To prepare for Henry IV, part 1 -- our next play -- I want you to consult Shakespeare's view of who and what preceded Henry IV in English history: the unlikely reign of Richard II, a child when he assumed the British throne in the 1370s.
Regrettably, I'm seeing that "The Hollow Crown" -- the BBC series of Shakespeare's Histories, formerly available on YouTube -- is now gone!! Free and open to the public in 2012-'13, "The Hollow Crown" has become a DVD and/or iTunes item that's For-Purchase only.
So, to see Richard II today, it's become necessary for students to view an older production. The following RSC production -- made for television in the 1970s or '80s -- features Derek Jacobi, John Gielgud, and other fine English actors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdhoF4VXDZM This will give you the idea.
Please try to watch and make sense out of Richard II by class-time on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Naturally, it will help if you watch with a script near-at-hand. If you don't have a published copy of Richard II at home, see the MIT Shakespeare site for a free copy. Also, unless you're an expert on 14th century English history (!!), it will definitely help to consult Wikipedia -- even SparkNotes! -- to begin grasping the sequence and characters of Richard II.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 7 and 8
Mon., Oct. 7
Likely Quiz -- Who Says What, to Whom, in Context -- on II, sc. i-ii, of Othello. You'd do well to rehearse scansion in iambic pentameter. After the quiz, we'll try to make further headway in reading the play.
P.M. Read Act II, sc. iii. Please feel free to watch the YouTube (Othello (1995), with Laurence Fishburne & Kenneth Branagh) for support. As it happens, the dialogue in Act II, sc. iii, is not cut up too much. We are likely to have a legitimate, solo-status Reader's Quiz on Tues., on II, iii.
Tues., Oct 8
Likely Reader's Quiz on II, sc. iii. Begin to negotiate casting for Actor's Scenes in Acts IV and V.
P.M. Read Act III, sc. i (brief), sc. ii (brief), and the first half of sc. iii (longer): pp. 204-226, l. 281 ("when we do quicken"). III, iii, is a big, pivotal scene; so we'll take a couple of days with it -- discussing language, ideas, and forms.
Likely Quiz -- Who Says What, to Whom, in Context -- on II, sc. i-ii, of Othello. You'd do well to rehearse scansion in iambic pentameter. After the quiz, we'll try to make further headway in reading the play.
P.M. Read Act II, sc. iii. Please feel free to watch the YouTube (Othello (1995), with Laurence Fishburne & Kenneth Branagh) for support. As it happens, the dialogue in Act II, sc. iii, is not cut up too much. We are likely to have a legitimate, solo-status Reader's Quiz on Tues., on II, iii.
Tues., Oct 8
Likely Reader's Quiz on II, sc. iii. Begin to negotiate casting for Actor's Scenes in Acts IV and V.
P.M. Read Act III, sc. i (brief), sc. ii (brief), and the first half of sc. iii (longer): pp. 204-226, l. 281 ("when we do quicken"). III, iii, is a big, pivotal scene; so we'll take a couple of days with it -- discussing language, ideas, and forms.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
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