NCTE in Nashville

Here are my handouts for iBard--using audio and performance to work with soliloquies. I'll be presenting with several others in a demonstration called There's Magic in the Web.

Here's the beginning of my activity's description.

When many students turn the page of a Shakespeare play and come to a soliloquy, they hit the invisible wall of reading—a frustratingly full page of uninterrupted text in dense and unfamiliar language, usually during an already challenging reading process. Understanding the soliloquies can be a turnkey experience for students in the comprehension of plot, character, and Shakespeare’s language.

This activity uses audio technology to build on performance-based approaches to teach the soliloquies. Students begin by slowing down the language and exploring its meaning and nuance through selected dramatic and choral reading techniques. Many movies and some live performances enhance the dramatic effects of a soliloquy or speech with a voiceover or a disembodied voice. These spoken interpretations are further enhanced with music, sound effects, and audio techniques such as reverberation and echo. Film productions of Branaugh’s Hamlet and Polanski’s Macbeth offer examples of this technique...