Surfing Shakespeare
Contributing Educator: Brian Avers
This Surfing Shakespeare unit emphasizes exercises and activities, partnered with rehearsals, performances and group discussions, to teach core concepts and build a playful, expressive, confident “Shakespearean actor”. This unit includes eight topics that form the foundation of a Shakespeare in Performance course. Each topic is a launchpad for you to revise, expand, or streamline to meet the needs of your students and your program.
Lesson Plans Included: 8
Materials: Printable Resources and Activities are included to help guide your work and support student learning.
Grade Levels: High School
Lesson Plan Topics
- Expressivity — Play games & exercises that ignite our physical & vocal Expressivity (TH:Cr3.1.I.b, TH:Pr4,1.ll.a)
- Meaning — Make sense of Shakespeare's language for our modern mouths. (TH:Cr1.1.l.c, TH:Cr3.1.l.b)
- Juicy Words — Identify & ignite the words that matter most (and leave the rest). (TH:Cr2-ll.a,TH:Re9.1.ll.c)
- Images — Paint pictures in the air, with tone, behavior and imagination! (TH:Cr3.1.l.b, TH:Pr4.1.ll.a)
- Rhythm, Line-Breaks and Antithesis — Use rhythm, line-breaks & the Bard's this-vs-that rhetoric to truly soar! (TH:Cr3.1.Il.b, TH;Cn11.2.l.b)
- Big Stakes — How to 'make it matter' to the max - kings, queens & killers, oh my! (TH:Cr-ll.a, TH:Pr4.1.ll.a)
- Points of Focus — Use your eyes & basic staging to create a whole world for the audience! (TH:Cr3.1.l.b, TH:Re8.1.lll.a)
- Sharp Turns (from Entrance to Exit ) — Use big dynamic & sudden shifts, for laughs, tears & standing ovations! (TH:Cr2-ll.a, TH:Pr4.1.lll.b)
