About the Book:

Rare book, very limited quantities available

Playbuilding Shakespeare is designed to allow junior high school students (ages 11 to 15) to explore aspects of five of Shakespeare's plays as performance pieces: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth.

The name Shakespeare evokes different responses from different people. For some he is the greatest writer of the English language. For others, he is he source of inspiration of some of the most exciting and exhilarating experiences in theatre and cinema.

Unfortunately though, the study of plays in schools has often been divorced from performances of plays on stages. Students who studied Shakespeare's plays as pieces of literature, while experiencing the richness of the language, all too often missed out on the richness of the drama and theatre.

But all this is changing. The rebuilding of the Globe Theatre in London and the film versions of the plays are reawakening an interest in the stories, and modern productions are finding a style of acting that better suits the poetic drama that Shakespeare wrote.

The techniques used in Playbuilding Shakespeare draw on aspects of playbuilding. At the end of each unit, students should be able to present a version of one of Shakespeare's plays, drawing on their own improvised work as well as drawing on the work of Shakespeare himself.

What people say:

"The workshop approach involves working with a partner, a small group, or a large group. Teachers could glean many ideas from the wealth of activities presented about each play ... The volume is a valuable sourcebook for the teacher... Besides the units of activities, there are explanations of the 20 strategies and activities used in the book and a chapter that deals with the language of Shakespeare's stage." — Book Report

About the Author:

Wendy Michaels is an experienced author, teacher and director and is currently Inspector, English, Board of Studies, New South Wales; Vice President of the Educational Drama Association of New South Wales, and spent many years as the National Education Director of the Shakespeare Globe Centre, Australia. She has written numerous books on Shakespeare and on playbuilding, presented workshops for primary, secondary and tertiary teachers on the teaching of Shakespeare, and presented papers at international Shakespeare conferences.