Teaching Shakespeare

Foreword; Introduction: Active methods; Teaching Shakespeare: an overview; 1. Why teach Shakespeare?: Abiding and familiar concerns; Student development; Language; Otherness; 2. Principles: Treat Shakespeare as a script; Make Shakespeare learner-centred; Shakespeare is social; Shakespeare celebrates imagination; Shakespeare is physical; Make Shakespeare exploratory; Address the distinctive qualities of the play; Choice and variety; Shakespeare and plurality; Negative capability; Shakespeare is about enjoyment; 3. Perspectives: Feminism; Psychoanalysis; Structuralism; Deconstruction; Political perspectives; Reception theory; Using perspectives; 4. Shakespeare's language: Introduction; Dramatic language; Imagery; Personification; Antithesis; Repetition; Rhyme; Lists; Verse; Prose; Rhetoric; Bombast; Hyperbole; Irony; Oxymoron; Puns; Malapropism; Monosyllables; Pronouns; Changing language; Inventing language; Everyday language; Two types of language; The development of Shakespeare's language; The Sonnets; 5. Story: The Story of the play; Enacting the story; Stories in the play; Recapitulating the story; Point of view narratives; Ariel's story; 6. Character: Introduction; Fundamental questions; Complexity of character; Language and character; Introduction to activities; Cast the play; Job interviews; Absent characters; This is your life; Obituaries; Point of view; Hot-seating; Public and private; Props; Free-wheeling associations; List of characters; Ranking characters; Journeys through the play; Relationships; Exploring character; Character types; Character names; 7. Themes: Introduction; Four common themes; Levels; Particular themes; Fathers and daughters; Acting and theatre; 8. Stagecraft: Introduction; Stage directions; Critical incidents; Creating atmosphere; Opening scenes; 9. Active methods: Content; The teacher's role; Organising the classroom; Introduction to activities; Acting a scene; Beginning the play; Sense units; Speaking Shakespeare; Teacher leading; Five investigations; Sections and headlines; Student as director; Point of view: theory; Improvisations; Warm-ups; A memory game; Tableaux; Chroal speaking; Insults; Using films; Trials and inquiries; Writing and design; Sequencing; Shakespeare's life and times; Theatre visits; Staging a Shakespeare play; Shakespeare festivals; Researching the classics; Other resources; 10. Shakespeare for younger students: Introduction; Shakespeare's life and times; Storytelling; Dramatic storytelling; A co-ordinated approach across the curriculum; A Shakespeare term; A puppet Macbeth; 11. Assessment: Process or product? Principles; Student self-assessment; Assessment of performance; Essays; Assessment tasks; Examinations; Evaluating a lesson; Quotations used in the text; Index