English 236

SHAKESPEARE: STAGE CENTERED APPROACHES
Professor Mazer
Fall 1997

Office Hours: Tu 1:30-3:00; Th 1:00-2:30
Bennett Hall 305, x7382
e-mail:

cmazer@english.upenn.edu

I. Language, objectives, action: Sonnets; Chorus and scenes from Romeo and Juliet.

II. Shakespeare's Stage and Stagecraft: Romeo and Juliet. III. Romeo and Juliet: Text and Performance.

IV. Reinventing the Conventions: Measure for Measure.

V. Playing the Scene/Building a Play: All's Well That Ends Well.

VI. The Actor: Creating a Role.

VII. Speaking the Verse, Creating the Character.

VIII. The Director: Conceiving a Production: All's Well That Ends Well.

Requirements/Grading:

There will be TWO take-home assignments, at dates to be announced, and A FINAL TERM PAPER/PROJECT on All's Well That Ends Well. ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED AT ALL CLASSES, as is scene-work as assigned. ABSENCE FROM ANY CLASS AT WHICH YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO PRESENT A SCENE, ESPECIALLY IF IT IS WITH A PARTNER WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE REFLECTED IN YOUR GRADE. You are responsible for scheduling your own rehearsal time for assignments that require it. Lateness to class impedes our collecive work, and is a discourtesy to your fellow students; consequently, if you arrive in class after warmups have begun, you must ask permission of your fellow students to be readmitted into the classroom by singing the "the Late Song" (to the tune of "Please Release Me"):

Please forgive me, I was late,
I'm so sorry to make you wait.
Won't you let me come back in?
Please forgive me, and let me act again.
If you cannot persuade your classmates to admit you into that day's class, it will be counted as an unexcused absence.

Books to be purchased, Pennsylvania Book Center, 37th and Walnut:

The Bulk-Pack can be purchased a the Campus Copy Center (3907 Walnut Street). Use your own editions of the Sonnets, Romeo and Juliet, and Measure for Measure, or access the electornic editions (especially the ones with multiple old-spelling texts) below.

I have set up a listserv for this course on e-mail, to which you have been automatically subscribed (if this is not so, contact me via e-mail). You will automatically be sent a copy of every e-mail message posted to the listserv, and any message you send (to mazer236@english.upenn.edu) will be distributed to everyone who signs up (including the professor). Important announcements about assignments and due dates, and notices about local theatre events, will be posted regularly. The listserv can also be used by you and your classmates as a clearing house for thoughts and impressions about the readings and the lectures (but remember: everything you post can be read by everyone; if you have any private comments, or any private replies to a query you read on the listserver, you should respond privately to the individual's own e-mail address, rather than replying through the listserv).

Here are some hot links to some interesting Shakespeare sites: