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Schoolchildren are to learn Shakespeare by acting out the plays instead of reading them at their desks.
In the teaching initiative announced yesterday, pupils will use techniques adopted by the Royal Shakespeare Company to increase their understanding of the texts.
Exercises devised by the RSC and The Globe theatre in London will see children aged 11-14 walking around their classrooms while reading the plays, mirroring methods used by professional actors at rehearsal.
Written and oral assessments developed alongside the lessons will show how well students have understood the works.
Pupils must study two Shakespeare texts between the ages of 11 and 16, one in key stage three before they are 14.
Jacqui O'Hanlon, the RSC's director of education, said: “Actors have the same nervousness around Shakespeare's language as young people in schools. We looked at how they get from that to a place of utter conviction, confidence and eloquence in six to eight weeks.
“You can't understand Shakespeare's plays if you just read them in your head. He wrote them to be spoken and performed. Shakespeare is difficult. You must use different mechanisms to access his work.”
Reader views (1)
This is wonderful news. However it is also rather depressing that it has taken this long for teaching methods to grasp that Shakespeare has to be acted to make any sense. I remember with horrible vividness the massacring of Shakespeare when I was taught it. We sat there reading out some of the greatest prose ever written with blank expressions and monotone voices.
I do worry however about the reaction from the Daily Mail that will occur when they start acting out Romeo and Juliet. After all it is a play about underage drug taking lovers across rival gangs. It never ceases to amaze me how timeless Shakespeare is.
- Richard Holloway, London, 11/03/2010 12:50
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