Shakespeare and poetry

 

A great video for AO7 Grammar of Poetry students. And for the rest of you that love the Bard.

 

As you like it

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel,
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well saved a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

Every January, our family likes to attend Ozact's summer Shakespeare production in Geelong's Botanic Garden.

Ozact is one of a number of companies performing William Shakespeare's plays in outdoor park settings around Victoria, but it is our favourite because of the way they manage to make the plays accessible and entertaining, whilst still being true to the Bard's intent.  I love the way Ozact appeals to all ages without dumbing down and simplifying the works, and I love the way they subtly convey the bawdiness of Shakespeare without deteriorating into crudeness and crassness. Adults know what is going on; kids have no idea.  That is really clever.  The pays are performed in period costume, the settings are great, and we always have a pretty amazing time.

The 2015 season is Ozact's 20th Anniversary, and the troupe celebrated with a performance of what is probably Shakespeare's most delicious comedy, As You Like It.

As you know, Shakespeare's plots are always pretty convoluted, and As You Like It is no different, a tale of mistaken identities, exiled lovers, true friendship and political intrigue. Ozact manages to encapsulate the whole of the play's plot in what is possibly the most succinct Shakespeare synopsis I have ever seen:

Rosalind follows her father, Duke Senior into exile in the Forest of Arden.  Disguised as a boy she makes friends with her true love, Orlando, and through many twists and turns, sees her father restored to his rightful place and wins her place in Orlando's heart.

We always make a real event of our visit, packing a delicious picnic lunch, with an obligatory bottle of champagne. We like to make it a really special occasion.

And Shakespeare? He, indeed, is not to be classed, and timed, and treated as one amongst others,––he, who might well be the daily bread of the intellectual life; Shakespeare is not to be studied in a year; he is to be read continuously throughout life, from ten years old and onwards. But a child of ten cannot understand Shakespeare. No; but can a man of fifty? Is not our great poet rather an ample feast of which every one takes according to his needs, and leaves what he has no stomach for? A little girl of nine said to me the other day that she had only read one play of Shakespeare's through, and that was A Midsummer Night's Dream. She did not understand the play, of course, but she must have found enough to amuse and interest her.

Charlotte Mason Formation of Character p.226

Shakespeare is scary to some kids...and possibly to their parents also...but we've always loved him.  If you haven't yet attempted the Bard, here are a few hints that work for us:

:: Shakespeare can be pretty expensive.  Look round to see what is available.  Often summer seasons in outdoor settings are cheaper, as well as being more approachable and friendly.  If your kids can't stay completely quiet for the length of a performance, an outdoor play is for you, because the actors and audience will generally be tolerant of a bit of noise.

:: Choose your play.  Shakespeare wrote historical pays and tragedies as well as comedies.  A comedy is your best choice if you are a newbie. Often the lines are blurred - there will almost always be some comedy in Shakespeare, but tragedy often overshadows that. A few Shakespeare plays are inappropriate for children. Coriolanus would not be a sensible first play. Ahem.

:: Find a good company. Try to find one that hasn't been too modernised if you can.  Be especially careful that your chosen company doesn't concentrate on the bawdiness.  Some of them specialise in this, and if so, they're probably not your first choice.

:: Prepare well. We always get an overview of the plot by re-reading the story in Lamb's Shakespeare before we go.  It help put everything in contact, and means that we know who the characters are before we arrive.  We also run through some of the famous lines.  It is sort of fun hearing these spoken by the actors later on:

“Do you not know I am a woman? when I think, I must speak.”

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”

:: Finally, go expecting to enjoy it. Your child may not understand everything, and maybe you won't either, but chances are that like Miss Mason says, you will all take what you need and leave what you have no stomach for. Shakespeare truly is a delicious feast.  I'm sure you'll find plenty enough to enjoy.

A bottle of champagne always helps as well.

The Bard's birthday

Which is your favourite Shakespeare play?

The Feast that is Shakespeare

The Dromios. Frontispiece from "Tales from Shakespeare," McLoughlin Brothers, 1890

We probably read Shakespeare in the first place for his stories, afterwards for his characters, the multitude of delightful persons with whom he makes us so intimate that afterwards, in fiction or in fact, we say, 'She is another Jessica,' and 'That dear girl is a Miranda'; 'She is a Cordelia to her father,' and, such a figure in history, 'a base lago.' To become intimate with Shakespeare in this way is a great enrichment of mind and instruction of conscience. Then, by degrees, as we go on reading this world-teacher, lines of insight and beauty take possession of us, and unconsciously mould our judgments of men and things and of the great issues of life

Charlotte Mason Ourselves p72. 

We're going to see The Comedy of Errors tonight at The Art Centre.  It's possibly Jemimah's favourite Shakespeare play, although it's hard to say which one of the Bard's plays is the most popular around here. I know that in Jemimah's case, enjoyment is directly proportional to the number of laughs.  If it's funny, and if it's Shakespeare, I know she'll love it.  For Jemimah, certainly, Shakespeare is all about the stories. The fact that she is being gently moulded in other ways just makes all the better.  Just imagine what's happening to her judgement of men and things and the great issues of life. And don't get me started on the benefits relating tot language and oral comprehension.

And Shakespeare? He, indeed, is not to be classed, and timed, and treated as one amongst others,––he, who might well be the daily bread of the intellectual life; Shakespeare is not to be studied in a year; he is to be read continuously throughout life, from ten years old and onwards. But a child of ten cannot understand Shakespeare. No; but can a man of fifty? Is not our great poet rather an ample feast of which every one takes according to his needs, and leaves what he has no stomach for? A little girl of nine said to me the other day that she had only read one play of Shakespeare's through, and that was A Midsummer Night's Dream. She did not understand the play, of course, but she must have found enough to amuse and interest her.

Charlotte Mason Formation of Character p.226

Even back in Charlotte Mason's day, people were asserting that a child of ten could not understand Shakespeare, but I hazard a guess that Jemimah at 11 understands his work every bit as well as this woman of 50 (minus some very, very important months. I am still only in my forties. Yup.) Sure, I get more of the subtleties - and more of the bawdy undertones.  My naive daughter misses much of the stuff that makes Shakespeare inappropriate to some families.  On the other hand, I do think she will learn a bit about identity in the play tonight.  What makes us us?  Would we mistake our husband's twin for our husband?  Even at first glance, but especially over a meal?  Would would give them away?  She will have something to say about Adriana's possessive love and jealousy, and about Antipholous's behaviour with the courtesan, and his marital obligations.

Each of my family will get something different from tonight's play.  Each of us is looking forward to different things.  Shakespeare is, as Charlotte Mason asserts, "an ample feast of which every one takes according to his needs and leaves what he has no stomach for".  I am quite confident that each of us will find something to amuse and interest us.  Even the eleven year old.

In fact, especially the eleven year old, given the comedy plot of The Comedy of Errors. Despite my best efforts, she has an excessively developed funniness gene, that girl.  Sigh.  I, on the other hand, have no sense of humour at all.  None.  Just ask my family.  They know.

Phèdre

Alexandre Cabanel Phèdre 1880

After the death of Antiope, Theseus married Phaedra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete. Phaedra saw in Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, a youth endowed with all the graces and virtues of his father, and of an age corresponding to her own. She loved him, but he repulsed her advances, and her love was changed to hate. She used her influence over her infatuated husband to cause him to be jealous of his son, and he imprecated the vengeance of Neptune upon him. As Hippolytus was one day driving his chariot along the shore, a sea–monster raised himself above the waters, and frightened the horses so that they ran away and dashed the chariot to pieces. Hippolytus was killed, but by Diana’s assistance Æsculapius restored him to life. Diana removed Hippolytus from the power of his deluded father and false stepmother, and placed him in Italy under the protection of the nymph Egeria.

Theseus at length lost the favour of his people, and retired to the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, who at first received him kindly, but afterwards treacherously slew him. In a later age the Athenian general Cimon discovered the place where his remains were laid, and caused them to be removed to Athens, where they were deposited in a temple called the Theseum, erected in honour of the hero.

The queen of the Amazons whom Theseus espoused is by some called Hippolyta. That is the name she bears in Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,”– the subject of which is the festivities attending the nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta.

Age of Fable Chapter 20 by Thomas Bulfinch

One of the nice things about studying Shakespeare with AO is learning to also understand and enjoy the language of his playwright contemporaries. Last year we were privileged to be introduced to Molière; this weekend it is Racine.

Racine's Phèdre fits perfectly into our Ancient Greece historical period for this term of AO6, and it will be a real treat to see this rarely performed French Classic.

We've been preparing by rereading the section from Bulfinch, and also reading the synopsis of the play, which Bell Shakespeare kindly provides free as part of their Online Learning Pack.

Saturday's production is Bell Shakespeare performing a translation by the English Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes, of Racine's adaptation of a play by Euripides. Shakespeare-Hughes-Racine-Euripides. Got that? Australians acting in English from French from Greek. Why is it, I wonder, that we call this Racine's Phèdre, not Hughes', or indeed Euripides'. It is a bit of a mystery to me, this translation of poetry.

This video of a British production of the same Hughes/Racine/Euripides play had an interesting look at Theseus's background.

We also had a bit of a look at Plutarch's comments on Theseus, only it seems that he was a bit of a womaniser, so Jemimah and I didn't spend too long on that account. Blush.

Seeing the arts performed is one of our family pleasures. We adore the ballet, Shakespeare, the opera. We do the planning and preparation before we go, so that we know what's going on, and then we make a special occasion of it. I can't wait for tomorrow.

Have you seen Racine performed? What about Shakespeare? Are you neoclassical theatre lovers too? Talk to me!

 

Seeing Shakespeare performed.

Our seasons tickets to the 2013 season of Bell Shakespeare arrived the other day along with these cute calico carry bags printed with relevant quotes. Wanna see?

The top one amuses me most, "Carry no crochets", because that's what I'm most likely to carry in a bag of this type, my knitting or crochet. Somehow, I'm guessing this is not the type of crochet Peter was talking of in Romeo and Juliet. The word is more often spelled 'crotchet' referring to the musical note, but I like the idea of it meaning the yarn craft much more!

I write this post to encourage you to consider a live production of Shakespeare for your family. I realise that there is merit to studying the Bard's written works as literature, but seeing his plays performed is what Shakespeare is all about, and once you've seen a few you'll understand why he is the greatest playwright ever.

Aiming to see one of his comedies first is probably most desirable, but even Shakespeare's tragedies and historic pieces have their comic elements, and we have not been disappointed by any of the plays we've seen so far. A production that has not been too modernised is desirable, but often hard to find. Do ensure that any modernisation does not concentrate on the bawdier elements of the play, though, if you can. Many of Shakespeare's plays contain adult humour, but whereas in the original plays these elements are often subtle enough to pass over the head of my naive 10 yo, modern interpretations will often emphasise the sexual innuendos so that anyone will understand. To their detriment and to this mother's red faced mortification.

So, what is available out there? The answer is to have a look around. Here are some of the offerings available in our Capital city of Melbourne. Most cities will have their equivalents.

As I mentioned, my family subscribe to Bell Shakespeare. This company uses contemporary sets and costumes instead of traditional Renaissance styling. Bell has a reputation for his actors accentuating and emphasising the bawdy moments in the original texts as I warn against above, but so far we have not seen this as an issue. An emphasis on cuckolding in Much Ado About Nothing was appropriate, and allowed us to have a lesson in Shakespearean hand gestures, a fascinating subject in its own right. The company tours nationally, performing three plays in each capital city. This year's productions are Henry 4 and A Comedy of Errors (yay!), as well as Racine's Phèdre. Tickets per season are $150 for adults and $90 for kids. Single play tickets are also available.

The Australian Shakespeare Company also presents contemporary productions of Shakespeare and other dramatised classics throughout Australia, including remote and outback locations. They are best known for their production under the stars in parks and gardens, including Melbourne's Botanic Garden. This year's production is Romeo and Juliet. Tickets are $25-$40. I haven't ever seen one of these productions, but I would love to.

Another outdoor company is Ozact, this time presenting Shakespeare in traditional costumes. The company is down-to-earth and friendly, and we really enjoyed their performance of Romeo and Juliet in Geelong's Botanic Gardens last year. This year they'll be back in Geelong on the Australia Day long weekend, where they'll be performing Twelfth Night. We'll be there on the Saturday if you want to join us for a picnic. Tickets are $33 for adults, $20 for kids. They are also performing in other areas of the State over the summer period.

The Royal Shakespeare Company, probably the best known Shakespeare company in the world will be performing The Rape of Lucrece, Shakespeare’s politically-charged, sexually provocative and violent thriller, in the beginning of February. Not one for my ten year old, this one, but I would love to see a more appropriate RSC production one day. Tickets are steep - $85 for adults, $33 for youths.

Apart from these professional offerings, there are also likely to be amateur productions as well. Take a look around and see what you can find. If I've missed any Melbourne shows, do let me know, and I'll add them in.

As you can see, a live performance of Shakespeare does not come cheaply for a family, especially when you have a few children. This is where we have an advantage, with only one child to consider (and pay for!). Some performances are cheaper than others. Some do not charge for young kids. Perhaps it might be a case of sending one child with one parent, and another child with the other parent another time. I realise that for some families the budget is already stretched. In this case, maybe an amateur performance might work. You could even act out a play with your homeschool co-op.

Sometimes you might need to accept that while it would be lovely, the movie version is all you can afford. That's okay. There are some excellent productions. Keep an eye out for the Shakespeare's Globe Onscreen films. They look almost as good as the real thing. Have a look at this trailer.



Whatever you decide to do, a Shakespeare production is an occasion. Don't forget to prepare for your evening. In the preceding week we read the story in Lamb's Shakespeare, as well as reading the most famous scenes aloud together. On the night itself we dress in special going out clothes and chose somewhere nice for dinner before the show. We build the occasion up to be a special occasion, and a special occasion it becomes.

Shakespeare for Jemimah is a good word. It's a word full of excitement and intrigue and hilarity. Shakespeare is fun. I, for one, hope to keep those feelings alive in my daughter. This aim colours the way I approach the subject for school. I don't want to make what is a delight a mere drudgery, but, on the other hand, I do want to learn what we can from this exceptional playwright. For now, I think we're doing pretty well.

See you in Geelong on the 26th January. We'll be the ones drinking Moët and eating ice-cream cheese. There will be plenty for all.

A School for Wives

A woman is like a Pizza Supreme that another bloke is looking at.
She’s part Prawn, Bacon and Feta, part Satay Veg, part Pepperoni,
She’s Meatlovers’ Special and Chicken Monaco, though in his case, she’s Create-Your-Own- i.
But if another man steals the tiniest bite, if it’s just half an olive he’s got,
The jealous man becomes a Fire Breather, ’cause he thinks he’ll eat The Lot.

That Bell Shakespeare's A School for Wives is modernised is evident by Alain's speech on the jealousy of men above. The original says something like this:

Tell me, is it not true that, when you have your broth in your hand, and some hungry person comes up to eat it, you would be in a rage, and be ready to beat him? It is just the same. Woman is in fact the broth of man; and when a man sees other folks sometimes, trying to dip their fingers in his broth, he soon displays extreme anger at it.

Despite the modernisation, however, I am excited to be introducing Molière's wonderful form of comic farce to Jemimah with Bell's production of the play later this term.

The highly amusing play is the story of a man, Arnolphe, who is concerned that if he marries, his wife will be unfaithful to him and leave him for someone else.  To fix this he decides to have his young innocent ward, Agnès, sent to a convent to be raised until she is 18 and marriageable age.  His plan is to raise Agnès so that she will be too ignorant to be unfaithful to him.  Of course his plans go terribly awry the moment young Agnès sets her eyes upon Horace, and the two fall truly, madly, deeply in lurve...

We've been studying the play this term in lieu of Shakespeare in AO5.  Today we read a synopsis, as well as reading through some of the more famous quotes from each of the characters.  Next week we'll read a child friendly bio of Molière's life. Later we'll read the play together as we do with Shakespeare.



The highlight, of course, will be the production itself.  Smart clothes, a meal out at The Art Centre, a packet of Malteasers at Interval, the evening will be a real Special Occasion.  I'm sure, quite sure, that Molière will become a family favourite just like Shakespeare has, and this production will be one of the highlights of our year.  Contented sigh.
If you haven't yet taken your kids to a production like this, then do consider it.  Shakespeare - and Molière - on the stage are just super.

Do you have wonderful experiences of the theatre in your family too?

Macbeth

We're off to see Macbeth on Saturday night. Want to come with us? There are still tickets available if you do, and we'd love your company.

The video makes it look like a pretty modern production, but our experiences of Bell Shakespeare have been extremely positive in the past, so I feel sure that we will enjoy this production as well.

This week we're getting ourselves prepared. We've reread Lamb's retelling of Shakespeare to reaquaint ourselves with the story, and Jemimah and I have been reading through the actual play. We've even acted our parts of it using our Shakespeare finger puppets. The witches are the most fun, of course.

For us at this stage Shakepeare is what you see performed. No doubt in the future we will study the plays as literature, but right now we're just enjoying the bard for what he is - an exceptional writer of clever - and often very funny- plays.

Lend me your ears

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

On the first day of my second year of uni, I met Ali, a girl who for several years was my best friend. Ali's father was an English professor, but he hadn't been able to work for several years before I knew her, because he was suffering from a serious mental illness. The condition made him very difficult to live with, and Ali and her siblings were afraid to take friends home for fear of what Dad might do next. It was therefore with much trepidation that I made my first visit to her family home for dinner and to 'meet the family'.

(Sounds like a first date, doesn't it? I can assure you that it was all completely innocent, but I must say I was as nervous that night as the one where I really did meet my in-laws-to-be.)

Anyhow, when we arrived, Ali's dad was in fine form, holding court in the living room. Now at this stage, I realise that I need to make a confession. When I was in second year uni I had pink hair. Not pink-rinse pink; beetroot pink. With my pink spiky hair I wore pink clothes. Pink everything. Including a pink tweed op shop coat. I was most decidedly odd looking. Actually, it is probably a toss up which of us was odder - him or me. Anyhow, in Ali and I walked to the living room. He looking me up and down, raised an eyebrow, stared disconcertingly at my hair, and told me to take a seat. Which I did.

He rose from his, stood over me, and quoted the first immortal phrase of Marc Antony's speech: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Quick as a wink, from somewhere deep inside me came the reply: I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones;So let it be with Caesar.

His eyebrow raised and he glared at me. The rest of the family stopped to listen. Personally, I was astounded. Where did that come from, I wondered? When precisely in my tender 20 years had I memorised that? Anyhow, he hadn't finished.

"When is it acceptable to use 'If I was' in a sentence?" he barked. "Well, if I was a grammar scholar somewhere in the past then I certainly am no longer one now," I replied just as quickly. He started to smile. I started to smile too. His was a smile of approval; mine was a smile of victory.

There was one more test question that night. I must phone Ali and see if she can remember what it was. Regardless, whatever it was, I passed that one too.

Ali's dad and I were friends until he died. He always treated me well, and was always delighted to see me. I miss his charming repartee and his quick wit. I realise that he was a very disturbed man, but I will always remember him with affection. I cried when he died.

I was reminded of this long buried memory during this past week when I read the second scene of Julius Caesar aloud to Jemimah. It all came flooding back.

Despite having studied Shakespeare's plays since AO1, it was the first long portion of his works that I'd read aloud. We have been studying Plutarch's Life of Brutus, and I wanted to read her Shakespeare's version of Antonius/Marc Antony's speech.

"More, more," she cried when I'd finished. I want to hear more!"

When I heard that I knew we were on the right track with our Shakespeare studies. I smiled my smile of victory.

Shakespeare is not somebody to be feared - he wrote for the ordinary people, not only royalty and the educated. His words when read aloud with feeling come alive. They sparkle with wit and humour, and his characterisation is peerless. They think the same way we do. They have the same dilemmas, the same conflicts. They make the same mistakes, and as a consequence we can relate to them.

Shakespeare’s plays were written to be performed - not to be studied as part of the cannon of literature, although clearly they stand up to be used in this way...when the time comes. But not now. Not for us.

For now on, we're concentrating on getting to know Shakespeare and enjoying him. We're listening to his language, his rhythm, his poetry. We're laughing at his jokes. I think we're doing pretty well.

The romantic comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, is a terrific play to see first:

“What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?

Beatrice: Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick?”

Oh, the dripping scorn! Love it!

I was a little bit afraid taking Jemimah to Romeo and Juliet a couple of weeks ago, but I needn't have been. Although after the death of Mercutio this play is, without doubt, a tragedy; the jokes and funny elements of the first half more than compensate. Not to mention that the slap-stick comedy of Juliet's nurse appealed to my Mr Bean loving daughter from the first.

If you haven't introduced your children to Shakespeare, may I encourage you to do so? Read his stories in a version for children like those by Edith Nesbit or Charles and Mary Lamb. Read them, enjoy them, talk about them. Read other books with great literary language - Parables of Nature, Howard Pyle's stories, Charlotte Yonge, Andrew Lang's fairy books.

Then when you're ready, see a play. Chose it carefully - The Comedy of Errors or A Midsummer Night's Dream is probably better than Hamlet, King Lear or Othello. Reread the story. Discuss any interesting bits. Then just sit back and let The Bard entertain you as he has been doing for hundreds of years.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it all is.

One day, you children might just be able to impress their friends' fathers with their impressive oratory skills. Or maybe not. At least they will have heard the stories of one of the most remarkable storytellers the world has ever known.

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise - why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I were dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut, tut! for goodness' sake! what the dickens! but me no buts - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.

Bernard Levin in The Story of English, Robert McCrum, William Cran and Robert MacNeil, p145

Romeo and Juliet

Today I'm reading aloud from this very beautiful book. I don't know why it is that a fine old edition like this is so much more pleasurable to read than your average modern paperback, but it so definitely is. Somehow, I can't come at the idea of Shakespeare on the kindle either.

We're reading from this today to remind ourselves of the story of Romeo and Juliet before we go to see the play tomorrow.

It's moments like this that I love our Charlotte Mason curriculum the very mostest of all.

My new book

Okay, so I'm weak willed. I'll admit it.

I know I do not need a fourth copy of Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. I know.

But tell me honestly - would you have been able to walk past this gilt edged beauty if you were the one to spy it in a second-hand bookstore near where you live? Well? Would you?

It's in perfect condition. The binding is tight, there is almost no foxing, and it has beautiful illustrations. In colour. Swoonly swoon. I mean to say.

What do you think I am?

I've just discovered that there's a companion volume of Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. I'm sure I need that too. Quite sure.

Unless any of you can convince me that I really don't need a ninth edition of that book.

Good luck with that.

Shakespeare in a word

(M)y kids and I have come to the conclusion that we are probably the groundlings...we attend the free performances and laugh most heartily at the low-brow humor. The academic crowd may say what they want about Shakespeare; I say he's funny! :)

Charlotte Mason in the City

This quote in the comments of my previous post sums up our first family Shakespeare performance just about perfectly (except the free bit - it wasn't). Bell Shakespeare's contemporary interpretation of the original romantic comedy - Much Ado About Nothing was laugh-out-loud funny from the very first line. Toby Schmitz and Blazey Best were perfectly cast as the sharp tongued but loyal pair Benedick and Beatrice, and they owned the bard's archaic language as naturally as if it was their own.

Jemimah was on the edge of her seat for the entire performance, and Max Gillies' depiction of the bumbling Dogberry had her in tears of laughter. It was worth every cent of the ticket price just to see her sheer pleasure in being there.

As we travelled home in the car after the performance, I asked my family for a word to describe Shakespeare.

Jemimah :: Hilarious.
Daddy:: Entertaining.
Mummy:: Successful.

What more can I say? We'll be doing it again.

Much Ado About Shakespeare

Neither the professor nor the actor has a monopoly on Shakespeare. His genius is that he wrote texts to be studied and scripts to be performed.

Leonora Eyre

Did you ever stop to think that maybe William Shakespeare didn't really mean to say all the clever stuff that our English teachers made us neatly write in the margins of our Hamlet texts in Year 12 English Lit? Did it ever occur to you that maybe he was just trying to write a play that actors would perform and that audiences would enjoy?

Call me a cynic, but I reckon that more than half of what I wrote in those margins and dutifully regurgitated in end-of-term exams was invented by English professors in the hallowed halls of some University or another, and that most of it never even occurred to the playwright himself. Imagine how boring it would be marking those papers, seeing the same insights being repeated over and over and over again!

Now, before you all lynch me, I am not advocating that we all chuck our Shakespeare texts in the rubbish-bin here - there is merit in a study of the works of the greatest English writer of all time, the author whose words are quoted more than any other. What I am proposing, though, is that a study of Shakespeare should be a pleasant experience, not a chore. I am suggesting that maybe the ultimate goal is to actually enjoy Shakespeare's plays performed rather than just being able to understand and dissect the words that he wrote.

This weekend we are going to see our first Shakespeare play as a family. It's Bell Shakespeare's contemporary interpretation of the Bard's comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, and so I dare say it'll be rather different from the version that theatregoers saw back in the late 1500s.

Which makes me a little nervous about taking our nine-year-old.

Still, I'm reassured by reports that unlike some of John Bell's productions this one is neither majorly gimmicky nor radically unconventional, and I'm hoping that the setting of 1950s Sicily and the modern costumes and minimal scenery will actually enhance Jemimah's introduction to Shakespeare's acted works. Fingers crossed.

We've done our homework. Jemimah has studied Shakespeare's own story, and the life and times in which he lived and wrote. She's been to his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon and visited his family home. We've chosen a comedy for our first foray, and Jemimah knows the story well. We've read both Lamb's and Nesbit's retellings, and we've discussed the characters. We've talked about the themes of deception and self-deception, of love and hate. We've talked about how reputations can be destroyed by rumours and gossip, and how people need to trust those they love more. That's all. Now we're going to see the story acted. On stage. For real.

We're really excited.

Maybe later on we'll have a bit of a look at the text of Much Ado. Maybe we'll read sections of it aloud or act a short scene. Perhaps one day we'll even get out our pens and write notes in the margins. But I hope that the words Jemimah writes are her own thoughts and ideas not those of the well-known professors. I hope she writes them because something she has read has struck her as interesting or funny or relevant, not because she needs to write them for an exam.

I'm really hoping Much Ado About Nothing is going to be only the first of many, many Shakespeare plays we enjoy as a family. I'm hoping that Jemimah enjoys the production for itself, and not just because she is studying it for school. I'm hoping that this production will arouse in her the same wonderful feelings that the ballet and the opera do. I am hoping she remembers this night out with affection as a special evening with her Mummy and Daddy and one where her love for the words of the Immortal Bard were brought alive for her forever.

This weekend I hope that Jemimah becomes a Shakespeare lover, not just a Shakespeare student.

I'd be really, really happy about that.

To Shakespeare...

...or not to Shakespeare. That is the question.

Do you remember your first exposure to the great bard? Mine was Macbeth in 4th Form. My Penguin paperback copy still sits on my bookshelf and as I nostalgically thumb through its pages I notice margins of closely spaced micrographic writing and am struck with the difference between it and my current scrawl, until I remember that this was the year that I decided that my friend Cathy's writing was much classier than mine and I tried altering mine to look just like her calligraphic hand. Of course I never quite succeeded, but as I look at it now I am impressed with my script's neatness and with the uniform size and shape of the letters. Perhaps it's sad that it didn't stick. Too many years of University lectures for neat writing in this old gal.

I wish I could tell you that my paperback is well thumbed, but it is not, leading me to wonder whether I actually ever read the book right through. I know that we were supposed to. I also know that we saw a performance of the play - and a film - so I suspect that I could have written a pretty good essay without ever reading the book - especially with a good copy of the illicit SparkNotes .

I dreamed that William Shakespeare's ghost
Sat for a civil service post.
The English paper for that year
Was on the subject of "King Lear."
William answered rather badly -
You see he hadn't had his Bradley.

The Christian Century 1949

Actually, A. C. Bradley's Shakespearean Tragedy is a great work. Wish I could say the same for SparkNotes :)

I don't really feel guilty about that, you know. Well, if I deceived my teachers I feel sorry about that, but I don't feel sorry if I never made my way right through the book. Shakespeare was meant to be seen on stage. The written version is a script - designed for the actors to read and interpret - not an end in itself. I think a lot of people forget that.

I do know that this introduction to Shakespeare at the age of 15 or 16 has lead to a life long love affair. Since that time I have read many Shakespeare plays for pleasure and seen many more acted. Macbeth is still my favourite - probably because we studied it in such depth (remember those hand written margins, girls!).

Without this wonderful introduction to Shakespeare in my own life, I wonder whether I would have been so willing to embrace a study of his works in my own daughter's education. And yet study him we must. Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in all of English literature. He continues to be the most-quoted author in the English language. For instance, who hasn’t heard the line, “To be, or not to be: that is the question”? He permeates our language and our culture. Shakespeare is everywhere. Just google to discover how much richer is the English language because of his work.

Charlotte Mason introduced her students to the bard in the very first year of their schooling and encouraged its study throughout the child's education. Ambleside Online suggests the same.

And Shakespeare? He, indeed, is not to be classed, and timed, and treated as one amongst others, - he, who might well be the daily bread of the intellectual life; Shakespeare is not to be studied in a year; he is to be read continuously throughout life, from ten years old and onwards. But a child of ten cannot understand Shakespeare. No; but can a man of fifty? Is not our great poet rather an ample feast of which every one takes according to his needs, and leaves what he has no stomach for? A little girl of nine said to me the other day that she had only read one play of Shakespeare's through, and that was A Midsummer Night's Dream. She did not understand the play, of course, but she must have found enough to amuse and interest her. How would it be to have a monthly reading of Shakespeare - a play, to be read in character, and continued for two or three evenings until it is finished? The Shakespeare evening would come to be looked on as a family festa; and the plays, read again and again, year after year, would yield more at each reading, and would leave behind in the end rich deposits of wisdom.

Charlotte Mason Formation of Character p226

In this excerpt Miss Mason speaks about introducing the actual plays to children at about ten years of age. Elsewhere she acknowledges that William Shakespeare wrote for adults. Well, I think she did - I can't find the reference right now though. Anyhow, we know he wrote predominantly for adults. We know we must be discerning when reading his plays to young children. The bard's characters are often flawed and sometimes immoral, and this is probably why this was one of the rare instances where Miss Mason herself found a retelling of the story acceptable. After all, if a study of Shakespeare is to go on for the 12 or 13 years of a child's education then there is plenty of time to read or watch the original version later.

We probably read Shakespeare in the first place for his stories, afterwards for his characters, the multitude of delightful persons with whom he makes us so intimate that afterwards, in fiction or in fact, we say, 'She is another Jessica,' and 'That dear girl is a Miranda'; 'She is a Cordelia to her father,' and, such a figure in history, 'a base lago.' To become intimate with Shakespeare in this way is a great enrichment of mind and instruction of conscience. Then, by degrees, as we go on reading this world-teacher, lines of insight and beauty take possession of us, and unconsciously mould our judgments of men and things and of the great issues of life.

Charlotte Mason Ourselves p72

In a child younger than ten, we should begin with the stories of Shakespeare - not the plays themselves; not the character studies; not the history; not the beauty inherent therein. These come later. We are to start with the stories.

So why do many parents have a problem introducing Shakespeare?

What is so hard about reading stories to our children? We don't usually have a problem with that.

What makes us afraid of this man's work - this man in particular? Sadly, I think it is a lack of Shakespeare in some mums' own educational past - or worse, a bad experience of difficult language introduced too late - that leads to a fear of teaching Shakespeare, and it is this fear of the unknown that induces many well meaning parents to either delay the study until much later - or worse, for ever.

There is another problem that parents have with Shakespeare too - one that I find more common with this study than with any other: all to often they commit the unthinkable sin in a Charlotte Mason education of coming between the children and the soul of the book.

...but let us be careful that our disciplinary devices, and our mechanical devices to secure and tabulate the substance of knowledge, do not come between the children and that which is the soul of the book, the living thought it contains.

Charlotte Mason School Education p181

If you do a google search of Shakespeare homeschooling you will come up with an absolute plethora of sites dedicated to Shakespeare. Some contain every known link to the bard imaginable. You can do unit study upon unit study upon unit study on Shakespeare. It makes me tired just thinking about it. My suggestion? Don't go there!!

Keep it simple - that's my rule!!

I suppose you know by now that I keep to that axiom always. Let the books teach the children.

So now I'm going to tell you what I do. It's simple - there is no rocket science to be gleaned here.

My daughter is 7½. She is in AO2. We read from Edith Nesbit's The Best of Shakespeare - Retellings of 10 Classic Plays. It contains 10 of the 20 plays contained in her Beautiful Stories of Shakespeare. The only advantage to this book is that it is readily available in Australia. Beautiful Stories - at least when I was looking for it - is not.

We follow the plays as written in the Ambleside Online schedule, and in this way the most appropriate plays for younger children are tackled first. If the play is not in my Nesbit book I use Lamb's Tales from Shakepeare. I prefer Nesbit because she uses easier language, and most of the plays are half the length of Lamb's version. (I have a beautifully illustrated version of Lamb though, so I do use the pictures!) I read slowly and expect a narration after each episode of a story. If Jemimah is unable to narrate a section we discuss it before moving on. At the end of the story she narrates the whole play.

Later in the week we revisit Shakespeare again. We recap the story. Sometimes we act out a scene in our pop-up Globe theatre. (This is a wonderful resource by the way. You can see a pic at the beginning of the post, but I'll write a separate review of this one.) After this we watch the relevant BBC animated video on YouTube. Jimmie has gathered these together for us here. You can buy them from Amazon too. I wish I had them!

We like these videos. Written by children's author Leon Garfield, and using predominantly Shakespeare's own words, the videos make us realise that we can understand the playwright's classical language. We already know the plot - now we can relax and enjoy the story for what it is - great drama.

At the end of this Jemimah has an abridged and colorful version of Shakespeare's original play. She has a sense of what the play is about, and mostly she is excited to someday see them acted in their entirety.

For us that might happen sooner than she thinks. The Australian Shakespeare Company is perfoming A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne this summer, and we're going. I'm sure that it is entirely possible that fairies come out to play in the Botanic Gardens after dark. A picnic hamper and a bottle of champagne (for the olds) might help our imaginations along too.

This, to me, is how Shakespeare should be introduced. Early, simply and playfully. Shakespeare wrote for the common man. He wrote for us all.

So back to my original question: To Shakespeare or not to Shakespeare? To me there is no question at all.

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit at Main Lesson.
Tales of Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb at Main Lesson.