Lesson Overview - Play On !  - A Twelfth Night Party and The Acting Circle

Let the Party (Play) Begin

The classroom is decorated festively as much as possible and there is festive Renaissance Dance music playing (I've included the playlist I used below).  I also would have the class arranged in a big circle (for the final activity). As the students come in I hand them an "invitation" to the party (you can find these below).  Each invitation has 1) the definition of what a "Twelfth Night" is  2)  Instructions for putting on a short skit   3) What the premise of their particular short skit is.   There are four different skits that take a different number of students - so it's important to color code your printed out invitations and to print out the right number for each respective skit.  That way you can have them all in the right order and simply pass them out to the students as they arrive.   Skit A can be about 1/3 of your class (9 at my school) - so you would make 9 copies of the invitation with Skit A.  Skit B is the same (for numbers).  Skit C only require three students (I would usually pass these out to the most extroverted of my students  Skit is about a 1/4 of your class.  Look at the Invitation Handouts and it should be clear.

What is a "Twelfth Night"

Here is the definition in their invitations, taken directly from Shakespeare Set Free (get this book if you don't already have it).  I usually ask one or two students to read the definition aloud.
“Twelfth Night is a “period of holiday abandon in which the normal rules and order of life were suspended or else deliberately inverted, in which serious issues and events mingled perplexingly with revelry and apparent madness.”  It was a time for pranks and disguises, playful games and folly.  Twelfth Night is the twelfth night after Christmas, the last night of the extended Christmas season, and “…thus it marks the boundary between games and diguisings and the business of the workaday world." 

The Skits

Now let's have some fun.  The students are already grouped (by the invitations you handed out) - so they can get started quickly.  You've been doing this (I hope) for a while with your students so they shouldn't take long to get into the groove.  It's such a great way to begin and get the blood flowing after the long two-week Winter Break.  I usually allow 2 groups to practice outside (the largest and the smallest groups)  and the rest can use the room.  Give them 5 minutes.  Walk among them - push them on - remind them to be creative, funny, and thoughtful.

Next you perform the four skits in any order you see fit - and see if the rest of the class can guess what is happening (in the case of these particular skits that in itself can be hilarious).  The class should be in a big circle so you can have the skits peformed in the middle of the room.  When students guess what is happening, don't belabor the point.  Don't go into meaning or anything else - just let it settle on their heads and prepare them for the play that is to come.

The Acting Circle

Please see the examples from Beowulf and Macbeth for more detailed instructions on the acting circle - and even better, The Folger's Shakespeare Set Free.  The scene to be used here is included below in the handouts.

Have the students limber up their hands - they will be taking a lot of notes in the next few minutes.  By the end of the period - their copies of the scene should be covered with their notes, circles, underlining, and stage directions.

TheTwelfth Night(Actors') Circle  - please see Shakespeare Set Free - Twelfth Night and Othello - "Up on Your Feet with Shakespeare: The Wong Way and the Right" by Michael Tolaydo (page 41).  I will not be producing that handout here with its instructions and urge you to purchase a copy of Shakespeare Set Free - it is indispensable.

1) A first go around - Names and Pronouns (Note - if you are short for time you can kill this go-a-round and skip to #2)

Unlike the Macbeth Acting Circle - because Twelfth Night is a very different play - and a play of Identity, rather than circling unknown words on the first trip around the circle - I ask students to circle names and pronouns.  This will get them thinking about who is who - AND make the second trip around (comments, questions) much easier.   Tell the students to "circle every word that denotes a NAME or a pronoun of a name (she, her, thou, etc.).  Don't worry about what's happening in the scene - let's concentrate on the names & pronouns for now.

How do students do the reading?  Announce that every student gets to read UNTIL they get to a piece of terminal punctuation.  Ask them what they think terminal punctuation is.  You'll get some great answers:  It is a period, question mark, exclamation point, colon - but not semi-colon and not a comma.  This is a great way to read - every student gets to read, it keeps them on their toes waiting for when "they are up."  And it continues what we began in the last lesson - getting the rhythm of Shakespeare's language.

Were not you even now with the Countess Olivia.  Ok so now you go around in a circle (start clockwise - the next time you can go counterclockwise).  Each student reads until they get to terminal punctuation  For instance, the first student will read aloud: "Were not you even now with the Countess Olivia".  The next students picks it up (try to get them to go fast - to eliminate pauses between each reader) with "Even now, sir; on a moderate pace I have since arrived but hither."  

If you have time - go over the names and pronouns that they circled - but just having them do the circling is probably enough.

2) A Second Trip around the Circle - meaning, comments, and questions

After you finish - or if you skipped step 1  - you are now ready to do another trip around the Acting Circle - this time concentrating on "what is actually happening in the scene".  Tell students that you expect them to be continually writing (unless they are the one reading the lines).  

They should write down (very quickly - give them time to limber those hands again)

• WHO are these people?  (this is especially important in this scene - in this play).

• comments they have based ONLY on what's happening in the text

• what IS happening based on the text

• questions about why lines are spoken or what they mean in this scene

See my Acting Circle Notes below for the things that the students usually come up with (and also that I feel are important).  Remember - the first go around is vocabulary that the students circle - this trip around the circle (perhaps in a counterclockwise movement - though I usually go around the same way - if for no other reason than the students have established a rhythm and an expectation of those readers that are before and after them).

REMEMBER: Students (and you for that matter) should be writing constantly.  Underlining, commenting, questioning.  If they are not - stop the circle and have them do so.  At the end of the period - you will want to hold up one of your students handouts - and it should be COVERED with circles (they should take notes on the vocabulary after you do that go-around and talk about what they circled) and notes.  Remember - all students read until they get to terminal punctuation.  I have included an audio of a class doing the Acting Circle below to help you see how it goes.

After the second go around - have the class give themselves a round of applause for doing it so well.  And then ask - "What's the first thing you noticed or had a question on?"  It should be about Who are these people? - Where are they coming from?  What's the deal with the ring?  notice the students are doing the questioning (or commenting) you are only facilitating.  So go ahead and facilitate - "Why does Malvolio want to give this ring back?"  You will get a lot of answers -ALL of them must be based in the text - and the text that can be found on this page.  Focus on the text on the page.  A
DO NOT ALLOW ANY OUTSIDE KNOWLEDGE - MAKE SURE YOUR COMMENTS AND THE STUDENT COMMENTS ARE GROUNDED ONLY ON WHAT OCCURS IN THIS SCENE....

When you done with the second circle - hold up a student's sheet - and remind them: "This is what you can figure out on your own - without a teacher, without footnotes... - just keep asking yourself questions."

3) Acting Out the Scene & The Prop

Now that the students have an understanding (that they have come to themselves - give yourself some internal applause for doing such a great job facilitating), it is time to act out the scene (where even more understanding will come.  Remember - I'm including an audio recording of this class below, so you can see how it goes.

You will need two volunteers - Malvolio and Viola.  Get them up quickly - tell them to bring their handouts (with the scene up there).  And  put them in the middle.  I also give them a prop.  A oversized ring (made of a paper plate with a hole in it.  This prop is SO useful for when you get to the scene where Malvolio gives the ring (or tries to) to Viola.  Through this simple prop comes a lot of understanding - which is an incredibly valuable lesson for these students who will be putting on their own Macbeth Scenes soon.

Now - tell the rest of the class that they are the director.  The actors will listen to their stage directions.  Begin with - where do you want the actors?  All standing together?  Where? And why? 

In the handout with my Acting Circle Notes you can find stage directions as well - you can find it below in the handout section.  Remember - let the students direct, not you.  Be aware of how much time you have.  

 After you are done make sure the actors and the directors (the whole class) give themselves a big round of applause.  Everytime we've done this, there has not only been a lot of laughter, but there has also been an inkling of recognition of what Viola is confused about.  AND - I'm sure you have some recognition of this play, Twelfth Night, being the basis of the popular teen movie -  "She's the Man."

Please make sure students get a copy of the bookmark with all of the dates the readings are due.

Twelfth Night - Folger Shakespeare Library Edition  Paperback

Here is the description from Amazon:  The authoritative edition of Twelfth Night from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play, Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play, Scene-by-scene plot summaries, A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases, An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language, An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play, Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books, An annotated guide to further reading, Essay by Catherine Belsey
Macbeth - Folger Edition - Text Only 

Twelfth Night - Folger Shakespeare Library  Online Edition 

The Folger Library has an online edition of the play without the annotations - Shakespeare words (what appears on the right hand page in the paperback edition.  It also includes in this online edition the very useful synopses  that appear before each scene.