The 8th Grade is getting a taste of summer as we dive into the world of Shakespeare while reading "A Midsummer Night’s Dream."
Because Shakespeare was meant to be seen and not simply read, we were very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend PICT Classic Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on February 19 thanks to the generosity of the grandparents of a CDS alum. The play was staged at WQED’s Fred Rogers Studio in Oakland. The students laughed aloud as the chaos of the love quadrilateral unfolded on stage. Before the performance, the director spoke to the students about the timelessness of Shakespeare’s play, asking them to look for themselves within the characters.
Throughout the unit, the students will annotate and paraphrase the text, block and act out scenes, rewrite scenes in modern day English, and explore the important questions and themes the play raises. For a special treat, we will explore Shakespeare’s knack for writing powerful insults by hurling them to one another in jest.
Earlier this week the 8th graders created a tableau to represent Act I, Scene 1 in the play when Hermia has to make a choice: marry Demetrius instead of the man she actually loves, be killed (by her father!), or become a nun.
Now that is a predicament!