ABSTRACT
In most of the widely used Oxford School Shakespeare volumes, Roma Gill reminds us that ‘Shakespeare’s plays were written to be performed, not studied in a classroom’. She advises pupils to ‘Act the play, or at least part of it. You don’t need scenery or costumes – just space and people’.1
However, two questions go unconsidered: what do pupils have to know in order to make something of this instruction? In what ways can their knowledge and understanding (and enjoyment) be developed by doing so? It often looks as if pupils ‘acting out’ bits of Shakespeare don’t really grasp what they’re reading. This may be apparent in a number of ways, including the failure to observe shifts of tone or meaning, even changes of addressee, especially in long speeches, and the tendency to ‘add expression’ through merely vigorous delivery of lines. A performance-based approach, therefore, needs to be complemented by an approach that will enable pupils to grasp the potential meanings of the text in a way that will inform their performances and their understanding and appreciation of others’ performances. An emphasis on performance must go hand in hand with an emphasis on reading, and, rightly managed, will enhance reading, encouraging greater depth of understanding and attention to detail.
