In today's blog, High School English teacher Laura Sheridan shares her top tips for putting on a Shakespeare festival with your students...
Over 20 years ago, I was struck by the fact that we had at least four sets of identical twins in our school. Which brought to mind.... The Comedy of Errors. Which made me wonder... What can I do with this?
The answer that came - and set the stage for my legacy as an English teacher - was a Shakespeare Festival. I've run them in a school with over a thousand students (and over a hundred staff!), and also in one with fewer than 80 students and two dozen teachers.
After two decades of trial-and-error, here are my essentials to a successful Shakespeare Festival...
Start editing a few scripts early on, and then allow your knowledge of your students' personalities to guide you toward other good scenes.
At times, you will fit the actors to the play; at others, you will fit the play to the actors...
I cannot stress this enough! Cameo appearances and inside jokes are what make the festival feel personal to your students. They want to see their grown-ups perform! Why not bring a retired teacher back, or give a beloved custodian or secretary some lines!
I've done all of these before, and students love it.
(This requires you to know your building's culture... If you don't, speak to people who do. It's crucial.)
3. Involve as many people as possible
Try and reach as many members of the school community as possible. For example, stage-shy students and adults may be coaxed into doing voice-overs. Once, a group of my proudly-Asian students did a Bruce Lee-style montage from Richard III. Onstage, they performed the scenes, while offstage, shyer students did the voice-overs into microphones.
4. Scenes can be pre-taped
Green-screen technology*, puppets, paper dolls, claymation... These are all great opportunities to allow your A/V and art students to strut their stuff!
In 2004, all my scenes were performed live, holding scripts, whereas now, the majority of them are pre-taped in front of a green screen and edited in Canva and iMovie, allowing me to include more performers!
*I began with a green table cloth, progressed to a cloth green screen and frame, and ended with a wall painted in green-screen paint. All of this to say: I started small and built from there over several years. It was worth the investment for me because I use the wall extensively – do what suits your needs!
I've always tried to use grant money that I've applied for, and over the years, I've been able to build a collection of props and costumes, all of varying costs. Many were purchased, but even more of them were homemade, which is a good (and economical!) place to start.
One Art class made us a supply of papier-mâché food, which we used repeatedly, while our Art Club created scenery and some seriously gory Roman togas for Julius Caesar!
I supplied the paper goods and fabric; they supplied the paint and elbow grease. Just be sure you search for safe recipes for fake blood for costumes and performers!
There are countless ways to approach your festival soundtrack, from listening to the Shakespeare in Love soundtrack, to having your school choir sing Elizabethan songs. Our jazz band performed songs from Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder, and it was fantastic!
Add pop music anywhere it makes sense. Shakespeare is timeless; use modern music to show that!
What's the point of playing all that music if you don't dance? Mix Elizabethan dance with hip-hop, and get your kickline and cheerleading squads involved – they've already proven they're adept at learning dance routines! Start by googling 'contra dance steps'.
I repeat: there must be sword fights. Utilize toy swords, yardsticks, swimming noodles, wrapping paper rolls, and anything else you can find. Students want to have mock sword fights – and it's a great way to incorporate Shakespeare's Histories!
A Midsummer Night's Dream? Definitely.
Hamlet? A classic!
Othello? Another great choice!
But don't forget about stories like The Winter's Tale or Cymbeline. There are some wonderful scenes in these lesser-known plays, and they often go overlooked. I've had some great results with them when the right students were cast in the right roles.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona contains a balcony scene that is anything but romantic, for example – why not juxtapose it with Romeo and Juliet?
Watch the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2014 The Two Gentlemen of Verona on DT+...
This is the best way to begin and end your Shakespeare Festival. Be big and splashy!
Incorporate music, dance, crazy costumes, and again... sword fights. Grab their attention early, and leave them on a high note with lots of shiny things to look at.
Lady Macbeth has just laid the scene for Duncan's murder...
She walks onto a smoky stage to the opening guitar licks of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water...
That's atmosphere. We've done it, and it works.
Shakespeare did it. Cut your scenes to half (or even a quarter) of their original length; then cut them in half again! You're not doing the whole play, so trim scenes down until they are clear and accessible.
Shorter scenes will hold their attention better than longer ones. I also take this opportunity to update things like pronouns and verbs.
Sometimes, it's best to trim a few scenes down and tie them together to show the progression of an important story arc, such as Scenes 2.3, 3.1, and 3.3 in Othello.
One year, I even had students perform all of the Macbeth soliloquies in order!
This year, I had a fashion show using costumes, green screen, and Canva. Next year, our school psychologist will do family therapy with Hamlet and his relatives.
One of my staples is a segment called 'Now That's What I Call Shakespeare', where students create an advert for a compilation of songs, each lip-synced to by specific characters from Shakespeare plays.
Laura Sheridan and a colleague for a 'Now That's What I Call Shakespeare' performance!
Like many teachers, I can be a control freak. However, I've learned to trust people who are truly talented and clever. I've learned to say, 'That's better than I envisioned. Do that.'
And my final piece of advice? Have fun! If you do, they will.
Oh, and if you have two sets of identical twins... include The Comedy of Errors!