Shakespeare: On the Page and in Performance
Contents
Course Overview
In so many ways, a MOOC is a great vehicle for studying Shakespeare. Shakespeare worked in a theatre that was popular and accessible to a wide cross-section of society. Studying his plays together as a diverse and "massive" online community thus carries forward the spirit that clearly permeated his theatre. We also know that in Shakespeare's theatre, the boundary between stage and audience was much more permeable than it normally is today, which thus made the theatre experience more interactive. In a MOOC, we have the benefit of open and on-going interaction. Of course the professor (me) will provide the content, but the course will really exist in the interactions and dialogue that the content generates. The continuous nature of the dialogue will also make it possible to explore and reflect deeply together about Shakespeare. The distance of four hundred years between us and Shakespeare will certainly create challenges, especially as we encounter language that is difficult or arcane. But it will certainly be easier and more fun to meet the challenges as a community of thousands working together. And finally, as an online course, we can take advantage of the many resources in different media available on the internet, especially recordings of performances.
This last point brings up another key element of our course. Shakespeare's literary achievement cannot be overstated. Certainly in the English language, his plays are unmatched for their linguistic power, breadth, beauty and breathtaking innovation; their insights into human activity and their power to evoke wonder, tears, laughter and reflection are similarly unmatched. We will spend a lot of time in this course reading and pondering. However, one guiding principle of this course will be that, to fully appreciate Shakespeare's genius and to fully bring his plays alive, we must also consider the theatrical dimension of the plays.
In a nutshell, then, this course is about one thing: working together to understand more fully Shakespeare's greatness and his popularity, on the page and in performance.
What to Expect
You can follow the course at your own pace over the next three weeks, though it is recommended that you try to stay on target so that you can engage in discussions.
For each class, there are series of videos, discussion questions, and activities, and periodic assessments. The video segments can be categorized as follows:
- Footage from two courses taught at Wellesley College, specifically Introduction to Shakespeare (a large lecture class) and Elizabethan Shakespeare (a roundtable discussion class).
- Additional video segments of scenes in performance, either of student and professional actors directed by my colleague Diego Arciniegas, or of students performing in a course taught by Arciniegas at Wellesley College, Acting Shakespeare.
- Excerpts of recorded performances (on film and on stage) provided either by a link or in condensed form with voice-over narration (to comply with Fair Use guidelines).
The course will also have two additional sections that participants can explore at leisure as supplements to the classes: Backstage and Rehearsal Hall.
Backstage will include directly related content and links, such as: extended video segments of Diego Arciniegas working with his students on the scene under discussion; interviews with actors conducted by myself; longer filmed sequences of student and professional actors performing scenes under Diego's direction; links to related content like recorded performances and interviews available on YouTube or other sites.
Rehearsal Hall will consist of longer video segments from Diego's Acting Shakespeare class, including sequences when students work on scenes from plays that are not covered on the syllabus.
Expectations
- The most important expectation (and our recommendation) is that you read along with the plays as you are watching the video segments. You can never read Shakespeare too often. Each time you read a play or a scene again, you can experience something new and gain new insights. Re-experiencing the play through reading is a crucial component of the course, which is why there will be footage of myself or students reading passages within the video segments.
To facilitate reading along, an additional window (below the video window) will provide relevant excerpts from the plays that you can scroll through. The best option is to have the text in hand, either in book form or on an electronic device, and read along. You will be given act, scene, and line numbers. - We highly encourage you to read the assigned sections of the plays before viewing the video content. See the due dates for the required readings in the Course Outline.
- As stated in the Course Overview section above, your participation in the course will play a huge part in determining the character of the course. A Graduate Lecturer and I will participate in the Discussion Forums. We hope very much that the discussions will begin to follow their own momentum as participants engage with each other.
On this final note, I would like make clear a very important expectation that is vital to keeping the discussions productive, fun and engaging. We are all going to have different ideas and interpretations. That comes with the territory. But the value of discussions lies precisely in this diversity. Please, by all means, state your views passionately and forcefully, but with respect for other points of view. Let us all make a concerted effort to make the diversity of opinion in our community a strength and to learn from our differences.
Reading List
In this course, Young Love, we will read two plays in the following order:
Romeo and Juliet
A Midsummer Night's Dream
You may use any edition of the play that you already own or prefer. Free, digital editions of individual plays can be downloaded at the Folger Digital Texts site, or at the links to Folger Digital Texts below (for links to individual plays).
However, these texts do not provide notes or annotations, which can be very helpful to readers as they encounter obscure or difficult language. Among the many quality, single editions that do provide notes is the following (in both paperback and e-versions): The Signet Classic Shakespeare Series. I use these editions in the video segments.
The Folger Luminary apps for iPad with audio and other features (including commentary by Professor Ko and other scholars) are another way of interacting with the texts we will cover in this course.
Suggestions for finding an edition:
We provide these links for finding a scholarly edition of the plays that provide notes, annotations explaining Shakespeare’s language and allusions, and also expert commentary or essays.
We are linking to Amazon.com for purchase of Kindle or print copies--many of these plays are also available in print, Amazon Kindle, or other electronic from other sites (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Google Play). Kindle editions can also be read on laptop or desktop computers with the Kindle Reading app.
Romeo and Juliet
Folger Digital Texts edition (no notes/annotations) [PDF, free]
Signet Classic edition [Print copy from Amazon, purchase required]
Signet Classic edition [Amazon Kindle, purchase required]
Find in a library near you [WorldCat]
Folger Luminary Shakespeare [iPad app, includes commentary by Professor Ko, purchase required]
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Folger Digital Texts edition (no notes/annotations) [PDF, free]
Signet Classic edition [Paper, purchase required]
Bantam Classic edition [Amazon Kindle, purchase required]
Find in a library near you [WorldCat]
Folger Luminary Shakespeare [iPad app, includes commentary by Professor Ko, purchase required]
Course Outline and Timeline
Here a very brief preview of what to expect from each week of the course. Content for each week will be released on Wednesdays at 14:00 UTC (10:00 EDT). This course runs for 3 weeks, beginning April 27th, 2016.
| Week | Class | Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - Apr. 27 | Class 0: Introduction, Theatre in Shakespeare's Time Class 1: Romeo and Juliet (Act 1): Love in a Hopeless Place Class 2: Romeo and Juliet (Acts 2-3): Holy Saint Francis! |
Read Romeo and Juliet, (Acts 1-3) Quiz 1: Theatre in Shakespeare's Time Quiz 2: Runaways |
| 2 - May 4 | Class 1: Romeo and Juliet (Acts 4-5): Love and Death Class 2: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Acts 1-2): The Green World |
Read Romeo and Juliet, (Acts 4-5) Test 1: Romeo and Juliet Quiz 3: Title TBD |
| 3 - May 11 | Class 1: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Acts 2-4): Love-in-idleness Class 2: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Acts 4-5): Lovers and Madmen |
Test 2: A Midsummer Night's Dream |
Grading
Here is a breakdown of the grading scheme:
|
3 Quizzes, graded upon submission |
30% |
| 2 End-of-Play Tests, graded upon submission |
40% |
| 3 weeks of Forum Participation (through self-assessment): | 30% |
We will have two writing exercises, one ungraded, and one that will be peer-assessed. Finally, you will have the opportunity to grade yourself on participation in the course discussion forums. (To receive your Forum Participation marks, you must complete the Forum Participation section for each week--your discussion forum posts are not graded automatically.)
Grading:
100-93 points: A
90-92 points: A-
88-89 points: B+
83-87 points: B
80-82 points: B-
78-79 points: C+
73-77 points: C
70-72 points: C-
60-69 points Passing
Social Media and Related Sites
An Facebook page has been set up for our course. Although most of the discussion will take place on the Discussion Forum, the Facebook page does provide additional opportunities to share items of interest with your classmates, from Shakespeare-related content you find online, to the capacity to upload your own videos of scenes or monologues from the plays we are studying. We hope to see your work here!
@ENG112X is our Twitter account for the course. You can use the hashtag #ShakesMOOC for MOOC-related tweets. You can see posts from the course Facebook page and Twitter account (including your #ShakesMOOC tweets) on the Community tab.
Questions?
If you encounter any technical problem with the course (a link or video is not working, some feature is not appearing as it should, etc.), please post in the Discussion forum (tab at the top of the window in the course website), and put the word STAFF in the subject line to help us identify and address your issue promptly.
If you encounter a substantive issue with the material (i.e. you cannot locate where the answer is to a particular question, or you disagree with the answer given on a quiz or exercise), please post to the discussion forum with the words GL QUESTION in the subject line and a Graduate Lecturer will address your concern. If the GL cannot address it, she will direct it to me.
If you want to be notified via email about responses to your posts (or other posts of interest), you can "follow" posts by clicking on the grey star at the top right of a post. (Posts you're already following will have a blue star.) You can get updates about all the threads you follow by going to the Discussion Board Home and clicking on the check box for “receive update”:
You only need to do this once. After that, you will receive a daily email digest about activity from posts you are following.
We look forward to hearing from you!