play-specific sessions

for teachers:

Hamlet:

Themes and Lessons

10-50 teachers -- 3.5 hours: $300

Provides teachers with extensive information about Hamlet, including historical and theatrical context, character breakdowns, the concept of theater in the play, a look at royal succession, and the use of revenge and expectation in the play. Scansion workshop and scene breakdowns help bring the text alive. YouTube research assists in the creation of classroom playlists for comparison purposes. A multimedia activity regarding the events that transpire in Hamlet's absence is presented as a possible student project.

Attendees receive resources, reproducible handouts and three lesson plans (scansion for acting clues, class and gender roles, and Shakespeare’s subversion of the conventions of the revenge drama in the play).

[note: requires space enough for at least 10 attendees to be used as examples for the audience]

for students:

Hamlet: Intro, Sources, Themes, and Preview

10-40 students -- 45 min: $60

Provides students with an extensive (and, thus, spoiler-filled) introduction to Hamlet, including discussions of historical context and sources, characters and themes.

A breakdown of the provided Character Map handout follows and ties together the concepts presented.

 

Hamlet: Scene Study (speech, scansion, and meaning)

10-40 students -- 45 min: $60

After a brief introduction to blank verse, students are guided through a close reading of the “To be or not to be…” speech in Hamlet, with special attention paid to scansion and vocabulary, as well as how character and action are revealed within the poetic line.

[note: requires space for up to 5 participants to perform]

 

Hamlet: Revenge & Ghosts

10-40 students -- 45 min: $60

Give your students a break from the typical read-through of the play with this presentation that takes a close look at the concepts of revenge and the supernatural, and how these relate to the Elizabethan beliefs, in Hamlet.

A breakdown of the provided infographic handout follows and ties together the concepts presented.

 [note: this presentation is filled with spoilers!]

 

Hamlet: Review, Discussion and Q&A

10-40 students -- 45 min: $60

A great way to end the unit of study on Hamlet, this review of the play includes Socratic discussions of the themes of revenge, madness, and self-doubt, with textual evidence cited for the concepts. The session ends with a Q&A and “stump Bill” segment.