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Materials needed:
Open space, room to run if possible

Time needed:
5-10 minutes

Students participating:
everyone at once, teacher too!

This activity can be adapted somewhat to other plays, but it works especially well for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The idea is to work on the energetic physicality of the three different worlds of the play – the court of Duke Theseus, the realm of the fairy spirits, and the team of the craftsmen.

1. If the students have been working on Midsummer, see if they can identify the three worlds of the play. If not, give a quick summary of them.
2. Start with the world of the nobles in the court. How would a Duke carry himself? A duchess? How would people around the court walk and greet each other? Ask for volunteers to demonstrate. Focus on posture, stride, bearing, words of greeting – “Good morrow!”
3. Tell the students that when you shout out “Court!” they will all be transformed into members of Theseus’s court. They will mingle, as if at a function at Theseus’s palace, and greet one another. They will do this until you yell “Freeze!”
4. Yell “Court!” and watch them mingle. Mingle with them, modeling your own version of courtly behavior. After everyone has gotten into the swing of it, yell “Freeze!”
5. Now explain the second world, of the fairies. How do fairy spirits move in the woods at night? How do they hold their bodies? How is their bearing different? How do they greet each other? Ask for examples and volunteers. Emphasize the airy quality of the spirits, and put forth one “rule” – that they attempt to create spirits who do not bump into each other (this will reduce the chance of collisions). Encourage different interpretations of fairy movement – some might crawl and slither, some might spin, others might flit and float.
6. Do as before, but with “Fairies!” instead of “Court!”
7. Introduce or discuss the third world, the craftsmen. How do they move and greet one another? What is their bearing like? Find the contrasts with the other two worlds.
8. Do as before, with “Craftsmen!”
9. Now, enter the lightning round. Tell everyone they have to make the changes instantaneously, the second they hear the shout. You begin with “Court!” Let that run for a few seconds. Then “Fairies!” Five seconds later: “Craftsmen!” Then start to mix it up: “Court! Craftsmen! Court!…. Fairies!…. Fairies! (see if anyone falls for the old “repeat” trick and changes into something else)… Craftsmen!” and so forth, until everyone is good and energized.

I’ll follow you/ I’ll lead you about,/ around Through bog/ through bush/ through
brake/ through briar;/ Sometime a horse
I’ll be/ sometime a hound,
A hog,/ a headless bear,/ sometime a fire,/
And neigh/ and bark/ and grunt/
and roar/ and burn/ Like horse/
hound/ hog/ bear/ fire/ at every turn!

3. That should come out to 23 cards. Stack them in order and have them ready when you begin.
4. Find an open space in which the class can sit in a circle on the floor (no chairs). If this is impossible, you can work from seats, but it’s not quite the same!
5. If the students are not familiar with the basic story of Midsummer, give them a quick outline, focusing mostly on the fairy world. Here is a rough approximation of the sort of introduction we might give in a first session. It looks long on the screen or on paper, but when you deliver it with zip and keep it rolling, you can do it in 3-4 minutes, depending on how many questions you want to ask, how many interjections you want to allow…

“Today we’re going to perform a bit from Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What do you think that title means? (Brief discussion.) This play is set in the ancient city of Athens, Greece, long ago. In the play a number of the people in Athens, for reasons we’ll find out later as we learn more about the story, run off into the woods just outside Athens.

Now, one thing they don’t know is that at night, the woods are haunted by fairy spirits, invisible to the humans. One of the funniest characters in this play is a fairy spirit of the woods named Puck, like “hockey puck.” He is the servant and jester to the King of the Fairies, Oberon. Now Puck is a practical joker. He loves to do crazy things to make Oberon laugh. How many of you love to pull practical jokes? (Hand shoot up, stories to tell… brief discussion…) So, Puck loves to mess with the humans – he can transform himself into any shape or creature, so he’ll turn into a stool to sit on, and an elderly person telling a long story will come to sit on him, and he’ll vanish and they’ll tumble down on their rear end… Or he’ll change the road signs in the woods to get people lost…

So one night, some of the characters in the play, a group of craftsmen working on a play for the Duke’s wedding reception, come out to the woods for a midnight rehearsal. They don’t want anyone to get a sneak peek at their play. Well, Puck is zooming along and happens to see them and decides to watch. He notices one of the craftsmen, Nick Bottom, playing the lead role of Pyramus in their play. Bottom loves to act and wants to play all the roles in the play. Puck thinks, ‘Hey, I’ve got a great joke to pull on these guys,’ and follows Bottom behind some trees when Bottom exits his first scene. He sneaks up behind Bottom and POOF turns his head into a donkey’s head! Just like that! Bottom doesn’t notice anything different – he feels the same, his body and clothes are the same, his voice is the same… but he has the big ears, and the huge head…

So when Bottom comes out of the dark woods for his next entrance – these guys just have lanterns, the night is very dark – when he emerges, what do you think his friends do? (Brief animated discussion.) Right! They panic! If your teacher stepped out the door and suddenly returned and had the same voice and clothes but a donkey’s head, you’d run like crazy! So Bottom can’t figure out why the guys are running away. And as the guys are tearing off into the woods, crashing through bushes and trees, Puck shouts out a short speech at them, describing how he is going to scare them even more. And that’s the speech we’re going to work on today. We’re all going to be Puck – sort of like that scene in Flubber when the flubber splits into dozens of small pieces and all the pieces are dancing. We’re all Pucks, and we all have a section of this speech from the play, and we’re going to act it out right here.

So let’s begin!”

6. At this point you choose a starting point in the circle and begin handing out the cards, in order, saying as you do so: “You’re each getting a small section of the Puck speech. Begin looking at it and memorizing it. If you don’t know what you words mean, or how to say them, we’ll get to that in a minute.” If you have more than 23 students, have the students work in pairs. If you have fewer than 23, some students will get a second card; tell the one with a second card to put it behind the first.
7. Ask the students to read from card #1 in order around the circle, in a loud clear voice.
8. The first reading is likely to be slow, halting. “Remember how that sounded, the pace of it, for later…” Correct any pronunciations as the kids go around the circle. “Does anyone need help understanding their word?” Discuss the meaning of these words quickly:
9. Do a second read-around: “A bit louder this time, a bit more energy – remember, this is one character speaking, and he’s trying to scare somebody.”
10. “Okay, let’s do it again – twice as loud again, and come in a bit quicker after your neighbor.”
11. “Okay, now: Everybody hop up. I want you to crouch as if you are ready to spring out from behind some bushes. As you say your words, leap forward a few feet and use your hands (demonstrate). Okay, everyone in the ‘ready’ position (model)!” By now, the fluency and volume and expression should be growing
.
12. “Now let’s see if we can bring more expression to some of our lines.” Discuss what sounds might be made by these various Puck-creatures. Suggest adding the energy of that sound – a hound baying, for example – to the word; or the energy of a fire to “fire!” If one or two parts are lagging, suggest a boost from the others – “When she does ‘hog!’ I want all of you to make a wild grunting sound for a second.”
13. “Now, I want you to see if you can do it without your card, and even a bit louder and quicker. Ready position…” Collect the cards if everyone is ready. By now the piece is memorized.
14. The piece has been growing stronger and more intense with each reading. Now we are ready to really perform it. Instruct the kids: “Now we are going to perform it. This entire room is our stage. When I say ‘go,’ you have 10 seconds to find someplace from which you can jump out to scare these guys. Imagine you’re hiding behind a bush or a rock. So don’t lie down, because you need to spring up quickly. Spread out so you’re not near anyone, and you don’t need to be in the circle order. Ready… go!”
15. With students settled and hiding, do the scene with you as ‘the person being scared.’ Shout out with mock fear at anything that’s really done well. Then: “Okay, that was better. Can we make it more scary? Shall we try it again? Tell you what – if you guys think you can make it really scary, I’ll turn the lights out this time (shouts of glee…). Okay, ready position… begin!”
16. Now, if you have time, layer in some fun details. “Everyone, this time take some kind of position as if you have transformed into part of the woods. You are a tree, or a bush, or a creature. Don’t move a muscle. I’ll walk through, and pretend I’m creeped out but I can’t see anything move. Make little insect noises. Then, when the person with the first card is ready, you begin it on your own and the others follow.” Try this once or twice more and see if you can get one really good one out of them without stumbling or miscues.
17. The final performance: “Okay, everyone come in close, without talking. Huddle up. Squeeze in tight. This time, close your eyes. Now do it in a whisper, like this (model a loud stage whisper, spooky and breathy). Don’t move a muscle. Let the words do it all. Ready… go.”
18. Have everyone sit in the circle again. “Look at how far you came in 30 minutes! That was a real performance. That’s how Shakespearean actors build a scene. How many of you think you memorized the whole speech just from what we did? Who can come up here and BE Puck, with all the movement and expression, and scare us?” Ask for volunteers. Give them a few prompts if necessary, but break into applause if they slow down, so the moment doesn’t drag on too long.
19. “Okay, for extra homework tonight: Here’s a copy of the entire speech we did. Take this home. I want to see who can memorize it and come in tomorrow and BE Puck for the class.”
20. The next day, come back to it. And a few brave students will take the first halting steps towards performing. Applaud each person who gets up and tries it. And come back to the group performance again when you can – make it part of the class repertoire!