Having a photographic record of your rehearsals and performances will be so meaningful to you and your cast, not to mention the extremely proud parents and grandparents who will want to show everyone and their dog pictures from the production! The only thing I want to warn you about is using a professional photographer. Keep in mind that any pictures a photographer takes become their “intellectual property.” Now, I’m sure there are exceptions, and contracts can be drawn up, etc., etc., etc. But to save a great many headaches, it might be nice to ask a student photographer or willing parent to do it for you. This year, the father of Petruchio and Grumio is doing our photography, and let me tell you, I know these are going to be great pictures. He took a ton of pictures last year of the kids backstage, and then of the performance, and honestly, his pictures were of equal or better quality than those of the professional photographer we had there. So I’m thankful he is willing to do all of it for us this year!

Be sure that you get a list of pictures you want taken to your photographer. This year, we are including pictures of every cast member in our playbill, so John will be taking head shots of all 24 kids, which will be condensed to 1″ or so size to fit in the playbill. He’s doing these on Monday, so I’ll have a checklist of all the kids for him to follow. Then he’s coming to the two dress rehearsals to take pictures. Of course, I want him to wander around and take lots of great candids, like he did last year, but I will also have a list of the groups I want to have pictures taken of. For example, I want a picture of Petruchio and Grumio together…Petruchio and Kate together…Hortensio and his Widow together…all of Petruchio’s servants…the Christopher Sly framework actors…Baptista with Kate and Bianca…you see what I’m getting at. Have it all typed out so that your photographer can just call names, go down the list, and get the shots you want. And stick to your guns - If you have a certain grouping of actors that you want, but the photographer says, “You know, it would look better if we did this,” listen to his/her suggestions, but be sure you are still getting all of the kids in the photographs you want. Last year I had my list typed up, but the photographer decided to switch some people around without my knowledge. Turns out that I now have no picture of one of my actors from last year in her small group shot like I wanted, all because the photographer thought he knew better.

I know that there are wonderful professional photographers out there who will listen to what you want and work with you regarding costs, usage of the photos in the future, etc. It was unfortunate that my first experience with a professional photographer was a negative one. I would just suggest that you get references from his/her previous clients, as well as a very clear contract so that there are no questions or problems in the future.

If you plan to record your play, watch out for copyright issues.  One example is music.  Using music that is not public domain, then recording your play with said music in it can lead to headaches that a school or amateur theatre company really doesn’t need.  Personally, I don’t know enough about copyright law to give much advice in this post - just be aware that you need to be careful about what you use in your production if you plan to record your performances…and especially if you are going to be selling your DVDs.  But we have all very much enjoyed having our copies from last year, and I do plan to have Shrew recorded.  I think I had about 20 people buy copies of the DVD for Much Ado, as they make great Christmas gifts for proud relatives and friends of the family.

Definitely take pictures (include rehearsals, if you can - those can be super fun to have!)…definitely record your performance(s)…these will be treasured keepsakes for years to come!  Just be smart about it - get references for your photographer and videographer, and make your expectations very clear up front - and do be sure to check into possible copyright issues.

I have always been a movie buff, from the time I was a little kid. I remember my mom taking me to see Disney’s Robin Hood at the theater (you know, the one where Robin Hood and Marian are foxes, and Prince John is a thumb-sucking lion…PJ? PJ! Oh, I like that…Hiss, put it on my luggage!). And I remember going to my first drive-in movie with my brother - Young Frankenstein.  Probably not the best movie for a 6-year-old to watch - I believe a lot of the humor was lost on me until later years!

But movies have always been important to me and played a big part in my life…especially historical epics!  Oh, my…that year that both Braveheart and Rob Roy came out?!?!  I thought I’d died and gone to historical cinema heaven! And, of course, being a huge Shakespeare/Elizabethan buff, I adore movies like Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love.

But what on earth does this have to do with Staging Shakespeare? Well, one thing that has been very helpful, not only to my cast but also to the students in my English classes, is to teach Shakespeare’s plays utilizing good film versions of the plays. Of course, when I teach Henry V to my 8th graders, we watch the Branagh film - read one act, watch the act; read the next act, watch that act, etc. When I teach Hamlet, we watch bits of both the Gibson and the Branagh films, and when I teach Macbeth, I’ve found that I prefer the BBC version of the play with Nicol Williamson (remember him as Merlin in Excalibur?) over the Ian McKellen/Judi Dench play, although I like to show scenes from both. (Speaking of Excalibur - Here’s some trivia for you - Cherie Lunghi, who played Guenevere, also did a fabulous Beatrice in the BBC’s Much Ado About Nothing! Kind of cool that two Excalibur cast members also did some mean Shakespeare!)

So back in May and June, when the weather here was icky and we couldn’t start rehearsing outside, our cast spent a great deal of time working on the text - reading parts aloud; figuring out what various words and phrases meant; determining what their characters might be thinking and feeling at any given moment. Once we were finished, we would watch whatever scenes we had worked on that day from the BBC version of Shrew, with John Cleese as Petruchio. Talk about a HOOT! John Cleese is just a great actor anyway, but seeing him come in for his wedding to Katharina, dressed in some hideous burlap-type vest, no shirt on underneath, but an enormous yellow sunflower stuck to the vest…and a hat with the longest feathers sticking out in front of it…I could go on…I won’t…except to mention that Grumio had some weird face painted on his bare belly, under a very similar ensemble as that of Petruchio’s! The kids loved it, and they saw some really outstanding acting in the process. We also watched the Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor film version, which is such an enjoyable movie, especially when you consider that Burton and Taylor were married at the time they made the movie…it definitely created quite the dynamic for their performances!

Using film versions of the plays seems almost like a no-brainer, really. In this day and age of audio and visual technology, why wouldn’t a teacher or director want to use film to help their students really get into Shakespeare? The only downside I can see is that you don’t ever want your actors to feel like they have to play a part exactly like some famous actor did it. I was hesitant about showing the Branagh Much Ado last year, simply because I didn’t want anyone to feel like there was only one way to play these characters. But I also showed them the BBC version (the one with Cherie Lunghi as Beatrice) in order to demonstrate that there are definitely different ways of approaching the characters, the scenery, the costumes, the everything of putting together a stage production…as long as you don’t deviate from Shakespeare’s text!

Just a suggestion, too, concerning those BBC plays - If you look for them on Amazon or other commercial websites, you’ll probably only find them available to purchase as sets - all of the comedies, all of the histories, or even all 37 plays in one huge bundle. If you are interested in buying them individually, go to the Folger Library website - www.folger.edu - and you can purchase them through their gift shop, one at a time. I’ve slowly been building my collection this way, purchasing the ones I need for school or for whatever plays I am considering directing in the future.

And finally…a little ritual that I started last summer as our production neared completion and we were almost to Opening Night. When I start to worry about the play coming together, actors learning their lines, costumes being finished, sets being painted, but I know I’ve done everything I can do and it’s up to the kids, I pop in my copy of Shakespeare in Love.  If I have time, I’ll watch the whole film, but sometimes I’m just too tired to stay up and watch it after my children are in bed, so instead, I will skip to the scene where Will’s Romeo and Juliet is about to start.  Henslowe’s tailor, playing the Chorus, is stuttering backstage, and Will looks like he would rather slit his wrists than let the play go on.  Then the Chorus gets pushed out onto the stage, and it almost appears that he won’t be able to get the words out…but suddenly, his voice is perfect, exclaiming, “Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene….” I absolutely love that entire part of the movie, where they show what it might have been like the very first time R&J was on the stage…except, of course, where a gorgeous Gwyneth Paltrow saves the day! And then, when the play is over, and the audience just sits there, like they didn’t know what hit them…until finally, thunderous applause and ovations! Ah, yes…it helps me sleep better that night!

Shakespeare’s 444th birthday is fast approaching (try looking for a card for that in Hallmark), and Bard Buffs will doubtless find ways never before imagined to recognize the occasion. NC Wesleyan College might have the creative edge this year because they are holding a “roast” for Shakespeare. Normally, roasting a dead person might seem déclassé, but time heals all, so four centuries has allowed us enough distance to poke fun at Will.

The real question is what kind of roast will it be? Will they roast him as if it were the late 1500’s? “Boy, that Queen Elizabeth! What a taskmaster, huh?” Furthermore, will they roast Will, his plays, or both? I anticipate there will be a lot of Anne Hathaway jokes, particularly at the expense of the second-best bed that he left her in his will (“Who got the best one? Ben Jonson?” Cue laugh track). I can also imagine them taking the air out of several overblown tragic heroes. “Hey, Othello, lighten up. You killed your wife over a handkerchief. You make the guy in Sleeping with the Enemy look normal.” Also, please be prepared for the inevitable slew of “Y’Momma” jokes at Hamlet’s expense. In addition, there will be the inevitable authorship jabs. “Will Shakespeare is here tonight ladies and gentleman. OR IS HE?”
What’s fun about an event like this is that honors Shakespeare by not taking him far so seriously. Despite his reputation worldwide, I like to think he would get a lot of laughs out of a roast at his expense.

You’ll have to bear with me this week…My daughter just turned 11, and so my focus is, of course, on her!  But in thinking about this blog and my daughter, it occurred to me that I had a few things to say about children and Shakespeare.

Scott wrote a recent post - http://www.enotes.com/blogs/shakespeare/2008-03/kinder-bard-en/ - which discussed an article about exposing children to Shakespeare at the age of 4.  I agree completely with this premise.  Why not get kids interested in these wonderful stories while they’re still young enough to love fairy tales?  Why can’t they understand The Tempest if they can understand “Rapunzel”?  And language experts say that the younger a child, the easier it is for them to learn a new language.  Now, far be it from me to say that Shakespeare is another language!!  But I know it presents difficulties to some people when they are first trying to handle the Elizabethan poetry, and so if it works better for little kids whose brains still have all those wonderful firing synapses, then why not go for it?

I started the Shakespeare Festival at our school because I figured out that getting Shakespeare “off the page and onto the stage” is critical to students’ enjoyment and understanding of these plays.  People scoff when I say that I added Hamlet to our 7th grade reading list.  Of course it’s a bit of a stretch, but it’s nothing they can’t handle, particularly when we get up and starting reading aloud and acting out the story.  Last semester I worked with a group of students who ranged in age from 5 to 15 on a scene from The Tempest.  This exercise that I did came from a great book called Teaching Shakespeare, by Rex Gibson.  In it he suggested using Ariel’s story of the shipwreck and dividing lines amongst all of the kids, except Prospero, who is a single actor/reader.  So I took one of my older girls and gave her Prospero’s lines, and then divided Ariel’s lines among the rest of the kids.  The lines were divided, too, so they were manageable for younger kids.  Our littlest boy had a line with four words, and then we just worked on up to more and longer lines for the oldest kids.  They had so much fun with this - We even added sound effects so that there were ocean/surf crashing noises in the background while Ariel is telling his story, as well as thunder bolts at “Jove’s lighting, the precursors O’th’ dreadful thunderclaps”!  This was a great experience that led several of the kids to ask me, “When can we do more of this?”  In addition, they really wanted to know the entire story of The Tempest, which gave me the opportunity to do more teaching and sharing of Shakespeare.

Another great way to get younger kids involved in the plays is by having them be extras.  Our Much Ado last summer included the masked ball scene in Act II, complete with a choreographed 16th century Italian court dance!  It was SO neat to see these actors (yes, even the teenage boys!) get into this and want to learn these dance steps to bring even more dimension and life to our production.  Altogether we had 20 dancers - five groups of four dancers each - and the majority of them were extras - younger kids without lines in the play but who really wanted to be involved in the production in some capacity.  My daughter was one of these, as well as the Noble Lady who sings at Hero’s tomb in Act V (yes, I just had to mention my cute kid again!)!

So what exactly is the point to this post, other than to talk about my adorable birthday girl?  I want to encourage all teachers out there - elementary and secondary, public and private schools, and homeschoolers - to not be afraid to tackle the Bard and bring him to life with whatever group of kids you get to teach.  It never ceases to amaze me how much kids can do when they’re encouraged and loved through the process!

“How do you convince students that yes, Shakespeare did write in English?” This was just suggested as a possible topic for my blog by a wonderful lady I’ve had the pleasure to get to know through eNotes (thanks, Linda!). I think it’s a great idea to address this because inevitably, there are students who say, “I just can’t understand this Old English. Why couldn’t he write in modern English?”

I’m not mocking the kids (or adults) who struggle with this. I realize that the language is quite different than what we’re used to. Does that mean it’s impossible to understand? Absolutely not! A couple of things have helped me reach my students, and I’d love to share those ideas with you all.

1. Get them reading the text out loud. In my opinion, there is no substitute for this for helping students understand the plays (and the sonnets for that matter). This is why I started the afterschool reading group - I knew that having students read these plays aloud would help them understand the text better. In addition, the way our school is set up, I only meet with my students once a week for an hour, so I didn’t have a lot of class time to devote to reading the plays. And not only has it helped them understand Shakespeare, but I’ve had instances where students’ reading comprehension has improved in other subjects after participating with us.
2. Find good film versions to go along with your reading. I have had a great deal of success in using the Branagh Henry V, both the Branagh and Gibson versions of Hamlet, the Branagh Much Ado, and currently am using the Taylor/Burton Taming of the Shrew. Rather than read the entire play then watch the entire movie, however, I will have the kids read an act, then watch an act, and continue through the play like that. If you have a theater company in your area that occasionally does Shakespeare, get approval for a field trip to see a live play. I’ve had the good fortune to take students to see Much Ado and Midsummer at our local university and, believe me, there’s nothing quite like live theater to light a spark with these kids!
3. Throw the Yoda card. Huh? All I mean by this is that Yoda is a great example of the switching of word order from what we are used to - and yet, we can still understand him. Some examples of his lines that illustrate my point are, “Strong is Vader. Mind what you have learned. Save you it can,” and my personal favorite, “When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not.” Yes, his words are more simplistic and modern than Shakespeare’s, but reminding your students to put the word order back into what they recognize when appropriate will help them more fully understand the text.
4. Get a good Shakespearean dictionary for archaic words. I can’t recommend Shakespeare’s Words, by David Crystal and Ben Crystal, enough! There may be others out there that I haven’t run across, but I know from personal experience that this is just a great tool to have on hand. Not only can you look up words that are unfamiliar, but you can also check out information on all of his plays, his historical, Biblical, and classical mythological allusions…I could go on! A good exercise to do with your students is to have them work in groups with copies of this book, telling them they need to look up all of the unfamiliar words. Well, of course, they usually only look up the really archaic words and assume they know what all the rest mean. This is a good chance to show them that the meanings of words have evolved a great deal over the last 400 years, and so it is important to double check all of the words, just to make sure we’re not inserting a modern meaning into the word, the line, or the play.
5. Don’t use a “modern translation” of the play, if you can possibly help it. What?! Yes, I know I sound a bit crazy with this last statement, but remember, I’m just letting you know what’s worked for me and what I believe in. If you provide your students with a “modern translation” of Shakespeare, you are telling them a couple of things. First, you’re letting them know that they cannot possibly understand Shakespeare without having it “translated” for them. This could not be further from the truth! Second, you’re confirming in their minds that Shakespeare really didn’t write in English (or modern English, or whatever the dispute is) and that they need a translation. That is the whole point of this blog - Students really can understand Shakespeare; it can be amazingly relevant to them in these times; and his beautiful use of the language should be taught and appreciated, not watered down to make it easier for them.

   I hope this has helped some readers out there. My next post will discuss ideas for financing a drama program on a tight (or nonexistent) budget!

When Shakespeare wrote, “What’s in a name?” I doubt he was thinking of the famous people who would take on his plays over the next four centuries. Yet, just as actors have been defined by their performances in Shakespearean works, so too have the plays been defined by the stars who have inhabited them. A new interview with actress Kelly Reilly brought this idea into focus. If you have not heard of Ms. Reilly, fear not. Her most notable film appearance was a supporting role in 2005’s Mrs. Henderson Presents. She is primarily a stage actress and her next gig is of a decidedly high profile. She will star as Desdemona in the Donmar production of Othello featuring Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Moor and Ewan McGregor as the villainous Iago.

The interviewer made a point of noting that Ms. Reilly is something of a fresh face in comparison to her co-stars, making me wonder what affect celebrity will have on an audience’s reception of the production. Does Ms. Reilly have an advantage because she is not as well known? McGregor is a talented actor, but will anyone really see Iago or will they see Obi-Wan Kenobi from those unfortunate Star Wars prequels? If that assessment seems harsh (hey, at least I didn’t bring up The Island), it may factor into the audience’s reception of the play. As beloved as The Bard is, Othello is not sold out because of him. Fans are hoping to get a little bit closer to some of their favorite stars, and if the play happens to be good as well, so much the better.

From about 1585 to 1592, nobody knows what the hell a certain Bard-to-be was up to. Due to a lack of clear documentation, that period of Shakespeare’s life is often referred to as his “lost years.” For centuries, historians have floated numerous theories both mundane and extraordinary as to how Will busied himself in the immediate period after leaving his wife and children in Stratford-upon-Avon, but none have offered concrete evidence. A new European film suggests that Shakespeare traveled to the continent and found himself in direct contact with the great Spanish writer Cervantes.

The idea is certainly intriguing, as Shakespeare and Cervantes were contemporaries. Coincidentally, they also died on the same date (April 23, 1616; though it was not the same day, as Spain and England followed slightly different calendar systems). Ultimately, I think the film points to a larger need to mythologize Shakespeare and other historical and literary figures. Like his doomed British contemporary Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare has sometimes been theorized as having been involved in espionage; that his “lost years” were lost on purpose. While meeting with other luminaries or risking life and limb for the Crown are not implausible suggestions, there is a certain fanboy quality to them, regardless (or perhaps because) of how well-researched they are. After all, would his achievements be any less noteworthy if in other aspects of his life, Will from Stratford was, well, ordinary?

Kenneth Branagh is back and he’s taking the Bard to the East. Branagh has kept a rather low profile on the big screen since his last Shakespearean effort, 2000’s ill-received Love’s Labour’s Lost, but now he’s reunited with the playwright who made Branagh a marquee name for a new adaptation of As You Like It. The film, which debuts on HBO rather than in theaters, is noteworthy for two main reasons. For starters, Branagh does not appear in the film, a first in his Shakespearean films. Second, he has reset the play in Japan in the second half of the nineteenth century. Now, if you’re envisioning a snarky Best Week Ever clip featuring the song “Turning Japanese,” Branagh wants you to know that this is not Shakespeare meets The Mikado. Although Branagh’s eclectic cast is notably Caucasian (despite the new setting), there’s a historical justification. His concept is to set the play during a period when an influx of Europeans on Japanese soil marked the beginning of the country’s westernization. The goal? To create a commentary on the intersection of these cultures and the West’s exoticization of the East. Whether the conceit will pay off remains to be seen, yet in doing so Branagh is ironically honoring Shakespeare’s own storytelling. The playwright notoriously ripped off the work of other writers (to the extent that people still debate his authorship), so there’s an interesting meta-commentary about appropriation in Branagh’s approach that asks the question, “Whose story is it anyway?”

While most of us think of him as Captain Picard or the mysterious Dr. Xavier from the X-Men films, Patrick Stewart reminds The Telegraph that Shakespeare is how he made his name. In the interview, he recounts his many stage triumphs and name-drops a few Sirs and Dames he’s worked with along the way. The real surprise of the interview is to find out that he is currently treading the boards as Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Having the uber-intense Stewart take on one of Will’s fluffiest comedies is a surprise, and the fact that he does so in a supporting role shows real humility. Either that, or he’s played every other part.

The Boston Globe highlights the work of Jean Trounstine, a prolific Massachusetts professor whose work includes the book Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison. The book, released in 2001, is based on her own experiences staging works like Measure for Measure in a women’s correctional facility. The book reflects a growing trend for using theatre, specifically Shakespeare, as a kind of artistic therapy for inmates. For an interesting, gender-based comparison, a documentary film ironically also titled Shakespeare Behind Bars follows a similar program in a men’s prison.

If British audiences ever tire of Stewart, perhaps he might consider some of these less-than-conventional venues.