Year 9

Evaluating stagecraft - contemporary interpretations

In this lesson, we will explore a contemporary interpretation of a Shakespeare text, looking at how the actors use their skills and adapt the language to create comedy.

Year 9

Evaluating stagecraft - contemporary interpretations

In this lesson, we will explore a contemporary interpretation of a Shakespeare text, looking at how the actors use their skills and adapt the language to create comedy.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. In this lesson, students will watch a short extract from a theatre production and consider the use of design skills, learning about the theatre makers' aims and intentions and how designers respond to these. It offers students the chance to make original responses to a play, using analysis effectively to consider its various elements.

Content guidance

  • Physical activity required.

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is made available by Oak National Academy Limited and its partners and licensed under Oak’s terms & conditions (Collection 1), except where otherwise stated.

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5 Questions

Q1.
What is the term for movements an actor does with their hands?
Gait
Correct answer: Gestures
Posture
Q2.
What does an 'in the round' stage mean?
Correct answer: The audience sit on all sides of the stage.
The audience sit on two sides of the stage.
The stage revolves in a circle.
Q3.
Who wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Ben Johnson
Christopher Marlowe
Correct answer: William Shakespeare
Q4.
What is 'direct audience address'?
Directly walking into the audience.
Correct answer: When an actor speaks directly to the audience.
When the audience give their addresses when booking tickets.
Q5.
What genre of play is A Midsummer Night's Dream?
Correct answer: Comedy
History play
Tragedy

5 Questions

Q1.
What is an interpretation?
Correct answer: A representation of something, in a new or unique way.
A set, fixed view of something.
Q2.
Why is context important in a play?
It makes the play more interesting.
Correct answer: It provides the background knowledge and setting for the play to help understand it.
Q3.
The extract we watched put Shakespearean language and modern technology side by side, what do we call this?
A joke.
Context.
Correct answer: Juxtaposition.
Q4.
What does ad-libbing mean?
Changing your voice to suit your emotions.
Correct answer: Creating extra dialogue which is not in the script.
Interacting with the audience.
Q5.
What was the effect of using a phone as a prop in the extract we watched?
It created additional tension.
Correct answer: It made the scene more relevant and relatable.
It was designed to shock the audience.