Suggested
Scenes for Performance:
One option I frequently offer students in the
Shakespeare 207 and 208 course is the opportunity to perform
a scene from Shakespeare for the rest of the class. It is
up to the students to select a scene that is appropriate in
length for this performance (five to ten minutes), and they
should select a scene that is "doable" for the number
of actors in their group. If necessary, students might want
to edit a scene to cut it down to appropriate size, or they
might wish to divide their performance into one five-minute
scene using half the participants, and another five-minute
scene using the other half of the group's members.
I include below some suggested scenes that have
worked well in past classes. You are, of course, under no
obligation to use these particular ones if you can find one
that works better for your group. You are obligated, however,
to make your scene as dynamic, dramatic, and entertaining
as possible while remaining true to Shakespeare's spirit.
Richard II:
Richard II's banishment of Bolingbroke at the lists (Act I,
Scene iii); the scene in which the gardeners speak with Queen
Anne (Act III, Scene iv); Richard II's abdication of his crown
to Bolingbroke and the reaction of the crowd (Act IV, Scene
i); or Richard II's murder (Act V, Scene i), which works particularly
well if one throws in violence and fake blood.
Midsummer Night's
Dream: the confrontation between the mischievous
Puck and Fairy is good for small numbers of actors, and the
confrontation of Oberon and Titania in the same scene is also
a good one (Act II, Scene i); Lysander's clumsy attempt to
seduce Hermia, and Puck's magic running awry also works well
(Act II, Scene ii); Bottom's serenade and Titania's declaration
of affection works well if there is an actor willing to sing
off-key as Bottom (Act III, scene i); the cat-fight between
Hermia and Helena over Lysander and Demetrius' capricious
passions is fun, especially if the actors cast themselves
according to the height of each character (III.ii); excerpts
from the play-within-a-play, the clumsy enactment of Pyramis
and Thisbe is fun (Act V, scene i), and Puck, Oberon, and
Titania's blessings in the epilogue to the play (V. i) also
work well to flesh out shorter performances.
Henry IV, Part I:
Prince Hal's interactions with his drunken and lecherous buddies
are fun if the actors will ham it up--especially the actor
playing Falstaff--(in Act I, Scene i or Act II, scene ii);
likewise, the so-called "Great-Eastcheap Scene"
is particularly good for illustrating Falstaff's bragging
and his cowardice, but might have to be edited for length
(Act II, Scene iv); the scene with Hotspur and Glendower often
works well for a small number of actors, especially if the
actors play up Glendower's "New Age-y" mysticism
and his attempts to pretend to be a wizardly warrior and Hotspur's
amused or irritated barbs to deflate Glendower's pretensions
(Act III, scene i); and probably the best scene of all for
performance, Act V, scene iv, contains both humor, pathos,
and exciting stage combat.
Henry V:
the mocking message from the Dauphin (and the King's cold
response) can make for good drama as long as it is clear the
King is angry and the messenger's life may be in danger (Act
I, scene ii); the King's "sting operation" against
Cambridge and Grey is highly recommended with some editorial
trimming (Act II, scene ii); a condensed version including
the King's speech at Harfleur (Act III, scene i) and the soldier's
squabbling and characterization following it might prove interesting
with appropriate warfare going on in the background (Act III,
scene ii); Princess Katherine's English lessons with Lady
Alice have great comic potential for a couple of female actors
who have a bit of French (Act III, scene iv), or the King's
interactions with his troops in disguise and his prayers (Act
IV, scene i) has a lot of emotional punch if the actors will
bring out King Henry's gnawing guilt and his concern both
for his troop's lives and his own soul. King Henry's rallying
of his dispirited troops works well, but the actor playing
King Henry has to do a lot of talking and come across as charismatic
(Act IV. scene iii); finally, King Henry's wooing of Princess
Katherine has great potential for complex interactions--is
his wooing one of passion and romance--or one of poorly veiled
threats and extortion when the Princess is in his power?--or
both? (Act V, scene ii)
Richard III:
Richard's morbid wooing of Anne over her husband's coffin
is particularly fun (I. ii); the two murderers who stab Clarence
and drown him in a barrel of wine works well (I.iv); Richard's
interactions with his nephews, Prince Edward and York are
powerful but subtle scenes in which the actors need to portray
the young Princes as innocent children, and Richard as a monstrous
murderer hiding behind an avuncular smile as he teases and
plays with them while plotting their deaths and his own
coup d'etat. That scene is particularly potent if the
actors choose to depict Prince Edward as being aware (or at
least suspicious) of his uncle's plans, but struggling to
hide his own fear (III.i). Richard's accusations of witchcraft
before the Bishop of Ely work well if the actors conjoin Richard's
pretend-piety and his facade of Christian behavior with his
bloodthirsty rage to have Shore and Edward's wife executed
as traitors and witches (III.iv). For a small group of actors,
Tyrrel's interactions with Richard work well, though there
is little action (IV. ii and IV.iii); for those with a more
surrealistic bent, the ghosts that haunt Richard's dreams
the night before the battle are rather disturbing (V. iii),
and a final montage of bits from Act V, scenes three, four,
and five, offer high drama at its best, including the confrontation
between Richmond and Richard and great derring-do in stage
combat.
The Merry Wives
of Windsor: None of my students have yet performed
this play for me, but I strongly suspect any scene involving
Falstaff will be funny if the actor hams it up, any scene
illustrating the pious nature of the Welsh parson Sir Hughes;
or any scene illustrating Ford's jealousy and suspicion; or
Falstaff's cowardice in the face of the so-called "faeries"
in Act V, scene v.