Shakespeare Lives

During snack each week we have been listening to the plays of William Shakespeare as retold by Bruce Coville. We started with Romeo and Juliet and then moved on to the dark tragedy, MacBeth. In our discussions we have talked about the characteristics of a tragedy and spent much time getting to know Shakespeare's characters. Which ones did we most admire, revile, or enjoy? Soon we will move on to learning more about William Shakespeare, the playwright and how theaters were developed in the Elizabethan era. Once a month Shakespeare Movie Night will allow us to watch Shakespeare in action. The first film we watched was West Side Story. A lively discussion followed about why Leonard Bernstein changed the ending of this version of Romeo & Juliet. After learning about William Shakespeare and hopefully building a model of the Globe Theater we will listen to Midsummer Night's Dream and enjoy memorizing some of Shakespeare's famous words.