Good evening? Good afternoon? Good morning? My body can’t really tell what time it is, but I’m writing to you from my cozy little place in Greensboro, NC. After a train, two planes, another workshop (I’m crazy, I know), and many cups of coffee, I finally have some time to wrap up my experience with Teaching Shakespeare through Performance.
Week 3 began with a Puppetry Workshop! I had never considered how puppetry could benefit my students, but it is a creative avenue of storytelling that engages kids of all ages. I mean, everyone likes puppets. Educators have reported great success with puppets and students with autism. It can be difficult for some students with autism to detect human facial expression, but quite easy to determine a puppet’s emotion through movement and sound. We made shadow puppets, which turned out to be simpler than I thought. You need black card stock, scissors, Velcro, wooden sticks. If you want your puppet to move, you can hole punch it at a joint and join together the two parts with a brad. To create the puppet show, you need a white sheet and a light. I am interested in seeing what my students could do if I had them recreate a scene from a play with puppets. This assignment would be a great creative challenge!
Another highlight of the week was seeing Henry V. Out of all the plays, I was the least excited to see this one. Like I said, war plays are not my favorite. Plus, it was quite dreary and rainy that evening, which I supposed matched the mood of the play. Henry V surpassed my expectations and turned out to be one of my favorite performances. The lead actress played King Henry in a way that made me want to get up and fight alongside them. She embodied all the complexities of the great ruler by commanding with passion, heart, and grit. I don’t see myself teaching this play to a group of students, but I appreciate its commentary on how people can change for the better.
We ended the week with our final performances at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. The whole day was quite emotional; people were tense not only because it was the last day, but also because they were nervous about performing. It was a good reminder of how my students feel on opening night. I recited my lines everywhere I went that day and received many strange looks from people passing by. Considering we only had about ten hours of rehearsal, our group’s performance went pretty well, and it was a great thrill to show the group all of our hard work from the past few weeks. Our scene director asked us to set a goal or measure for success before the performance. My goal was to take all I learned about the acting methods at the Globe and use it to connect with my audience emotionally. I wanted to look at audience members in the eye, as if they were helping me work through my (Helena’s) problems with Demetrius. I was terrified that I would catch eye contact with a friend and forget my lines, but that didn’t happen. I did feel the emotional connection and I hope they did as well. This method of acting is so characteristic of the Globe because of it’s round shape, but this dynamic also happens in the classroom. Teachers are constantly assessing the room and seeing how their students are responding to them.
We finished our final hours with reflection, food, and fellowship. I was touched to discover that our course director had gotten us all copies of Dream and written a brief personal note in each of them. Our learning coordinator got us all Globe themed notepads, pens and bookmarks. These gifts were the icing on top of everything the Globe had already done for us, and I couldn’t believe how thoughtful they were.
It’s hard for me to articulate how much I enjoyed this program without getting choked up. Initially, I was most excited about the travel, but what’s resonated with me is meeting the 22 other teachers from all across the United States who love their subject and students as much as I love mine. Additionally, getting to know the folks at the Globe and understanding their passion for teaching Shakespeare to everyone, regardless of age or ability, is quite moving. I left London with a full and humbled heart.
I would like to leave this post (and perhaps this blog) with a saying from our movement classes with Glynn Macdonald, one of the most inspiring educators I’ll ever meet. She had us repeat these words after each class.
I take from the heavens
All that I need
And I bring it inside me.
I take from the earth
All that I need
And I bring it inside me.
And when I have it inside me,
I give it away.
...time to give all that I’ve learned away to my students in NC. 💕
Thank you for reading,
Holly
