Midsummer Night's Dream Scenes: English I Poetry/Drama, 2013

"Find you out a bed, for I upon this bank will rest my head." The exhausted Hermia spurns Lysander's amorous advances.

All three sections of freshman English I Poetry/Drama had their first A Midsummer Night's Dream performance today, one of three public performances.  Shakespeare poses a multitude of challenges for freshmen readers, on several fronts.  Although 16th and 17th century English is technically considered "Early Modern English", the diction and syntax make the language complex and challenging for contemporary readers--in essence, a foreign language.

Helena begs Demetrius to stay

"O, will thou darkling leave me? Do not so..."

I've been enamored of the Bard, ever since I was five and saw the Honolulu Theatre for Youth perform Hamlet.  Shakespeare is my go-to author: inventive, thought-provoking, his plays always yield something new and fresh, even after myriad readings and re-readings, and the language is gorgeous: a delight to speak and hear.  When I was a student at Punahou in the mid-Eighties, Shakespeare was a prominent part of the school's English curricula.  From seventh grade on, students studied a different play every year.  And every April, in celebration of Shakespeare's birthday on April 23, a replica of the Globe was erected on the Quad.  For a week, students and faculty would don Renaissance clothing and enjoy faculty and student performances, while strolling musicians would sing Thomas Morley madrigals, and gluttons feasted on roasted capon legs and bread and spiced cider.  Alas, students are no longer required to read Shakespeare beyond eighth grade's Romeo and Juliet, freshman year's A Midsummer Night's Dream and sophomore year's The Merchant of Venice.  Yet I hope that their brief experience with Shakespeare's work inspires them to delve more into the delights afforded by this inventive playwright, and also, more importantly, take away vital lessons which transcend literature.

"O that a lady of one man refused, should of another therefore be abused!" Helena tells the love-addled Lysander off.

"I have a device to make all well."  Bottom lets Quince know who's in control.

Puck gives Bottom a donkey head.

Why perform Shakespeare?  Let me count the ways, enumerated by my students:

• It improves reading comprehension: in order to bring scenes to life, students develop awareness of the embedded cues within the text and need to imagine the setting, and understand both their character and the relationships that person has with others.  As part of their homework, students are responsible for looking up and defining all unfamiliar words in their script.  They also write character profiles in order to reflect on their character's personality, motivation, and objectives.
• It builds individual confidence in public speaking, performing before an audience, and taking risks.  It's okay--and easier--to be silly, if the whole group is doing it.
• It bonds the class: a group that plays together, learns together, risks together.  There's safety in the ensemble.
• It's okay and natural to make mistakes: keep calm, carry on, don't draw attention to mistakes, and learn from errors.
• It calls upon students to creatively figure out how to "show" what's happening with their character through visual, not just linguistic means--and there's a lot of latitude for individual interpretation, provided it's grounded in the text.
• Literature helps us understand the human condition and develop empathy--as an actor, you need to imagine fully being, listening, and thinking as one's character, understanding the world from his/her perspective.

"I'll follow thee, I'll lead thee 'bout a round." Puck scares the Mechanicals.

"And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content to whisper."  Thisbe and Pyramus converse through the Wall.

One performance down, two remaining!  11:30 takes a bow.