Following up on our previous story about 14yr old Hainlee Steinfeld possibly getting naked for her turn as Juliet, the director has confirmed that it’s not happening. The rumor came about because the script – which clearly says “get naked” – had been leaked, so when the 14yr old was cast, it didn’t take long to put 2 and 2 together.
The script was written with a 20yr old actress, the director tells us. Once an age-appropriate Juliet was cast, they went back and snipped all the naked stuff.
I will cut the director some slack for assuming that he was using the gossip mill to generate buzz for his movie with the story. I won’t, however, forgive him for the quote in the original story where he said that he went with a 14 yr old girl for Juliet because “that’s the way Shakespeare did it.”

The inventor of Mad Libs, Leonard B. Stern, has died.
It seems only fair to mark his passing with a little Mad Libs Shakespeare. This is a quicky so it’s not formatted well (and you basically have to DIY), don’t read the second half until you’re ready to fill in:
1 Verb
3 Noun

4 Noun
5 Verb
6 Plural noun
7 Plural noun
8 Adjective
9 Noun
10 Plural noun
11 Noun
12 Plural noun
13 Verb
14 Verb
15 Verb
17 Number
18 Adjective
19 Plural noun
20 Noun
21 Past-tense verb
(*) I realize that a few numbers are missing, I realized after doing this that words were repeated but didn’t feel like renumbering all the slots 🙂
To __1__, or not to __1___: that is the __3___:

Whether ’tis nobler in the __4___ to __5___

The __6___ and __7___ of __8___ __9___,

Or to take _10____ against a __11___ of __12___,

And by opposing __13___ them? To __14___: to __15___;

No more; and by a __15___ to say we end

The heart-ache and the _17____ __18___ __19____

That flesh is heir to, ’tis a __20___

Devoutly to be _21____.

I hope that regular reader/contributor Bill doesn’t mind me reposting this message he sent me on Facebook, but I thought it would make great conversation and surely more opinions on a question like this is better than a few.

Question: I’ll be teaching a semester long Shakespeare class this year. If you were in high school again, and were able to take a class like this, what are some issues that you’d like to tackle.

Reading list: Othello, Shrew, Merchant, Tempest, and one more, undecided.

Any thoughts?

I’m not sure the range he has to work with (i.e. is he specifically asking about parts of the text to study in detail, or ways to structure activities in the class), but maybe he’ll chime in with answers.

One thing that comes to mind, which I take from the local Rebel Shakespeare group here, is to include performance. Public performance. “Bill’s Class Presents, Scenes from Shakespeare!” Preferably outdoor, if you can find a place. Or in a classroom if you must. Get friends and family to come. Nicely combines the ideas of “Shakespeare must be performed”, demonstrating / showing off what you’ve learned, as well as serving as a sort of informal final exam / graduation ceremony.

As for the texts themselves, why not make that undecided one something from the later plays, like Winter’s Tale or Cymbeline? It seems like The Tempest is it for the later stuff, that’s all kids ever see. I think it’s important to show that not every play met the structured definition of history / tragedy / comedy. I suppose Tempest covers that, but so often discussion of that play is all about it as Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage, and less on questions of “It’s not really a comedy or a tragedy, what is it?”

Although the idea has been done to death, I’m sure that today’s high school kids would get a kick out anything involving new/social media mixed with Shakespeare. We have no end of Twitter/Facebook versions of the plays. You could perhaps have them come up with something in that area. We certainly didn’t have that when I was in high school! 🙂

Who else has ideas for Bill?