to end their long-standing feud.

165 The Story of Macbeth Once upon a time, there were two Scottish generals returning from battle when they came across three strange witches upon the heath. The witches predict that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor and later, the King of Scotland. They tell Banquo that while he will never become King himself, his children will. The generals find these predictions amusing, but pay closer attention soon after, when a messenger delivers the news that King Duncan rewarded Macbeth by making him Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth starts to wonder if what the witches had to say could turn out to be true. He invites the King to dine at his castle, and he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth about the prediction. Lady Macbeth loves the thought of her husband becoming King and becomes obsessed with making it happen. She convinces Macbeth that they should murder the King that very evening so that the prophesy can come true. They come up with a plan to get the King s guards drunk so that they will not remember anything the next day. Meanwhile, Macbeth will murder the King and frame the guards for the murder. That night, while the King is asleep, Macbeth creeps into his chambers and stabs him. But he is full of doubts that his plan will actually work, and he starts to see visions, including a bloody dagger. When he returns to tell Lady Macbeth that the deed has been done, she asks if he remembered to smear the guards with blood so that they will look guilty. But he is too shaken up to return, so Lady Macbeth does it herself. The next morning, when the King s death is discovered, Macbeth flies into a rage and kills the chamberlains essentially covering up his crime. Macbeth then assumes the Kingship, and the dead King s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England because they are afraid that whoever killed their father would also want to kill them as well. Macbeth remembers that the witches had said that his friend Banquo s heirs would seize the throne, so he hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo and his young son, Fleance. The murderers kill Banquo, who had been on his way to a feast, but his son, Fleance escapes into the night. This enrages Macbeth, who still feels threatened by the witches prophecy. At the feast that night, Banquo s ghost visits Macbeth. When Macbeth sees the ghost, he goes mad, startling his high-ranking guests. Lady Macbeth tries to cover up Macbeth s madness, but the damage had been done and people start to question whether Macbeth should be King. Frightened, Macbeth goes back to the witches and visits them in their cave. They show him a sequence of demons and spirits and tell him to beware of Macduff, a Scottish nobleman. They reassure Macbeth that he is incapable of being harmed by any man born of woman and that he will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle. Macbeth is relieved and feels secure because he knows that all men are born of women and that forests do not move. To be on the safe side, he orders that Macduff s castle be seized and that Lady Macduff and her children be murdered.

166 When Macduff hears of his family s execution, he vows to get revenge on Macbeth. Macduff joins Prince Malcom, Duncan s son, who has gathered an army in England. Together, they plan to invade the castle and overthrow Macbeth for his tyrannical behavior. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth starts walking in her sleep and becomes filled with delusions. She believes she has permanent bloodstains on her hands. Just before the castle is attacked, Macbeth learns that Lady Macbeth has killed herself. Although grief stricken, he orders that the castle be made secure. He still believes himself invincible---until he receives word that the English army is advancing on the castle by shielding themselves with branches cut from the forest (Birnam Wood). The witch s prophesy of the forest moving to the castle is coming true! Macbeth himself, fights alongside his men to defend the castle and his title, but the English are too strong. On the battlefield, he finds himself facing Macduff, who tells him that he was not born from woman, but instead, untimely ripped from his mother s womb (he was born by cesarean section). Macduff kills and beheads Macbeth. Malcom, the son of Duncan, becomes King of Scotland, declaring an end to the tyranny and a return toward a peaceful kingdom.

167 The Story of Midsummer Night s Dream This is a story of love, mixed-up identities, fairies with love potions, and antics in the forest! Once upon a time, the great Duke of Athens, Theseus, was preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. It was to be a grand affair with four days of merriment and festivities. Egeus, a nobleman interrupts Theseus at court to present his daughter, Hermia, and two young men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus had planned on having Hermia marry Demetrius (who loves her), but the stubborn daughter refuses to comply because she says she is in love with Lysander. Egeus asks for Theseus to punish the girl if she does not obey his wishes. Theseus settles the matter by giving Hermia until the day of his wedding to consider her options, warning her that if she does not obey her father, she could be sent to a convent or even executed. Hermia and Lysander decide to escape to Athens the very next night and get married in the house of his aunt. They tell their plan to Helena, who was once engaged to Demetrius and who still loves him even though he rejected her after meeting Hermia. Helena goes behind Hermia s back and tells Demitrius that Hermia and Lysander are planning to elope. When Hermia and Lysander sneak off into the woods, Demetrius secretly follows them and Helena follows him! Deep in the woods, there are other characters. There is a band of fairies, led by Oberon and Titania, the Queen and King of the fairies. There is also a group of craftsmen from Athens who are rehearsing a play that they plan to perform at the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. The Queen of the fairies had just returned from India is fighting with the King over a young Indian prince who Titania brought back with her. The King wants him to be a knight, but the Queen doesn t. Angry at his wife, Oberon tells his servant, Puck, to find a magical flower that can be spread over a person s eyelids while they are sleeping, that causes the person to fall in love with the first thing he/she sees upon waking. Oberon tells Puck that he plans on using it on the Queen. Having seen Demetrius acting cruelly toward Helena, Oberon also orders Puck to use the flower on Demetrius. But Puck confuses Lysander with Demetrius and uses it on him instead. This causes Lysander to fall in love with Helena abandoning Hermia! Puck tries to fix the situation, but his plan backfires and results in both Lysander and Demetrius convinced they love Helena! Hermia becomes so jealous that she tries to challenge Helena to a fight. Lysander and Demetrius also get into a fight, but Puck confuses them by mimicking their voices and leading them deep into the forest where each becomes lost. Titania wakes up (having been sprinkled with the juice of the flower) and falls in love with Bottom, one of the craftsmen who was rehearsing the play. Puck had transformed Bottom s head into that of a donkey, and Titania ends up following around the donkey-headed man, doting on him hand and foot. Eventually, Puck spreads the love potion on Lysander s eyelids and by morning, he is back in love with Hermia. Demetrius now loves Helena, and when Theseus and Hippolyta discover the sleeping lovers in the forest, they take them back to Athens to be married.

168 After a group wedding, everyone watches Bottom and his fellow craftsmen perform their play, which is a hilarious version of Pyramus and Thisbe. When the play is over, the lovers go to bed and the fairies come out to bless the sleeping couples with a protective charm. They leave, but Puck stays. He asks the audience to forgive them all and tells them to remember the play as if it had been a dream.

169 Romeo and Juliet in One Week Most people would be surprised to learn that the events of the play happen in just five days! Romeo sees Juliet on a Sunday night. They marry on Monday afternoon and by early Thursday morning, they are both dead! Sunday The long-standing Capulet and Montague feud erupts again into violence in Verona s streets. Juliet is told that she must marry Paris. A messenger delivers invitations to the Capulet's annual masquerade ball. Romeo and his friend sneak into the party. Romeo sees Juliet and falls in love. That night, at Juliet's balcony, Romeo and Juliet proclaim their love for each other and discuss marriage. Monday Having stayed up all night, Romeo visits Friar Lawrence at dawn. Juliet sends her Nurse to Romeo to arrange their marriage. Romeo and Juliet are married by Friar Lawrence later that afternoon. Tybalt kills Romeo s friend Mercutio in a sword fight in the street. Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished from Verona by the Prince. Plans are made for Paris to marry Juliet on Thursday morning. Romeo and Juliet spend their secret wedding night together. Tuesday Romeo reluctantly leaves Juliet at dawn and flees to Mantua. Juliet is told she will marry Paris. She refuses. Juliet goes to Friar Lawrence who comes up with a plan and gives her a potion to simulate death. Juliet returns and agrees to marry Paris. Lord Capulet moves the wedding up a day, to Wednesday Juliet drinks the potion. Friar Lawrence tries to send a message to Romeo. Wednesday Juliet is discovered dead at dawn and placed in the Capulet s tomb. Balthasar, Romeo s servant, rides to Mantua to tell him of Juliet s death. Romeo buys poison and returns to Verona. Romeo breaks into the Capulet s tomb and being accosted by Paris, kills him. Romeo, believing Juliet dead, drinks the poison and dies. Thursday Alone, Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead. She stabs herself with Romeo s knife. The Capulets and Montagues find their children newly dead and end the feud right then and there.

170 Scripts Hamlet Scripts Get Started with Hamlet! Hand out a copy of the first version to everyone and then assign four students to read Storyteller, Hamlet, Queen, etc. Then ask a different group of students to read it. Then reassign the parts again. Pretty soon a lot of different students would have had a chance to read the part of Hamlet and the part of the storyteller. They would all know the story after you went through it four times. By the end of the first class they could do it off book, and anyone could play any part, or be the storyteller (the storyteller doesn't have to get the lines exactly right, just connect the scenes). There are three versions of the plays below, each a little longer than the last. As the group progresses, you can give them more and more of the piece.

171 Hamlet in One Page By William Shakespeare Adaptation by Johnny Stallings CHARACTERS: Storyteller Marcellus Hamlet Ghost Ophelia Horatio Gravedigger Band of Players (optional) Polonius Laertes STORYTELLER: When Prince Hamlet returns to Denmark for his father's funeral, his mother is already getting married to Claudius---his uncle! MARCELLUS: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. STORYTELLER: One night, after the stroke of midnight, Hamlet saw the ghost of his father. HAMLET: What should I do? GHOST. Revenge my foul and most unnatural murder. STORYTELLER: Hamlet contemplates killing himself. HAMLET. To be or not to be, that is the question. STORYTELLER: His girlfriend, Ophelia, returns the love letters he sent her. He hears her father, Polonius, make a noise nearby and gets angry at Ophelia for taking part in her father s plots against him. HAMLET: Get thee to a nunnery! (He exits.) OPHELIA: O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! STORYTELLER: Hamlet asks some traveling players to put on a play about a murder in front of the king. (This could be done as a dumb show-meaning no words. Silently acted out.) STORYTELLER: The king runs from the room and Hamlet is now sure that he is guilty. Hamlet goes to see his mother, the queen, in her private chamber. While they are talking he hears a sound behind the curtain.

172 HAMLET: (Draws his sword.) How now? A rat? Dead for a ducat. Dead! (Stabs Polonius.) STORYTELLER: He draws the curtain, and discovers, not the king, but his counselor, Polonius, who had been spying on them. QUEEN: O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. HAMLET: I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room. (Drags Polonius' body away.) STORYTELLER: Overwhelmed by the news that Hamlet has killed her father, Ophelia goes mad. OPHELIA: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance...i would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. STORYTELLER: Ophelia's brother, Laertes, returns home for his father's funeral. A short time later, the Queen is the bearer of sad news. QUEEN: One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes. STORYTELLER: Wandering in a graveyard with his friend Horatio, Hamlet comes upon a jolly gravedigger. GRAVEDIGGER. This same skull, sir, was, sir, Yorick's skull, the King's jester. HAMLET: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio. STORYTELLER: The King has arranged for a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes. Hamlet is scratched by Laertes rapier, which has a poisoned tip. Hamlet wounds Laertes with the same sword. The Queen drinks a cup of poison meant for Hamlet. Hamlet kills the King. (This can all be acted out.) STORYTELLER: As Hamlet lies dying he says: HAMLET: I am dead, Horatio. The rest is silence. (He dies.) HORATIO: Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

173 Hamlet in Four Pages By William Shakespeare Adaptation by Johnny Stallings CHARACTERS: Storyteller Marcellus Hamlet Ghost Ophelia King Claudius Horatio Gravedigger Band of Players Polonius Laertes STORYTELLER: When Prince Hamlet returns to Denmark for his father's funeral, his mother is already getting married to Claudius---his uncle! MARCELLUS: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. STORYTELLER: One night, after the stroke of midnight, Hamlet saw the ghost of his father. HAMLET: What should I do? GHOST: Revenge my foul and most unnatural murder. HAMLET: Murder? GHOST: Murder most foul, strange and unnatural. STORYTELLER: Hamlet contemplates killing himself. HAMLET: To be or not to be, that is the question. To die, to sleep--- To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. STORYTELLER: His girlfriend, Ophelia, returns the love letters he sent her. (OPHELIA hands HAMLET some letters.) HAMLET: I did love you once. OPHELIA: Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.

174 (POLONIUS and KING CLAUDIUS are spying on them. POLONIUS makes a noise. HAMLET hears.) HAMLET: Where's your father? OPHELIA: At home, my lord HAMLET: Get thee to a nunnery! (He exits.) OPHELIA: O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! STORYTELLER: Hamlet asks some traveling players to put on a play about a murder in front of the king. (This could be done as a dumbshow. The PLAYER KING formally embraces the PLAYER QUEEN. He lies down and falls asleep. She leaves. The MURDERER comes in. He pours poison in the PLAYER KING's ear. PLAYER KING dies. QUEEN comes back in. She formally embraces the MURDERER. ) KING: (Who has been watching the play, along with the QUEEN.) Give me some light! (He leaves in haste.) STORYTELLER: Hamlet is now sure that King Claudius is guilty. Hamlet goes to see his mother, the queen, in her private chamber. While they are talking he hears a sound behind the curtain. HAMLET: (Draws his sword.) How now? A rat? Dead for a ducat. Dead! (Stabs Polonius.) STORYTELLER: He draws the curtain, and discovers, not the king, but his counselor, Polonius, who had been spying on them. QUEEN: What have I done, that thou dar'st wag thy tongue In noise so rude against me? HAMLET: Such an act That blurs the grace and blush of modesty. (The GHOST appears. HAMLET sees it, but the QUEEN cannot.) HAMLET: What would your gracious figure? QUEEN: Alas, he's mad! GHOST: Do not forget. (GHOST leaves.) QUEEN: O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. HAMLET: I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room. (Drags Polonius' body away.) Good night, mother. STORYTELLER: Overwhelmed by the news that Hamlet has killed her father, Ophelia goes mad.

175 OPHELIA: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. (Gives rosemary to the KING.) Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies. (Gives pansies to the QUEEN.) That's for thoughts. (To LAERTES.) I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. STORYTELLER: Ophelia's brother, Laertes, has returned home for his father's funeral. A short time later, the Queen is the bearer of sad news. QUEEN: One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes. STORYTELLER: Wandering in a graveyard with his friend Horatio, Hamlet comes upon a jolly gravedigger. HAMLET: Whose grave's this, sirrah? GRAVEDIGGER: Mine, sir. HAMLET: What man dost thou dig it for? GRAVEDIGGER: For no man, sir. HAMLET: What woman, then? GRAVEDIGGER: For none, neither. HAMLET: Who is to be buried in't? GRAVEDIGGER: One that was a woman, sir, but, rest her soul, she's dead. (Picks up a skull.) This same skull, sir, was, sir, Yorick's skull, the King's jester. (He hands the skull to HAMLET.) HAMLET: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio---a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times. STORYTELLER: The King has arranged for a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes. HAMLET: Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong. LAERTES: I do receive your offered love like love, And will not wrong it. (The match begins. HAMLET scores the first hit.) KING: (Lifts a cup.) Here's to thy health. HAMLET: I'll play this bout first. (HAMLET scores another hit.)

176 QUEEN: (Takes the cup.) The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. KING: Gertrude, do not drink. QUEEN: I will, my lord, I pray you pardon me. (She drinks.) LAERTES: (To HAMLET.) Have at you now! (LAERTES wounds HAMLET. The point of his rapier is sharp. HAMLET gets the sword from him and wounds LAERTES. The QUEEN falls.) KING: She swoons to see them bleed. QUEEN: No, no, the drink, the drink! O, my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poisoned. (She dies.) HAMLET: Treachery! Seek it out. LAERTES: (Falls.) It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain. In thee there is not half an hour's life. The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, Unbated and envenomed. The King, the King's to blame. (He dies.) HAMLET: The point envenomed too? Then, venom to thy work. (Stabs KING.) Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion. (Makes KING drink.) Follow my mother. (KING dies.) I am dead, Horatio. Had I but time---o, I could tell you---but let it be. (He falls. HORATIO goes to him.) The rest is silence. (He dies.) HORATIO: Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

177 Hamlet in Six Pages By William Shakespeare Adaptation by Johnny Stallings CHARACTERS: Storyteller Marcellus Hamlet Ghost Ophelia King Claudius Horatio Gravedigger Band of Players Polonius Laertes STORYTELLER: When Prince Hamlet returns to Denmark for his father's funeral, his mother is already getting married to Claudius---his uncle! It makes Hamlet sick at heart. HAMLET: O that this too, too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. O God, God, How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! STORYTELLER: Hamlet loves Ophelia and Ophelia loves him. Before leaving for France, her brother, Laertes, warns Ophelia not to lose her heart to Hamlet. Her father Polonius forbids her to talk to Hamlet. He gives some parting advice to Laertes. POLONIUS: To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. STORYTELLER: Soldiers have seen the ghost of Hamlet's father on the night watch. MARCELLUS: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. STORYTELLER: They tell Prince Hamlet. The next night, after the stroke of midnight, Hamlet confronts his father's spirit. HAMLET: What should I do? GHOST: Revenge my foul and most unnatural murder. HAMLET: Murder?

178 GHOST: Murder most foul, strange and unnatural. The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown. STORYTELLER: Hamlet's father's spirit tells him that he was murdered by his brother Claudius, who is now married to the Queen. Hamlet wants to get revenge, but he pretends to be mad to avoid suspicion that he is plotting against the King. POLONIUS: Do you know me, my lord? HAMLET: (Looks up from a book he is reading.) Excellent well. You are a fishmonger. STORYTELLER: The King sends two childhood friends of Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on Hamlet, to see why he is acting strangely. This is what Hamlet tells them. HAMLET: I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercise, and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame the earth seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy, the air---look you!---this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire---why it appears nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god, the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals---and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me. No, nor woman, neither. STORYTELLER: Hamlet contemplates killing himself. HAMLET: To be or not to be, that is the question. To die, to sleep--- To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. STORYTELLER: His girlfriend, Ophelia, returns the love letters he sent her. (OPHELIA hands HAMLET some letters.) HAMLET: I did love you once. OPHELIA: Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. (POLONIUS and KING CLAUDIUS are spying on them. POLONIUS makes a noise. HAMLET hears.) HAMLET: Where's your father? OPHELIA: At home, my lord HAMLET: Get thee to a nunnery! Farewell! (He slaps her [optional], then exits.)

179 OPHELIA: O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The coutier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword, Th'expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mold of form, Th'observed of all observers, quite, quite, down! And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That sucked the honey of his music vows, Now see that noble and most sovereign reason Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh--- That unmatched form and feature of blown youth Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me T'have seen what I have seen, see what I see! Storyteller: Hamlet asks some travelling players to put on a play about a murder in front of the King. (This could be done as a dumbshow. The PLAYER KING formally embraces the PLAYER QUEEN. He lies down and falls asleep. She leaves. The MURDERER comes in. He pours poison in the PLAYER KING's ear. PLAYER KING dies. QUEEN comes back in. She formally embraces the MURDERER. ) KING: (Who has been watching the play, along with the QUEEN.) Give me some light! (He leaves in haste.) STORYTELLER: Hamlet is now sure that King Claudius is guilty. HAMLET: 'Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on. STORYTELLER: The King tries to pray. KING: O, my offense is rank! It smells to heaven. It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, A brother's murder. Pray can I not, My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent, And like a man to double business bound I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both neglect. (HAMLET enters.) HAMLET: (Draws his sword.) Now might I do it pat, no he is a-praying And now I'll do't! And so he goes to heaven, And so am I revenged. That would be scanned: A villain kills my father, and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain send To heaven. Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge. (Puts up his sword and leaves.)

180 KING: My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go. STORYTELLER: Hamlet goes to see his mother, the queen, in her private chamber. HAMLET: Now, mother, what's the matter? QUEEN: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much offended. (There is a noise behind the curtain, [maybe a sneeze].) (HAMLET draws his sword.) How now? A rat? Dead for a ducat. Dead! (Stabs Polonius.) (He draws the curtain and discovers Polonius) HAMLET: Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! QUEEN: O, what a rash and bloody deed is this! HAMLET: A bloody deed---almost as bad, good mother As kill a king, and marry with his brother. (The GHOST appears. HAMLET sees it, but the QUEEN cannot.) HAMLET: What would your gracious figure? QUEEN: Alas, he's mad! GHOST: Do not forget. (GHOST leaves.) QUEEN: O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. HAMLET: I'll lug the guts into the neighbor room. (Drags Polonius' body away.) Good night, mother. STORYTELLER: The King is informed that Hamlet has killed his counselor. KING: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? HAMLET: At supper. KING: At supper? Where? HAMLET: Not where eats, but where he is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. STORYTELLER: Overwhelmed by the news that Hamlet has killed her father, Ophelia goes mad. OPHELIA. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. (Gives rosemary to the KING.) Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies. (Gives pansies to the QUEEN.) That's for thoughts. (To LAERTES.) I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died.

181 STORYTELLER: Ophelia's brother, Laertes, has returned home for his father's funeral. A short time later, the Queen is the bearer of sad news. QUEEN: One woe doth tread upon another's heel, So fast they follow. Your sister's drowned, Laertes. There is a willow grows askant the brook That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream. Therewith fantastic garlands did she make Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples. There, on the pendant boughs, her coronet weeds Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke, When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide, And mermaid-like a while they bore her up, Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, As one incapable of her own distress, Or like a creature native and endued Unto that element. But long it could not be Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay To muddy death. STORYTELLER: Wandering in a graveyard with his friend Horatio, Hamlet comes upon a jolly gravedigger. HAMLET: Whose grave's this, sirrah? GRAVEDIGGER: Mine, sir. HAMLET: What man dost thou dig it for? GRAVEDIGGER: For no man, sir. HAMLET: What woman, then? GRAVEDIGGER: For none, neither. HAMLET: Who is to be buried in't? GRAVEDIGGER: One that was a woman, sir, but, rest her soul, she's dead. (Picks up a skull.) This same skull, sir, was, sir, Yorick's skull, the King's jester. (He hands the skull to HAMLET.) HAMLET: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio---a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times, and now---how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now to mock your own grinning? Quite chopfallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come. Make her laugh at that. STORYTELLER: The King has arranged for a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes.

182 HAMLET: Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong. LAERTES: I do receive your offered love like love, And will not wrong it. (The match begins. HAMLET scores the first hit.) KING: (Lifts a cup.) Here's to thy health. HAMLET: I'll play this bout first. (HAMLET scores another hit.) QUEEN: (Takes the cup.) The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet. KING: Gertrude, do not drink. QUEEN: I will, my lord, I pray you pardon me. (She drinks.) LAERTES: (To HAMLET.) Have at you now! (LAERTES wounds HAMLET. The point of his rapier is sharp. HAMLET gets the sword from him and wounds LAERTES. The QUEEN falls.) KING: She swoons to see them bleed. QUEEN: No, no, the drink, the drink! O, my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink! I am poisoned. (She dies.) HAMLET: Treachery! Seek it out. LAERTES: (Falls.) It is here, Hamlet. Hamlet, thou art slain. In thee there is not half an hour's life. The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, Unbated and envenomed. The King, the King's to blame. (He dies.) HAMLET: The point envenomed too? Then, venom to thy work. (Stabs KING.) Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane, Drink off this potion. (Makes KING drink.) Follow my mother. (KING dies.) I am dead, Horatio. Had I but time---o, I could tell you---but let it be. (He falls. HORATIO goes to him.) The rest is silence. (He dies.) HORATIO: Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

183 Act I Scene V Another part of the platform. [Enter GHOST and HAMLET] Hamlet Scene (Hamlet and Ghost) HAMLET Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further. Ghost Mark me. HAMLET I will. GHOST My hour is almost come, When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself. HAMLET Alas, poor ghost! GHOST Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing To what I shall unfold. HAMLET Speak; I am bound to hear. GHOST So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear. HAMLET What? GHOST I am thy father's spirit, Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end.

184 HAMLET O God! GHOST Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. HAMLET Murder! GHOST Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange and unnatural. HAMLET Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge. GHOST I find thee apt; And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear: 'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forged process of my death Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown. HAMLET O my prophetic soul! My uncle! GHOST Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, Sleeping within my orchard, My custom always of the afternoon, Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial, And in the porches of my ears did pour And a most instant tetter bark'd about, Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, All my smooth body. Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd: No reckoning made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head: O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible! If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not; Fare thee well at once! The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,

185 And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire: Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me. [Exit] HAMLET O all you host of heaven! O earth! what else? And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart; And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee! Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat In this distracted globe. Remember thee! Yea, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, And thy commandment all alone shall live O most pernicious woman! O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! My tables,--meet it is I set it down, That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark: [Writing] So, uncle, there you are. Now to my word; It is 'Adieu, adieu! remember me.' I have sworn 't.

186 Romeo and Juliet Scripts The small collection of Shakespeare pieces on the Drama Notebook website have been created and edited by professional Shakespearean actors. There are many books about teaching Shakespeare to kids, but many of them advocate modernizing the text, which, in my opinion, defeats the purpose of reading/performing Shakespeare. Below are three easy ways to present the story of Romeo and Juliet: Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines Break students into groups of six and give them the lines. Students decide who will play the characters and how they will act out their piece. Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines with Narration This piece is better for performance, as it includes the action that happens between the lines. Hence the piece will make more sense to an audience! Romeo and Juliet in Three Pages There are parts for players in this version of the play (depending on how many narrators you choose to have). The play uses the actual text and narration to tie the piece together. To create an easy Shakespeare performance, use the short scripts on this website so that every student has a meaningful role. To expand any piece, ask students to read the play in its entirety and choose a soliloquy to add into the play. This can be completely elective, allowing interested students to take the work further. Additionally, students can be invited to choose a sonnet to perform either alone or with a partner between the plays presented on performance day!

187 Romeo and Juliet Scripts Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines Here is a really fast way to tell the story of Romeo and Juliet! First, make sure to tell the story of Romeo and Juliet in your own words. Then have the kids tell it back to you until everyone knows the play. Next, have kids get into small groups and act out the story in their own words. After all of the groups have acted out the story, tell the story while using the lines below. You may choose to put the lines on a big piece of poster board rather than hand them out. This frees kids to concentrate on the action (without holding a piece of paper) and gives you an opportunity to test their memory by taking away the poster board! Divide kids into groups of six and have them choose their own lines. Remind students that they can change parts so that everyone gets a chance to be the characters they want to be. Then have students perform the ten line version for each other. The teacher can be the storyteller, or one of the students can be the storyteller. You can have the kids do a version of the script with the storyteller (script included in this document) or do tableaus with just the ten lines. Have kids create a different stage picture for each line of text. The story unfolds as a moving tableau, with each tableau accompanying one line. Or try this! Remote Control Romeo and Juliet Perform the story in fast motion. Perform the play backward. Secret Tableaus Have each group create a non-moving stage picture of one moment in the play. Audience players must guess what s happening in the scene. Or, put students in pairs and have them choose one line that they like, and freeze into a still picture of that moment. The other players must decide what line they are portraying. Shakespearean Statues Divide class in two. One group turns away. Onstage group breaks into pairs, each portraying a line from the play. Result is like a sculpture park. Audience players walk amongst them, guessing the lines. Jumbled Shakespeare Cut apart the ten lines and hand them out randomly to each member of the class. (This will involve some math.) Have kids mill about the room trading the slips of paper with the lines on them. When the lead player rings a bell, students must assemble themselves into groups in which every player has a line from the play! Ideally, you would be able to have even groups of ten. But that s highly unlikely, so an alternative is to have one or two complete sets of lines, and then another group that has the first few lines only.

188 Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines with Numbers 1. Narrator: Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues! 2. Romeo: But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? 3. Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? 4. Mercutio: They have made worms meat of me. I have it. 5. Romeo: And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now! (They fight, Tybalt falls.) 6. Lord Capulet: Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! 7. Juliet: Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here s drink I drink to thee. (She falls upon her bed, within the curtains.) 8. Romeo: Here s to my love! (Drinks.) Thus with a kiss, I die (Dies.) 9. Juliet: O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; (Stabs herself.) There rust and let me die. (Falls on Romeo s body and dies.) 10. Narrator: For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

189 Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines without Numbers Narrator: Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues! Romeo: But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Mercutio: They have made worms meat of me. I have it. Romeo: And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now! (They fight, Tybalt falls.) Lord Capulet: Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! Juliet: Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here s drink I drink to thee. (She falls upon her bed, within the curtains.) Romeo: Here s to my love! (Drinks.) Thus with a kiss, I die (Dies.) Juliet: O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; (Stabs herself.) There rust and let me die. (Falls on Romeo s body and dies.) Narrator: For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

190 CAST: Storyteller Narrator Romeo Juliet Mercutio Lord Capulet Romeo and Juliet in Ten Lines with Storyteller By William Shakespeare Adaptation by Johnny Stallings STORYTELLER: Long ago, in the city of Verona, lived two families, the Montagues and Capulets. They hated each other. LINE 1 NARRATOR: Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues! STORYTELLER: But one night, at a party, young Romeo Montague fell in love with Juliet a Capulet! After the party, he found himself in the orchard of Capulet s house. Looking up, he saw Juliet through the window. LINE 2 ROMEO: But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? STORYTELLER: Juliet was there, thinking about Romeo. LINE 3 JULIET: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? STORYTELLER: Soon, Romeo and Juliet are married in secret, but the hatred between the two families continues. Romeo s best friend Mercutio challenges the fiery Tybalt, a Capulet to a sword fight. They fight, and Mercutio is killed food for worms! LINE 4 MERCUTIO: They have made worms meat of me. I have it. STORYTELLER: Romeo is enraged. He fights with Tybalt and kills him! LINE 5 ROMEO: And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now! (they fight, Tybalt falls) STORYTELLER: Romeo is banished to Mantua, and Juliet is about to be married to Paris, her father s choice of a suitor. She refused, and her father is angry! LINE 6 LORD CAPULET: Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! STORYTELLER: But what could she do? She loved Romeo, and had already married him! She goes to Friar Lawrence, who comes up with a plan. Juliet will drink a poison that will make her

191 seem dead. She ll be put in the Capulet tomb, but she won t really be dead, just sleeping. Romeo will come back from Mantua and take her away so they can live happily ever after. The friar leaves her alone, and she s afraid. Will the poison work? Can she trust the Friar? What should she do? LINE 7 JULIET: Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here s drink I drink to thee. (she falls upon her bed, within the curtains) STORYTELLER: Now, there s a terrible mix-up. News reaches Romeo that Juliet really is dead. He rides a horse to Verona, breaks into the tomb, and decides to kill himself with poison. He cannot bear to live without Juliet. LINE 8 ROMEO: Here s to my love! (drinks) Thus with a kiss, I die (dies) STORYTELLER: But remember, Juliet isn t dead! She wakes, finding her beloved Romeo dead beside her. She cannot bear to live without him. She picks up his knife. LINE 9 JULIET: O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; (stabs herself) There rust and let me die (falls on Romeo s body and dies) STORYTELLER: The families are stricken with grief. They realize that all of their fighting was to blame for the deaths of the two young lovers. They vow to never fight again. LINE 10. NARRATOR: For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

192 Romeo and Juliet in Three Pages By William Shakespeare Adaptation by Orion Bradshaw Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene CAST: Narrator Capulet Montague Prince Romeo Benvolio Juliet Tybalt Friar Laurence Mercutio Paris NARRATOR: Romeo and Juliet are children from two feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. CAPULET: My sword, I say! Old Montague is come. MONTAGUE: Thou villain Capulet! NARRATOR: The Prince of the town is sick of the families' quarreling. PRINCE: If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. NARRATOR: Amidst all of this hate, young love is still in the air... When we first meet Romeo, he is doting on a girl named Rosaline, who does not love him back. ROMEO: In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman! NARRATOR: His cousin, Benvolio, thinks he should forget his affections BENVOLIO: Be ruled by me. Forget to think of her. Examine other beauties! NARRATOR: Romeo and Benvolio go that night, with a group of their friends, to a costume party at the Capulet house. They wear masks, so as not to be recognized by the enemy!

193 CAPULET: You are welcome, gentlemen. Come, musicians, play! NARRATOR: Suddenly, Romeo lays eyes on Juliet for the first time and is instantly enamored with her, and she with him... Love at first sight! ROMEO: Oh, she doth the torches to burn bright! [They meet and kiss.] Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged. JULIET: You kiss by th book. NARRATOR: Romeo's friends grow bored of the party, and drag him away from his newfound love. BENVOLIO: Away, begone. The sport is at the best. NARRATOR: Good timing, too... Because Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, becomes furious when he discovers that Montagues have snuck into the party. TYBALT: This intrusion shall, now seeming sweet, Convert to bitt rest gall. NARRATOR: Romeo escapes from his band of brothers and sneaks into the Capulets' garden, in hopes of espying his love once again. Luckily for him... JULIET: O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. And for that name, which is no part of thee Take all myself! ROMEO: I take thee at thy word! Call me but love, and I ll be new baptized. Henceforth I never will be Romeo. NARRATOR: Romeo and Juliet exchange vows of love, and agree to meet in secret and get married. The next day, they are wed, with the help of Friar Laurence. FRIAR LAURENCE: So smile the heavens upon this holy act! NARRATOR: But the events of the day quickly turn dark when Tybalt confronts Romeo in the street... TYBALT: Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford No better term than this: thou art a villain. NARRATOR: Romeo's best friend, the hot-headed Mercutio, steps in to defend Romeo's honor, and he and Tybalt get into a knife fight. MERCUTIO: Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk? TYBALT: I am for you! [They fight.]

194 NARRATOR: During the brawl, Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt. MERCUTIO: I am hurt. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man. A plague o both your houses! They have made worms meat of me. NARRATOR: Mercutio is taken into a nearby building and quickly dies. An enraged Romeo picks up Mercutio's blade and fights Tybalt. Tybalt is slain. ROMEO: Oh, I am fortune s fool. BENVOLIO: Romeo, away, be gone! NARRATOR: Romeo flees the scene, just as the rest of the citizens arrive. The Prince banishes Romeo from Verona. ROMEO: Be merciful, say death, For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death. Do not say banishment. JULIET: That banished, that one word banished Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. NARRATOR: Romeo flees the city. Meanwhile, Juliet s father demands that she marry a wellto-do man, named Paris. She refuses. CAPULET: An you be mine, I ll give you to my friend. An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets! NARRATOR: Juliet runs to Friar Laurence to ask for his help, and he gives her a drug that will make her appear dead for 42 hours. FRIAR LAURENCE: Take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distilled liquor drink thou off. NARRATOR: Once she is laid in her tomb, Romeo will be able to sneak her out of Verona after she revives. The Friar intends to send a letter to Romeo in Mantua, to inform him of the plan Unfortunately, Friar Laurence s messenger is unable to deliver the letter about the plan to Romeo, and instead, Romeo receives news that Juliet is actually dead. FRIAR LAURENCE: Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood, The letter was not nice, but full of charge, Of dear import, and the neglecting it May do much danger! NARRATOR: After hearing word about Juliet s death, Romeo buys poison from an Apothecary and brings it to the Capulets tomb, where Paris happens to be mourning over Juliet s unconscious body. PARIS: Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee. Obey and go with me, for thou must die!

195 ROMEO: Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy! [They fight, and Paris is slain.] Noble county Paris oh, give me thy hand, One writ with me in sour misfortune s book. NARRATOR: Romeo opens Juliet s tomb and, upon seeing her in a deathlike state, is overcome with grief and drinks his poison. ROMEO: Here s to my love! O true apothecary, Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. NARRATOR: Juliet wakes and, finding her Romeo dead, stabs herself. JULIET: Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop To help me after? Then I ll be brief. O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die. NARRATOR: Friar Laurence arrives, followed closely by the Prince and the parents of the young lovers. They are mere seconds too late. PRINCE: A glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things. Some shall be pardoned, and some punished. For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

196 Act I Scene 2 Athens. QUINCE'S house. Midsummer Scripts Midsummer Night s Dream-Actor s Scene Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING QUINCE: Is all our company here? BOTTOM: You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip. QUINCE: Here is the scroll of every man's name, which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the duke and the duchess, on his wedding-day at night. BOTTOM: First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on, then read the names of the actors, and so grow to a point. QUINCE: Marry, our play is, The most lamentable comedy, and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby. BOTTOM: A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves. QUINCE: Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver. BOTTOM: Ready. Name what part I am for, and proceed. QUINCE: You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus. BOTTOM: What is Pyramus? a lover, or a tyrant? QUINCE: A lover, that kills himself most gallant for love. BOTTOM: That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some measure. To the rest: yet my chief humour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split. The raging rocks And shivering shocks Shall break the locks Of prison gates;

197 And Phibbus' car Shall shine from far And make and mar The foolish Fates. This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players. This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is more condoling. QUINCE: Francis Flute, the bellows-mender. FLUTE: Here, Peter Quince. QUINCE: Flute, you must take Thisby on you. FLUTE: What is Thisby? a wandering knight? QUINCE: It is the lady that Pyramus must love. FLUTE: Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming. QUINCE: That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, andyou may speak as small as you will. BOTTOM: An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll speak in a monstrous little voice. 'Thisne, Thisne;' 'Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisby dear, and lady dear!' QUINCE: No, no; you must play Pyramus: and, Flute, you Thisby. BOTTOM: Well, proceed. QUINCE: Robin Starveling, the tailor. STARVELING: Here, Peter Quince. QUINCE: Robin Starveling, you must play Thisby's mother. Tom Snout, the tinker. SNOUT: Here, Peter Quince. QUINCE: You, Pyramus' father: myself, Thisby's father: Snug, the joiner; you, the lion's part: and, I hope, here is a play fitted. SNUG: Have you the lion's part written? pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study. QUINCE: You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring. BOTTOM: Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar,

198 that I will make the duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again.' QUINCE: An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all. ALL: That would hang us, every mother's son. BOTTOM: I grant you, friends, if that you should fright the ladies out of their wits, they would have no more discretion but to hang us: but I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale. QUINCE: You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day; a most lovely gentleman-like man: therefore you must needs play Pyramus. BOTTOM: Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in? QUINCE: Why, what you will. BOTTOM: I will discharge it in either your straw-colour beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-colour beard, your perfect yellow. QUINCE: Some of your French crowns have no hair at all, and then you will play bare-faced. But, masters, here are your parts: and I am to entreat you, request you and desire you, to con them by to-morrow night; and meet me in the palace wood, a mile without the town, by moonlight; there will we rehearse, for if we meet in the city, we shall be dogged with company, and our devices known. In the meantime I will draw a bill of properties, such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not. BOTTOM: We will meet; and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously. Take pains; be perfect: adieu. QUINCE: At the duke's oak we meet. BOTTOM: Enough; hold or cut bow-strings. [Exeunt]

199 Midsummer Night s Dream-Fairies Scene Below is a sixteen line speech from Act II Scene I given by one of the fairies to Oberon along with a helpful translation. On the following page, it has been adapted to be divided to be performed as individual lines delivered by a group of fairies and easily printed out and cut apart. Ask a group of actors to deliver the monologue, and to incorporate music, movement or song. Use the information below to have one of the actors give an introduction. This scene happens very early in the play and introduces the audience to the world of the fairies. Puck (also known as Robin Goodfellow) is a sprite or trickster fairy. He comes across some fairies in the wood.

200 Midsummer Night s Dream Act II Scene I ROBIN How now, spirits? Whither wander you? FAIRIES Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, We do wander everywhere, Swifter than the moon's sphere; And we serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green. The cowslips tall her pensioners be: In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours: We must go seek some dewdrops here And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. Farewell, thou lob of spirits; we'll be gone: Our queen and all our elves come here anon. Translation: ROBIN Hello spirits! Where are you going? FAIRIES We go over hills and valleys, Through bushes and thorns, Over parks and fenced-in spaces, Through water and fire. We wander everywhere Faster than the moon revolves around the Earth. We work for Titania, the Fairy Queen, And organize fairy dances for her in the grass. The cowslip flowers are her bodyguards. You ll see that their petals have spots on them Those are rubies, fairy gifts. Their sweet smells come from those little freckles. Now we have to go find some dewdrops And hang pearl earrings on every cowslip flower. Goodbye, you dumb old spirit. We ve got to go. The queen and her elves will be here soon.

201 ROBIN How now, spirits? Whither wander you? FAIRIES Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, We do wander everywhere, Swifter than the moon's sphere; And we serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green. The cowslips tall her pensioners be: In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours: We must go seek some dewdrops here And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. Farewell, thou lob of spirits; we'll be gone: Our queen and all our elves come here anon.

202 Act III Scene I Cast Bottom- male Titania-female Peasebottom-either Cobweb-either Mustardseed -either Moth-either Midsummer Night s Dream-Titania and Bottom TITANIA: [Awaking] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed? BOTTOM: [Sings] The finch, the sparrow and the lark, Whose note full many a man doth mark, TITANIA: I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again: I love thee. BOTTOM: Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that: TITANIA: Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful. BOTTOM : Not so, neither TITANIA: Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no. I am a spirit of no common rate; And I do love thee: therefore, go with me; I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee, And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, That thou shalt like an airy spirit go. Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed! Enter PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH, and MUSTARDSEED PEASEBLOSSOM: Ready. COBWEB: And I. MOTH: And I. MUSTARDSEED: And I. ALL: Where shall we go?

203 TITANIA: Be kind and courteous to this gentleman; Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes; PEASEBLOSSOM: Hail, mortal! COBWEB: Hail! MOTH: Hail! MUSTARDSEED: Hail! BOTTOM: I cry your worship's mercy, heartily: I beseech your worship's name. COBWEB: Cobweb. BOTTOM: Your name, honest gentleman? PEASEBLOSSOM: Peaseblossom. BOTTOM: Your name, I beseech you, sir? MUSTARDSEED: Mustardseed. BOTTOM: Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well:. TITANIA: Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower. The moon methinks looks with a watery eye; Tie up my love's tongue bring him silently.

204 Midsummer Night s Dream-Fairies Sing to Titania In this short scene, Titania, Queen of the Fairies asks for her fairies to sing her a song to sleep, and while she s asleep, Oberon (who is mad at her) sprinkles her eyes with juice from the magic flower so that she will fall in love with the first person (or donkey) that she sees upon waking. Act II Scene II Another part of the wood. Enter TITANIA, with her train TITANIA: Come, now a roundel and a fairy song; Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds, Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings, To make my small elves coats, and some keep back The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders At our quaint spirits. Sing me now asleep; Then to your offices and let me rest. The Fairies sing You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen. Philomel, with melody Sing in our sweet lullaby; Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby: Never harm, Nor spell nor charm, Come our lovely lady nigh; So, good night, with lullaby. Weaving spiders, come not here; Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence! Beetles black, approach not near; Worm nor snail, do no offence. Philomel, with melody, & c. FAIRY: Hence, away! now all is well: One aloof stand sentinel. Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps Enter OBERON and squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eyelids

205 OBERON: What thou seest when thou dost wake, Do it for thy true-love take, Love and languish for his sake: Be it ounce, or cat, or bear, Pard, or boar with bristled hair, In thy eye that shall appear When thou wakest, it is thy dear: Wake when some vile thing is near. Exit

206 Midsummer Night s Dream in Three Pages! By William Shakespeare Adaptation by Orion Bradshaw Cast: Narrator Theseus Hippolyta Egeus Lysander Helena Quince Bottom Oberon Titania Puck NARRATOR: Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and his fiancée, Hippolyta, are to be married in four days THESEUS: Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace. Four happy days bring in another moon. HIPPOLYTA: Four nights will quickly dream away the time. NARRATOR: Egeus, a respected nobleman, comes to Theseus and demands that his daughter, Hermia, marry Demetrius or die the death. EGEUS: My gracious duke, I beg the ancient privilege of Athens. As she is mine, I may dispose of her Which shall be either to this gentleman Or to her death. NARRATOR: But Hermia loves Lysander, and he convinces her to run away with him to Arden Forest. LYSANDER: The course of true love never did run smooth. Steal forth thy father s house tomorrow night. NARRATOR: Helena loves Demetrius. But he loves Hermia. So Helena tells him of Hermia and Lysander s elopement, in hopes that he will chase after them and she can end up in the forest with him alone. HELENA: I will go tell him of fair Hermia s flight To have his sight thither and back again.

207 NARRATOR: Meanwhile, a ragtag group of actors are planning on performing a play for the Duke s wedding. QUINCE: Marry, our play is The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe. BOTTOM: Well, I will undertake it! NARRATOR: In Arden Forest, the King and Queen of the Fairies, Oberon and Titania, are in a lover s quarrel. OBERON: I ll met by moonlight, proud Titania. TITANIA: We shall chide downright, if I longer stay. NARRATOR: So, Oberon charms Titania with the juice of a magic flower as she sleeps OBERON: What thou seest when thou dost wake, Do it for thy true love take. Wake when some vile thing is near. NARRATOR: He then bids his head fairy, Puck, to use the flower on Demetrius, so that he ll fall in love with Helena but Puck uses the flower s magic on a sleeping Lysander by mistake. PUCK: Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe. NARRATOR: Helena discovers Lysander s sleeping body and wakes him; he falls in love with her instantly. LYSNANDER: Transparent Helena! Nature shows art That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart. Not Hermia but Helena I love. NARRATOR: Elsewhere, the band of rustic players meet in the forest, to rehearse their play in secret. QUINCE: Are we all met? NARRATOR: Puck sneaks a donkey s head onto Bottom as they rehearse. BOTTOM: (reciting) If I were fair, Thisbe, I were only thine. QUINCE: Oh monstrous! Oh strange! Help! NARRATOR: The players are afraid of this sorcery and run away. This wakes Titania up and, upon laying eyes on Bottom s donkey face, she falls instantly in love with him. TITANIA: Thy fair virtue s force perforce doth move me On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.

208 NARRATOR: Oberon charms Demetrius, who falls in love with Helena. Now both men love her! But she is skeptical DEMETRIUS: (waking) O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! Oh, let me kiss this princess of pure white! LYSANDER: (quarreling with Demetrius:) You are unkind, Demetrius. Be not so. For you love Hermia. This you know I know. HELENA: O spite! O hell! If you were men, as men you are in show, You would not use a gentle lady so. NARRATOR: Of course, poor Hermia is confused by all this. HERMIA: I am amazed and know not what to say. NARRATOR: Oberon chides Puck for his error, and Puck sets everything aright Lysander loves Hermia! Demetrius loves Helena! PUCK: Jack shall have Jill. Nought shall go ill, And all shall be well. NARRATOR: Oberon takes the spell off Titania OBERON: I will undo this hateful imperfection of her eyes. Now, my Titania, wake you, my sweet queen. NARRATOR: And Puck removes the donkey head from Bottom. PUCK: Now when thou wakest, with thine own fool s eyes peep. BOTTOM: (waking) I have had a most rare vision. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, Man s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, Nor his heart to report what my dream was. NARRATOR: Bottom rejoins his fellow players, and they perform at the great wedding celebration! THESEUS: I will hear that play! NARRATOR: After all the humans have left the stage, the Fairies gather, and Puck apologizes to the audience for the mischief he caused [Give each student one line to recite, in formation. If 2-3 students have the same line, then they speak it in unison:]

209 ALL: If we shadows have offended Think but this; and all is mended That you have but slumbered here While these visions did appear And this weak and idle theme No more yielding but a dream. Gentles--do not reprehend If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck If we have unearned luck. Now to scape the serpents tongue. We will make amends ere long Else the Puck a liar call. So--goodnight unto you all. Give me your hands if we be friends. And Robin shall restore amends.

210 Macbeth Scripts Macbeth in Eleven Lines As a group, tell the story, and come up with the narrative between the lines. Then break students into small groups and have each group create an extremely short version of the play by using the lines below and movement and narration. 1. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! 2. Look like th innocent flower, but be the serpent under t. 3. Is this a dagger I see before me? 4. O horror horror horror! Ring the alarm bell! Murder and treason! 5. O, full of scorpions is my mind dear wife! 6. O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly. Thous mayst revenge. 7. Avaunt and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! 8. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 9. What you egg! Young fry of treachery! (he stabs himself) He has killed me, mother! 10. Out damed spot! Out I say! Here s the smell of blood still. 11. Lay on Macduff!

211 Macbeth in Eleven Lines with Storyteller STORYTELLER: Once upon a time, there was a soldier named Macbeth. Three witches proclaimed that one day he would wear the crown. THREE WITCHES: All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! STORYTELLER: Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth came up with a plan to invite the King for a visit and then murder him in his sleep. They also plan to kill the guards and place a weapon in their hands so that they will be blamed for the deed. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to remember to just act normally when the King arrives. LADY MACBETH: (To Macbeth) Look like th innocent flower, but be the serpent under t. (Be friendly on the outside, dangerous on the inside.) STORYTELLER: That night, Macbeth follows through on his plan, but he is not sure he will have the courage to do it. MACBETH: Is this a dagger I see before me? STORYTELLER: Macbeth does follow through and he kills the King, but in his haste, he forgets to smear blood on the sleeping guards to make them look guilty. Lady Macbeth tries to get him to go back and do it and when he refuses, she does it herself. Early the next morning, one of the noblemen who was staying the night, discovers the bloody scene. MACDUFF: O horror horror horror! Ring the alarm bell! Murder and treason! STORYTELLER: Macbeth immediately kills the guards to cover up his guilt. The witches prophecy is fulfilled and Macbeth becomes King. But then Macbeth realizes that the witches had also said that his friend Banquo s children would inherit the throne. Macbeth decides that he must also kill his friend Banquo and his children. The thought of this drives him crazy and he starts to wonder if being dead would be better than being in this predicament. MACBETH: O, full of scorpions is my mind dear wife! STORYTELLER: Macbeth follows through on his plans and sends two murderers to kill his friend Banquo. As the murders descend upon him, Banquo cries out for his son to run away. BANQUO: O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly. Thous mayst revenge. STORYTELLER: Banquo s son, Fleance gets away. And meanwhile, back at Macbeth s castle, he holds a fancy dinner and invites noblemen and women. But during this dinner, the ghost of Banquo appears. Only Macbeth can see him he starts talking to him, and then yelling at him. MACBETH: Avaunt and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! STORYTELLER: All the guests think that Macbeth has gone crazy and they start to doubt his ability to be King. Macbeth goes back to the witches to hear more of their prophecy. He interrupts them brewing a potion.

212 WITCHES: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. STORYTELLER: The witches tell Macbeth that he is safe as long as the forest does not move toward his castle. They also tell him that he cannot be killed by any man who is born from a woman. This makes Macbeth feel better. Still, Macbeth worries about Macduff, who appears to be a threat. He orders that Macduff s family be killed. The murderers arrive at Macduff s home and kill Macduff s son first. MACDUFF S SON: He has killed me, mother! Run away, I pray you! STORYTELLER: When Macduff learns that his family has been killed, he starts to assemble an army to overthrow Macbeth. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth starts to go crazy. She imagines that she has blood on her hands that won t wash off. LADY MACBETH: Out damed spot! Out I say! Here s the smell of blood still. STORYTELLER: Lady Macbeth kills herself and Macbeth becomes depressed. The people hate him because he is such a tyrant. Macduff leads an army of men who advance on the castle by shielding themselves with branches from the forest making the witches prophecy of the forest moving toward the castle come true! Once inside the castle, Macbeth fights Macduff, sure that he will win, but then Macduff reveals to Macbeth that he was actually born by caesarian section! Macbeth fights on anyway. MACBETH: Lay on Macduff! STORYTELLER: Macduff kills Macbeth and restores the crown to King Duncan s son, the rightful heir, and everyone is glad to be rid of the tyrant Macbeth.

213 Macbeth Witches Scenes In the first scene, the witches are alone on the moor talking to each other. After a brief passing of time, they hear a drum-a signal that Macbeth (a soldier) is near. In the play, Macbeth, traveling with his friend and fellow soldier Banquo comes upon the witches and hears their prophecy. The scene can be played as if Macbeth is standing just offstage. In the scene from Act IV, the witches are brewing a potion supposedly one that will make Macbeth King. Act I Scene I FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: THIRD WITCH: ALL: When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly s done, When the battle s lost and won. That will be ere the set of sun Where the place? Upon the heath. There to meet with Macbeth I come Greymalkin! Paddock calls. Anon Fair is foul, and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air. [They exit.] (Time passing can be shown by a freeze-frame or change of place on stage) FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: Where hast thou been, sister? Killing swine. Sister, where thou? A sailor swife had chestnuts in her lap, And munched, and munched, and munched Give Me, quoth I. Aroint thee Witch, the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her husband s to Aleppo gone, master o the Tiger, But in a sieve I ll thither sail, And like a rat without a tail, I ll do, and I ll do and I ll do.

214 SECOND WITCH: FIRST WITCH: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: FIRST WITCH: THIRD WITCH: ALL: I ll give thee a wind. Th art kind And I another I myself have all the other And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I the shipman s card. I ll drain him dry as hay; Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid; Weary sev n-nights nine times nine Shall he dwindle, peak and pine. Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tossed. Look what I have. Show me, show me. Here I have a pilot s thumb Wrecked as he did homeward come. A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come. The Weird Sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about, Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, And thrice again, to make up nine. Peace, the charm s wound up. [Drum within] FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: THIRD WITCH: All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (They see Macbeth coming in the distance. The scene can end with the witches laughing or with a frozen tableau.)

215 Act IV Scene I A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder. Enter the three Witches FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: ALL: SECOND WITCH: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: ALL: THIRD WITCH: FIRST WITCH: SECOND WITCH: Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time. Round about the cauldron go In the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat, and slips of yew Silver'd in the moon's eclipse, Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, Finger of birth-strangled babe Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, For the ingredients of our cauldron.

216 ALL: SECOND WITCH: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good.

217 Macbeth in Two Pages By William Shakespeare Adaptation by Johnny Stallings CHARACTERS: Storyteller Macbeth Banquo First Witch Second Witch Third Witch Lady Macbeth King Duncan Banquo s ghost Setyon MacDuff Soldiers STORTELLER: The noble Scottish lord, Macbeth encounters three Weird Sisters upon the heath. THREE WITCHES: Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. (Enter MACBETH with BANQUO.) MACBETH: So foul and fair a day I have not seen. FIRST WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! SECOND WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! THIRD WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter. STORTELLER: Macbeth was already the Thane of Glamis. Now a messenger appears and tells Macbeth that King Duncan has appointed him Thane of Cawdor. The words of the Weird Sisters have proved true. Does this mean that Macbeth will become King? (LADY MACBETH is at home, reading MACBETH's letter. MACBETH enters.) MACBETH: Duncan comes here tonight. LADY MACBETH: And when goes hence? MACBETH: Tomorrow, as he purposes. LADY MACBETH: O, never shall sun that morrow see! STORTELLER: King Duncan comes to visit the Macbeths at their castle. MACBETH: We will proceed no further in this business.

218 LADY MACBETH: Art thou afeard? MACBETH: If we should fail? LADY MACBETH: We fail?! But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we'll not fail. STORTELLER: Macbeth gets ready to murder the King. MACBETH: I go, and it is done. (He exits and returns with two daggers and his hands covered with blood. LADY MACBETH is waiting for him.) I have done the deed! LADY MACBETH: Why did you bring these daggers from the place? (She takes them from him and exits.) STORTELLER: Macbeth is crowned King of Scotland and his wife is crowned Queen, just as the witches promised. But they also predicted that Banquo's heirs would rule Scotland. Macbeth does not trust Banquo and he wants to make sure that the other half of the witches' prophecy does not come true, so he hires two murders to kill Banquo and his son. They kill Banquo, but his son, Fleance, escapes. At a feast, Macbeth has an unwelcome visitor. (All the actors line up, seated in chairs, as if at a long table, facing the audience. LADY MACBETH is in the middle with an empty chair beside her. MACBETH stands to one side, holding up a cup. The GHOST OF BANQUO enters and sits in the place next to LADY MACBETH.) MACBETH: (To GHOST.) Never shake thy gory locks at me! (Everyone looks at MACBETH as if he's lost his mind. The GHOST leaves.) LADY MACBETH: At once, good night. (Everyone leaves quickly.) STORTELLER: Macbeth goes again to visit the the Three Weird Sisters. Three Apparitions appear to Macbeth. The first warns him to beware Macduff, the second tells him that no one born of woman can harm him, the third says that he will never be vanquished until Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane castle. (MACBETH stares into the cauldron as the witches chant.) THREE WITCHES: Double, double toil and trouble: Fire burn and cauldron bubble. STORTELLER: Macbeth sends murderers to kill Macduff and his family. Macduff has gone to England, but his wife and children are left behind. Rosse brings the news to Macduff, who vows revenge. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth has been walking in her sleep. (LADY MACBETH enters, sleepwalking, with a candle.)

219 LADY MACBETH: Out, damned spot! (She goes through the motions of washing her hands.) Out, I say! Hell is murky. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! STORTELLER: All the lords of Scotland have revolted against Macbeth. Waiting in his castle for the battle to begin, a messenger comes to Macbeth. SEYTON: The Queen, my Lord, is dead. MACBETH: She should have died hereafter. STORTELLER: The rebel army breaks branches off trees and advances toward Macbeth's castle. One of the witches' prophecies is coming true: Birnam wood is coming toward Dunsinane castle. Macbeth still feels he is invincible, since he has been told that no one born of woman can kill him. At last he meets Macduff face-to-face. Macduff tells him that his mother died when he was born, and so he was not born in the normal way. Macbeth realizes that all his hopes are lost, but he fights anyway. MACBETH: Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!" (MACDUFF and MACBETH fight. MACDUFF kills MACBETH.) STORTELLER: Macbeth's head is cut off and put upon a pole. Macduff and the other lords hail Duncan's son Malcolm as the new King of Scotland. (MACDUFF and MALCOLM enter, along with all the other actors as soldiers.) MACDUFF: The time is free. Hail, King of Scotland! ALL: Hail, King of Scotland!

220 Macbeth in Seven Pages By William Shakespeare Adaptation by Johnny Stallings CHARACTERS: Storyteller Macbeth Banquo First Witch Second Witch Third Witch Lady Macbeth King Duncan Banquo s ghost Setyon MacDuff Soldiers First Apparition Second Apparition Third Apparition Son Rosse First Murderer Second Murderer FIRST WITCH: When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? SECOND WITCH: When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won. THIRD WITCH: That will be ere the set of sun. FIRST WITCH: Where the place? SECOND WITCH: Upon the heath. THIRD WITCH: There to meet with Macbeth. ALL: Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. (Sound of a drum.) THIRD WITCH: A drum! a drum! Macbeth doth come. (Enter MACBETH with BANQUO.) MACBETH: So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Speak, if you can: What are you? FIRST WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! SECOND WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! THIRD WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter.

221 STORTELLER: Macbeth was already the Thane of Glamis. Now a messenger appears and tells Macbeth that King Duncan has appointed him Thane of Cawdor. The words of the Weird Sisters have proved true. Does this mean that Macbeth will become King? LADY MACBETH: (Reading MACBETH's letter.) "These Weird Sisters saluted me with 'Hail, King that shalt be.'" I do fear thy nature: It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. (MACBETH enters.) MACBETH: My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight. LADY MACBETH: And when goes hence? MACBETH: Tomorrow, as he purposes. LADY MACBETH: O, never shall sun that morrow see! Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue. Look like th'innocent flower, but be the serpent under't. Storyteller: King Duncan comes to visit the Macbeths at their castle. DUNCAN: (To LADY MACBETH.) Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly. (They exit. MACBETH enters.) MACBETH: If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. He's here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Then, as his host, Who should against his murtherershut the door, Not bear the knife myself. (LADY MACBETH enters.) We will proceed no further in this business. LADY MACBETH: Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire? MACBETH: If we should fail? LADY MACBETH: We fail?! But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we'll not fail. STORTELLER: Macbeth gets ready to murder the King.

222 MACBETH: Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: I have thee not and yet I see thee still. Art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? (A bell rings.) I go, and it is done: the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell That summons thee to Heaven, or to Hell. (He exits and returns with two daggers and his hands covered with blood. LADY MACBETH is waiting for him.) I have done the deed! Methought I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murther Sleep." LADY MACBETH: Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go, carry them, and smear The sleepy grooms with blood. MACBETH: I'll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not. LADY MACBETH: Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers! (She takes them from him and exits.) (A knocking sound.) MACBETH: Whence is that knocking? Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red. (LADY MACBETH returns.) LADY MACBETH: My hands are of your colour, but I shame To wear a heart so white. (Knocking sound.) A little water clears us of this deed: How easy is it then! (Knocking sound.) MACBETH: Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst. STORTELLER: Macbeth is crowned King of Scotland and his wife is crowned Queen, just as the witches promised. But they also predicted that Banquo's heirs would rule Scotland. Macbeth does not trust Banquo and he wants to make sure that the other half of the witches' prophecy does not come true, so he hires two murders to kill Banquo and his son. They kill Banquo, but his son, Fleance, escapes. At a feast, Macbeth has an unwelcome visitor.

223 (All the actors line up, seated in chairs, as if at a long table, facing the audience. LADY MACBETH is in the middle with an empty chair beside her. MACBETH stands to one side, holding up a cup.) MACBETH: Here had we our country's honour roof'd, Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present. (The GHOST OF BANQUO enters and sits in the place next to LADY MACBETH.) ROSSE: Here is a place reserv'd, Sir. MACBETH: Where? ROSSE: Here, my good Lord. (MACBETH sees GHOST OF BANQUO.) What is't that moves your Highness? MACBETH: (To GHOST.) Never shake thy gory locks at me! ROSSE: Gentlemen, rise; his Highness is not well. (Everyone gets up, except for LADY MACBETH.) LADY MACBETH: Sit, worthy friends the fit is momentary. (All sit. The GHOST leaves. LADY MACBETH goes to MACBETH.) Are you a man? MACBETH: The time has been That when the brains were out the man would die, And there an end; but now they rise again. Give me some wine! Fill full! I dring to th' general joy o' th' whole table, And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; Would he were here! (BANQUO'S GHOST returns.) Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mock'ry, hence! (GHOST disappears.) LADY MACBETH: He grows worse and worse. At once, good night. Stand not upon the order of your going, But go at once. (Everyone leaves quickly.) MACBETH: It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood. STORTELLER: Macbeth goes again to visit the the Three Weird Sisters. FIRST WITCH: Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom, sleeping got, Boil thou first i' th' charmed pot. ALL. Double, double toil and trouble: Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

224 SECOND WITCH: Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. ALL: Double, double toil and trouble: Fire burn and cauldron bubble. THIRD WITCH: Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy; maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark; Root of hemlock, digg'd i' th' dark; Finger of birth-strangled babe, Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, Make the gruel thick and slab; Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, For th'ingredience of our cauldron. ALL: Double, double toil and trouble: Fire burn and cauldron bubble. SECOND WITCH: Cool it with a baboon's blood: Then the charm is firm and good. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. (Enter MACBETH.) MACBETH: How now, you secret, black and midnight hags! (The First Apparition, an armed head, appears from the cauldron.) FIRST APPARITION: Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff! (Disappears.) (The Second Apparition, a bloody child, appears.) SECOND APPARITION: Be bloody, bold and resolute: laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth. (Disappears.) (The Third Apparition, a child crowned, with a tree in his hand, appears.) THIRD APPARITION: Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him. STORTELLER: Macbeth sends murderers to kill Macduff and his family. Macduff has gone to England, but his wife and children are left behind. (LADY MACDUFF, with a baby in her arms, is with her SON. Two MURDERERS enter.)

225 FIRST MURDERER: Where is your husband? LADY MACDUFF: I hope in no place so unsanctified Where such as thou may'st find him. SECOND MURDERER: He's a traitor. SON: Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain! SECOND MURDERER: What, you egg! (Stabs him.) SON: He has kill'd me, mother! Run away! (He dies.) (LADY MACDUFF runs away, crying "Murder!," pursued by the MURDERERS.) STORTELLER: Rosse brings the news to Macduff. ROSSE: Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever, Which shall possess them of the heaviest sound That ever yet they heard. MACDUFF: Humh! I guess at it. ROSSE: Your castle is surpris'd; your wife, and babes, Savagely slaughter'd. MACDUFF: (Long pause.) My children, too? ROSSE: Wife, children, servants: all that could be found. MACDUFF: My wife kill'd, too? ROSSE: I have said. MACDUFF: All my pretty ones? Did you say all? All? STORTELLER: Lady Macbeth has been walking in her sleep. LADY MACBETH: (LADY MACBETH enters, sleepwalking, with a candle.) Yet here's a spot. Out, damned spot! (She goes through the motions of washing her hands throughout the scene.) Out, I say! One, two: why then, 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? What, will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with this starting. Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! Oh! Oh! Wash your hands, put on your night-gown; look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried: he cannot come out on's grave. To bed, to bed: what's done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed. STORTELLER: All the lords of Scotland have revolted against Macbeth. Waiting in his castle for the battle to begin, Macbeth is told that his wife is dead.

226 MACBETH: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. STORTELLER: The rebel army breaks branches off trees and advances toward Macbeth's castle. One of the witches' prophecies is coming true: Birnam wood is coming toward Dunsinane castle. Macbeth still feels he is invincible, since he has been told that no one born of woman can kill him. At last he meets Macduff face-to-face. MACDUFF: Turn, Hell-hound, turn! MACBETH: I bear a charmed life, which must not yield To one of woman born. MACDUFF: Despair thy charm! MACBETH: I'll not fight with thee. MACDUFF: Then yield thee, coward. MACBETH: I will not yield. Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!" (MACDUFF kills MACBETH. MACBETH'S body is dragged out by MACDUFF.) Macduff hails Duncan's son Malcolm as the new King of Scotland. (MALCOLM enters, along with all the other actors as soldiers. MACDUFF returns with MACBETH'S head on a pole.) MACDUFF: Hail, King! for so thou art. Behold, where stands Th'usurper's cursed head. The time is free. Hail, King of Scotland! ALL: Hail, King of Scotland!

227 Build a castle out of refrigerator boxes. Simple Set Ideas For instructions and to download plans for this particular castle, check out this site:

228 Make a forest of cardboard trees.

229 Make a backdrop out of plastic tablecloths.

230 Build a PVC frame for a backdrop and hang whatever you like on it. If you use colored butcher paper scenes, new ones can be flipped from the back to cover the old ones and create a new scene. For instance, a forest can become stone walls of a castle.

231 Make cardboard cutouts and cover them with Shakespeare text.

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