This is the compilation of the suggested Shakespeare plays and materials I received from everyone. Although I cannot recommend each item myself, I pass it on to you in hopes that someone can use the information. Jean
Plays
Here is the list of plays that were recommended we read; I followed the title by the number of people who recommended them. Many suggest doing one of each: histories, tragedies, and comedies. One person mentioned that it took 3 to 4 hours to read them out loud.
As You Like It 1
Hamlet 7
Henry IV 2
Henry V 6
Julius Caesar 2
King Lear 4
MacBeth 5
Merchant of Venice 2
Midsummer night’s Dream 3
Much Ado About Nothing 4
Othello 2
Richard II 1
Richard III 2
Romeo and Juliet 3
Taming of the Shrew 5
Tempest 3
Twelfth Night 3
Winter’s Tale 1
Books/School materials
Brightest Heaven of Invention (Christian POV)
Click Notes (good scene explanations)
Cliff’s Notes
DK Essential Shakespeare Handbook (480 pg. book covering all the “essentials”)
Everyman Shakespeare
Leon Garfield’s Shakespeare Stories (Good place to start—easy reader)
Lightning Literature’s Shakespeare units (Hewitt.com)
No Fear Shakespeare books (modern English/ original on opposing pages—cheap on ebay)
Oxford School series (Excellent intro, background info and notes)
Sparknotes
Top Ten Shakespeare Stories (for children)
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare (Short retelling by E. Nesbit for children and teens)
CD’s/DVD’s
Branagh seems to top the list over and over again!
Henry V (Branagh)
Macbeth (Ian McKellen, yes; mixed opinion on the BBC version)
Naxos Jr. Library CD’s
Much Ado About Nothing (Branagh)
Netflix’s Animated Shakespeare
Download Shakespeare plays on iPod for $10-15
Reduced Shakespeare Company Complete Works of Wm. Shakespeare (Abridged)--use as a follow up to the unit; great humor
Romeo and Juliet (Zeffirelli version liked; Baz Luhrman, a modern version—loved and hated)
Taming of the Shrew (Liz Taylor and BBC were both suggested)
Hamlet (Zeffirelli version liked; Mel Gibson, mixed reviews—do you like Mel?)
Teaching Company sets: “Comedies, Histories and Tragedies” and “The Word and the Action”
About Me
- Jean in Wisconsin
- I am both the wife of an engineer-turned-farmer in the beautiful hills of Wisconsin and the homeschooling mom of 3 teenagers. We raise Simmental cattle and grow corn, and soybeans. We also raise chickens and turkeys for our own use and have laying hens. We are giving our children a Christian classical education, and this is our 13th year of homeschooling. The night sky is my hobby. I sew, knit, bake bread, cook from scratch, grind wheat, garden, make soap and so much more! Also, I should not forget to tell you that we all love cats! Welcome!
3 comments:
Jean--just happened to click on the link to your blog and noted your Shakespeare question. I would suggest including Merchant of Venice this year because the New Guthrie is running that play in the Spring, and you could go see it...and there's the new movie version out, as well. You can get a "dual language" version of the play (Barron's "SHakespeare Made Easy" series, I think) and Bedford St. Martin's has a very good set of background materials for the play--original documents related to the various themes--that would be good for your HS Senior to use while the younger ones concentrated on the questions at the back of the dual language text.
There's also some nice online teaching materials for "Merchant" I can send you links for.
If you want "stuff" for this or any of the plays, this fall is my Shakespeare course semester, so it's probably at hand--just email.
i don't know how far you are from milwaukee, but the milwaukee shakespeare company is doing a fantastic version of Much Ado About Nothing right now (we saw it last week). student matinees are only $7/person.
their website is Milwaukee Shakespeare
i found your blog through Jo's Boys, which in turn I found from Susan Wise Bauer's blog, and chose to read yours because you are in WI like me. :)
Thank you! I'll look into it, but it would be a bit of a drive :-)
Jean
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