Othello: Day 5; Art Holiday Assembly

We will begin class with Othello this morning. To speed up our reading, we'll listen to the following audiobook:

• 1957 Audio of The Tragedy of Othello. Act IV, end of scene 3, Act Iv, Scene 4 and Act 5. (30 min.)
• Othello Cliff Notes
• Othello Thug Notes

Afterward, please go to the Main Stage theater for our Arts assembly. 

HOMEWORK: Read Titus Andronicus over winter break. You can find help and assistance from the footnotes in the script (handout) and from online sources. 

Have a nice winter break!

Othello: Day 4

The structure of a Shakespearean play (most 5 act plays) is:

ACT ONE: Exposition, Inciting incident, Major Dramatic Question is introduced, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Often a complication occurs to disrupt the status quo
ACT TWO: Rising Action, Complication(s), Establishment/development of the Major Conflict, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Introduction to subplot (minor plot).
ACT THREE: Crisis or Turning Point, Dark Moment, Major Decision.
ACT FOUR: Enlightenment, development or Resolution of minor plots.
ACT FIVE: Final climax, Resolution of minor and major plots, falling action. Major Dramatic Question is answered.

Confused? Asleep? Absent? Daydreaming? Curious? take a look at the links below to help you understand this play and see what it looks like when performed.

Act 1 (Othello):
Scene 1 summary; & Scene 1 (Royal Shakespeare Company)
Scene 2 summary; & Scene 2 (Othello Notes: analysis of scene 2) (9 min.)
Scene 3 summary; & Scene 3 (Iago's monologue, Kenneth Branaugh) & Orson Welles as Othello, monologue scene 3.

Act 2 (Othello)
Scene 1 summary
Scene 3 summary

Act 3 (Othello):
Scene 1 & a  scene acted by the RSC
Scene 2
Scene 3 (Othello's monologue)

Language in Othello

HOMEWORK: None. Please bring your Othello book back with you next class. You may wish to revise your play scripts for your portfolio (due at the end of marking period) or outline and start planning a new play idea based on one (or more) of Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations.

Othello: Day 3; Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations

Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations (15 min.)

"Drama requires characters who want things they don't have yet, who need things they don't recognize yet, who are in conflict with people and forces arrayed against them."

Please read the handout on plots by Georges Polti (or Johann Goethe or Carlo Gozzi):

• What is at the core of a good dramatic idea?

The article makes a point about the 36 dramatic situations by Georges Polti. Please link to this page on our link page to your right. Read a few of the 36 dramatic situations. Which ones interest you? Which ones can you relate to? Which ones have you seen in literature or film? Discuss these 36 dramatic situations with a neighbor today.

• Which one would you create a one-act play around?
• Choose 1 or 2 of the dramatic situations and begin outlining a one-act play based on the idea.

We will continue to read Othello today.

The structure of a Shakespearean play (most 5 act plays) is:

ACT ONE: Exposition, Inciting incident, Major Dramatic Question is introduced, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Often a complication occurs to disrupt the status quo
ACT TWO: Rising Action, Complication(s), Establishment/development of the Major Conflict, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Introduction to subplot (minor plot).
ACT THREE: Crisis or Turning Point, Dark Moment, Major Decision.
ACT FOUR: Enlightenment, development or Resolution of minor plots.
ACT FIVE: Final climax, Resolution of minor and major plots, falling action. Major Dramatic Question is answered.

Confused? Asleep? Absent? Daydreaming? Curious? take a look at the links below to help you understand this play and see what it looks like when performed.

Act 1 (Othello):
Scene 1 summary; & Scene 1 (Royal Shakespeare Company)
Scene 2 summary; & Scene 2 (Othello Notes: analysis of scene 2) (9 min.)
Scene 3 summary; & Scene 3 (Iago's monologue, Kenneth Branaugh) & Orson Welles as Othello, monologue scene 3.

Act 2 (Othello)
Scene 1 summary

HOMEWORK: None. Please bring your Othello book back with you next class. You may wish to revise your play scripts for your portfolio (due at the end of marking period) or start planning a new play idea based on one (or more) of Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations.

Othello: Day 2

We will read Othello today.

The structure of a Shakespearean play (most 5 act plays) is:

ACT ONE: Exposition, Inciting incident, Major Dramatic Question is introduced, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Often a complication occurs to disrupt the status quo.
ACT TWO: Rising Action, Complication(s), Establishment/development of the Major Conflict, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Introduction to subplot (minor plot).
ACT THREE: Crisis or Turning Point, Dark Moment, Major Decision.
ACT FOUR: Enlightenment, development or Resolution of minor plots.
ACT FIVE: Final climax, Resolution of minor and major plots, falling action. Major Dramatic Question is answered.

HOMEWORK: None. Please bring your Othello book back with you next class.

Elizabethan Theater & Othello: Day 1

This morning, please post a well-developed answer to this question in the COMMENT section of this blog post:

• What are some examples (use textual evidence to support) of Greek Tragedy in the contemporary play "The Darker Face of the Earth"?
• How does Rita Dove "breathe new life" into this old Greek legend based on Oedipus The King? Is she, in your opinion, successful? Why or why not? [please use specific evidence and examples to support your position].

Shakespeare's Theater

Please take notes on what you learn on the graphic organizer. Turn this in as participation credit at the end of our class today.

Crash Course Theatre: The English Renaissance and Not Shakespeare
Crash Course Theater: Straight Outta Stratford-Upon-Avon: Early Shakespeare
Crash Course Theatre: The Tragedies

Theater, as we know it in Shakespeare's day as performed in a typical PLAYHOUSE, didn't occur until 1576. It was James Burbage who built the first playhouse called, appropriately, "the Theater"--a permanent building dedicated to showing plays for commercial interest. Before then, plays were generally performed in courtyards, tennis courts, inns or guild houses. Private showings for the nobles or upper classes would be commissioned as well in indoor theaters where anyone could afford a ticket.

Actors joined an acting company. Shakespeare, for example, first belonged to the Chamberlain's Men, then to the King's Men (after Elizabeth's death). Only men were allowed to act in the Elizabethan theater. Younger actors (boys) often played female roles because they would have looked more like women (i.e., no beard). This helps to explain why so many of Shakespeare's plays include cross-dressing. Consider that Juliet, for example, would have been played by a boy to the older actor playing Romeo. New actors were often given smaller roles so as to train with the experienced actors--who often played the major roles. Shakespeare himself was recorded as playing various small roles in his plays. The most famous example was the ghost of Hamlet's father in Hamlet.

Plays were written (often in collaboration) by the actors in the company (who also doubled as the house manager, director, props master, producer, etc.) This helps to explain why some characters in Shakespeare's plays disappear mid-play or return as new characters in the 4th or 5th acts. It's hard to be on stage while also taking money at the door.

Lines for a play were written on sides and distributed to the company members. It would be rare for an actor to have a complete script (the writer would, of course) but printing costs money, so copies were kept to a minimum. This helps explain why there are A-sides and B-sides to Shakespeare's works. Some lines or sides were changed by the actors or the writer during the performances. Famous actors might even change the author's lines by slipping in a bit of well-rehearsed and well-known comedic business for the audience's benefit.

Finally, having one's works collected in a folio book or quarto would have been rare. Scripts that got out of the hands of a company could be stolen by other theater companies, so copies were not passed around generally. The King's Men must have thought a lot about Shakespeare to have his works printed and bound! Luckily they did--or we could not frustrate future high school students by forcing them to read his plays!

The structure of a Shakespearean play (most 5 act plays) is:

ACT ONE: Exposition, Inciting incident, Major Dramatic Question is introduced, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Often a complication occurs to disrupt the status quo.
ACT TWO: Rising Action, Complication(s), Establishment/development of the Major Conflict, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Introduction to subplot (minor plot).
ACT THREE: Crisis or Turning Point, Dark Moment, Major Decision.
ACT FOUR: Enlightenment, development or Resolution of minor plots.
ACT FIVE: Final climax, Resolution of minor and major plots, falling action. Major Dramatic Question is answered.

Othello was written in 1603 (1st performed in 1604). See handout for details about the play's summary, its characters, etc.

Let's begin reading this tragedy together today in class. In Act One we will be treated to the play's exposition (the play begins in media res), inciting incident, and let's look for the MDQ and the Major Decision/complication of the action.

HOMEWORK: None. Please bring your texts back with you to our next class.

Historical Play Project Draft Due; The Darker Face of the Earth

We will watch the last couple minutes of Agamemnon. Please complete and turn in your analysis sheet. This counts as a test grade. See previous posts or the handout for details.

Period 1 (7:40-8:10)

Use your time this morning to prepare and complete your play draft. Before turning in/submitting your script, correct/check the following:

• Your format. See this link for a template...
• Your grammar.
• Turn non-specific and vague language into specific and visual language. Go ahead and add imagery or turn your verbs in your sentences into active ones! (use similes, specific nouns, active verbs, etc.)
• What is your premise? Did you make a point?
• Identify your protagonist(s): what do they want? Why do they want this? Is this clear in your dialogue? What obstacles prevent them from getting what they want?
• Who is your story about? A. a single protagonist? B. dual protagonists? C. group protagonists? (this is also considered to be an ENSEMBLE cast). Consider who has the most to gain/lose in your story. That is usually your best protagonist!

Please submit your historical play projects on Google Classroom after you have edited them.

Period 2:

The Darker Face of the Earth by Rita Dove

So. You've read Oedipus the King, about the king who killed his father and married his mother and then put out his eyes when he realized he was the guy who married his mother and killed his father. Aristotle thought Sophocles' play was the best play ever! It was a perfect example that he used as an exemplar to base his Poetics on. Many playwrights after Sophocles used Oedipus and Aristotle's Poetics to write plays. Even contemporary authors.

So. Oedipus the King. Old, dead, male, white, blah, blah. Does it speak to us today? What if it doesn't? What if a poet (who has read the original, just like you have) wants to tell a similar story but in a different way? What if she wants to write a tragedy about the suffering of American slaves during the antebellum period? What if the poet wants to structure her play based on old structures and stories that the entire world is familiar with? Enter: Rita Dove.

Today, let's begin reading this play. Those of you who think of yourself as poets can learn a lot about writing a dramatic poem (a poem meant to be staged and acted out by actors). Verse plays allow us to play with imagery and language and use all sorts of poetic language and skills while also writing plays. Language (as Aristotle says in his book) is important when writing a play. It is how we communicate ideas and develop characters in dramatic conflicts. What is more conflicting in America than the issue of race? Let's take a look.  

Please sign up for a role today. 

HOMEWORK: Complete your reading of this play by next class. Be prepared to write about the play when you return. You could even take notes about what's going on in the play and, considering our class, advice about writing plays in relation to this script. Remember Aristotle and other examples of Greek Theater!

Agamemnon: Day 2

Today we will continue our viewing of Agamemnon. Please complete the handout (this is due at the end of your viewing). Use the notes given to you and follow the script if you are confused or are having trouble understanding the play.

Extra Credit:

For those of you who want some extra credit this marking period, you may read and complete a play analysis for the following plays:

• Euripides' Medea
• Aristophanes' Lysistrata

HOMEWORK: Your historical play project drafts are due Friday. Please make sure these are ready to revise/proofread and prepare.

Friday's 1/2 day will be periods 1-4 & 9.