Favorite Shakespeare for Young Performers?

[Farrar]

I'm hoping to do a shortened Shakespeare performance with elementary schoolers from our group this winter/spring. I'm thinking we'll do The Tempest. I've seen a few different "Shakespeare for Kids" versions of the plays and wondered if anyone had experience with any of them or had a recommended resource. I'd like something that uses the original language, though some summary is fine. Since the kids I'll be working with will probably mostly be on the younger end of things, I may even cut the kids version down myself a little bit.

[robsiew]

We are just LOVING the Shakespeare Can Be Fun series. It's not in play format per say, but at the beginning is a cast of characters and it would be easy enough to turn it into a play.

 

My 3rd and 4th grader are reading Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet right now and they are having so much fun! It's not all original language, but has enough taste of it that I have to explain things to them. It's very doable for my 3-4th graders to read.

 

You can find The Tempest here.

[Farrar]

Yeah, we used the one for Twelfth Night earlier this summer when I took my kids to the Shakespeare Free For All. I definitely want a script of some sort though. I'm not totally conceptualizing how I could use that for a performance, actually. IIRC, those versions are all in verse and quote the original text in places, but tell the story in 3rd person - not through dialogue like an actual play.

 

I'm thinking more like something like one of these:

http://www.kidsloveshakespeare.com/

http://www.communityshakespeare.org/scripts.php

 

Or this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Children-Scripts-Young-Players/dp/1575255731/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285121562&sr=8-1

 

Or this series:

http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeares-Midsummer-Nights-Dream-Kids/dp/141968552X/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

I've seen a few others as well. Anyone have any experience with any or them or any other suggestions?

 

Thanks.

[Farrar]

Anyone?