The development
Much of what we teach in Key stage 3 can easily be developed into key stage
4 teaching and even A’ level.
For example at Key stage 3 we may use still images in order to clarify the plot
line of the play.
This may progress into thought tracking or hot seat where we narrate a
character’s thoughts, or question them as to their motives.
As we move into key stage 4 this may result in creating tableaux in order to
symbolise and sum up the events in a scene focusing on what the scene as a
whole is communicating to the audience. Key lines may be given to the
characters and the lines explored as part of a close reading of the text
This may al be included in A level teaching but may also allow opportunities to
explore characters decisions, their relationship to key themes of the play at
nodal points in the text etc.
On the whole we can categorise development and progression under the
following headings:
• Complexity – we deal with increasing complex ideas, attitudes and aspects
of the plot.
• Depth – the characters, issues and themes are explored at a deeper level,
based on age and experience of the students.
• Confidence – students are expected to use exploratory techniques with
more confidence, giving their own opinions about characters events in the
text
• Independence – students will work independently of the teacher. The
teacher will need to provide less guidance. Students will suggest ways
forward. They will work in peer groups.
What do we need to teach?
Points to act as a guide
That he did not write books to be read but rather plays to be performed.
The language is not immediately recognisable to us as ‘modern English’ so do
not be afraid to have fun with it. Many of the lines were probably made up by or
added to by the original actors anyway. It is also wrong to assume that an
Elizabethan audience went around chatting in rhyming couplets. They did not,
but they were more used to words as the main form of communication so they
did listen more carefully and were more aware of some of the analogies
Shakespeare uses. In modern productions this becomes both a challenge and
opportunity so we have to use visual references, gestures etc to help the
audience along. This actually results in most productions of Shakespeare
being more visually exciting than the performances of many modern plays.
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Moreover, the language of Shakespeare is more ‘active’ than ‘passive’. Unlike
modern usage Shakespeare uses words as weapons. He uses rhymes and
rhythms to create pace and tension. Verse can show the emotional state of a
character, images are very physical and can be acted out as such, lists
intensify description or argument and alliteration creates atmosphere.
But he also pokes fun at his own theatrical technique, i.e.
‘Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
He bravely broached his bloody boiling breast.’
We will also want to investigate uses of irony, puns and courtly vs. everyday
language etc.
Obviously what we actually teach about the plays will depend on the purpose
for which we want to teach them, i.e. introduction to Shakespeare, School play,
play visit, SAT’s, or GCSE. But the following will, probably, at some point be
tackled during key stages 3 and 4:
1. Understanding character in terms of status, relationships and function in the
plot, the journey they make through the play and their motivations and
objectives.
2. Key themes of the play
3. The stories. Plot vs. story
4. Shakespeare’s use of dramatic method, i.e. stage directions, building
tension, pace, dumb shows etc.
5. The language – why Shakespeare chose certain words etc.
6. England at the time Shakespeare was writing.
7. The Globe theatre, actors and acting techniques
8. For older or maybe more able students we may introduce ideas of
perspective and context. We may also examine how the plays have been
updated to take into account current political events.
Written work
(N.B: consult up to date SAT’s guidance information from QCA for marking
structures for this element)
Although the focus of the work should be the study of the play, work produced
will help the students’ ability in written work
Students must be able to write in order to:
• explore, imagine and entertain;
• persuade, argue and advise;
• analyse, review, comment;
• inform, explain describe.
They must also be able to:
• use a correct sentence structure;
• use correct punctuation;
• use correct spelling;
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• show use of composition;
• use connectives and persuasive language.
For the Shakespeare paper in the past the emphasis is on written work as
much as the understanding of the play.
However all that is to change in 2005, so that the emphasis is on the
understanding of the play, rather than grammar etc. It is advisable to check
web sites and QCA information for updated SAT’s requirements
Because of this the students’ practical exploration of the text as a play is more
important than ever.
Speaking and listening and literacy
The study of the texts will also give us opportunities to fulfil speaking and
listening and literacy targets. (See section on Shakespeare and Progression).
As such the method of working, i.e. group work, presentations etc will need to
be considered when approaching the plays.
Finally, what forms of assessment are we going to use. i.e. performance,
essays, lecture demonstrations, design ideas, annotated script, charts etc.
How are we going to teach it? – practical ideas in the
classroom
The following exercises are not exclusive and nor do they necessarily replace
the need to actually read the text! But they can encourage a greater
investigation into the text, active participation with the issues and greater
understanding of why the characters do what they do. Also, and possibly most
importantly, they can provide opportunities for students to recognise how
relevant the plays can be to their own lives.
Section one
Strategies for Speeches and Soliloquies:
• Choral Speaking – dividing the speech up among a group; the variety of
voices enables pupils to see how the speech builds up and to concentrate
upon individual details. Can be as simple as reading around the class or as
elaborate as improvising a scene.
• Punctuation Walkabout – walking through the speech: change of direction
for each punctuation mark: leads to an understanding of the thought pattern
of the speech and hence the state of mind of the character of that moment.
• Rounders Game – similar principle: running around as in rounders game:
no of ‘bases’ covered depends on length of sentence.
• Antiphonal Speaking – to emphasise antithesis in speeches, or complicated
through patterns (e.g.) Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene.
• Obstacles – to suggest the urgency of a speech and the emotional effort
and energy which thought creates. Human Wall; Prison Guards.
• Emotional Memory – using a memory to inform the speaking of a speech.
• Appropriate Mime – particularly in helping pupils to concentrate and slow
down: e.g.: letter writing; doodling; what would the character be doing at
this moment etc. Miming the images in a speech, which is read by one
person.
• Counselling or Arguing with Character – one person reads speech slowly
while other interrupts him or her ‘counselling’ questions or arguments
against characters attitudes.
Section two
Wordplay and Argument:
• Shouting the Speeches from a Distance – is a good opening to make the
arguments come alive.
• Following a Character Around – to suggest the importance and urgency of
the argument as far as the characters are concerned. Also the character
who isn’t speaking, makes it difficult for the other character to express their
words. Very useful in ‘persuading’ speeches.
• Shadowing a Speech or Scene – while the reader or readers are reading
the speech or scene; others ‘shadow’ then by repeating key words related
to theme or concepts being argued. Repeat so as to enable readers to
underline those words then repeat again so as to emphasise those words.
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• Then repeat again but as readers to listen and respond to the key words
when they aren’t speaking themselves and to work out which lines are most
important.
• The process can be attempted with two readers and the rest of the group
divided equally between them to shadow them. The strategy also works for
comic wordplay: by emphasising or underlining puns, quibbles, ideas
picked up by the next speaker, etc.
Section three
• Engaging with the Word – all of the aforementioned exercises will help
pupils to engage with words of the text. Here are some additional ones:
• Pointing Exercises – Pointing at characters and places to emphasise
names and pronouns in speech.
• Giving Away Words – Reading a speech word for word and assessing on
the spot the value of a word. Each person reads a word and gives that word
to another person in the group: if that person is near, then the word isn't
very important, if he or she is far away, then the word is very important
indeed. Whoever receives the word gives away the next word and so on.
• Using A Line or Phrase in an Improvised Scene – each person is given a
line or phrase from a speech which are the only words that he or she can
speak in an improvised scene.
• Finding A Mime – In pairs, an image or phrase is chosen and a mime
developed to illustrate the image or phrase.
Section four
Introductions:
• Starting in The Middle – choosing a speech or scene which is at the centre
of the play or which highlights the predicament of the main characters and
starting from there.
• Forum Technique – taking a short scene from a play or creating a tableau
or short improvisation with characters from the play and inviting those
watching to question characters.
• Creating an Improvisation – either as background to the play or to highlight
the situation or predicament which the characters are in.
This can then be carried forward into reading/performing a scene from the
play.
Section five
Some other exercises we will have done or talked about during the course.
Due to time restraints and the development of new ideas, not all of these will
necessarily have been covered:
• ‘The Dead Body’ – the script needs to be investigated, clues discovered
and the dead body given life!
• ‘Uniting’ the text – finding the general sense of a scene or speech. Divide
this into units of action or thoughts.
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• ‘Actioning’ the text. What effect does the speaker wish to have on others in
the scene? Or, to take it further:
o I say this line because I want...
o I say this line because I feel…
o I say this line because I think…
o I say this line because of who I am….
• Finding the set – using chairs and tables to define the scenic needs of the
play.
• Facts exercise:
• What information are we given about a character that is FACTUAL?
• What do others say about the character, which is OPINION?
• What the character says about other people shows ATTITUDE?
• What does the character say about themselves; PERSONALITY.
• Original performance exercises – see ‘Cues and all’ script at the end of
these notes.
o The ‘rolls’
o Introducing a character
• Create a time line
• Defining the plot. Cut the play into separate plots:
o i.e.: Macbeth and Lady MacBeth's relationship
o Duncan and Macbeth
o Macbeth and Macduff
o The political scenes
o Scenes or war

Shakespeare and progression:
Opportunities to use the plays to fulfill assessment objectives
Here are some examples of how studying the texts can help in
achieving literacy and speaking and listening targets.
1. In terms of literacy:
Key stage 3:
• Re- telling stories picking out significant incidents.
• Identifying and discussing character in visual terms i.e. appearance.
• To create simple character profiles, finding key phrases for each character.
• To present short scenes based on the script
• Read Texts aloud highlighting meaning in a sensitive way.
• Work in groups on varied material including play scripts to create written
work or presentations relevant to the areas of study.
• Write in a range of forms.
2. In terms of speaking and listening:
Key Stages 3 and 04:
• To participate in a wide range of drama activities.
• Encouraged to develop communication skills and their ability to evaluate
language use.
• Consider significant features of their own and others performances.
• Explore vocabulary structures appropriate to character and situation.
• To learn to negotiate both in and out of role.
Levels of attainment at key stage 3 can be assessed through their work
on Shakespeare (See Speaking and Listening Attainment Levels).
Key Stage 04
We are governed by syllabus demands but we would expect progression in the
following ways.
Literacy:
• Write in a wider range of forms.
• To recognize organizational characteristics of different types of written
texts, i.e. play scripts.
• To discuss the use of non-standard means of expression in texts, i.e.
rhyming structures as well as non-standard English.
• Participate in presentations.
• Contribute to the planning and organization of such presentations.
• Develop their own insights, i.e. make judgments about characters and their
actions/ motivations. These should be developed in their own written work.
• Demonstrate an understanding of devices used by writers to create
responses in audience and reader, i.e. tension, focus, style, building up
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emotion etc.
• Be able to use increased dramatic vocabulary accurately.
Moreover in terms of creative, technical, evaluative and performance skills we
would also expect to see a development through this sort of work.
Much of what you do at Key stage 3 can be developed into key stage 4 work

 Background information
Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama
Strictly speaking this may not be that necessary for students at Key Stage 3
and 4 but I feel it is important for teachers to have an overview of the context of
the plays.
General features of public playhouses:
• They varied in size – largest seated 3,000.
• Varying shapes, but generally the audiences surrounded the playing area to
some extent, i.e. in the round, octangle, thrust.
• Had a ‘pit’ or ‘yard’ – where the ‘groundlings’. This was open to the
elements and surrounding the stage on three sides, enclosed by three
tiers of roofed galleries. The yard cost less (general admission), the Gallery
cost more.
• There were probably some private galleries.
• A ‘Tiring house’ at the rear of the raised platform where the actors would
wait and change.
• The stage was roofed – called ‘the heavens’—supported by columns. Flying
was possible with cranes and ropes.
• Traps in the floor, for fire, smoke, other effects.
• Two doors in the tiring house, following Greek ideas, represented various
locations.
• Musicians’ gallery, below hut, third level.
• A discovery space See evidence from such plays as The Tempest.
Acting troupes:
• We have most evidence from Phillip Henslow’s diary. He also financed
many of the theatres.
• Troupes had patrons i.e. the Lord Chamberlain (Chamberlains Men) or Lord
Howard (The Admirals men).
• Most troupes worked on the basis of profit sharing. They even bought
shares in the companies.
• There was quite a lot a rivalry between troupes of actors, with the
Chamberlain’s men regarded as superior.
• Stagehands hired ‘hirelings’ for a salary.
• Troupes were all male, men or young boys playing women’s roles, some
specialized in particular types of roles. i.e.:
• Richard Tarleton, William Kemp, and Robert Armin – clowns
• Richard Burbage, Edward Alleyn – tragedians.