Wednesday 5th November
Fifth years, the time is here for you to show your talents and your love for Shakespeare. Over the next four weeks start preparing a dramatisation of a key moment in ‘King Lear’. You may work alone or in pairs or small groups. Excellence is the standard. There will be an award for the best soliloquy performance and an award for the best drama performance. Here are some guidelines to get you started:
Soliloquy (alone 18 – 22 lines)
OR
Drama (2 – 4 characters about 40 – 50 lines)
You have complete freedom to choose from anywhere in ‘King Lear’ but here are some suggestions:
Suggested soliloquies or speeches:
Act 1.1 Lear – ‘Peace Kent’ speech
Act 1.2 Edmund – ‘Thou, Nature, art my goddess’ speech
Act 1.2 Edmund – ‘This is the excellent foppery of the world’ speech
Act 1.4 Lear’s three tirades against Goneril – choose 22 lines (incorporate natural pauses/breaks)
Act 2.3 Edgar’s soliloquy
Act 2.4 Lear ‘O reason not the need’
And more…
Suggested dramas:
Act 1.1 The love test – Lear, Cordelia, Regan, Goneril ‘Meantime….my sometime daughter’
Act 1.4 Goneril reduces Lear’s train – Lear, Goneril, Fool ‘Enter Goneril….Enter Albany’
(Two long speeches by Goneril – one of them can be read)
Act 1.5 – All – the Fool and Lear
Act 2.1 Edmund and Gloucester ‘Persuade me to the murder of…I’ll work the means to make thee capable.’
Act 2.2 Kent is stocked – Cornwall, Kent, Regan, Gloucester ‘Fetch forth the stocks…A good man’s fortune may grow out at heels.’
Act 2.4 Lear is angry because R and C refuse to see him – Lear, Gloucester (Fool) ‘Deny to speak to me…buttered his hay.’
Act 2.4 R and C finally meet Lear – Regan, Lear ‘I am glad to see your Highness…you taking airs with lameness.’
Act 3.2 Storm – Lear and Fool ‘Blow winds…enter Kent’
Act 3.7 Gloucester’s blindness – Regan, Gloucester, Cornwall, (Servant) ‘Enter Gloucester…Exit one with Gloucester’
And more…
Choose your scene. The ones in bold are particularly dramatic. Start preparing now! Get props and suitable costumes if you can. Work on tone of voice, movement, sound effects. Practice, practice, practice!! Have fun and be experts. Invite your parents to attend if they wish! There will be prizes galore!