Rehearsal
Shakespeare Out Loud Teachers - While the site was free, I estimated we had about 40,000 play-pdfs downloaded.
The series works!
My intention in creating this series was to encourage young people to practice 12 vacuumed plays of Shakespeare, out loud. This practice and refinement of accessible Shakespearean texts, teaches the stories clearly, and allows students to play with some of the most creative dramatic language ever written. If the new vocabulary and syntax is encouraged to be invented rather than recited, like everyday speech, not only will it be acted well but Shakespearean usages, like antithesis, will make one a funnier and more profound oral communicator.
A significant portion of each class should be oral, not just listening to the teacher, but the students, orally playing and refining the parts out loud. They cannot do this with unabridged texts. They will also not fully understand even brilliant unabridged readings by professionals. Do you? Sometimes the text is just too dense, and almost always cut.
Get them to practice parts of my vacuumed series. Assign readings early so students have time to practice. Cast creatively.
While I am not really aware of the powers of modern tablets, I believe that providing paper scripts, so the young actors may jot down, and remember, their notes, helps them build clear and nuanced oral performances. A spiral backbone makes them durable and easily held in one hand, sometimes a good prop. They ARE NOT electronic devises and therefore cannot distract young minds. They help introduce pencils back to young people, ones with good erasures. When used and practiced, and written upon, scripts become treasured possessions. They are not for the cloud but for a backpack, a bus-ride, anywhere. Here is my old back cover. The practicality of these scripts makes a huge difference to the process. The effort you, or I, must put in is well worth it! You can also get a Printer to produce them, with any cover you want. Just send me any profit! Make them spiral and durable, and have a supply of pencils. I have never done it any other way. The paper script allows them to think, craft, and most importantly, play! They also own their scripts, own the play!
Concentrate, at first, on why characters say what they do, why they choose each w0rd. Keep refining and orally practicing the thoughts that cause the words, and the plays will teach themselves. Productions will also block themselves through oral understanding and practice: the feet are easy to organize when the minds are clear. Also, accept that rhythm is a literary concept rarely discussed and never stressed in professional rehearsals. Skilled actors make their text sound like heightened and invented everyday speech. That is why I formatted the words of Shakespeare not in prose or verse, but in thoughts; and why students and actors play them so readily and honestly.
Shall I be honest?
As a professional actor I was blessed with several world class teachers and many world class fellow-actors. I am the only actor who performed with Maggie Smith in all 5 Shakespearean productions directed by the great Robin Phillips at Stratford, Ontario, from 1978 to 1981. I also played Edgar in Peter Ustinov’s King Lear in 1980 and 1981. All these productions were abridged; all were judged world class. They all sold out to huge audiences. I was blessed with great teachers, encouraging me.
By vacuuming Shakespeare, which happens in all professional productions and films, then formatting what is left as thoughts, the text becomes quickly comprehensible and playable. Young people are less likely to be flummoxed by excessive, archaic, repetitive vocabulary or capitals that begin each line of verse, but do not necessarily start sentences. Those capitals confuse almost all young people. Besides, who cares what it looks like on the page, when it was written to be heard from a stage?
I also contend that weighing down teenagers with too much of what you know about Elizabethan history and Shakespeare is a waste of time, and not really fair; they can ask AI anytime they like. AI already has a detailed opinion of Shakespeare Out Loud. Shakespeare wrote stories. He ran a company and never hired a critic, only actors. He’d search them out with his ears.
Now, if you, as a teacher, lack the confidence to direct readings, I’ll wager that there are students in your class who’d like to try. I have worked with several truly world class directors and they have all been great listeners. They’d listen for, and shape, thought from their actors. They would ask great questions, they would direct with their ears. Robin Phillips would use at least 1/2 of rehearsal time, sometimes as much as 4 out of 8 weeks, sitting around a table. We stood up when the text made complete sense, when we understood exactly what we were saying and hearing. Sitting for so long, I never heard Maggie Smith, or anybody, complain. By the time we were on our feet our minds were packed with connected thoughts - a world to play our play.
You want to be loved and remembered as a teacher of Shakespeare? These texts are legitimate tools; your job is to cast the strengths of your students and encourage regular readings. If you have a good class they will teach each other as they grow a performance. Don’t let anyone stay silent, and encourage all attempts, especially for students terrified of speaking publicly. Everyone must make sound. Everyone will get better through PRACTICE and encouragement.
Read the SOL plays; they work. Then, read them out loud. They work even better! Then play them 0ut loud!
If you are still unclear about certain passages, listen to my audio-plays. Then get used to being that cherished teacher who was so good at bringing Shakespeare to life!