Shakespeare: How to access the power of words!

Explore how verse builds a foundation for actors to find meaning through iambic pentameter, ten syllables in feet, with unstressed and stressed patterns, to be or not to be.

Learn to scan Shakespeare's verse in iambic pentameter, achieving five iambs per line and a natural English rhythm, with feminine endings and varieties like trochees, spondees, and dactyls.

Learn to scan Shakespeare's lines with iambic pentameter, count unstressed and stressed syllables, adjust words to fit ten syllables, and practice reading aloud for accuracy.

Explore scansion techniques in Shakespeare's verse, identifying feminine endings and anomalies, adjusting lines to iambic pentameter, and mastering pronunciation clues like thrown, throned, and flour through guided practice.

Explore how punctuation shapes meaning in Shakespeare, compare paraphrased lines, and practice marking punctuation with the Arden edition to guide reading and performance.

Practice a hands-on punctuation game by moving through a script, pausing for commas and periods, posing questions, and performing the roles of colon, semicolon, parentheses, and quotation marks.

Explore how punctuation shapes meaning in a playful script exercise, using humor and spoken fragments to reveal Shakespeare on stage.

Walk the punctuation and speak the speech in verse rhythm to put Shakespeare's words into your body. Memorize the speech before the next class to engage in the exercises.

Discover how metaphor and simile amplify language in Shakespeare. Use the supplemental materials to study definitions and practice these poetic devices.

Engage in an active, playful exploration of metaphor and simile by pantomiming Oberon’s speech, overacting to embody vivid images from mermaid to whale.

Practice shakespearean metaphors by reading the speech twice and embodying vivid images, doubling your physicality and performance to explore love, mythic symbols, and playful imagery.

Develop powerful spoken performance by memorizing the speech, speaking with animated storytelling, and acting out images as you recite, then warm up with iterative practice and rubber dodgeball drills.

Explore operative words and antithesis to stress the right word and convey meaning. Recognize words as active forces with physical roots you can fill with intention to unlock their power.

Identify operative words in Shakespeare by focusing on verbs and nouns to convey meaning, with practice finishing the speech and exploring performance in a live theater context.

Play the operative words game by throwing a ball on each word, with a partner or wall, to connect action with the word and release power; repeat five times.

Explore Oberon’s given circumstances—his fight with Tanya, his ties to Puck, and how others describe him—to reveal his history, motives, and role.

Identify a character’s objective and super objective through given circumstances, linking deep psychology to action, then test achievable goals by using the speech to excite a dog to fetch.

Explore how actions and tactics use infinitive verbs like to caress, to pet, and to snap to reach an objective and energize the language.

Practice action-driven performance by physically enacting chosen actions to imbue Shakespeare's lines with energy, avoiding pantomime and using your whole body to bring words to life.

Explore Oberon’s motivation through given circumstances to reveal emotional truth, and apply seven practical exercises, from rhythm and punctuation to action objectives, to bring Shakespeare’s speech to life.

Master a shakespearean speech by performing the moment before; film yourself with body and face, follow step-by-step exercises and supplemental materials, and compare performances to sharpen vital, active delivery.

Use the building blocks to bring Shakespeare from the page to the stage, customize steps, reorder or remove as you wish, and treat language as active tools.