1. Which of the following
words is Shakespeare
believed to have coined?
A. Generous
B. Forward
C. Champion
D. All of these
2. Not only is William Shakespeare considered to
have coined generous, champion, and forward, but
the Bard is also credited with accused, secure, and
design.
3. 1. Which Othello did you watch?
2. Did you think it was a good
adaptation of the play? Why?
3. How closely did this adaptation
follow the original? What
changes were made?
4. We will look at different acting styles and
demonstrate how acting can bring out the
potential of the words in a script. The scenes
shown in the these two clips come from
Shakespeare's play Othello. Desdemona's death
scene contains some of Shakespeare's best
writing.
5. In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed
to act in theaters; female roles were played by
boys or young men. This changed in 1660, some
45 years after Shakespeare's death. In that year,
King Charles II, who had seen women act in
theaters located on the European continent,
decreed that female parts could be played by
women.
6. One of the first performances by a woman on the
public stage was in the role of Desdemona in an
adaptation of Othello performed late in the year
1660. This snippet is from the movie Stage Beauty
and shows two different versions of Desdemona's
death scene.
7. The first version shows the scene before women
were allowed to act on the stage. Desdemona is
played by a talented male actor.
The second rendition is a recreation of what
might have happened the first time that a woman
played the part.
8. In written literature, characterization is presented
through description, action and dialogue. In
drama, characterization includes each of these
elements and, in addition, the actor's skill in
communication through body language, facial
expressions, inflection, tone and volume. This
class will explore the use of the actor's craft in
describing character.
