LEARNING RESOURCES
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
© Bell Shakespeare 2016, unless otherwise indicated. Provided all acknowledgements are retained, this material may be used, reproduced and
communicated free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes within Australian and overseas schools
LEARNING RESOURCES
ABOUT BELL SHAKESPEARE 3
WHY SHAKESPEARE FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS? 3
ABOUT BOTTOM’S DREAM 4
BOTTOM’S DREAM CHARACTERS 4
SYNOPSIS 5
BANNER DESIGN Bottoms Dream Colouring in 6
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PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES Pre-Show Activity 1: Preparing for the play Pre-Show Activity 2: Who was William Shakespeare? Pre-Show Activity 3: Yes, let’s! Pre-Show Activity 4: A Magical Dream Pre-Show Activity 5: The Fairy Forest 9
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POST-SHOW ACTIVITIES Post-Show Activity 1: Post-show discussion Post-Show Activity 2: Shakespeare’s language Post-Show Activity 3: Frozen Pictures Post-Show Activity 4: Under my spell Post-Show Activity 5: Titania’s Lullaby 14
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EXTENSION: HOW TO READ A PLAY Setting The Scene Reading The Script Rhythm 21
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RESOURCES WE LOVE For Students For Teachers 24
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LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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BELL SHAKESPEARE | 2
ABOUT BELL SHAKESPEARE
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
Hamlet (Act 4, Scene 5)
Bell Shakespeare is Australia’s national theatre company specialising in Shakespeare and the classics. The
company was founded by John Bell AO in 1990 with the aim of making Shakespeare and live performance
accessible to all Australians, regardless of geographic location or socio-economic disadvantage.
We are proud to deliver Australian theatre’s most comprehensive and wide-reaching education programme,
which in 2015 reached 82,315 students and teachers across every state and territory, face to face. In addition to
this we reached another 62,007 through online and digital programmes.
In 2016 we will be sending our Players around Australia with three Actors At Work shows, our mainstage
productions of Romeo And Juliet, Othello and The Literati will tour the country, our arts educators will visit
regional and remote communities and capital cities in every state and territory with our students programmes,
and we’ll train teachers through our many Professional Learning events, including the Regional Teacher
Mentorship.
We cannot deliver this extensive work without the support of our Partners, which include: the Australian
Government, Australia Council for the Arts, Arts NSW, Foxtel, and our many trusts and foundations including the
Bill & Patricia Ritchie Foundation, Collier Foundation, Crown Resorts and Packer Family Foundations, James N
Kirby Foundation, Limb Family Foundation, Rowley Foundation, Scully Fund and the Weir Anderson Foundation.
WHY SHAKESPEARE FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS?
You’re never too young to experience the magic of Shakespeare. We’ve already introduced hundreds of
Australian primary schools to his plays and characters, and the educational impact is immense. So why does it
work?
Great stories
Slapstick comedy, adventures on the high seas, witches with magical brews, disguises and mistaken identities,
forests full of fairies, powerful wizards and murderous warriors… Shakespeare’s plays offer a gamut of narratives
guaranteed to engage young learners.
Powerful literacy tool
Shakespeare’s language is poetry. His characters use words to create rich images, to convey vast emotions, to
ignite the imagination. We edit the original text, decoding and demystifying the words for a challenge that young
minds adore.
Young minds are receptive to Shakespeare
Introducing Shakespeare to students when they are young is key to unlocking their appreciation and love for
the plays. Language is fascinating, rather than confusing. Inhibitions are non-existent. Primary students are
programmed to play and have fun, which is what we do with Shakespeare, all-day, every day.
Join the revolution today!
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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ABOUT BOTTOM’S DREAM
Bottom’s Dream is a brand new show written by Joanna Erskine, adapting Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s
Dream to follow the adventures of Nick Bottom, the weaver.
It is best suited to Years 1 – 4, but can be performed to Years K – 6.
Writer: Joanna Erskine
Director: Scott Witt
Starring: Team Capulet: Jess, Abbie-Lee, Felix and Rhys
Team Montague: Owen, Eleanor, Emily and Jack
Banner design: Nathanael Van der Reyden
BOTTOM’S DREAM CHARACTERS
NICK BOTTOM
Bottom is the main character in the play. He is a weaver and an aspiring actor. He is very confident and believes
himself to be a much better actor than his friends. In the play, he plays the lead role of Pyramus – though he
wishes he could play all the roles. Bottom is transformed into a donkey by the mischievous Puck, which scares
all his friends away. Queen Titania discovers him and falls in love with him, after she is put under a spell by
Oberon.
PETA QUINCE
Quince is a carpenter and Bottom’s best friend. She is the director and writer of the play that Bottom, Flute
and Snug perform in. Quince does not want to be an actor as she gets stage fright. She gets very frustrated by
Bottom, but underneath, loves him very much.
FRANCIS FLUTE
Flute is a bellows mender and Bottom’s friend. He likes to play sport and pretend to be a ninja. He plays Thisbe in
the play, the lady that Pyramus loves. Flute is not very happy that he has to play a lady, but he ends up enjoying
himself.
SNUG
Snug is a joiner and Bottom’s friend. She is a little bit shy and although excited about being in the play, she is
not very confident. She plays the Lion and the Wall, her first-ever acting roles.
TITANIA
Titania is the Queen of the fairies. She is Oberon’s wife. She is beautiful and very powerful. At the beginning of
the play she is fighting with Oberon over a puppy she has and will not share with him. She is put under a spell by
Oberon as payback, and falls in love with Bottom.
OBERON
Oberon is the King of the fairies. He is Titania’s husband. He is also very powerful. Oberon is unhappy with
Titania as she has a puppy that he wants all for himself. He decides to play a trick on her with the help of his
servant, Puck, to get revenge.
PUCK
Puck is Oberon’s servant. He is a mischievous sprite who likes to play tricks and have fun. Puck has to do
everything Oberon commands him to do, even if he doesn’t always like to. He fetches the magic flower for
Oberon that puts Titania under a spell, and makes her fall in love with Bottom. Puck also plays the naughty trick
on Bottom which turns him into a donkey.
FAIRIES
There are many other fairies in the play who do Titania and Oberon’s bidding.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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SYNOPSIS
Bottom wakes up in a strange place feeling very confused. He has had a wonderful, magical dream about fairies
and a forest and a donkey… but he is not sure if it was a dream, or if it was real?
Bottom asks for the audience’s help and decides to retrace his steps and try and remember how he got to where
he is.
The first he remembers is… rehearsals! The story started at his friend Peta Quince’s house in Athens, where
Bottom and his friends meet to cast Quince’s play – The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of
Pyramus and Thisbe. Quince asks everyone to audition, but Bottom wants to play all the roles himself. Quince
casts Bottom as Pyramus, Flute as Thisbe and Snug as the Lion and the Wall. They decide to rehearse in the
woods, where they won’t have any disruptions.
Meanwhile, in the wood, the Fairy Queen Titania and Fairy King Oberon are having a fight over a puppy. Oberon
wants the puppy all for himself but Titania will not share him. This makes Oberon very mad, so he decides to
play a trick on Titania. He calls his servant, the mischievous Puck, and asks Puck to find a magic, purple flower.
He will drop the juice of the magic flower into Titania’s eyes when she is asleep. When she awakes, she will
instantly fall in love with the first living creature she sees. Puck finds the flower and Oberon drops the juice into
Titania’s eyes. Now they wait to see what she will fall in love with…
Quince, Bottom, Flute and Snug arrive in the wood and begin rehearsals. Little do they know they are rehearsing
right near the fairies, and Puck finds them. He decides to have some fun and play a trick on a Bottom. Puck
changes Bottom into… a donkey! Titania wakes up and sees Bottom. She instantly falls in love with him, because
she is under the spell. She asks Bottom to come to her fairy bower for a fairy party. Bottom is very confused but
decides to go on the adventure, even though he is leaving his friends behind.
At the fairy bower, Bottom is showered with gifts and granted his every wish. He loves fairy land and doesn’t
ever want to go home. The fairy servants sing Bottom and Titania to sleep, and reveal themselves to be…
Oberon and Puck in disguise! They laugh at Titania and Bottom, and steal the puppy while Titania is asleep. Puck
and Oberon decide to leave Titania under the spell for just a little while longer. They are having too much fun.
When Bottom wakes up, he asks Titania to show him his friends, so that he can check that they are ok. He sees
that Quince, Flute and Snug are very confused that Bottom has suddenly disappeared. They can’t perform the
play without him, and so they decide to cancel the show. Bottom realises that he hasn’t been a very good friend,
and that he has to get back to Athens quick so they can all perform the play together. But Titania doesn’t want to
let Bottom escape, and she chases him!
Oberon decides to take the spell off Titania’s eyes, as he had had enough fun for one day. Titania wakes up from
the spell and can’t believe she has been in love with Bottom, the donkey! Oberon instructs Puck to turn Bottom
from a donkey, into a man again.
Bottom returns to Athens just in time to perform the play with his friends, who are overjoyed to see him. He
apologises for being a bad friend, and they get ready for the show. Quince, Flute, Snug and Bottom all perform a
very funny play for the Duke and are proud of their achievement.
Before Bottom leaves, Puck returns to play one more trick on him, and say good bye to the audience.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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communicated free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes within Australian and overseas schools
BELL SHAKESPEARE | 5
Banner design by Nathanael van der Reyden.
BANNER DESIGN
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
© Bell Shakespeare 2016, unless otherwise indicated.
Provided all acknowledgements are retained, this
material may be used, reproduced and communicated
free of charge for non-commercial educational
purposes within Australian and overseas schools
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
© Bell Shakespeare 2016, unless otherwise indicated. Provided all acknowledgements are retained, this material may be used, reproduced and
communicated free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes within Australian and overseas schools
Bottom’s Dream Colouring-In LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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communicated free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes within Australian and overseas schools
Bottom’s Dream Colouring-In the
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M e c h a n i
PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES
PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY 1: PREPARING FOR THE PLAY
We recommend preparing your students to see the performance by having a class discussion about the
upcoming experience. Sometimes students have seen many plays, but sometimes students have never had a
live performance experience. Regardless, it’s helpful to recap knowledge and explain what is going to happen.
Try asking questions like:
1. Has anyone seen a play before?
•Where did you see it (was it in a big theatre, or outside, or in your school hall)
•What play did you see? What was the story about?
•What did you like about the play?
2. Has anyone not seen a play before?
•Are you excited? Do you know what to expect?
3. Does anyone know what kinds of things you need to do when you are an audience member?
This is a great question to ask as a lead into a talk about audience etiquette. We suggest telling your students
the following, pre-show:
•When we are an audience, the actors are putting on a show just for us! It is very important that we be the
best audience we can be.
•Make sure you use your listening ears and your seeing eyes, all the way through the performance so you
don’t miss a thing
•Feel free to laugh, cry (!) and answer questions, but please try and keep chatting with your friends until after
the show. It can be distracting for the actors.
•Save up any questions you might have until after the performance. Then the actors can chat to you properly.
•Most importantly, have fun, open up your imaginations and enjoy the show!
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY 2: WHO WAS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE?
Research, Comprehension, Visual Art
If your students have not encountered William Shakespeare before, this is a great time to do some background
research.
1. First, ask the class if they have heard of Shakespeare before. What do they know already? Facilitate a class
discussion.
2. Set a research task to gather general information, around the following questions:
•When was William Shakespeare born?
•What country and town did he live in?
•What was the period of history called, that he lived in?
•What was Shakespeare’s occupation?
•Did Shakespeare have a family? If so, what were their names?
•What are five plays that Shakespeare wrote?
•What was the Globe Theatre? How was it different to our theatres today?
3. P
rint out some pictures of William Shakespeare, his home, the Globe Theatre, and any other historical
pictures. Set a visual art task which might be:
•Draw a portrait of William Shakespeare
•Draw the Globe Theatre
•Draw the set of a play, including actors in costumes and a set
•Draw an Elizabethan costume that might have been worn on the Globe Theatre stage
Put the pictures around the walls of the classroom in the lead up to the performance.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY 3: YES, LET’S!
Drama, Creative Thinking
This game is a wonderful way to work together as an ensemble and start exploring ideas and stories from the
play. This way you aren’t spoiling the story for the students, but are allowing them to start exploring the world of
the play and its characters.
1. Clear a space away from desks and get students up on their feet. Do a quick physical and vocal warm up:
•Run on the spot, then knees up high
•Jump up and down
•Tickle your toes, scratch your back, reach for the stars
•Say ‘Double double, toil and trouble’ five times
•Ask students to keep repeating the line but control the volume of their voices with your hand, ie. down low is
very soft, up high is very loud.
•Say ‘Tis almost fairy time!’ and spin around once.
2. N
ow that they are warmed up ask them to start walking around the room, at a medium pace. It is very
important that they don’t bump into each other.
3. C
all out “Let’s all…” then add an action from the list below. Once you have said the direction, the students
must respond in unison “Yes, let’s!” Students then mime the task, without speaking. When you have finished
the first direction, move through the list or add your own.
•Wake up from a crazy dream
•Journey into a strange forest
•Get scared at strange noises in the forest
•Get caught in a big storm, buffeted by the wind
•Turn into a donkey
•Become a naughty fairy
•Find a magical flower
•Play a trick on someone
•Be granted your ultimate wish
•Perform in a play
•Wear a funny wig
•Meet the Duke
•Fall asleep!
4. A
s an extension, you may wish to allow students to add sound to their performances, and even interact with
each other.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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BELL SHAKESPEARE | 11
PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY 4: A MAGICAL DREAM
Creative Writing, Drama, Visual Art
Ask students to complete a fun creative writing task that will help them connect with the key character of
Bottom in the play. We meet Bottom as he wakes up from a crazy and magical dream, which he asks the
audience’s help in remembering.
1. Start with a class discussion around the following questions:
•Has anyone ever had a crazy dream?
•What happened in your dream?
•Were you the hero of your dream?
•Were their other people in your dream?
•Were there parts of your normal life in your dream, or was it all make believe?
2. A
sk students to write a creative story based on a real dream they had OR they may create a new fictional
dream. Make sure there is something magical that happens in your dream (maybe you can fly, or there is a
wizard, or you have magic powers!)
3. Choose one thing that happened in your dream and draw a picture of it as a scene.
4. Give your dream a title, just like the title of a book or movie.
Extension: If time allows, students might work in groups to act out the story of one of the dreams, and perform
them for the class.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY 5: THE FAIRY FOREST
Visual Art, Creative Thinking, Creative Writing
In the play, Bottom ventures into Fairyland and meets lots of magical characters. In this activity, students can
play designer, dreaming up costumes, sets and characters.
1. Using this list of character types, ask students to draw:
•A Fairy Queen
•A Fairy King
•A mischievous sprite or elf
•Fairy servants
Draw a colourful costume for each character.
2. Draw the home of the Fairy King and Queen:
•What would a fairy home look like?
•Is it deep in the forest or is it out in the open?
•What kinds of things would A Fairy King and Queen have in their home?
•What do fairies eat? Draw some of their food.
•What do fairies do each day? How do they have fun? Draw them doing a fun activity.
3. Imagine you wake up one morning and you are in this Fairyland. What happens? Who do you meet? What
adventures do you have? How do you get back to your own world? Write a creative story of your experience.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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BELL SHAKESPEARE | 13
POST-SHOW ACTIVITIES
POST-SHOW ACTIVITY 1: POST-SHOW DISCUSSION
Critical Thinking, Comprehension
Lead a post-show discussion with your class, to cement knowledge and promote discussion, using the following
prompts:
1. Retell the story as a class. See what students remembered, filling in the gaps as you go. Refer to the
Synopsis (page 5) if you need to. You might start with…
‘Let’s retell the story of Bottom’s Dream together. What can you remember, from start to finish? Why don’t we
start with Bottom waking up…’
2. W
ere there any parts that you didn’t understand? If so, discuss as a class, and make sure all students are
confident with their level of understanding.
3. Which character was your favourite, and why?
4. W
hat was your favourite moment or part of the story? Describe what happened. Why did you like that
moment especially?
5. What can you remember from the show? (Make a list as a class!)
•Props that were used
•Costumes
•Sound effects
•Music/songs
6. W
hat do you think Bottom learnt by the end of the story? End with a class discussion about his journey
through the play, and how Bottom might have changed from start to finish.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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BELL SHAKESPEARE | 14
POST-SHOW ACTIVITY 2: SHAKESPEARE’S LANGUAGE
Language, Comprehension, Drama
Bottom’s Dream features many famous lines from Shakespeare, as well as modern language. If your students
have never studied Shakespeare before, you might like to discuss Shakespeare’s language with them at this
point. If your students have already experienced Shakespeare’s language, move to Question 2 of this activity.
1. Discuss Shakespeare’s language with your students using the following prompts:
•Did you notice that some things the characters said sounded different to how we speak today? Why did they
sound different?
•Some of the lines were taken from Shakespeare’s plays, mostly from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Shakespeare was writing over 400 years ago, and people from his time spoke differently to how we do today.
He also made sure that his characters spoke poetically, their words are like beautiful poetry.
•One of the lines in the play is a very famous one from Romeo And Juliet:
‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’
What do you think this might mean? Let’s put it into words that we might say today. You might end up with…
‘I am very sad to say goodbye to you, but I have to go’
Can you see how Shakespeare says the same thing in fewer words, and it sounds much more poetic than our
modern language? Why don’t you try putting something you might say today into more poetic words.
2. Each of the following lines were said in Bottom’s Dream:
•I have had a most rare vision!
•Let me not play a woman, I have a beard coming.
•Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
•This green grass shall be our stage.
•Why do they run away?
•What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
•Spiders and rivers and snakes? Oh my.
•My mistress with a monster is in love!
•There is not another man in all of Athens who can play Pyramus.
•O, kiss me through the hole of this vile wall!
•I get stage fright!
•ROAR!!
As a comprehension activity, ask students to answer the following questions for each line:
•Which character said this?
•What do you think this line means?
•What was happening in the story when this was said?
What emotion did the character have when they said this? (ie. sad, scared, happy, nervous)
Extension: Play with each line in different ways. Write a list of emotions and/or characters, cut them out and put
them in a hat. Students pull out an emotion and/or a character, and say the line again with new meaning. You
might even ask students to offer their own suggestions. This might be completely silly, and is sure to be lots of
fun. This is the basis of improvisation in drama.
Ie. ‘I have had a most rare vision!’ might be said by Cookie Monster.
‘Why do they run away?’ might be said by someone who is happy!
‘I get stage fright!’ might be said by Santa Claus who is feeling embarrassed.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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POST-SHOW ACTIVITY 3: FROZEN PICTURES
Drama, Comprehension, Critical & Creative Thinking
1. Ask students to recount the story from what they remember, from start to finish (if you haven’t completed
Activity 1).
As they run through the plot, ask them questions to check their understanding and provoke discussion, such as
How did that character feel when that happened? and Why do you think he/she did that?
2. O
nce you have discussed the plot from start to finish, act it out in groups, using frozen images or tableaus.
You might like to write down the major plot points as a class, or use the suggested ones below:
Major plot points:
1. Bottom wakes up in a strange place, very confused.
2. Bottom, Snug and Flute meet to audition for Quince’s play.
3. Titania and Oberon fight over the puppy.
4. Oberon asks Puck to help him play a trick on Titania.
5. Oberon puts the magic flower juice on Titania’s eyes.
6. Bottom, Quince, Flute and Snug rehearse the play in the wood.
7. Puck turns Bottom into a donkey.
8. Quince, Flute and Snug run away, terrified.
9. Titania falls in love with Bottom.
10. Bottom is granted his every wish by the fairy servants.
11. Quince, Flute and Snug are sad without Bottom and decide to cancel the play.
12. Bottom tries to escape from Titania.
13. Oberon takes the spell off Titania’s eyes.
14. Bottom is reunited with his friends.
15. Bottom, Quince, Flute and Snug perform the play for the Duke.
Put students in groups, minimum 4 per group. Read aloud each plot point and ask students to recreate it as a
frozen image. Give them a brief time limit, 30 seconds to one minute. Ring a bell or blow a whistle to indicate
time has finished. Students must then freeze as they are.
3. Walk around and look at each frozen image, commenting on each one. Talk to the students about where their
audience is, and whether their image could be seen by all. Encourage students to look at the others, and
note the differences in creative ideas. Then continue on to the next plot point.
If you are limited for time, you might assign a few plot points to each group so that you can run through the
whole story, group by group, in less time.
Extension: Add the challenge of silence. This is suggested for older students. Groups may not speak to each
other when creating their frozen image. This requires clear communication and teamwork. It works best when
one student has an idea (an ‘offer’) and starts the image. The other students then add to it (accepting the offer).
If you try this activity, you might discuss with students afterwards what they found challenging about it and why.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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BELL SHAKESPEARE | 16
POST-SHOW ACTIVITY 4: UNDER MY SPELL
Poetry, Drama
King Oberon says a spell when he puts the magic flower juice on Titania’s eyes. Recite the text below for your
students:
OBERON
What thou seest when thou dost wake,
Do it for thy true-love take,
Be it mouse, or cat, or bear,
Leopard, or boar with bristled hair,
In thy eye that shall appear
When thou wakest, it is thy dear:
Wake when some vile thing is near.
1. D
iscuss the text with your students so that they understand all the words and meanings, line by line. It may
help by translating it into our modern language, ie:
What thou seest when thou dost wake…
becomes
When you wake up you will see…
2. O
nce students understand all the words and meanings, return to the original text and say it together as a
class.
3. Give students the following creative task:
Imagine you are a powerful fairy and you are going to put someone under a spell.
•Who are you going to put under the spell, and why?
•What is the spell going to do?
•What special thing do you need to make the spell happen? (ie. Oberon needed the magic purple flower)
•How does the spell work? (ie. Oberon needed to put the flower juice on Titania’s eyes)
4. O
nce you have worked out everything you need to know about your spell, write the spell as a short poem.
Use Oberon’s spell as inspiration.
5. Invite students up to demonstrate their spell in front of the class – they may use a classmate as their
unsuspecting victim!
Extension: Oberon also says some special words when he takes the spell off Titania’s eyes:
OBERON
Be as thou wast wont to be;
See as thou wast wont to see:
Dian’s bud o’er Cupid’s flower
Hath such force and blessed power.
Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
Write a short poem for when you want to stop your spell.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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POST-SHOW ACTIVITY 5: TITANIA’S LULLABY
Music, Visual Art, Poetry, Drama
In the play, the students helped sing Titania and Bottom to sleep. The fairies sung the beautiful words below:
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;
Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,
Come not near our fairy queen.
Never harm, Nor spell nor charm,
Lulla, lulla, lullaby,
Sing in our sweet lullaby;
lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Weaving spiders, come not here;
Hence, you long-legg’d spiders, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm nor snail, do no offence.
Never harm, Nor spell nor charm,
Lulla, lulla, lullaby,
So, good night, with lullaby,
lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Using the text, or a few lines as an excerpt, work as a class to write your own song to help Queen Titania fall
asleep.
Ask students the following questions:
•How does a lullaby sound?
•How should you sing a lullaby?
•What will the melody be?
•Will you use harmony?
•What instruments might you use?
•What animals are in the song?
•What might Titania’s bed look like?
Once you have devised your song as a class, ask the class to make Queen Titania’s fairy bower and bed using
available classroom items. You might use colourful material, make crepe paper flowers, draw green vines, make
the animals listed – anything that helps set the scene.
Appoint one student (or yourself!) to be Queen Titania. The other students are her fairy servants. Then have fun
playing the scene and singing your original song.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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ADDITIONAL TEXT TO WORK WITH
Here is a collection of other verses and poetry from the play that you might like to explore with your class:
PUCK
Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down:
I am fear’d in field and town:
Goblin, lead them up and down.
OBERON
Now, until the break of day,
Through this place each fairy stray.
Trip away; make no stay;
Meet me all by break of day.
BOTTOM (playing Pyramus)
The raging rocks
And shivering shocks
Shall break the locks
Of prison gates;
And Phibbus’ car
Shall shine from far
And make and mar
The foolish Fates!
FAIRY
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dewdrops here
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I’ll be gone:
Our queen and all our elves come here anon.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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PUCK
I’ll follow you, I’ll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:
Sometime a horse I’ll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
OBERON
Having once this juice,
I’ll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the juice of it in her eyes.
The next thing then she waking looks upon,
Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,
She shall pursue it with the soul of love:
And ere I take this charm from off her sight,
I’ll make her render up her puppy to me.
PUCK
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
So, good bye unto you all,
Whether you are big or small.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Bottom shall restore amends.
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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EXTENSION: HOW TO READ A PLAY
For older students or those who are experienced in Shakespeare, you might like to look at a play script or an
excerpt from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Reading a play script is not the same as reading a book, and for
students who have never seen a script before, these tips and exercises may help with their understanding.
SETTING THE SCENE
Shakespeare’s plays take place in lots of different places including huge forests, magical fairy kingdoms,
deserted islands and spooky castles. The places where plays take place are called settings. Before you jump
into reading the play, you can set the scene by imagining the place where you think the play takes place.
Close your eyes and imagine the world of the play. Ask questions like:
•Where are you?
•Is the world hot or cold?
•Are you in a big city or little town?
•Who are the characters in this world?
•What are they doing?
•How does the world make you feel?
•What colours can you see?
•What can you smell?
•What can you hear?
There are no wrong answers! You can even find inspiration images online or draw pictures of the world of the
play.
Sometimes when you see a play there are sets and lighting changes to help set the scene. The good news is
you don’t need all of this because Shakespeare helps you set the scene through his language.
Shakespeare uses words to help us imagine what his world looks like. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Oberon, the
king of the fairies, describes the forest when he meets the fairy queen in by saying ‘Ill met by moonlight, proud
Titania’. See what he did? He told us this scene is lit by the moon. In fact, Shakespeare’s language tells us all we
need to know about the scene we’re watching. The rest you can make up yourself!
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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communicated free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes within Australian and overseas schools
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READING THE SCRIPT
A script is a piece of writing written to be performed. There are scripts for plays, movies and TV shows. A script
is different to a book because it shows you what is going on the stage, instead of describing it. For example,
scripts can tell you who says what, when to pause and where to stand – all very handy when putting on a play!
Acts
Shakespeare’s plays are split up into five sections, called acts. The acts divide the play based on what is going
on.
1) The first act introduces the setting, characters and situation – this is called exposition.
2) In the second act the story is developed before the big action takes place in Act 3.
3)In Act 3 a big event happens - a character might be banished (Romeo And Juliet), put a mischievous spell on
another character (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) or even see a ghost (Macbeth)!
4) In Act 4 the characters react to what has just happened and discover the consequences of their actions.
5)Act 5 is for the conclusion or resolution of the story. Sometimes during this act secrets are revealed, people
get married, or even murdered!
Lines
When you read a play the words are split into lines that each character speaks. The play will tell you who says
what by writing the character’s name (or names) before the lines, like this:
ALL Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch Fillet of a fenny snake
In the cauldron boil and bake.
Macbeth, Act 4 Scene 1
When you’re reading a script, keep an eye out for the name of the character you are playing and say those lines.
Look out for times when, like in the example above, the writer is telling everyone to speak together!
Stage directions and pauses
In plays, the writer can sometimes add in bits of writing that aren’t meant to be read out loud. This could be a
dramatic pause where the actor waits a moment before performing the rest of their lines, or a stage direction.
Stage directions are hints from the playwright telling the actors what to do on stage. A stage direction might
tell you to move from one side of the stage to the next, to stab someone or to transform yourself by magic. One
famous stage direction that Shakespeare wrote for a character is ‘Exit, pursued by a bear’ in The Winter’s Tale.
Why do you think that stage direction could be famous?
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Quince, one of the characters, gives his friends some advice for reading lines.
He tells Flute ‘You speak all your part at once, cues and all’. In other words ‘You’re reading everything written for
you on the page, you don’t need to read the stage directions out loud!’
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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RHYTHM
Another way that Shakespeare shows us the difference between characters is through rhythm. Rhythm is the
way words and sentences flow. Do they rhyme? Do they make a pattern of sounds? In Shakespeare’s plays an
actor’s lines can be in two forms, prose or verse. Prose sounds like the way we might speak in everyday life.
It doesn’t rhyme and gets straight to the point. Verse is more like lyrics in a song; there is a rhythm to how the
lines are spoken.
For example;
Romeo
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
Romeo And Juliet, Act 2 Scene 2
Clap out the beats in Romeo’s line above. Can you find the rhythm? This line uses a special sort of rhythm, used
often by Shakespeare. It’s called Iambic Pentameter. This translates to ‘the rhythm of five iambs.’ An iamb is a
unit of stressed and unstressed syllables, much like a heartbeat.
Iambic Pentamter is like the rhythm of a heartbeat: ba boom, ba boom, ba boom ba boom, ba boom OR soft hard,
soft hard, soft hard, soft hard, soft hard.
Read the line above from Romeo again, deliberately exaggerating the soft and hard rhythm:
Romeo
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
See how the rhythm is in the words? You don’t have to say the line like that, of course!
Research more about Iambic Pentameter and see if you can make a line up for yourself.
Shakespeare wrote his plays using both verse and prose in different ways. Sometimes he made his VIP
characters (kings and queens) speak in verse to show their high class, while the lower-class characters
(peasants and jesters) speak in prose. Often when characters are confused or going a little crazy they’ll speak
in prose too, like King Lear and Hamlet.
Characters might speak in verse if they are speaking to themselves (in a soliloquy) or if they are in love like in
Romeo And Juliet:
Romeo
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Romeo And Juliet, Act 1 Scene 5
There is so much to discover about Shakespeare’s characters and stories if you really explore his words and
poetry! LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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RESOURCES WE LOVE
There are many resources that we can recommend if you are keen to explore Shakespeare further with your
primary students:
FOR STUDENTS
iPad app: Starting Shakespeare (Student games, activities and resources)
startingshakespeare.deeperricher.com/
BBC William Shakespeare resources, games and general information
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/william_shakespeare/
Top Ten Shakespeare books for children
www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/apr/22/top-10-andrew-matthews-shakespeare-books
Virtual Tour of Shakespeare’s Globe
www.shakespearesglobe.com/about-us/virtual-tour
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Interactive Whiteboard resource
www.prometheanplanet.com/en/Resources/Item/26613/midsummer-nights-dream#.VrkJ8E-LVpk
FOR TEACHERS
iPad app: Starting Shakespeare (Teacher iBook)
startingshakespeare.deeperricher.com/
Royal Shakespeare Company: Shakespeare Lives Teacher Resource Pack
www.rsc.org.uk/education/teacher-resources/shakespeare-lives-in-schools
Shakespeare’s Globe: Fact Sheets
www.shakespearesglobe.com/discovery-space/fact-sheets
Primary Shakespeare – An Active Approach
www.prometheanplanet.com/en/Resources/Item/100196/primary-shakespeare-an-active-approach#.VrkJ5kLVpk
Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare – Primary Literacy
www.prometheanplanet.com/en/Resources/Item/100424/primary-literacy-approaches-to-teachingshakespeare#.VrkJ40-LVpk
LEARNING RESOURCES BOTTOM’S DREAM
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BELL SHAKESPEARE | 24