Shakespeare

How to best convey one's love for something, anything, but especially, this season, with my oldest two students/children; Shakespeare? It has been a long love affair, dating from a speech contest where I saw an extract from Othello, and spent the ride home reading Shakespeare to myself, half-silently, half-whispered. The words were begging to come off the page and into the air, with a will of their own.

We've owned, borrowed and read dozens of Shakespeare for Kids books since their tender years. Lily and I visited The Globe on a layover in London last year. We've read stories of his life, listened to Bruce Coville's versions of his plays and read the picture-only book; "The Ball, the Boy and the Bard," for about six months straight with the younger ones. 

What else? Read? Of course. Analyze? We've been covering that too, as a new approach to literature, now that they are older. But somehow we are not capturing the magic that has come alive for so many since that man put ink to parchment. Read aloud, memorize, play. The play...(I shall not there go, promise.) Today we were to begin sonnets, but first, I think, we will each choose a scene to portray. Me too, after all, their love of theatre is honestly come by, and it's only fair that I have to memorize something once in awhile for them too. (The younger ones have tons of verses and stories that I attempt to learn by heart so that I can work the way Waldorf encourages teachers to work, from one's memory for poetry and from one's heart for prose.)

I am searching for a performance in the area; Shakespeare is best experienced on stage, and we watched "Shakespeare in Love" together the other night, while I edited out a couple of scenes, they are, after all, only 13 and 14. I wanted to give them a feel for the period, for the politics, environment and expectations of men and women. (Besides, I love that movie!)

More ideas on bringing really old theatre to life for the really young?