Jane in NC Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) Recently my husband and I attended a performance of Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest. I spent the first act with a stupid grin on my face--and it wasn't because of the author's wit. I found myself swept over by a wave of emotion connected to a memory: my then eighth grade son and I, sitting next to each other on the couch, reading the first act of the play aloud. I cannot remember who was Algernon and who was Jack (Earnest). I just remember the pure pleasure of the experience. At the intermission, I told my husband about this sweet memory. With a twinkle in his eye he said, "Who allowed you to have so much fun homeschooling?" People often comment on seeing Shakespeare performed as opposed to reading Shakespeare silently. Obviously individual circumstances can prevent people from attending plays. So why not bring the play (or excerpts from it) to your living room? Hey kids, let's put on a show! Jane Edited February 16, 2012 by jane.kulesza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Read aloud time is one of favorite experiences. :001_smile: I was stunned when we read Macbeth earlier this year and ds didn't like it. Wait, it's Shakespeare!!! He's recalled scenes and brought it up several times since, so something good seeped in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Many years ago, my friends and I would invite people over to read a Shakespeare play. We had it as a party and all took roles (or a couple of roles to spread some of the bit parts around). It is one of my fondest memories. I plan to do a Shakespeare party or two next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) Recently my husband and I attended a performance of Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest. I spent the first act with a stupid grin on my face--and it wasn't because of the author's wit. I found myself swept over by a wave of emotion connected to a memory: my then eighth grade son and I, sitting next to each other on the couch, reading the first act of the play aloud. I cannot remember who was Algernon and who was Jack (Earnest). I just remember the pure pleasure of the experience. At the intermission, I told my husband about this sweet memory. With a twinkle in his eye he said, "Who allowed you to have so much fun homeschooling?" People often comment on seeing Shakespeare performed as opposed to reading Shakespeare silently. Obviously individual circumstances can prevent people from attending plays. So why not bring the play (or excerpts from it) to your living room? Hey kids, let's put on a show! Jane I was JUST thinking about this yesterday. Thinking about how I'm hoping that reading a play or two for high school with my kids will be fun. Last week, a local professor came to my WTM Moms' support group to talk with us about teaching Latin. Well, to illustrate how rhetoric techniques come from Latin and how pre-1900s authors all seemed to know rhetoric techniques because of their Latin study, the professor read a portion of a Shakespeare play to us. It was so interesting to me!! The next day, I read the "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..." speech to my kids, because I'd had to memorize that in high school. For me, high school lit. classes were so boring (I had no mental connections, no preparation, no grammar/writing skills, etc.) - I think we did read Romeo and Juliet aloud in class, but I didn't enjoy it. But reading that speech to my kids the other day? Totally fun. They laughed at me, but they paid attention and enjoyed the dramatization I did. Anyway, between the professor last week, my reading of that speech, our grammar/writing/lit. preparation, and now your post; I'm seeing the possibilities that play-reading will be interesting for us in another couple of years! Esp. because my kids have read the Lamb and the Garfield storied versions. Many years ago, my friends and I would invite people over to read a Shakespeare play. We had it as a party and all took roles (or a couple of roles to spread some of the bit parts around). It is one of my fondest memories. I plan to do a Shakespeare party or two next year. Now THIS sounds like fun! I wonder if I could find friends who would get into this with me, and include their kids....how do you pull something like this together? What are your plans? Edited February 16, 2012 by Colleen in NS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 What a great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Jean - My double inlaws do this at their Christmas party. Everyone brings a dessert or snack and we snack and visit a bit first. Then xeroxed copies of a play version of A Christmas Carol are distributed and parts picked/assigned. Anybody old enough to read gets one (or two). We all sit around in chairs and on the floor and start reading in parts. At the intermissions, we eat some more and get up and move around. I always think the whole thing would be even more fun if we all came in period dress. For years, I took the boys to my mother's some time when we were needing a break, and we would read a Shakespeare play in parts. I would go to the library and take out enough copies of Shakespeare that everyone would have one. It took a little work to split up the parts such that nobody had dialogues with themselves, but it wasn't bad. We'd make sure the boys had major parts so they wouldn't get bored. Then we'd start reading. It was great fun. We just kept going. We didn't worry if somebody read his part in a stuttery way. When the boys were small, we stopped and summed up from time to time to make sure they understood, but in general, we tried not to break the mood with discussion. I have fond memories of huddling under a tarp in the cockpit of our boat one rainy day reading a Greek play. It was strange to hear the wind and the rain in the tarp and feel the boat swing back and forth while we were all in ancient Greece dealing with the aftermath of the Trojan War. Another time, we read The Birds in the main cabin around the table and ate fudge. Lots of good memories... Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Now THIS sounds like fun! I wonder if I could find friends who would get into this with me, and include their kids....how do you pull something like this together? What are your plans? Colleen, while you stroll the aisles at your thrift shop, keep your eyes open for Shakespeare in a Box. You can buy an abridged Lear or Shrew this way, complete with props and a number of scripts. It is essentially edited for a party type version. Another idea is to edit a play yourself. We attended a library event at which an edited version of Much Ado was read. First, everyone was brought up to speed with the story. Roles were assigned and then everyone went into a small group to practice a scene. After this trial run, each of the scenes was read aloud for the entire group, complete with whatever costume the actors wished to don from a trunk of silly costumes and hats. What was so much fun about this was that everyone from grandparents to young children participated. The young played the old and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Jean - My double inlaws do this at their Christmas party. Everyone brings a dessert or snack and we snack and visit a bit first. Then xeroxed copies of a play version of A Christmas Carol are distributed and parts picked/assigned. Anybody old enough to read gets one (or two). We all sit around in chairs and on the floor and start reading in parts. At the intermissions, we eat some more and get up and move around. I always think the whole thing would be even more fun if we all came in period dress. This is basically what we did with Shakespeare. I remember doing "Twelth Night", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Taming of the Shrew", "MacBeth". We didn't do period dress, though we did have some hats that people could wear. I remember wearing a jester hat with bells for my role as the Fool.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I dream of living near people who would be into this. Maybe, maybe....brainstorming...*sigh* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 I have fond memories of huddling under a tarp in the cockpit of our boat one rainy day reading a Greek play. It was strange to hear the wind and the rain in the tarp and feel the boat swing back and forth while we were all in ancient Greece dealing with the aftermath of the Trojan War. Another time, we read The Birds in the main cabin around the table and ate fudge. Lots of good memories... Nan One of my 70-something friends told me about a rainy summer at the cottage when her now adult children were preteens and teens. It seemed that the friends also congregated at their rambling cottage where the group proceeded to spend the summer reading Shaw aloud. Apparently it was a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 I dream of living near people who would be into this. Maybe, maybe....brainstorming...*sigh* Or you can organize your group Skype read?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I dream of living near people who would be into this. Maybe, maybe....brainstorming...*sigh* Move near me! Brainstorming, too....the skype idea is interesting.... I am loving reading all of the ideas here!!! (need to peel myself away from the computer - have been researching here about writing and Latin for hours today....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.