Final Reflection

Photos top to bottom:

• Liz Slater with a grandmotherly kiss for Adetomiwa Edun - Romeo - in the Globe's production of Romeo and Juliet. Edun, an actor from Nigeria, plays a frenzied Romeo - authentic to his Nigerian roots.

• Traditional London "black cabs" deliver passengers to the Globe performances. The London taxis, like those in the US, are beginning to be "wrapped" to advertise commercial businesses.

• Annie, a teacher from Ohio, demonstrates the correct position for reading with both right and left brains. This exercise, along with crawling (left hand/right knee, right hand/left knee) helps dyslexia, autism, and general memorization. Two more tips for memorization: memorize by poetic line, not by thought; and sleep with the script under your pillow. It works! Remember, though, when it's time to perform to consider the "thought units."

• A final view of the Globe stage. Some believe that this space is sacred. Many actors who perform on this three sided stage to a fully lighted audience find it difficult to return to the flat stage in a darkened theater. If it's true that theater is based in relationship, then the Globe stage is indeed a space where our spirits are moved.

• The Gosden House School's performance of Othello marks the most memorable moments of the three week study. Those of us who have full movement of our limbs, those of us who have our eyesight and the gift of language, those of us who move each day without help and without pain -- remember these "few," these "happy few," this "band of brothers," these brave, special children at Gosden House School. With them as our model, we risk and we change - without complaint.

Final Performance

The first two pictures (top to bottom) show Romeo (Deidre - far left), the Friar (Steve - middle), and the Nurse (Liz - far right) performing Act III, scene iii, Romeo and Juliet.

The next picture is Romeo and the Nurse with one of the actors from the Globe's Troilus and Cressida watching the play from a groundling's position.

The last picture is the ensemble scene -- an adaptation of the four performed scenes -- Act III, scenes ii, iii, & v and Act IV, scenes i, iii, & v.

The ensemble scene was the result of Adam's 10 step process!

Note to students: We can cut scenes from any play and duplicate this practice.

Student Leaders: Obtain a copy of the Ten Step Process from Mrs. Slater and apply it to a scene.

Days 14 & 15 - The plays

Each of the above pictures is the stage for one of the plays that we saw. From top to bottom:

OTHELLO - at Gosden House School; ROMEO AND JULIET, TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, and MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM -- all at the Globe Theatre.

Pictures are not permitted during performances at the Globe. Pictures may be taken as the groundlings enter the yard.

The MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM stage is a Globe traveling company. They set the play in the 1920s and had only eight people in their troupe. That show had plenty of 1920s type music. The consensus was that the show was fun! There were criticisms about the sexualizing of Puck. However, for a traveling show, with almost no time for practice and set up, they did a marvelous job.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA is one of Shakespeare's problem plays. Written around the same time as HAMLET, it wasn't performed until 1911 and probably not performed at The Globe. A private audience was most likely the first to see this play. Scholars are unsure whether it is a tragedy, a history, or a comedy. It has been played a great deal in the last few decades as a statement about war. I have read the play, listened to the play, and watched the play twice. This performance was the first time that I understood what was going on. This director cut more than 500 lines and added a few lines. It helped. The acting troupe was magnificent! Students might look at monologues from Cressida and Cassandra as well as the prologue and epilogue of this play.

The Gosden House performance, discussed on a previous blog, was staged at various locations around the luscious grounds. This picture was complete with a garden grown by the fourth grade students! The OTHELLO production was the most memorable moment of my time in London. Special needs students performing OTHELLO were no longer special needs students!

Day 13 - Dance

Shakespeare comedies always ended with a jig. The pipe and tabor provided the music for the dance.

Today, at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, every play ends with a jig!

Students interested in dance might research dance in the late Renaissance (c.1535-c.1620). The dancing highlight of this period was the galliard, a lively vigorous dance which could gain a gentleman a position at court. Queen Elizabeth was an accomplished dancer who learned the Italian manner of high dance; she was impatient with her Maids in Waiting who were less accomplished dancers. It was Catherine de'Medici who introduced the works of the Italian dancing master Caroso and Negri into France. Mary, Queen of Scots, the third notable female ruler of teh time, also played her part in introducing French, and possibly Italina, dance styles to Scotland.

Research:

1. Inns of Court -- their manuscripts confirm the importance of dance in Elizabethan England

2. John Playford's 1651 publication The English Dancing Master

3. Terms -- measures, almaines, Quadran Pavan, pavan-galliard

Day 12 - Music

"Look up to the stars; that's where harmony is."

Investigate who said this quote.

The above picture is a monocord. Investigate the history of this instrument (scientific tool). Investigate "Pythagorian harmony" and the relationship of music to mathematical proportions and numbers.

Musicians were paid for playing for plays and at court. Musicians had a lower status and were seen as being different than other people at court. In fact, the majority of musician in Henry VIII's court were immigrants, largely Jewish immigrants. Investigate ethnic differences in the plays: Islam in OTHELLO and Judaism in MERCHANT OF VENICE.

Note: The cow's horn became the corneto! Cornets were used in THE MERCHANT OF VENICE to signal the change of scene to Belmont.

Note: In Shakespeare's plays, music is often mentioned with discord: "Time broke in a disordered string." - RICHARD II

Research: References to music throughout the plays and sonnets

Keith McGowan, an Elizabethan musician brought many period instruments for examination. Look at the pictures and identify the instruments.

Day 12 - Stage Design and Costumes

Four Important Elements in Stage Design

• Materials
• Shape and Size
• Manner of construction
• Context (the idea)

In 1948, Jenny Tiramani's parents used paper to make costumes for a children's Shakespeare production. To date, Ms. Tiramani has worked with many famous actors, including Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench in the 1988 production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. In 1993, she was part of the production of AS YOU LIKE IT at St. Clement's Church in New York City. In 2010, she begins work with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Research Jenny Tiramani to find out more about her work.

In the Globe production under Mark Rylance, Ms. Tiramani created Elizabethan and Jacobean costumes made from authentic period material; all the costumes were sewn by hand.

Notes: Clothing was so important, women would pin their clothing on rather than sew it, thus the term "pin money."

Men's legs were seen and shown off; women's legs were hidden. Investigate "The Order of the Garter."

Eighty percent of the characters in Shakespeare's play are gentlemen! Every actor would own a doublet, hose, a good cloak, and a few weapons. The acting company would have to purchase costumes for specific plays.

Research some aspect of costumes or props that were used in Shakespeare's plays.

Note: Interested students may adopt an actor at the Globe theater and follow costume and performance.

Days 10 & 11 Word & Sound!

The Words

Speaking is decorated silence!

Vowel sounds, which are open, indicate emotion; consonant sounds, which are stopped, indicate thought. Silence, solitude, and stillness lead to calm, commanding consciousness. Sound has to do with the emotional intelligence. Investigate how emotional intelligence differs from other intelligences.

Note: the oak that Peter McCurdy used to build the current Globe Theatre was 400 years old. The wood has the sound of the people who lived 400 years ago in this region -- frozen sound. The oak breathes still! In winter the sound is hard; in summer the sound is luxurious.