At a glance
Groups of three to five · four class periods, then performed · a staged scene of 60–100 lines plus a one-page director’s note · assessed on Communication, Thinking, and Application
The task
Take one scene of Romeo and Juliet, decide what it means, and stage it so the audience can see your decision. Then defend every choice in writing.
What “staging” means here
You are not required to act well. You are required to make choices and execute them:
- Cuts, or one adaptation. You may cut lines; every cut is an argument about what the scene is for. You may instead take up to ten of them and put them into contemporary English, which is the harder argument: the new words have to do what the verse was doing — its rhythm, its register, its image — and not merely say what it said.
- Blocking. Where people stand, who moves toward whom, who is left alone on stage.
- Delivery. Which words carry the meaning — see Shakespeare’s Language for how the verse tells you.
- What the audience can see that is not a body. A prop, a costume piece, a chair placed where it has to be walked around, a light left on. At least one, chosen rather than found; and where you use several they have to argue the same thing rather than compete, which is the harder part. The director’s note says what yours argue. A scene set now is a claim about the play’s relevance; a scene set in 1595 is also a claim; and a bare stage with one object standing on it is the loudest of the three.
- Faces and hands. Where the eyes go, what the hands are doing, who is looked at and who is pointedly not. In a room this size these carry as much as the words do, and they are the half of a performance an audience reads without noticing.
- Silence. The most under-used tool available to you.
The director’s note
One page, and it is where most of the marks are. You draft it after the rehearsal and finish it in class on the two performance days, so the piece that carries your individual mark is not written at midnight:
- Your reading of the scene in one sentence.
- Three choices you made and what each one shows. One of them is what we could see that was not a body: what it was, and what it argues.
- One line you cut, or the passage you adapted, and the argument for it.
- What you would do differently with another two weeks.
- Two things you can already do as a reader or a writer that made this scene better to listen to — and where each of them shows.
How it is marked
| Category | What I am looking for |
|---|---|
| Communication | Your part of the scene reaches the audience: the lines you speak, or the choice you were responsible for, arrives with its sense intact — and what your face, hands and eyes are doing agrees with it |
| Communication, in the words | The cut, or the adaptation, that you argue for in your note is one that works: what is left of a cut scene reads on its own, and contemporary words keep what the verse was doing — rhythm, register and image, not only meaning |
| Communication, in what we can see | What is on stage that is not a body supports the scene rather than decorating it — and where there is more than one thing, they are doing the same job. Your note says what they argue |
| Thinking | The staging is an interpretation, defended in the note with evidence from the text |
| Application | The choices use what we learned about dramatic form, not just enthusiasm, and the note names two reading or writing skills you brought to the staging |
There is no group mark on this task
The staging belongs to the group; the mark belongs to you. What I judge is your own director’s note, written and handed in individually, and the choices you carried out on stage. A group that falls apart cannot pull your mark down with it, and a group that carries you cannot lift it.
If performing frightens you
There is a role in every group that is not on stage: director, dramaturg (the person who works out what the lines mean), or designer. All three are assessed on the same note. Come and talk to me in the first period of the unit.
Curriculum connection
A2.1
communicate orally for a variety of purposes, using language appropriate for the intended audience (e.g., prepare a group read-aloud of a short story for a school-wide literary festival; prepare a “Speakers’ Corner” message about a contemporary issue; create and present a skit involving characters who hold opposing views on a topic; make a class presentation on the issues affecting Aboriginal communities)
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A2.4
use appropriate words, phrases, and terminology, and several different stylistic devices, to communicate their meaning and engage their intended audience (e.g., use examples of idioms from diverse cultures to illustrate a concept during a presentation; use emotive language in a persuasive appeal to a large group; use contemporary English to adapt a Shakespearean soliloquy)
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B2.1
identify a variety of characteristics of literary, informational, and graphic text forms and explain how they help communicate meaning (e.g., explain the function of setting in a short story; explain the function of rhyme in a sonnet; explain the role of a refrain or repeated phrase in a ballad or story; explain the function of transition words in an opinion piece or argument; explain the role of a comparison and contrast structure in a persuasive essay or a book review; explain why some characters in a Shakespeare play speak mainly in verse and others mainly or only in prose)
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A3.2
identify a variety of their skills in viewing, representing, reading, and writing and explain how the skills help them improve their oral communication skills (e.g., identify and explain narrative techniques that they could incorporate into a group oral presentation; explain how reading a humorous short story improves their ability to tell amusing anecdotes of their own)
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A2.5
identify a variety of vocal strategies, including tone, pace, pitch, and volume, and use them appropriately and with sensitivity to audience needs and cultural differences (e.g., enunciate clearly, while varying tone, pace, and volume, to ensure that all members of a diverse audience will understand the message; adjust volume, pace, and pitch to suit the purpose of speaking and the size and type of audience; adapt voice to role-play the subject of a biography for a mock interview)
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A2.6
identify a variety of non-verbal cues, including facial expressions, gestures, and eye contact, and use them appropriately to help convey their meaning and with sensitivity to audience needs and cultural differences (e.g., use a variety of non-verbal cues to enhance a dramatic reading; assume a posture that maintains an engagement with the audience when giving a presentation; play charades in a small group)
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A2.7
use a variety of audio-visual aids appropriately to support and enhance oral presentations and to engage an audience (e.g., use graphic organizers on an overhead projector to compare the elements of two short stories; use costumes and props to enhance a dramatic presentation)
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B3.2
use appropriate decoding strategies to read and understand unfamiliar words (e.g., use a dictionary of foreign words and expressions to find the meaning of foreign words and phrases in dialogue in a novel; use knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and roots to predict meaning; make personal lists of common prefixes and suffixes for easy reference; read beyond an unfamiliar word or phrase to infer meaning from the overall sense of the passage)
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