Seeing Shakespeare

Drama season

On the telly, Autumn heralds the start of several meaty drama serials to watch as the evenings draw in. They grab our attention by spinning a good story and engaging us in the lives of their characters – what will they do next, and how will it affect those around them? Bare words on a script page become living, breathing people with whom we identify.

When we study Shakespeare at A Level, all we’ve got is the bare script and we have to imagine how the characters speak and move. What is harder to grasp is how moments of tension are created and dissipated, how positioning and props speak volumes about relationships with not a word uttered.

That’s why seeing our Shakespeare ‘script’ performed on stage can really open up the play for us and make it memorable. This year’s open air performances have understandably drawn to a close, but there are still lots of opportunities to see your set text come to life.

If you don’t already know, check out with your teacher which Shakespeare play(s) you will be covering and see from the list below if you can access a performance near you, either with your class or independently. I hope you enjoy it!

Antony and Cleopatra (OCR)

• Chichester Festival Theatre Company. Chichester, 7 – 29 September (01243 781312) www.cft.org.uk

Coriolanus (CIE, Cambs Pre U)

Adaptation

• I am England by David Lane. The Egg YPT, Bath, 22 – 24 November (01225 448844) www.theatreroyal.org.uk.

Hamlet (AQA, OCR)

• Nuworks Theatre, United Reformed Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. 6 October (01789 403416) www.thebearpit.org.uk

Adaptations:

• Hamlet: The Undiscovered Country by Stash Kirkbride and Peter Beck. 30 October – 3 November (01603 218323) www.hostryfestival.org
• Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones. Swavesey Revue and Drama Society. Swavesey Venue, 11 – 13 October, (07504 552 870). www.swaveseyradsoc.org
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. Progress Theatre, Reading, 15 – 20 October. www.progresstheatre.co.uk

King Lear (AQA, Cambs Pre U, OCR)

• Almeida Theatre, London, 31 August – 3 November 2012 (020 7359 4404)
• Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, Lincoln, 29 November (0844 888 4414) www.lpac.co.uk

Adaptation

• RSC King Lear: Young People’s Shakespeare by Tim Crouch. Hull Truck Theatre, Hull, 4 – 6 October (01482 323 638); Theatre Royal, York, 23 - 24 November (01904 623 568). www.rsc.org.uk

Macbeth (AQA)

• Crucible Theatre (Studio), Sheffield, 5 September – 6 October (0114 249 6000). www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.
• Lodestar Theatre Company. Royal Court, Liverpool, 21 September – 13 October (0870 787 1866). www.royalcourtliverpool.co.uk
• Lyric Belfast, Northern Bank Stage, Belfast, 21 October – 24 November (028 9038 1081). www.lyrictheatre.co.uk
• Worcester Repertory Company, Shakespeare at the Cathedral. Worcester Cathedral Gardens, Worcester, 24 – 27 October; Malvern Priory, Worcester, 2 – 3 November. http://www.worcesterlive.co.uk/shakespeare.asp
• Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company. Directed by Clare Snape. Derby Theatre, 9 – 13 October (no phone). www.derbyshakespeare.org.uk

Adaptation

• Baz Productions. The Crypt, St Andrew’s Church, Holborn Viaduct, London, 18 October – 5 November (no phone). www.bazproductions.co.uk

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CIE, OCR)

• The Movement. Courtyard Theatre, London, 19 – 30 September (0870 163 0717). http://www.thecourtyard.org.uk/whatson/255/midsummer-nights-dream
• Lodestar Theatre Company. Royal Court, Liverpool, 21 September – 13 October (0870 787 1866). www.royalcourtliverpool.co.uk.
• Mappa Mundi & Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, 3 – 20 October (01646 695 267). www.mappa-mundi.org.uk
• Wanstead Players, Kenneth More Theatre, Ilford, 11 – 13 October (020 8553 4466). www.wansteadplayers.org.uk
• Michael Grandage Company, Noel Coward Theatre, London, 7 September 2013 – 16 November 2013 (0870 850 9175) www.michaelgrandagecompany.com
• Nuworks Theatre, United Reformed Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. 6 October (01789 403416) www.thebearpit.org.uk/

Othello (Edexcel)

• York Shakespeare Project, Theatre Royal Studio, York, 23 – 27 October (01904 623568). www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
• Queen Mary’s College. The Watermill Theatre and Rose Theatre, Kingston. 26 October. (01256 418318). http://www.centralstudio.co.uk/
• Fluellen Theatre Company. The Grand Theatre Arts Wing, Swansea, 6 – 9 November (01792 368269). www.fluellentheatre.co.uk

Adaptation

• The Watermill & The Rose Theatre Kingston. Adapted & Directed by Beth Flintoff. The Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, 5 – 9 November (01635 46044). www.watermill.org.uk

Richard III (CIE)

• Shakespeare’s Globe Company, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London, 14 July – 13 October (020 7401 9919). Apollo Theatre, West End, 2 November – 3 February 2013 (0870 890 1101) www.shakespeares-globe.org
• Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. Directed by Andrew Hilton. Tobacco Factory, Bristol, 14 February – 30 March 2013 (0117 902 0344). www.sattf.org.uk

The Tempest (Cambs Pre U, OCR)

• RSC, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 13 July - 7 October (0844 8001110). www.rsc.org.uk, www.roundhouse.org.uk.
• Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, 27 September – 3 November (01635 46044). www.watermill.org.uk

The Winter’s Tale (CIE)

• Amateur Players of Sherborne, Digby Hall, Sherborne, 22 – 24 November (tickets available in November). www.aps-sherborne.co.uk

Adaptation

• A Winter’s Tale. Unicorn Theatre, London, 19 September – 16 November (020 7645 0500). http://unicorntheatre.com

Ch – ch – ch - changes

Welcome!

Welcome to everyone who is starting out in Advanced Level English this September. And for those who are returning for A2s, please be generous and share with the AS kids how www.crossref-it.info can help them cope with a new level of study!

English in the news

If the furore in the news and teaching profession is anything to go by, those just embarking on AS English may be the survivors of a tougher GCSE marking system than that faced in the last few years. And there are more changes to come.

Exam style

In recent years, many AS and A2 English syllabuses have had modular and/or coursework elements, echoing the format of many GCSE courses. However, from this September, GCSEs are being re-shaped to return to linear courses with exams at the end of Year 11 only.

Modular A Levels still exist – for now – but moves are being made to focus examination towards the end of each year. Some are even floating the idea of returning to one set of exams at the end of the two years, so that Year 12 students don’t lose curriculum time on study leave.

What works best?

There has to be a balance between offering courses that enable students to perform to the best of their ability, whilst also maintaining a standard that employers and educational institutions respect, and that compares with the exams students at a similar level are sitting in other countries.

• Modular or linear?
  Typically it takes a while for post GCSE students to ‘get’ the level of thinking and writing that is demanded by A Level – and that cognitive leap is only made part way through Year 12. Do you want marks taken from quite early on in your studies to count for your final grade?
  
  Alternatively, whilst you are likely to be at your peak performance for exams at the end of a two year programme of study, do you want everything to hang on a few days in early June when something as simple as a bad summer cold can mean your efforts mis-fire?
  
• The international market
  Some of you will just have taken IGCSEs and may be going on to do an I(nternational) B(accalaureate) instead of AS and A2 Levels. Do you think they were, or are, tougher than the national syllabuses most of your mates are familiar with?
  
  Because we have to be as good as all the non-UK students who will be part of the workforce, and also want a good chance of working abroad ourselves, the grades we get need to be equivalent to those of other 18 year olds, not seen as some ‘soft-option’.
  
  But that means that the majority may not achieve the higher grades we’ve got used to – which is where the distress about changes to the GCSE English grade boundaries hits…

 What’s your opinion?

It’s your education, and the changes the Education Dept. brings in may make all the difference to how you achieve in the future. We’d love to know what you think. Post on the Crossref-it.info Facebook page.

And meanwhile, enjoy your course!