Horace Mann - Summer 2016 - 12

Horace Mann School and England's Royal Shakespeare Company even when reading a play for homework on their own. The technique leaves an indelible impression that enables students to take ownership of Shakespeare's evocative language, inhabit his characters, and wrestle with the issues raised within every play. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Price '17 reports that she has "had an ardent love of Shakespeare for as long as" she can remember. Price, who recently revived and serves as president of HM's Shakespeare Club, adds "While, I have always had a passion for his words and his stories, I think I found my obsession with Shakespeare when I began to act his work. Acting Shakespeare betters your understanding. After all, his work was intended to be acted and heard. (It) helps uncover the double entendre, comedy, and deeper meanings scattered about his work. While analysis is important, some of the most meaningful and exciting parts of Shakespeare, such as instances of incredibly witty word play, can only be discovered through performance." A participant in both RSC student summer workshops Price reflected, "The RSC methods did contribute to my ability to act Shakespeare. With a better ability to act his work, I have a better ability to place myself in a character's shoes and see their world." Price directed a Shakespeare Club production of "Twelfth Night" in February 2016. Though not consciously thinking "'Oh, yes! That method that the RSC taught me would be perfect here!'" she said her directing style "was inspired by their process and views." Noting that she revived HM's Shakespeare Club and mounted "Twelfth Night" as "an advocate for Shakespeare, and his relatability" Price lamented, "Due to the nature of the work and stigma attached to the name Shakespeare, people often approach him with preexisting judgment and dislike, preventing themselves from seeing the beauty and fun." That stigma is exactly what the RSC approach aims to dispel. photo by Ruth Seligman Photo by Barry L. Mason With the partnership in full swing, it was not uncommon to walk into a classroom in HM's Upper, Middle and Lower Divisions and witness students practicing "On Your Feet" exercises that had them moving around the classroom, being instructed to holler one line of a play, and then to repeat it softly, or with a snarl. Clapping or snapping their fingers to emphasize first one word of a line and then another helped students discover how such emphasis changes meaning. Taking turns portraying a character demonstrated how trading points of view can elicit empathic interpretations of opposite emotions. These exercises encourage students to grasp both the nuances and more obvious intent of each play, as was clear when the RSC's Chris White and Tracy Irish instructed students in Dr. Casdin's 11th grade class to get up from their chairs, line their hands atop the classroom's long table and raucously beat out the rhythm of Hamlet's "Tis now the very witching time of night" soliloquy. When the class reached "And do such bitter business as the day" the RSC instructors urged them to utter the words "like a threat; like a promise; like a declaration of love" in quick succession. "Brilliant!" exclaimed the two teachers, using what' now recognized at HM as a signature RSC expression of encouragement that sounds so endearing to the students when delivered in the teachers' British accents. "People usually think of Hamlet as a play of the intellect," White told the students. "But, Hamlet is written in iambic pentameter, as you just heard. That's the rhythm of a heartbeat. Shakespeare intended that. You hear that rhythm when you say the lines instead of reading them, and you realize that Hamlet is as much a play about blood and heart as it is about mind." The explanation clearly provided an "aha moment" for the students. After exploring Shakespeare this past year in ways other than by reading lines aloud in class numerous HM students now describe hearing the words and visualizing the scenes, HM-RSC teaching corps members spent weekends throughout the 2015-2016 school year learning to teach RSC techniques to students and colleagues. UD English teacher Rebecca Bahr and MD English teacher Jamie Brink craft a scene with RSC Education Associate Tracy Irish. 12 Horace Mann Magazine Summer 2016 RSC Continuing Professional Development leader and RSC Education Department Lead Practitioner Rebecca Gould helped launch the RSC's partnership with Horace Mann School. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/soliloquies/witching.html

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