WOS

World of Shakespeare: You Act the Scene


We have spent a large portion of this course on the presentation of language. From our class discussions, you hopefully realize that Shakespeare spent all of his attention on the language of the play. He uses this in place of scenery, props, and elaborate sets. For this assignment you will use everything that we have learned about language on the stage, and present a selected scene in front of the class.

Directions: You are going to be divided into 4 groups. Each group is responsible for a scene in act three of 12th Night. Your task is to present your scene to the class in an entertaining fashion. Remember- this is a comedy, so we want to laugh.
You will be graded as a group by a provided set of rubrics. You need not memorize the lines, but you must be familiar enough so that there are no “dead spots.”
To assist each group, I present to you the coveted Bag O’ Tricks. Each group may use one of the following.

The Bag O’ Tricks: You may use only ONE of the following…

Let’s Play Make-up:
Use of face makeup to define each character. This can be as simple as stage make-up, to as elaborate as masks. Each character must be included.

Sound effects:
Use sounds to enhance the scene. Pick mood music that can also be used to enhance what is happening. You will become the John Williams for a day. Use at least 10 sound effects in your scene. Remember- think comedy!

Dress Up:
Each character must have a detailed costume that is used to help your audience understand the play. These can be set in the real time period, or modernized. While your words must stay true to the script, your costumes can allude to a different time and place. For example, you may choose to do your scene on an army base…

Video Backgrounds:
Behind your group on the stage, you will put together background video that matches your scene. The video that you put together must be used to enhance your scene. This will be difficult to do to scale perfectly.