Scenes from Shakespeare: Fifteen Cuttings for the Classroom - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0916260909 ISBN 13: 9780916260903

Publisher: Pioneer Drama Service, 1993

Synopsis

Many students are limited to "learning" Shakespeare by studying only one of his many plays. Now you can help students come to a more complete understanding of the world's most famous playwright by exposing them to five of his most recognizable plays and the beauty of his language. This wonderful book contains fifteen cuttings from Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Othello, and Hamlet. Each scene is preceded by thorough setting and character descriptions as well as a complete plot synopsis. All scenes have between two and seven characters and run between 15 and 25 minutes in length. This is the ideal book for a class that only has three to four weeks to study Shakespeare as well as for groups of students looking for performance materials, whether for contests, auditions, or acting workshops.

About this title

About the Author:

Arguably the greatest English-language playwright, William Shakespeare was a seventeenth-century writer and dramatist, and is known as the Bard of Avon. Under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth I, he penned more than 30 plays, 154 sonnets, and numerous narrative poems and short verses. Equally accomplished in histories, tragedies, comedy, and romance, Shakespeare s most famous works include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew, and As You Like It.

Like many of his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare began his career on the stage, eventually rising to become part-owner of Lord Chamberlain s Men, a popular dramatic company of his day, and of the storied Globe Theatre in London.

Extremely popular in his lifetime, Shakespeare s works continue to resonate more than three hundred years after his death. His plays are performed more often than any other playwright s, have been translated into every major language in the world, and are studied widely by scholars and students.

Michael Wilson is Head of Exhibitions and Displays at the National Gallery, London.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9-12-Fifteen scenes, 15 to 25 minutes in length, are presented as motivational pieces for classroom production. Each one opens with a brief description of the play, setting, and characters (two to seven per scene). Wilson has eliminated the subtext (timing, pacing, action, etc.), preferring to leave this to teachers' discretion. Conspicuously absent are selections from Macbeth, which is mandatory reading in most high school curricula. Included are excerpts from Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar and Othello-all tragedies. The Merchant of Venice is the only offering from the comedies, although even that play is not always classified as such these days. All in all, a meager offering.
Judie Porter, Media Services Center, Portsmouth School Department, RI
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pioneer Drama Service
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0916260909
• ISBN 13: 9780916260903
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 140
• Editor: Wilson Michael