P.S. We are doing well, just very busy!
O coward conscience, how dost though afflict me? I have decided that I shall no long assume a virtue I do not have...I must admit that my beloved dd is going to be a senior and she has not "done" any Shakespeare yet. (But I suppose that is gone and past help.)
Why has this come to pass? Because it was Greek to me in high school and I've never gotten over it.
There. The damned spot is now out.
I thought I'd include my 16 year old and we would read some synopses, watch the videos, and then choose two or three to read out loud together.
How to choose? A comedy, a tragedy, and a history? A rose by any other word? Perhaps someone here could help me out of my dark ignorance and break some light through yonder window by giving me advice? What 2 or 3 would you suggest? Or am I making much ado about nothing and ought to let the children choose which they prefer to read after we have seen the plays?
Jean
2 comments:
Hmmm, I would start with the most accessible (that is, understandable) plays:
History: Henry V (get the Kenneth Branaugh DVD if you can, his version is GREAT!)
Tragedy: Can you do two? I just can't choose between MacBeth (get ANY version instead of the BBC version - Nicol Williamson sounds like he's having an asthma attack during his internal debates "Tomorrow...GASP...tomorrow...GASP...and tomorrow...GASP...creeps...GASP" etc. Ugh!) and of course you have to do Romeo and Juliet (get the BBC version and you will see a VERY young Alan Rickman as Tybalt, that king of cats)
Comedy - since every Shakespearean comedy basically has the same elements (mistaken identity, long-lost sister/brother/twin) any will do. :o)
For a treat, once you are done, I highly recommend The Reduced Shakespeare Company's "Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)". You can get it on DVD from Netflix. It is hilarious and will mean so much to them once they know the plays. The MacBeth and R&J parts are especially funny.
Hope that helps!
Terrie in Germany
Can you find a Shakespeare Festival nearby? My dh and I did three plays a summer for years in Boulder at CU's Shakespeare Festival Under the Stars--that was my entire Shakespeare education until I taught high school. Now, I do a mean witch in Macbeth.
You know what I would do? I would choose Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and Midsummer Night's Dream. I would read them aloud in the Garfield's children's editions (less than 45 minutes per) to get the plot into the head), and then I would get an unabridged CD that is read by multiple readers and have the students read along in Oxford versions, OR do the same with a DVD. With your kids being older, you could do this in 5 total weeks, whether all in one fell swoop (a Shakespearian phrase) or throughout the year. OK, spend two weeks on Hamlet.
Now, here is the kicker: you can BUY online for an iPod almost any Shakespeare play for between $10-15. If you have an iPod already, this is worth looking into.
I won't go into my iPod ecstacy at the moment, but I am finding it immensely helpful for use with the Great Books courses, all of which are cheaper in download form than in CD, same plays and audiobooks, and for use with the Latin and Greek chants that come on CD with our curriculum. I got a set of speakers (LogiTech's) for my birthday and I am *liberated* from CD-flipping and paying half to 2/3 of the price of having the CDs or other physical media. And now wherever we go, I have Latin, Shakespeare, Jim Weiss, Introduction to Philosophy AND Leon Redbone.
Have fun with the Shakespeare!
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