Poetry Friday: The play's the thing…
…wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king” is the famous line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but I’m using it for today’s post to direct your attention to two things — 1) the new PT issue that went live on June 2 that is all about children and play, and 2) about Shakespeare plays and poetry. The word “play” has various meanings and one of them refers to drama. Children naturally act out stories with each other or their toys, and create little ‘plays,’ as it were. And so taking them to see plays is a natural extension, I think, of that basic child-like impulse to create them.
Last year, I wrote a post about the Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night, put on by the Unicorn Theatre in London. We also went to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe theatre. I was convinced by my experiences there that children (and parents) need not be intimidated by Shakespeare’s plays. Of course, for most people, it is the poetic language of Shakespeare (the plays are mostly written in blank verse which is unrhymed iambic pentameter) that can be off-putting; however, if one gets to see the play acted, the language does not appear nearly so opaque and in fact contributes to the pleasure of watching the drama. In Winnipeg where I live, we have a local theatre company, Shakespeare in the Ruins, that puts on a Shakespeare play every summer in outdoor venues. This year they staged the Merry Wives of Windsor. We took both our children to the play and they enjoyed watching it.
Have you ever taken your children to a Shakespeare play? What was it and did they enjoy it? Does your city have a local company that stages plays for children? Do tell us here at PaperTigers.
This week’s Poetry Friday host is Kelly Polark.
June 11th, 2010 at 5:48 am
We love Shakespeare! You can see what we do in our Peaceful Home here!
http://ohpeacefulday.blogspot.com/2009/09/to-shakespeare-or-not-to-shakespeare.html
PS Loving your blog! Thanks for following mine…
June 11th, 2010 at 10:29 am
We went to see Midsummer Night’s Dream last year, my two’s first full-length Shakespeare play – we were all captivated and (surprise, surprise) Bottom is still quoted regularly! Older Brother (11) has studied Romeo and Juliet at school, and his class also had an activity day putting on Macbeth, which the whiole school then watched – really excellent. What’s wonderful is that neither of them thinkS of Shakespeare as beyond them, it’s just we still have a lot to explore…
June 12th, 2010 at 5:36 am
Thanks, Jeanne. I read your blog post, too. I’ll have to track down that E. Nesbitt that you mentioned. I hope my library has a copy! And Marjorie, that’s great that your sons are quoting Bottom. Last night we watched “She the Man” which is an American made-for-TV movie rendition of Twelfth Night, wherein the Sebastian/Viola character is a girl who pretends to be a guy to play on her brother’s school’s soccer team. My daughter remembered seeing Twelfth Night at the Unicorn last year and explained the movie’s similar plot to me very succinctly, to my surprise.
June 12th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
I haven’t attended a Shakespeare play! I do love hearing my children acting with each other. I listen from the other room and giggle.
June 14th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
We have a Shakespeare Festival in San Francisco and other places in the Bay Area. This Summer, their 28th Season, they are doing Two Gentlemen of Verona. They also have Shakespeare Summer Camps, and I hope my daughter will be interested in signing up for a session next year.