Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - 12
Horace Mann School and England's Royal Shakespeare Company
even when reading a play for homework on their own. The
technique leaves an indelible impression that enables
students to take ownership of Shakespeare's evocative
language, inhabit his characters, and wrestle with the issues
raised within every play.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Price '17 reports that she has "had an
ardent love of Shakespeare for as long as" she can remember.
Price, who recently revived and serves as president of HM's
Shakespeare Club, adds "While, I have always had a passion for his words and his stories, I think I found my obsession with Shakespeare when I began to act his work. Acting
Shakespeare betters your understanding. After all, his work
was intended to be acted and heard. (It) helps uncover the
double entendre, comedy, and deeper meanings scattered
about his work. While analysis is important, some of the
most meaningful and exciting parts of Shakespeare, such as
instances of incredibly witty word play, can only be discovered through performance."
A participant in both RSC student summer workshops
Price reflected, "The RSC methods did contribute to my
ability to act Shakespeare. With a better ability to act his
work, I have a better ability to place myself in a character's
shoes and see their world."
Price directed a Shakespeare Club production of "Twelfth
Night" in February 2016. Though not consciously thinking "'Oh, yes! That method that the RSC taught me would
be perfect here!'" she said her directing style "was inspired
by their process and views." Noting that she revived HM's
Shakespeare Club and mounted "Twelfth Night" as "an advocate for Shakespeare, and his relatability" Price lamented,
"Due to the nature of the work and stigma attached to the
name Shakespeare, people often approach him with preexisting judgment and dislike, preventing themselves from
seeing the beauty and fun."
That stigma is exactly what the RSC approach aims to dispel.
photo by Ruth Seligman
Photo by Barry L. Mason
With the partnership in full swing, it was not uncommon
to walk into a classroom in HM's Upper, Middle and Lower
Divisions and witness students practicing "On Your Feet" exercises that had them moving around the classroom, being instructed to holler one line of a play, and then to repeat it softly,
or with a snarl. Clapping or snapping their fingers to emphasize first one word of a line and then another helped students
discover how such emphasis changes meaning. Taking turns
portraying a character demonstrated how trading points of
view can elicit empathic interpretations of opposite emotions.
These exercises encourage students to grasp both the
nuances and more obvious intent of each play, as was clear
when the RSC's Chris White and Tracy Irish instructed
students in Dr. Casdin's 11th grade class to get up from their
chairs, line their hands atop the classroom's long table and
raucously beat out the rhythm of Hamlet's "Tis now the very
witching time of night" soliloquy. When the class reached
"And do such bitter business as the day" the RSC instructors
urged them to utter the words "like a threat; like a promise;
like a declaration of love" in quick succession.
"Brilliant!" exclaimed the two teachers, using what' now
recognized at HM as a signature RSC expression of encouragement that sounds so endearing to the students when
delivered in the teachers' British accents.
"People usually think of Hamlet as a play of the intellect," White told the students. "But, Hamlet is written in
iambic pentameter, as you just heard. That's the rhythm of a
heartbeat. Shakespeare intended that. You hear that rhythm
when you say the lines instead of reading them, and you realize that Hamlet is as much a play about blood and heart as
it is about mind." The explanation clearly provided an "aha
moment" for the students.
After exploring Shakespeare this past year in ways other
than by reading lines aloud in class numerous HM students
now describe hearing the words and visualizing the scenes,
HM-RSC teaching corps members spent weekends
throughout the 2015-2016 school year learning to teach RSC
techniques to students and colleagues. UD English teacher
Rebecca Bahr and MD English teacher Jamie Brink craft a
scene with RSC Education Associate Tracy Irish.
12
Horace Mann Magazine Summer 2016
RSC Continuing Professional Development leader and RSC Education Department Lead Practitioner Rebecca Gould helped
launch the RSC's partnership with Horace Mann School.
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/soliloquies/witching.html
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Horace Mann - Summer 2016
Contents
Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - 1
Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - 2
Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - Contents
Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - 4
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