LESSON 2 - Introduction to Shakespeare

Objective:

Students will be able to pinpoint the year in which Romeo and Juliet was written as well as the theatre in which it was most likely performed.

Materials     picture of the Globe Theatre and appropriate notes to go with it

Sequence:       1. History of Shakespeare
                        2. The Globe Theatre and notes
                        3. Reading the play

William Shakespeare 1564-1616
-wrote his plays in the last par of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign and the first part of the reign of James I. Shakespeare’s time is often called the Elizabethan Age. Ask students why. Hopefully, from their research in Lesson 1, they can come up with a few answers)
-1594-1596 - Romeo and Juliet was written in this time period.

Globe
Student HANDOUT of the Globe. Add the following details:
-“groundlings” - rowdy bunch who ate, talked and yelled anything that took their fancy at any time during the play. (could even throw food) no night performances. (Ask students why)
-no scenery, few props
-no women/girls which explains why the majority of the parts in Shakespeare’s plays were for men. Young boys/men played the female roles.
-1613 the globe burned to the ground after being set on fire by a spark from a cannon during Henry VIII