Engaging Review/Final Exam

Wow.  First off, I cannot believe the semester is over. This FLEW by! Probably one of the most engaging semesters I've had (no pun intended). This class was a really creative and interesting way to learn about Shakespeare, and I really feel like I have learned a ton!

I would like to refer to my Mid-Term Assessment Post, because my sentiments on how I met the learning outcomes are very similar now as they were then. With some small differences:

The collaborative and social learning outcomes before the midterm were mediocre. I feel like I would comment minimally on my group members' blogs. During class we would definitely have meaningful discussions, but always commenting electronically was sometimes difficult for me.

My group for the final project did a TON of collaboration. Every single person contributed to the project usefully, and consistently. I had a blast with the cast, while still being productive. We had many discussions having to do with what themes of Shakespeare's we wanted to convey, and why. We really dove into texts; I even ended up reading an additional play (Romeo and Juliet) in preparation to write the script.
Six creative brains are far better than one, and I feel like because of that, we ended up with a great show!

Before, I had a hard time getting into the social learning aspect, and reaching out through the internet. None of my comments were commented on... none of the links I posted brought anyone to my blog (that I know of, I guess. But no one commented, so I'm assuming). 

However, I think our final project is very sharable! I'm going to make a complete/edited version of the script, and I think I'm going to try and distribute it. There are several small theater companies and high schools (including my own) in Colorado, who I'm sure would really love such a project. I think our show is a great way to get people interested in Shakespeare, who might not have otherwise been--that's the point right?!

I feel like the "Lovers of Shakespeare" project really embraced the learning outcomes of this class: because of it:

• I gained literacy, no question. literally pouring over scripts, comparing and contrasting his language and portrayals of characters, I learned a lot. 
• I analyzed critically. Picking very specific speeches for very specific reasons. At least in my head I was analyzing every line.
• Engaging creatively was the name of the game. That was pretty much the PURPOSE of the show.
• I hope we shared it in a way that was meaningful. I know at least the class enjoyed it, and if I can get it distributed, as is the current plan, hopefully we can share it on a much broader scale!

So Dr. Burton,

THANK YOU.

for the work you've put into US, so that we could put work into learning Shakespeare.

words words review

I saw the mask club "words words words" on thursday. A student-run, student-directed, black-box show, taking three shakespeare plays, and cutting across several scenes of each...

 It was basically a 30 minute version of our show with some VERY distinct and important differences. 

1) the three shows were Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Much ado about Nothing. 

for obvious reasons that's different. (ours is R+J, Hamlet, and Love's Labour's)


2) their theme was not examining what shakespeare thought of love, but was examining communication.


while I understood their attempt, I did not understand the followthrough. What I got was a series of stories involving a serious lack-of-communication. 


3) their couples were in grey, white and black, which echoed the feeling of their show, I guess.


our color scheme (red, yellow, and blue) is much more fun, and well... colorful. which hopefully sets the tone for our more upbeat production.


4) their show was intended for serious drama, and to evoke intense emotion... i think...


ours is to laugh at ourselves, the ways love can go wrong, and hopefully add enough of a modern twist to shakespeare that people who wouldn't normally think to look at shakespeare, might think again. We want to bring Shakespeare literacy to a level that any person can understand, be entertained, and enjoy the show/shakespeare.


you can find more about our show on our group blog

The Better to See you with...

GLOUCESTER gets his eyes gouged out. This is not a normal thing, even for Shakespeare. 

This horribly, bloody, terrible event that happens had to have a specific purpose.

we can see without our eyes.
"O dear son Edgar,
The food of thy abused father's wrath!
Might I but live to see thee in my touch,
I'ld say I had eyes again!"- act IV scene I


He was blind metaphorically, and wrongly accused his righteous son, until he was blinded literally, and saw the truth. 

"What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes
with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond
justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in
thine ear" -act IV scene VI


Lear, in his mad, primal state, half lost his mind tells Gloucester still how there is life to see beyond what we experience only through our eyes. 


"Met I my father with his bleeding rings,

Their precious stones new lost: became his guide,
Led him, begg'd for him, saved him from despair;"

act V scene III

His newly lost eyes, became his guide. 

Gloucester pleads with his son, Edgar to let him stay and rot under a tree, and Edgar replies, 

"What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure

Their going hence, even as their coming hither-"act V scene II

Men must endure. 

This disturbing and unsettling play has a purpose in its gruesomeness. Even though our own mistakes create the misery in our lives, we must still go on. 

Updates!

We're basically going to look like this

Our show is moving along at a brilliant pace. We finally have the script. Officially done! There's one or two lines that need to be written in, but I wanted the cast to decide on the amount of modernness/length/intensity of these filler/recorded lines. But all of the ones we need memorized after thanksgiving are available to us! I added a potential ending onto our Group Blog, and hopefully will get some input on that.

I literally had a DREAM about the blocking for one of the Romeo and Juliet scenes. My head is IN the game! Can't wait for our first real read through today!

The REAL Schedule.

Date	Place	Time	Schedule
Nov. 17 (Thursday)	Stage! JFSB-B192	class	Finalize script/ending poem
Nov. 19 (Saturday)	Stage! JFSB-B192	1:00-3:30	Block
Nov. 29 (Tuesday)	Class	class	MUST HAVE LINES MEMORIZED. There will be a quiz.
Dec. 1 (Thursday)	Class	Class	Production elements meeting: Costumes, lighting, sounds/recordings, etc.
Dec. 3 Saturday (Maybe)	TBD	TBD	TBD (may or may not be out of town)
Dec. 5 (Monday)	STAGE JFSB-B192	8:00-11:00	Cast FHE
Dec. 7 (Wednesday)	STAGE	7:30-11	Dress rehearsal. (start at 8:00) Tell family and friends. We’ll need to practice for laughter etc.
Dec. 8 (Thursday)	Stage	Class	Final problems.
December 9	Stage	Call time: TBD (have room from 5-11)	OPENING NIGHT (and closing)

 I will print out our scripts and the schedule in one large rehearsal packet for everyone. 

More Solid Schedule

Love's Labours Rehearsal Schedule

Tis a little small, but hopefully readable. Let's talk about as a group whether or not we want to add some extra rehearsals there towards the end.

Date:	Tue. 15	Thur. 17	Sat. 19	Turkey Break	Tue. 29	Thur. Dec. 1	Sat. 3	Mon.5	Tue. 6	Dec. 8	Fri. 9
Sched.	Finalize Script	Finalize Script	REAL first read-through	No rehearsal	Must have lines MEMORIZED	Production elements meeting	(TBA) (might possibly be in NY)	Cast FHE! Problems	Problems	“	OPENING (and Brittni's bday)
Time	Class	Class	1-3:30	YAY	Class	Class	1-3:30	7-?	Class	+ 7-?	TBD

Let me know if any of these dramatically conflict with personal schedules.

p.s. I have more specific directors notes about blocking/cutting/acting notes etc. (Just so you know) but i don't want to post ALL of our secrets

Romeo Wherefore art thou?

Beginnings of final project research: Watched Zeffirelli version of Romeo and Juliet last night. Some very interesting stuff. (I gotta say, the pants were my favorite part.) My biggest concern-and--and this is a big concern--is how we're going to get the essence of the love story in three, one-and-a-half minute scenes. I have confidence that we can! I literally have the best group in the WORLD so I have no doubt we can accomplish this task.

Shakespeare's Specific Series'

Shakespeare is very good at having his characters really EMPHASIZE their points with series'. for example: Glouster says, "we have seen the best of our time:" this alone might have made his point. BUT he takes it a step further with this:
 "machinations, hollowness, treachery and all ruinous disorders follow us disquitely to our graves" (Act I scene II)
He did not have to give us that detailed description of what is left, but because he did, it gives the reader/audience memeber a sense of much deeper, and much more specific despair.


He uses series to make a local point very global:
"love cools, freidnship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond craked 'twixt son and father" (act I Scene II)
So many problems in the world, and he compares a bond broken between a father and son to treason in a kingdom. We then get a sense of how deeply he feels betrayed because of this juxtaposition.

To emphasize loyalty: Kent could have easily just said, "I will serve loyally" but instead takes it that much further, and swears loyalty in a much stronger way when saying:
"to serve him truly that will put me in trust; to love him that is honest; to converse with him that is wise and says little; to fear judgement; to fight when I cannot choose, and to eat no fish"(act I scene IV)


Shakespeare creates a witty fool with wordplay:"they'll have me whipped for speaking true, thou'lt have me whipped for lying, and sometimes I am whipped for holding my peace" (act I scene IV)


In empasizing incredulousness at his daughters' lecherous behaviour:
"They durst not do't;
They could not, would not dot; 't is worse than murder" (Act II scene IV)


By use of word-play and series, Lear's  feelings are magnified and maddened. Truely creating a clear image of frustration and anger (even without seeing an actor perform it)
"You think I'll weep; No, I'll not weep:
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall brake into a hundred thousand flaws,
 Or ere I'll weep." (Act II scene IV)

Really Rough Draft of Script

Here's our outline as we discussed as a cast today:

the plan is to have it written by this thursday so that we can compile it all together!

(don't forget to make each scene aprox. 2-3 minutes long, and we'll cut it down from there)

	Scene 1	Scene 2	Scene 3	Scene 4
Romeo & Juliet	Look. Love. Hands touch. (I think a giggle would be appropriate)	Balcony, forswear parents, and wedding	Outside influences	Deaths
Hamlet & Ophelia	He’s reading her a love letter	He talks to his dad; she talks to hers	“get thee to a nunnery” backstage: “splash”
King & Princess	He swearing off love for oath, she’s rowing in from a boat. Witty banter	He’s talking to friends; she’s reading letter with friends	In love, but must prove himself/must let go

Powerful Men with Short Tempers

Shakespeare seems to like setting up his characters with outrageous and fatefull stubbornness. I noticed strong parallels between King Lear and Leontes (from The Winter's Tale)

LEONTES is convinced that his faithful wife is cheating on him with his best friend. He rashly accuses her, puts her in prison, banishes their child, and nothing anyone says can sway him otherwise. He gets caught up in pride, and the idea of being decieved and played a fool, makes him so mad, that he in fact becomes the fool.

Leontes and his bewildered accused Queen Hermione

"Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and I
Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour
Will be my knell. Go, play, boy, play.
There have been,
Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now"

KING LEAR is suddenly convinced that his most virtuous daughter does not love him, because she was honest in the amount of love (unlike her two scheming sisters, who in fact did NOT love him as much, but could flatter). Lear disinherits her, and not even his faithful, long-serving companion could sway him otherwise.

Two mean daughters, and the nice one

"Propinquity and property of blood,
And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee, from this, for ever. The barbarous Scythian,
Or he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and relieved,
As thou my sometime daughter."

I'll bet we'll see a similar downfall as we did with Leontes. But maybe without as forgiving an ending...

Midterm Self-Assessment Post

Learning Outcomes

• Gained Literacy
• When I saw Macbeth this past weekend, I got so excited, because I could understand it! I didn't read any synopsis before-hand, and I had next to no idea what the play was about. But I followed the story from the actors, and it was awesome! On my very first post I wrote about how I started reading this semester with the spark-notes English translation off to the side. Now that I can actually, (basically) completely understand him, it is incredible fun. I'd only ever read two other plays by Will, but now feel like an educated citizen of the Shakespearean world because of the five shows I have read in depth, and analyzed, certainly more-so than I have ever before. I feel like I have a grasp of his works, an idea of how to look at a performance, and resources to find new and contemporary media on the subject.

Shakespearean Weekend

This weekend was so much fun! I felt transported back to an era of Elizabethian proportions.

Friday night I saw MacBeth with the Grassroots Shakespeare Company and they did a PHENOMINAL job. The show was minimal and goofy: they had no budget, no director, 2 weeks of rehearsal, and were borrowing the venue. Each character costumed/prop-ed themselves, and they staged the play as a cast. It was the true Shakespearean expirience:
 I was a groundling.
The cast jumped in and out of the audience
the audience shouted at the performers.

one of my favorite moments of the evening was when Lady MacBeth said, "out damn spot!" and a groundling shouted "TRY CLUB SODA" bah ha ha

with all these distractions, they kept the integrity of the play, and it was incredibly powerful.

• My second shakespeare show this weekend was The Tempest put on by The Pioneer Theater Company at the University of Utah. It was fantastic. Some highlights:

• the stage was set up like a workshop, with a stage in the middle. The magic Prospero produced was compared to the magic of Shakespeare putting on a play.
• there was a very interesting relationship between Prospero and Ariel that they portrayed through a series of attempts to physically connect hands, then when prospero gave up his magic, they could for the first time touch. It was a moving moment, and added depth to their characters/relationship that was not written in the text.
• we got to talk to the cast after for a few minutes. They all seemed like very neat people. One kind of funny phenomenon was Ariel spoke and moved her hands almost the EXACT same way she did on stage in character

Quite the Wonderful Weekend in my opinion. 

Social Discovery

I have actually already done this, but forgot to add it to my post.

Originally I thought I would look at the historical accuracy of Julius Ceasar, but then changed my mind. In the process, however, i came across this neat dialogue on the site "All Empires History Forum" on the Historical Accuracy of the Play.
 Some interesting highlights:

• "Shakespeare's immediate source for history was Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland(1577) but he was an avid reader who used lots of sources."
• "Et tu Brute?" was a fictional line, however, according to Suetonius, in Greek, Caesar was rumoured to have said was "even you my child?"
• The murder actually did take place on the Ides of March
• and apparently it would not have been that uncommon to have all the senators carry weapons on their person. WHO KNEW?

Another free-lance internet author offered that Shakespeare was too flattering to the characters of Brutus  and Marc Antony. That in reality they were a bloodthirsty conspirator, and a selfish egotist, respectively.

One teacher on Good Reads, Bill Kerwin, said that every year (for over thirty years) his opinion of whom he likes better, Cassius or Brutus, changes. That's very interesting to me.


There is far too much analysis on this play to write about half of what I found.  But it goes to show how many people are captivated by Shakespeare, and specifically Julius Caesar.