Shaking Up Shakespeare!

Twenty-One Shakespeare Lessons

Will Power: How to Act Shakespeare in 21 Days

by John Basil with Stephanie Gunning

Phase 1 Map Reading: Secrets of Your Script Unfolded

Lesson 1: Revealing Repetitions

Lesson 2: Cracking the Capitalization Code

Lesson 3: Verse or Prose?

Lesson 4: Picking Out Punctuation

Lesson 5: Revving Up Your Verbs

Lesson 6: Amiable Adjectives, Saucy Similes, and Merry Metaphors

Lesson 7: O! Thy Status is Showing

Lesson 8: Your Secret Formula for Persuasive Rhetoric

Phase 2: Scouting the Landscape: Going on Instinct, Getting Off Book

Lesson 9: Script Rotations

Lesson 10: To Memorize, Physicalize

Lesson 11: Now, Go Ahead and Look It Up

Lesson 12: Draft Your Newspaper Headlines

Phase 3: Charting Your Course: Moments of Variety and Nuance

Lesson 13: Playing with the Pace

Lesson 14: Finding Your Focus

Lesson 15: Surely, You Jest

Lesson 16: Art Thou Parent, Child, or Adult?

Lesson 17: Greeks Bearing Gifts

Phase 4: Staking Your Claim: Stanislavski's Approach

Lesson 18: Your Given Circumstances

Lesson 19: Five Basic Human Needs

Lesson 20: Your Doings

Lesson 21: Presto, PRESTO!

The Shakespeare Semesters

This year, our Drama class focus is WIlliam Shakespeare.

Twenty One Shakespeare Lessons

Scripts

Videos

Designs

Shakespeare Theatres
Stratford Festival (Stratford, Ontario)
The Shakespeare Company (Calgary, Alberta)
The Globe Theatre (London, England)

Inspired by Shakespeare

Games

The Tempest

Past Productions of The Tempest

Opening Scene

Some productions leave the storm to the imagination of the audience...

If it were a film, you could use special locations and camera tricks...

Some productions interpret the storm using stylized choices.

Shakespeare Week 2010

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.

- As You Like It Act 2, scene 7

Join Mr. Grafton's class as they celebrate Shakespeare's 446th Birthday Week!

It used to be that people would say they were going to the theatre to hear a play. But nowadays, we say we are going to see a play. I wonder why we do that? Probably because we like to watch movies on T.V., and we have to push the PLAY button on the DVD machine.

Well, whether you're looking or listening, these videos might help you to understand a little more about some of Shakespeare's greatest plays.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Tempest: (BBC Version)
A terrible storm. A near-fatal shipwreck. A mysterious island. And you thought that Lost was the first show to ever think of doing this. Watch these animations about Shakespeare's last play.

Much Ado About Nothing
Having trouble understanding Shakespeare? What if the characters were a little more up to date? Check out this animation of the play Much Ado About Nothing, but with modern day characters.

Hamlet
From Reduced Shakespeare Company's Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged.

As You Like It

As You Like It (BBC Version)
Watch this animation to find out more about the play.

Othello

The Life and Times of Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Life

Virtual Tour of the Globe Theatre

Shakespeare Challenge Quiz

See how well your answers compare!

BrainPop! William Shakespeare

Watch this short animation about the life of Shakespeare. Then try and beat Mr. Grafton's score on the quiz. (Ha! I had 10 out of 10)

Talk Like Shakespeare Day

In 2009, the Mayor of Chicago announced April 23rd as Talk Like Shakespeare Day. People all around the city were challenged to banter like the Bard.

Handouts

The Globe Theatre
Create your own paper model of the historic Globe theatre.

Shakespearean Conversations
PBS Website complete with class handouts and activities

Inspired Books

The Shakespeare Stealer Series

by Gary Blackwood

Scripts

Monologues
Monologues for Males
Monologues for Females

Internet Shakespeare Editions

Find both the First Folio editions and Modern translations of Shakespeare's works.

Shakespeare Baseball

performed by classic Canadian comedy duo, Wayne and Schuster

To Hear or Not To Hear

Listen to Shakespeare Online

Shakespeare MP3s

Shakespeare Audios Download unabridged versions of Shakespeare's plays.

Happy Birthday, Bill!

Wow! 444 years old! You barely look a day over a hundred.

I wonder what Shakespeare would say about these characters costumes.

Shakespearean Games

Romeo, wherefore art thou?
Try this new game! Can Romeo win over Juliet's heart, or will this story end in tragedy? This new online game based on William Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ is the new hit on the Internet.It has already attracted 22 million players worldwide. The game, initially commissioned by Shakespeare Country tourist site, allows players to take on the role of Romeo, as he collects flowers for Juliet.

Visit the Globe Theatre
Have you ever wanted to step back in time to Shakespeare's day? Head back to 1598 and see the premiere of Hamlet.

7NK: Murder Mystery of The Seven Noble Kinsmen
Can you solve this Shakespearean tragedy? Follow the clues through this mysterious theatre.

Shakespeare's Villains
Identify these rogues by listening to a exerpt from theirs lines.

The Playwright Game
You are a struggling English playwright. The city is looking for new and exciting plays. Can you be the one to write the next big hit?

Romeo and Juliet
How well do you know Shakespeare's words? Fill in the missing dialogue.

Speare: The Literacy Arcade Game

In the style of classic arcade games, 'Speare launches the player into outer space on a mission to reclaim stolen knowledge (story traces) based on Shakespeare's plays. By collecting words, phrases, and facts through game play, 'Speare challenges its players to use information to become successful knowledge gatherers. Only through knowledge gathering can a player successfully complete the game..

The Comedy of Errors
This is one of two plays that Shakespeare wrote that happens in a single day. Spin the hands on the clock to find out what the characters are doing at different times in the day.

The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice exposes prejudice in all its forms. Learn more about one of these types of prejudice: anti-Semitism.

Bantam Shakespeare Games

Shakespeare Stealer

Folger Shakespeare Library

Shakespeare In American Life for Kids

ShakespeareKids

Shakespeare In Canada

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Stratford, Ontario

Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project
CASP is the first research project of its kind devoted to the systematic exploration and documentation of the ways in which Shakespeare has been adapted into a national, multicultural theatrical practice.