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Activity 2: The Concise 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

1. While you read the play, take time to diagram the relationship webs and become familiar with the major action in the play. The Reading Guide should help you in this regard.

2. When you have had a chance to read and watch a version of the play, get into groups of about 5 or 6 and brainstorm about ideas on how you want to present an act of the play. See Resourcelines for information about brainstorming. Reach a group concensus about how you want to present the play. Go to Resourcelines on page 275 for things you may need to consider for staging your version of the play. Decide who is responsible for what (and when they are responsible for delivering on their task), and check your plan with your teacher before you proceed. From this plan, your group and the teacher will develop a scoring rubric for assessing your work.

3. Even though you have assigned individual roles within this project, you need to check with your team to ensure that your idea is presented with unity. That means costumes should compliment each other, and the play should sound like it has been written by one person. This will take careful group editing and revising to get your production sounding and looking right.

4. Remember, you must stay true to what is happening in your act, but have fun with it. Use your imagination. Does this play (or the characters in it) remind you of a movie you have seen? Can you think of certain movie stars you might impersonate to bring the act to life? How do you think this play would sound and look like if Shakespeare had to write it today?

5. Look up 'concise' in the dictionary. Try and use fewer words than Shakespeare used to convey the same meaning.

This project should help you become a better writer, and it will give you insight into the work needed to produce a play. After you perform your play for your classmates, you should offer time for Questions and Answers. They will be paying attention to how closely you followed the plot, and to how well you portrayed the characters in your act.
In all, this activity ensures you cover all strands of study in English 1201 - writing, representing, reading, viewing, speaking and listening. It allows you to move from expressive to creative writing, and gives you experience in public speaking. Have fun!
* Note: If time is limited, try cutting down the performances to scenes instead of acts, or remove some parts of the performance ( such as set construction or costumes) out of the project.