Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Shakespeare's World

Sometime during your tour of Planet College you will encounter the works of William Shakespeare. Mr. Shakespeare was a writer who lived in England and wrote at the end of the fifteenth century. He died in 1607 but his works have lived on to plague and perplex average students ever since. The curious part about his plays is, with some adjustments, that is how people actually talked at that time. Since 500 years later no one talks like that William Shakespeare is effectively a foreign language. But there is a means to actually decode what the actors are saying. So, keep reading.

In my experience there are several of William Shakespeare’s plays that you are likely to come across during your career trying to pass some English or Drama course. The most referenced Shakespeare plays are, in no particular order:

Hamlet

Romeo And Juliet

King Lear

Midsummer’s Night’s Dream

The Tempest

As You Like It

Macbeth (known as The Scottish Play in the Drama Department)

Much Ado About Nothing

Because for many students on Planet College attempting to understand Shakespeare can be tedious here is help. This is a simple method to assist you in understanding William Shakespeare’s work and enjoy yourself at the same time. When you find yourself in a course, which requires you to read and understand a play by William Shakespeare, follow this simple guideline.

Have a Shakespeare festival at your place.

First get the correct play script which may be in your textbook. If not get a copy of the script from the campus library or bookstore.

Get a copy of this play on DVD. Once again the library may be a useful resource.

Get some mead and invite some wenches over for the Shakespeare Festival.

Play the DVD and while it is playing follow along with the actual script.

As you watch the scenes of the play on the DVD turn the script pages and follow along as much as possible. You can use the stop/start or the replay to review scenes which are unclear.

Planet College Useful Tip: If there is a wedding at the end of the play it is a comedy. I f someone dies at the end it is a tragedy. If you die it was Macbeth and the curse of the Scottish Play has struck again.

After the play is over finish the mead and make sure the wenches are back to their house before curfew.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.