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Some great things had small beginnings. In Coca-Cola’s first year of production, the company only sold 25 bottles. This puts my book sales into perspective.

Amazon review – “With a quote for every day of the year, this beautiful book gathers the finest lines from the lesser-known corners of Shakespeare’s plays and poems [that have] immediate, easy resonance … with modern day-to-day life.” Written by the father-son duo of Ben and David Crystal – well-known Shakespearean scholars extraordinaire – “…shareContinue reading “A Must-Read, Must-Use Book”

Act One Scene One In All’s Well the Ends Well, one of Shakespeare’s later plays, this duologue between the Countess and Helen is a keen demonstration of how the very regular blank verse of his early plays eventually shifted and morphed into creative rhythmic irregularity. This piece would be a good selection for a comparitvieContinue reading “All’s Well that Ends Well”

There is a possibly apocryphal story which says Shakespeare, with the help of Giuseppe Verdi and his opera based on Shakespeare’s Falstaff, was the inspiration for Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. In the opera, the character Bardolph, famous for his red nose due to his drinking habits, is wearing deer antlers towards the end of theContinue reading “Did You Know…?”

Heard or Read? [Activity #3 from “Performance Approaches to Shakespeare,” p. 45] Purpose:      To demonstrate how Shakespeare’s plays were written to be heard and seen, not simply read silently. Preparation:      Provide two two different and unrelated scenes Process:      1. Assign one of the scenes to be read silently.     2. Each participantContinue reading “Fun Friday”

(excerpt from Performance Approaches to Shakespeare, p. 15) It is not unusual for a director to spend an extended time doing tablework with a cast – diving deeply into the text, sleuthing out meaning by almost scientifically examining the words and how they are written. Researching the meaning of words, especially obscure ones, is partContinue reading “Thursday’s Thought”

The implications for teaching and editing are immense, and support the already compelling case against modernized-diction texts of Shakespeare. This is especially true for younger students who are generally the ones most avidly protected from Elizabethan diction, but also the ones best equipped mentally, developmentally, to learn unfamiliar words and constructions…as they would be inContinue reading “Wednesday’s Wisdom”

What are bell-ringers, and how can they be used in both the classroom and rehearsal space? Technically, a bell-ringer is a writing prompt that many teachers use at the start of a class period. It can be very helpful in familiarizing students with the different plays as well as encouraging them to come to gripsContinue reading “Tuesday Text-Day – Bell Ringers”

Macbeth, currently playing at the Donnmar Warehouse in London, is David Tennant’s first Shakespearean stage role since he played Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company, on and off, from 2013 to 2016. In 2022 he was Macbeth in a BBC Radio broadcast. Tennant played Romeo for the RSC in 2000 and has also starred in HamletContinue reading “Monday Movie & Monologue – Macbeth 1.7”