A sketch comedy
for Adolescents and Adults
WORKPACK
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Characters
Suzie, Austin, Steve and Anna playing:
Juliet- Hamlet –Romeo- Richard III - Adrianna - King Hamlet -OpheliaTybalt –Puck - Dromio - etc, etc, etc.
Our play
This is homage to William Shakespeare. It is satirical, innovative and it is slightly
irreverent, that’s why we thought he could be quite SHAKEN…
Always as a farce, and as a play within a play, we retell Shakespeare’s most famous
Romances, Histories, Tragedies and Comedies.
Using a very fresh style, the audience will have a glance at Romeo & Juliet,
Richard the Third, Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, and more…
Plot summaries
Romeo & Juliet
Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are teenagers who fall deeply in love
but their families are bitter enemies.
They seize the moment and marry in secret, they make every effort to conceal their
actions but these end in tragedy after Romeo unwillingly kills Juliet’s cousin Tybalt
and is forced to exile. Hamlet
Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen
Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius.
The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has
poisoned him.
Hamlet swears revenge..
He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the chamberlain, by thrusting his sword
through a curtain. .
Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behavior drives her
to madness.
The Comedy of Errors
Two sets of twins are separated at the age of two during a shipwreck. They
grow unaware of the other’s existence.
One couple lives in Ephesus, the other in Syracuse. Dromio of Ephesus is the
slave of Antipholus of Ephesus, and Dromio of Syracuse is the slave of
Antipholus of Syracuse.
Farcical mix-ups occur when all the twins finally meet.
Richard III
One of the great history themed plays by William Shakespeare.
Richard is the evil hunchbacked Duke of Gloucester who becomes King
Richard III through a series of terrible acts. Richard kills off his enemies, his
kinsmen, his wife and most of his supporters In his famous soliloquy, Richard
complains that he was born deformed and ugly, and bitterly laments his
bad luck as he vows to make everybody around him miserable as well. .
ACTIVITIES
For teachers:
This workpack is divided into different levels,
taking into account learners’ age and level of
language acquired.
As you may notice, the same play may cater
for an ample age range. This is due to an important
innovation meant to suit different students’ needs
and interests. This means that while different age
groups may be viewing the same play the various
pre and post language activities in the workpack
attend to a different level.
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ALL LEVELS
BEFORE GOING TO
THE THEATRE
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Activity 1 - Start getting used to the slang...
In the left column you can see a collection of
phrases and sayings found in Shakespeare’s
writings and still in use today. Find out and
write each meaning in the right column.
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Activity 2 – Shakespeare wrote 34 plays.
How many can you name?
Work in pairs or groups. Try to solve the crossword WITHOUT
any additional research. Just complete it using your previous
knowledge and logic.
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ACTIVITY 3: Here are some of the more identifiable
acting/staging conventions common to Elizabethan theatre:
Find one example of each in some famous plays.
Soliloquy: dramatic technique in which a single character talks aloud inner
thoughts to him or herself, but while he is alone and not within earshot of
another character.
Example: Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…”
Aside: is a convention that usually involves one character addressing the
audience “on the side”, offering them valuable information in relation to the
plot or characters that only the audience is privy to. The audience now feels
empowered, knowing more about the events on stage than most of the
characters do.
Example:
Boys Performing Female Roles: Acting in Elizabeth’s England was
frowned upon my many in society as a profession unsuitable for women, as
it was rough and rowdy instead of genteel. As a result, women were not
legally permitted to act on the English stage. Also some characters ON the
plays are actual men dressed as women or vice versa
Example:
Eavesdropping: is a dramatic technique that sat neatly between a
soliloquy and an aside. Certain characters would strategically overhear
others on stage, informing both themselves and the audience of the details,
while the characters being overheard had no idea what was happening.
Example:
Play Within A Play: This Elizabethan convention was a playwriting
technique used by Shakespeare and others that involved the staging of a
play inside the play itself.
Example:
LEVEL1
AFTER WATCHING
THE PLAY
Activity 4
CRITICAL THINKING
Answer the questions and give reasons
a) Did you like the play? Why?
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b) Give your opinion about the costumes. Justify it.
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c) Do you enjoy sketch comedies? Why?
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d) Do you prefer interactive or non-interactive plays? Why?
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e) Which famous plays by Shakespeare did you know before this show? Why did you
remember them?
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___________________________________________________________________ USE OF ENGLISH
ACTIVITY 5:
Write an opposite adjective:
INSENSITIVE
JEALOUS
OBEDIENT
COMPLIANT
VINDICTIVE
FOOLISH
Match ONE of them to EACH of the characters you’ve seen.
ROMEO _________
JULIET _________
HAMLET _________
DROMIO _________
PUCK _________
RICHARD III _________
ACTIVITY 6:
Remember the first sketch: Romeo and Juliet.
Retell it using this storyboard and summarize each part in as few
words as possible
1 4 2 5 3 6 ACTIVITY 7:
Remember the second sketch: The Comedies.
Try to find out which comic strip represents which Comedy
AS YOU LIKE IT – COMEDY OF ERRORS – A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM –
CYMBELINE -TWELFTH NIGHT – THE MERCHANT OF VENICE – THE TEMPEST
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ACTIVITY 8:
Remember the third sketch: Richard III
Read this text (part of Richard’s soliloquy) and answer:
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang’d to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag’d war hath smooth’d his wrinkled front;(…)
Deform’d, unfinish’d, sent before my time
Into this breathing world scarce half made up,(…)
And therefore,–since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,–
I am determined to prove a villain,
Are these sentences TRUE or FALSE?
At last, our winter of troubled history has been transformed into glorious summer by my
brother, King Edward
I am cut out to admire myself in a mirror. I am in great shape and have the looks
to feel at ease in front of a pretty girl
This weak, tedious period of peace bores me, so I´m determined to become a hero
We´ve won the war, so now we’re wearing the wreaths of victory and our weapons
hung up as decorations
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ACTIVITY 9:
Remember the last sketch: Hamlet
Answer these questions:
1-Explain Hamlet's relationship to Claudius
2. Why did he marry Gertrude?
3. Who is the Ghost and what message does it give to Hamlet? What does he ask Hamlet to
do?
4. How does King Hamlet really die?
5-What happens to Ophelia?
6- Right before Hamlet’s soliloquy: who died and is being buried?
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WRITING
ACTIVITY 10:
Write a paragraph to give one of the plays depicted a
different ending.
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LEVEL 2
AFTER WATCHING
THE PLAY
(Some activities from level 1 can be also used
or adapted to this level)
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Activity 11
CRITICAL THINKING
As in Elizabethan times, we’ve used Presentational Acting Style: this means
the actors were aware of the presence of an audience instead of completely
ignoring them as part of their art. Movements and gestures were more
exaggerated and dramatic than one might ordinarily expect in a naturalistic or
realistic drama, and puns, humor and interaction directly connected characters to
the audience watching.
Describe whether you prefer this style of acting or not, and why
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Activity 12
USE OF ENGLISH
Choose your favorite character in the play and write a short description of
him/her. You SHOULD use AT LEAST 3 adjectives from the chart:
IMPOLITE
GREEDY
EASY-GOING
GORGEOUS SILLY
NAÏVE
HONEST
STUBBORN
GENEROUS
TALENTLESS
SCATTER-BRAINED HANDSOME
AMBITIOUS
DOTTY
RUDE
TALKATIVE BOSSY
LOYAL NASTY
SENSITIVE
DISHONEST
SHY
SENSIBLE
DULL
SILLY
CLEVER
FUNNY SMART
LOYAL DEVIOUS
HUMOROUS
SCARED
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ACTIVITY 13:
Remember the first sketch: Romeo and Juliet.
Being the most famous theater scenes of all times…we skipped it!
Recreate the balcony scene using the style and vocabulary used
on the play.
ACTIVITY 14:
Remember the second sketch: The Comedies.
Try to match the mentioned comedies and the plot overviews
(REMEMBER, MORE THAN ONE PLAY PER PLOT, MORE THAN ONE PLOT
PER PLAY)
AS YOU LIKE IT – COMEDY OF ERRORS – A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM –
CYMBELINE -TWELFTH NIGHT – THE MERCHANT OF VENICE – THE TEMPEST
MEASURE FOR MEASURE – ALL´S WELL THAT ENDS WELL - THE MERRY WIVES OF
WINDSOR -MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - THE TEMPEST -TWELFTH NIGHT
ACTIVITY 15:
Remember the third sketch: Richard III.
In the speech we see how the York Family has won the War of the Roses and Edward is crowned
King. His younger brother Richard is angry that he has not been crowned instead of him.
He compares WINTER with
DISCONTENT. Why is this
effective? What does it
describe?
Is he describing a victory
or a defeat?
Why?
ACTIVITY 16:
Remember the last sketch: Hamlet
WRITING
At the end of the play, there’s an interactive scene, where we try to
help Ophelia create her “inner monologue”
Write in your own words: who was Ophelia, what was she feeling and
why?
Extra activities for Level 1 and 2
These additional activities can further develop the learner’s general
communicative and creative skills.
Choose an incident from a Shakespeare play (this may be from one of the
sketches you’ve seen). Transform this text into one of your own by writing a
MODERN TAKE on the content or ideas in the play.
Here are some different approaches to consider:
The diary
Imagine Macbeth writing about his plans and ambitions, or Juliet expressing her
love for Romeo and frustration with her parents. To transform this further, you
could apply the situations of Macbeth or Romeo to someone facing a similar
situation today.
The police statement
Police witness statements have a very particular form. You could use this to retell the fight scenes in Romeo and Juliet. Or one of Richard III murders…
The daytime talk show
Shakespeare's characters often have secrets that lead to big problems. They use
soliloquies to get things off their chest when they are on their own. Would a
daytime confession on TV have helped them? You could imagine Macbeth trying
to stand up to his ambitious wife on television. Or you could throw the Capulets
and Montagues together in the hopes that they could sort their problems out.
The celebrity profile
Shakespeare's main characters are usually upper class. If they are not kings or
important nobles and generals (like Macbeth or Othello) then they are rich young
people about town (like Romeo and his friends). You could write about these
characters as if you were from a magazine. You could write about what they do
and try to help your readers understand them better.
The modern film adaptation
Directors love updating the story of Romeo and Juliet. The film of West Side
Story is an updated version of the story set in 1950s New York. Director Baz
Lurhmann set the story in modern day Los Angeles in his 1996 film. You could do
something similar. The political background of Shakespeare's history plays could
also work in a modern setting.