Pericles Teacher's Guide - California Shakespeare Theater - 2008

TEACHERS GUIDE
May/June 2008
Guide compiled by Trish Tillman
Prep your students for the show Book your pre- or post-show Classroom Workshop! Contact the Artistic Learning Administrator at 510.548.3422x105 for more info.
Jonathan Moscone - Artistic Director Debbie Chinn - Managing Director Tara Misra - Collaborations and Marketing Manager Emily Morrison - Programs and Outreach Manager Samantha Fryer - Artistic Learning Administrator
Artistic Learning Sponsor: Student Discovery Program Title Sponsor:
Our Mission
We strive for everyone, regardless of age, circumstance, or background, to discover and express the relevance of Shakespeare and the classics in their lives. We make boldly imagined and deeply entertaining interpretations of Shakespeare and the classics. We provide in-depth, far-reaching artistic learning programs for learners of all ages and circumstances. We bring disparate communities together around the creation of new American plays that reflect the cultural diversity of the Bay Area.
Our Funders and Sponsors

Artistic Learning programs are underwritten by generous support from The Dale Family Fund, Education Fund of Orinda, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Oakland Fund for the Arts, and The San Francisco Foundation.
Artistic Learning Sponsor:
Student Discovery Matinee Sponsors:
Presenting Sponsors:
Season Sponsors:
Additional season underwriting is provided by The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation.
California Shakespeare Theater 701 Heinz Avenue Berkeley, CA 94710 510.548.3422 www.calshakes.org
Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

ARTISTIC LEARNING PROGRAMS AT CAL SHAKES
Artistic Learning represents the California Shakespeare Theaters commitment to integrate our artistic and education efforts. The vision of Artistic Learning is to become a leading Bay Area citizen, creating a culture of life-long learners and nourishing imaginations in preparation for the work of life. Listed below are some of our many programs for youth both in and out of the classroom. CLASSES Cal Shakes offers a variety of theater programs taught by theater professionals throughout the school year and summer. Classes on-site at Cal Shakes are offered in many aspects of theater including acting, stage combat, and improvisation. Cal Shakes also hosts two summer theater camps in which students study with Cal Shakes professional actors and artists. Limited scholarships are available. After-school programs are also available at your schools site. For more information or to register for classes and summer camp, call the Artistic Learning Administrator at 510.548.3422 ext. 105 or email sfryer@calshakes.org. STUDENT MATINEES (Field trips) Our well-rounded approach to Student Matinees consists of multiple offerings, including a free Teacher/Student Guide, optional pre and post-show classroom visits by teaching Artists, a lively pre-performance engagement at the theater, and a Q&A session with actors immediately following the show. This multi-pronged approach offers a unique opportunity for students to develop a lasting appreciation of theater and of Shakespeare through dynamic presentation and the experience of a live work of art. For more information, to book your class for a student matinee performance, or to learn more about the invaluable opportunity to enrich the classroom experience of Shakespeare for your students, please call the Programs and Outreach Manager at 510.548.3422 ext. 127, or email learn@calshakes.org. TEACHERS GUIDES AND STUDENT ACTIVITY GUIDES Teaching and student activity guides are available for each Shakespeare mainstage production. These are available free of charge to all classrooms regardless of whether or not a class attends a student matinee. ARTIST RESIDENCIES To support student achievement and teacher professional development, Cal Shakes brings working artists into the schools to teach with the aim of developing students creative minds and voices. Collaborations can be based on established school and teacher curriculum (called Arts Integration), or can be rooted in theater-related disciplines, such as acting, Shakespeare, or stage combat. For more information or to schedule a residency please call the Collaborations and Marketing Manager at 510.548.3422 ext. 136 or email tmisra@calshakes.org.
PERICLES: Increasing Wonder

In this guide. Teachers, Welcome! We are thrilled to have you and your students join us for this seasons student matinee production of Pericles: Prince of Tyre at the Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda. It is our goal to engage students with the play on a variety of levels in addition to the live performance, including this Teachers Guide. We also offer pre- and post-show classroom visits by Teaching Artists. If you have not scheduled a visit to your classroom, please contact the Programs and Outreach Manager at 510-548-3422 ext. 127 or email learn@calshakes.org. Students who are prepared are more engaged. Please spend some time using this study guide to prepare for both the story and for the experience of live theater. Contents: 1. Artistic Learning Support 2. Artistic Learning Programs 3. In this Guide 4. What to Expect at the Bruns Theater 5. A Note to Teachers: Difficult Subject Matter in Pericles 6. Pericles: Increasing Wonder Background Information for Teachers 7. Elizabethan Culture: Some of the Basics 8. Shakespeares Language: Lost in Translation? 9. Frontispiece of 1611 Quarto Publication of Pericles, Prince of Tyre 10. Pericles: Plot Synopsis 11. Pericles Map of the Journey 12-14. Whos Who in the Cast 15. Seeing Pericles: Before and After 16-17. First Port of Call: A Talk with Joel Sass, director of Pericles 18. Second Port: A Visual Language: Costumes, Set and Staging 19. Third Port: Pericles Background 20. Fourth Port: Gower as our Guide 21-22. Fifth Port: The Heros Quest 23. Sixth Port: The Sea 24. Final Port: Shakespeare Resources Plus: 25. Classroom-Ready Activities Guide Highlights include ready-to-copy worksheets and lesson plans. 48-49. Youre the Critic: Cal Shakes Play Critique Worksheets 50. Additional Resources (books and websites) 51-54. CA Content Standards
It has been our experience that not every student attending live theater is familiar with the etiquette of this art form. On page 4 we outline basic theater etiquette as well as rules of safety that are unique to the Bruns Amphitheater. Please distribute this to, and go over it with, all your students. Please be sure that you have an appropriate number of chaperones with your group (a 10 to 1 ratio is recommended). Students who engage in disruptive activity will be asked to leave the theater. Editor: Managing Editor: Senior Editor: Consulting Editor: Trish Tillman Tara Misra Bronwyn Eisenberg Carole Rathfon Contributors: Bronwyn Eisenberg, Philippa Kelly, Tara Misra, Carole Rathfon, Lynne Soffer, Trish Tillman Layout and Graphics: Tara Misra and Ilsa Brink
What to Expect at the Bruns Theater

(Please copy and distribute to each student and chaperone) What do I wear? Wear comfortable layers and bring a sun hat and jacket. It can be sunny and hot or cold and foggy. How do we get there? Your teacher will make sure you have a signed permission slip from a parent/guardian and will make the arrangements to get you to the theater. If you teacher makes arrangements ahead of time, the Cal Shakes bus (maximum 15 people) will pick you up at the Orinda BART loading area. Where do we park? You will park your car or bus in the dirt lot marked on your teachers map. Walk up the hill along the path to the right. Handicapped students may be dropped off at the top of the driveway near the theater. Who will meet us when we arrive? Cal Shakes staff and greeters will be outside to meet you. They might have special directions for you, so listen and follow their directions. Pre- and Post- Show Activities: On the day of the performance, in addition to the production, you will be treated to a lively pre-performance engagement at the theater as well as a Question & Answer session with the actors immediately following the show. It is important that you arrive on time for the performance. Should you need to leave prior to the Q&A, please do so quickly and quietly following the performance and before the talk begins. Who shows us where we sit? The ushers will walk you to your seats. Please take the first seat available. If you need to make a trip to the restroom before the show starts, ask your teacher. You should not need to get up during the performance. How will I know the show is starting? You will know that the show is starting because you will hear a bell and a staff person will come out on stage to say hello. He or she will introduce the performance. What do I do during the show? Everyone is expected to be a good audience member. This keeps the show fun for everyone. Good audience members - Turn off cell phones - Are good listeners - Keep their hands and feet to themselves - Do not talk or whisper during the performance - Do not text message - Do not get up unless it is an emergency. Take bathroom breaks before the show and at intermission. - Unwrap any noisy food items BEFORE the performance begins. - Laugh at the parts that are funny - Stay in their seats during the performance - Do not disturb their neighbors or other schools in attendance - As a general rule, if you can hear and see the actors, they can hear and see you. Unnecessary talking and movement is distracting to them as well as other audience members. How do I show that I liked what I saw and heard? The audience shows appreciation by clapping after the show is completely finished. This is called applause and it shows how much you liked the show. Applause says Thank you! Youre great! If you really enjoy the show, give the performers a standing ovation by standing up and clapping during the bows. How can I let the performers know what I thought? We want to know what you thought of your experience at a Cal Shakes matinee. After the performance, we hope that you will be able to discuss what you saw with your class. What did your friends enjoy? What didnt they like? What did they learn from the show? Tell us about your experiences in a letter, review or drawing. We can share your feedback with artists and funders who make these productions possible. Please send your opinions, letters, or artwork to: Cal Shakes Artistic Learning, 701 Heinz St., Berkeley, CA 94701

A note about difficult subject matter in the play
A few of the subjects that this play touches upon may present difficulty in explaining to your students. Pericles contains two issues that are challenging to bring up in a school setting. At the very beginning of the play, a riddle is solved that reveals a wicked king to be involved in an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Later in the play, the character of Marina is sold to a brothel and threatened with prostitution. While these scenes do not occupy a huge proportion of the story, they are pivotal to the plot development, and your students will probably not miss the meanings of these situations. The reference to father-daughter incest in the beginning of the play is momentary and is not visually represented in a graphic or realistic way. The brothel scenes in the second half of the play are longer and have language that is slightly more explicit; they are written and played as burlesque dark comedy, emphasizing the power of Marinas good virtues to protect her from harm and reform the wicked. Another point to be made is that directors have different approaches to visualizing the material but that Shakespeare is direct about raising difficult issues and, in fact, uses them to point out how a father, or ruler, or daughter, should (and should not) behave. None of us are in favor of censorship, but teachers must be aware of the difficulty these issues may present to their student population. We encourage you to address this challenge clearly with your students, in accordance with the community and school district served. It is clearly an issue teachers must address individually according to their students, school, and professional judgment. We would be happy to talk to anyone more fully if you would like (please see page 2 for contact information).
PERICLES: Increasing Wonder A note to teachers

Say Pericles, Prince of Tyre to someone. Most peoples reactions are one of the following: Who? Is that one of those ancient Greeks? Thats not one of Shakespeares plays. Surprisingly, they are all right to one degree or another. Yes, Pericles is not one of the most memorable of Shakespeares characters; next to Hamlet or Othello or Falstaff his struggles are less personal than archetypal, and his simple personality pales in comparison to the complex humanity of those noted. But he takes us on a journey of epic and breathtaking proportion, encompassing the best and the worst in adventures and human experience. Yes, the play does take place in and around the Mediterranean Sea and in ancient Greek empire cities, and Isaac Asimov has estimated a logical era as around 200 B.C. for the play to take place. The play, however, is certainly not concerned with literal time or actual location, or even with the Greek playwrights' preoccupations with either profound tragedy or bawdy comedy. Rather, it literally wanders through many adventures, some outlandish, some deeply moving. This is the form known as a Romance, or, as it was called for many years, a tragicomedy. And yes, most critics and scholars agree that the writing in the first two acts of the play seem very unlike Shakespeares usual form, but that the last three acts are quite characteristic of Shakespeare in style and content. Hence we have the duality that is Pericles, a play not even included in the First Folio, a play many have derided over the years as not worthy of Shakespeares name; yet a play that offers great fun and adventure alongside deeply felt events of loss and reunion. There are pirates who appear from nowhere to rescue the damsel in distress, goddesses who descend from the heavens, and amazing coincidences that pop up in the nick of time. There are also the tragic apparent deaths of a mother and a daughter, and the wonderful discovery that they are, in fact, still alive. So with our overall theme, Increasing Wonder, we invite you to journey with your students to reach the most fantastical and rich areas of human experience to which Shakespeare takes us. Cerimon: you increase our wonder, and set up Your fame for ever. Marina: If I should tell my history, it would seem like lies.
The first and most important lesson is that there are no rules about how to do Shakespeare, just clues. Everything is negotiable. -Actor Antony Sher and director Greg Doran, on training in the Royal Shakespeare Company (Woza Shakespeare! 1996) 6
ELIZABETHAN CULTURE: Some of the Basics

Who was William Shakespeare? William Shakespeare is considered one of the worlds finest playwrights of all time. Writing in England during the late 1500s during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, he established himself as a major poet, actor, and playwright. He mastered the comic and tragic dramatic forms and introduced over 2,000 new vocabulary words into the English language, such as fashionable, lonely, excitement, and luggage. (See page 49 for a classroom activity involving Shakespeares coined words.) Shakespeare is read by nearly every American student and is perhaps best known for Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Nights Dream. Is real life in England at the time Shakespeare lived reflected in Pericles? Even though the play is set in an imaginary world, and Pericles is a fictional hero, we can see that Shakespeare was reflecting the countrys concerns, and perhaps personal ones as well. The early 1600s were a time of great ocean exploration and the discovery of new countries such as America, and the idea of adventure was on everyones mind. In the literary world, Image: http://pro.corbis.com the romance flourished the genre of fantastical elements, unlikely heroes, and grand quests. In the personal realm, we see yet again in Shakespeares work the relationships of fathers and daughters three significant ones in Pericles alone. Other late works such as King Lear and The Tempest are principally concerned with this relationship as well. Shakespeares only children were daughters (having lost his son Hamnet in 1596) and they were grown up by the time this play was written. His granddaughter was born in 1608, about the time of the writing of Pericles. As we have no diaries or first-hand accounts of Shakespeares feelings or intentions, we can only mark the numerous father-daughter relationships in his work to perhaps mean that to him it was an experience of great importance. How was a family thought of in Shakespeares time? At the time that Pericles was written, circa 1608, King James I had come from Scotland to take the throne of England after Elizabeths death and he believed in the ideal of the family. The family was seen as the bedrock of society, created by God and nature. This is reflected in Pericles most clearly in the central family of Pericles, Thaisa, and Marina, which is torn apart by circumstances and joyfully reunited at the end of the play with the promise of a new family beginning. Set against their triangle we see other families that are clearly portrayed as very bad or evil. These families include Antiochus and his daughter; and Cleon, Dionyza and their daughter.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A ROMANCE MAKES Its important to understand a significant difference between Pericles and most other Shakespeare plays. In this kind of story dreams are real, not metaphors, and this makes for real adventure the dragon you face is not your mental torment over whether or not to get revenge for your fathers death (Hamlet) or kill to achieve power (Macbeth); its an actual dragon, who will kill you quite well if you dont act first.
SHAKESPEARES LANGUAGE: Lost in Translation?

When asked the number one challenge with Shakespeares works, modern day audiences will almost always respond the language. Its true that the language does sound a bit different to our ears. And he uses phrases that we no longer use in our everyday speech. But think of this: there are phrases that we use today that would baffle Shakespeare, should he mysteriously time travel to this day and age. Thats because language is constantly transforming. Here are some original quotes from Pericles. Can you match them to their modern-day translations?
From ancient ashes Gower is come Assuming mans infirmities To glad your ear and please your eyes. Gower, prologue To glad her presence, The senate house of planets all did sit To knit in her their best perfections. Antiochus, 1,1 Ill take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath: Who shuns not to break one will sure crack both. Pericles 1,2 This world to me is like a lasting storm, Whirring me from my friends. Marina, 4,1 O, come, be buried A second time within these arms. Pericles 5,3 In feathered briefness sails are filled, And wishes fall out as they are willed. Gower 5.2 Where, for a monument upon thy bones And eer remaining lamps, the belching whale And humming water must oerwhelm thy corpse, Lying with simple shells. Pericles, 3,1
To make her beautiful, all the heavens agreed to give her their best gifts.
Life to me is like a never-ending storm, one that endlessly takes my friends away.
The wind fills the sails of a boat quickly, like birds flying away, and all wishes are granted as soon as they are expressed. The whale and the water will be your tomb, and these will make your monument, as you rest on the ocean floor. I will trust your word and not ask you to swear on it. If you would break your word you would break a promise too.
I held you in my arms when you were dead; and now that you are alive, let me smother you again, but with hugs. I have come from the past, taking on the weaknesses of men, to tell you and show you this story.
The English language continues to grow and change in response to current interests and culture. You may be interested in other comparisons between modern language and Shakespeares speech. Take a look at Shakespeare and Hip Hop: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3656/ 8
Pericles, Prince of Tyre: Synopsis

by Philippa Kelly
See the map of Pericles journey on the next page for a visual summary of the plot. 1. The play opens with a difficult riddle: King Antiochus has decreed that suitors for the hand of his beautiful daughter must first solve a riddle, and the price of failure is execution. 2. Having guessed the right answer to the riddle, young Prince Pericles no longer wants the womans hand and is forced to run from King Antiochus, who is furious that the riddle has been solved. 3. Noble Pericles reaches Tarsus, a city beset by famine. He gives the rulers, Cleon and Dionyza, grain from his ship to help feed their people. 4. Resuming his journey, he is shipwrecked at Pentapolis, where he wins the hand of Thaisa, King Simonides daughter. Pericles and Thaisa marry and set off again on the seas. Meanwhile, Pericles has learned that it is safe to return to Tyre because Antiochus and his daughter are dead. Pericles and Thaisa set off toward Tyre. Another storm hits as Thaisa gives birth to a daughter, Marina. Thaisa apparently dies during delivery, and Pericles agrees to the custom of tossing a coffined body overboard. 5. Fearing that Marina could never survive with him on the seas, Pericles entrusts her to the care of Cleon and Dionyza, his grateful friends in Tarsus. 6. Pericles returns to Tyre. Meanwhile, Thaisas casket lands in Ephesus, where a healer/magician, Cerimon, sees that it is possible to revive her. Convinced that her family has perished at sea, Thaisa becomes a chaste priestess in Dianas temple in Ephesus. 7. The story leaps ahead 14 years, and we find Marina to be a gentle, accomplished, and beautiful young woman. However, her talents make Dionyza jealous for the sake of her own daughter and Dionyza arranges to have Marina killed. Before the murder can take place, Marina is kidnapped by pirates who sell her to a brothel in Mytilene, from where she eventually makes it to a house of good repute, arranged by Lysimachus, the governor of Mytilene, who is captivated by her virtues. 8. When Pericles comes for Marina in Tarsus, Dionyza tells him that she has died and shows him the monument constructed in her memory. He goes back to his ship, swearing never to cut his beard or hair, and, in his grief, loses the power of speech. 9. By chance his ship arrives in Mytilene, at which point Lysimachus suggests that a spiritual young woman (Marina) might help him to cope with his grief. Pericles and Marina discover that they are indeed father and daughter. 10. In a dream, the goddess Diana tells Pericles to sail to Ephesus, where he and Marina are reunited with Thaisa. The play ends with Marinas betrothal to Lysimachus. 10
Can you trace Pericles journey on the map?
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WHOS WHO In Pericles, Prince of Tyre

In every story there is good and evil. In Pericles, it is very clear which characters are good and which are bad. It is shown by the way they act and even in the costumes that they wear. To make it even more interesting, most of the actors in the play will play one good character and one evil. Below, you will see each actors picture, and on either side of the picture you will see the characters they play. You will be able to see which are good and which are evil as the play goes along. See if you can recognize the actors as they change from one part to another. Do any characters do both good and evil things?
*Note: the pronunciation guides reflect the artistic choices of the director and are not necessarily technical or historical.
Cleon (KLEE-ahn): Governor of Tarsus. Tarsus has run out of food, and the citizens are starving when Pericles, fleeing from Antiochus, arrives with a supply of corn to save them. Cleon and his wife Dionyza later promise to take care of Marina as a baby, but when Marina grows up and rivals their own daughter in beauty, out of jealousy they decide to have her killed.
Antiochus (aan-TEYE-uh-kuhs): King of Antioch. His wife has died and he has begun an incestuous relationship with his daughter. He invents the riddle that reveals this, and challenges all men who wish to marry his daughter to solve it or die.
Ron Campbell
John Gower - The storyteller or main narrator of the play, who guides the audience through the story by summarizing events or introducing dumb shows silent scenes that advance the story through action instead of words. The character of John Gower also represents the 14th-century English poet whose story of Apollonius of Tyre was a source of inspiration for Shakespeare for Pericles. Diana: Goddess of chastity. She appears to Pericles in a dream and tells him to visit her temple in Ephesus, where he will find Thaisa.
Lychorida (leye-KAW-rih-duh): Thaisa's nurse. After Thaisas death, she helps to raise Marina in Tarsus.
Shawn Hamilton
Pericles: The hero of the tale. He is husband of Thaisa and father of Marina. Pericles goes through many adventures, starting with trying to win the hand of Antiochus daughter, escaping from Thaliart, the murderer, rescuing the kingdom of Tarsus from famine, enduring several shipwrecks, losing both his wife and daughter to death, and being reunited with his family in the end.
Pander: A verb here used as a mans proper name, to pander is to cater to someones lowest desires, and often means someone who supplies prostitutes. This Pander buys Marina from the pirates who took her from Tarsus.
Chris Kelly 12
Cerimon (SEH-rih-mahn): A healer in Ephesus who brings Thaisa back to life.
Dionyza (deye-uh-NEYE-zuh): Wife of Cleon. She is the one who, after raising Marina, comes up with the plot to kill her so Dionyzas own daughter can succeed to the throne. She builds a false tomb for Marina to convince Pericles that his daughter is dead.
Domenique Lozano
Thaisa (tay-EE-suh): Daughter of Simonides, wife of Pericles, mother of Marina. Thaisa falls in love with Pericles when he wins the jousting contest. They are married, and some time later, they set sail for Tyre. However, there is a terrible storm, during which Thaisa gives birth to Marina and seemingly dies. She is put in a coffin and buried at sea, but the coffin washes up in Ephesus. There Cerimon is able to revive her, and she becomes a priestess in Diana's temple there.
Bawd: A bawd is usually a woman who runs a brothel. In this play it seems to be the name of Pander's wife.
Delia MacDougall
Marina: Daughter of Pericles and Thaisa. Her name means of the sea, since she was born during the storm that seemingly killed her mother. She is left in Tarsus to be raised by Cleon and Dionyza, who later plot to kill her because she has begun to rival their own daughter in virtue and beauty. Marina enacts the second heros journey in the play, as she sets out on her own adventure. She escapes the murderer Leonine (hired by Dionyza), is captured by pirates, and is sold into prostitution. However, by her virtue and goodness she convinces all around her not to hurt her and, eventually, Lysimachus falls in love with her. She is reunited with her mother and father in the end.
Antiochus's daughter: Nameless daughter of Antiochus. The contest of the riddle is to win her hand in marriage.
Sarah Nealis
Thaliard (THAAL-yerd): Murderer. Hired by Antiochus to kill Pericles after Pericles solves the riddle. Thaliart isnt able to kill Pericles in Tyre, as he has already set sail to escape to Tarsus. Leonine: Murderer. Dionyza pays him to try to kill Marina.
Lysimachus (leye-SIM-uh-kuhs): Governor of Mytilene. He meets Marina in the brothel in Mytilene and is impressed with her virtue. He helps Pericles and Marina to reunite, and later, he and Marina are engaged to be married.
Alex Morf 13

Helicanus (heh-lih-KAY-nuhs): One of Pericles' advisors in Tyre, Helicanus helps Pericles decide what to do, and takes over as temporary ruler of Tyre in his absence. He saves the crown for Pericles and does not want to rule in his place. Simonides (seye-MAHN-uh-deez): King of Pentapolis, father of Thaisa.
Boult: Servant to Pander and Bawd.
Danny Scheie
The ENSEMBLE is made up of actors who play a crucial role in filling out the world of the play as the fishermen, knights, gentlemen, and other parts.
Kristoffer Barrera
Allison Brennan
Daniel Duque-Estrada
Mairin Lee
Exercise: Have your favorite character join a social networking site. See page 29 for an example of Pericles Facebook page.
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Pericles is an epic story, full of improbabilities, strange coincidences, and miraculous reunions. In reflecting the wide imagination of the story, this production of the play will use fantastical elements as an integral part of the structure of the play. For instance, only 8 actors will portray over 40 characters.
Consider the following questions before and after the show.
BEFORE Viewing the Play
AFTER Viewing the Play
What to watch for: Actors taking on different roles: can you track which actors are playing which characters? Does it matter which actor plays which role? How big events such as storms at sea, jousting tournaments, and resurrections are shown live on stage. The role Pericles plays in his own fate. Gowers narration: does it help or hinder the audiences experience of the play? If you are able to suspend your disbelief and go on the ride with the characters. See the Critique Page in the Activity Appendix for more ideas about what to watch for.
What do you think of Pericles? Is he a real hero, someone to look up to? Do you want to be like him? Is he simply a cardboard character, just blown from action to action for entertainment? Which do you prefer? Did you feel your own imagination participating in the story? Give examples of where events were illustrated in an abstract way. Did that engage your imagination? How did you feel about those choices? What kind of picture do you think Shakespeare is trying to paint? Is Shakespeare telling us that family is the most important thing in the world? Or is Shakespeare saying that sometimes plays are just for fun? Or is it some combination of the fun and the serious? How would you describe that combination? Did you recognize any parts of this story from modern movies or books?
Now let us set sail deep into the waters of Pericles, the Prince of Tyre. BON VOYAGE!
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FIRST PORT OF CALL: A Talk with Joel Sass, director of PERICLES

The world of Pericles, as Shakespeare wrote it, is set in the Greek Empire surrounding the Mediterranean Sea around 200 BC. But Shakespeare, even though he located his plays in specific places and times, is usually more interested in the response of his characters as they deal with extraordinary events. Therefore Shakespeare creates a more universal experience of being human, rather than being particularly Elizabethan, Roman, or Greek. This is one reason why Shakespeares plays are so easily transferable to times and places other than the original. Every director who stages the play must make decisions about how the setting will heighten or enhance some element of the drama. Our Artistic Learning Department got a chance to talk with Joel Sass about his ideas for this production of Pericles. Artistic Learning: What interests you about this play, and are you setting it in a time and place other than the original? Joel Sass: I've had a lifelong love of fairy tales, and Pericles has always seemed to me like a fairy tale for adults--a fantastic and spiritually moving fable about adventure, romance, loss, death, and resurrection. I wanted to adapt the show into an intimate evening of entertainment in the tradition of The Arabian Nights: a series of interlocking vignettes. Of all the plays of Shakespeare, I have a special fondness for the 'romances'--those lesser-known plays, like Pericles, that have a deliciously contemporary mix of tragedy and comedy, that traffic in the realm of magic and dreams. In light of this, I feel the story of Pericles is best conveyed when set within an imaginary ancient world. AL: What do you think are the most important themes in the play? JS: One of the overarching motifs in Pericles is the hero's journey, both geographical and spiritual: we follow a young prince as he travels across deserts and over the sea to exotic ports of call throughout the ancient world. His desire to find a wife, establish a kingdom, and have children is a metaphor for those essential treasures all human beings seek for themselves: someone to love, a sense of 'home', a legacy to leave behind. This sort of quest is never easy, of course! With each adventure, Pericles comes to an ever-clearer understanding of what and who he is searching for, and what fate will hold for him at journey's end. Water, oceans, seas, and ships appear throughout the play. The sea is a major metaphor: it buoys up the vessels that carry the characters from The sea is a major metaphor: place to place; the sea also destroys these ships, pulling some characters it buoys up the vessels that to their death--only to wash them ashore again elsewhere, transformed and miraculously alive. It has been said that Pericles was written for a carry the characters from place time when people were hungry for miracles, and I certainly agree. to place; the sea also destroys Pericles is still a resonant play today, because the story urges us not to these ships, pulling some surrender to despair, and to believe that what we have lost can be characters to their death--only returned to us. AL: How will you be tackling the problems of representing the epic events in the play such as the storms, pirates, coffins washing up on shore, the many changes of place, etc.?
to wash them ashore again elsewhere, transformed and miraculously alive.
JS: When faced with the demands of a show like Pericles, it always helps me to remember that the ancient art of storytelling began with the village poet drawing a circle in the sand, gathering the community around it, and then portraying every person, place, and thing the story required by using the simplest of means. So in our production of Pericles at Cal Shakes we're rolling out the red carpet - literally! The entire
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production is staged on beautiful Persian rugs laid out on the sand. The different kingdoms, shipwrecks at sea, and visions of elephants, horses and tigers will all be illustrated using an imaginative combination of oversized props, panels of silk, masks, and puppets--things you might see used by a troupe of village storytellers you encountered in Turkey or Morocco, perhaps. It helps that in Pericles Shakespeare provides us with a magnificent narrator, the ancient poet Gower. He is always there to help the audience know where we are now, and where we are going. If Gower is talking about the drought-and-famine plagued kingdom of Tarsus while emptying a bucket of sand filled with charred animal bones onto the carpet, it's a pretty potent visual gesture to establish where we are. Likewise, seeing Pericles 'float' a beautiful antique toy ship atop rippling panels of blue silk can conjure a journey over water more vividly in your imagination than watching the real thing. That, to me, is the unique power of theater as a storytelling medium. AL: Is there something about this play that you think might resonate with students who see this production? In other words, what do you think they might enjoy or learn about the play? JS: I think younger audiences are wired with an enhanced ability to process information at a high rate of speed...they are more interested in Despite being such an old 'what happens next' than in lengthy reflection on a character's psychological situation. So, despite being such an old play, Pericles is play, Pericles is really very really very modern in the cinematic structure of its storytelling. It is also modern in the cinematic very similar to the stories we were told as children (at least, I HOPE structure of its storytelling. children are still hearing them!)...the tales of the Brothers Grimm and folktales, and the Greek myths. I would definitely encourage student audiences to watch Pericles to identify folktale figures they recognize from their own stories: the clever young princess, the stepmother who turns evil, the threatening king who is really kind, and the smiling king who is your most dangerous enemy. The Cal Shakes production will have a lot of great visual imagery, and the acting is very physical--both of which are ways to engage younger viewers. I hope that student audiences will learn that these old plays can actually be very new and fun. I hope they learn that they don't need to be afraid of Shakespeare.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS Where does the director intend to set this play? How would you describe the way the director has decided to show you this story? What are two of the most important themes in the play? Name three influences that the director mentions for his ideas of how to stage the play. What are some of the figures you may recognize from folktales or stories you might have heard growing up?
STORYTELLING RESOURCES
Storytelling forms the foundation of this plays presentation. Stories can be used not only dramatically, but as a way to creatively communicate your particular subject area. Here are a few places to get more information and inspiration: bayareastorytelling.org is the Bay Areas home for our annual Storytelling Festival. Storytelling Association of Alta California at storysaac.org. Heather Forest's Story Arts is still the go-to site for teachers: http://www.storyarts.org/ http://www.storytellinginschools.org dmoz.org/Arts/Performing Arts/Storytelling/Festivals
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SECOND PORT OF CALL: A VISUAL LANGUAGE Costumes, Set, and Staging

How do we create the vision of an imaginary ancient world? Theater combines many different mediums of understanding: the physical, the oral, and the visual. The actors use their bodies to express the characters emotions and reactions; they use their voices to tell the story through dialogue, and the director, set designer, and costume designer show us visually what is happening in the story and what the world of the play looks like. An even more interesting challenge is to represent big, noisy, messy events like a shipwreck on a simple flat stage, live in front of an audience. No digital special effects can be spliced into a live show with real people, and it would be very difficult, expensive, and dangerous to actually make a storm and crash a ship onstage. Therefore, a director must choose to represent an event rather than have it actually happen. Costumes: Costume designer Raquel M. Barreto chose to illustrate the world of Pericles by dressing the characters very differently according to their location. For instance, the kingdom of Antioch is represented by dark colors, metallics and bold lines, in keeping with its dark secret. The kingdom of Pentapolis, where Simonides and Thaisa live, is represented by colorful, bright and flowing clothes. This helps us understand the change in location as well as illustrating the mood of each place and showing the kinds of people who live there. Set: Set designer Melpomene Katakalos uses images of sand, ruins, beautiful carpets, and twisted trees to evoke an ancient landscape wherein the storyteller and the actors can create all the events of the play. The arch in the middle of the stage is formed by an ancient tree, which is so old that it has bowed over and re-rooted itself in the ground, much like how the story goes full circle. Her idea was to evoke a place of Asian and African influences, very different from America, but that blended in with the natural backdrop of the Orinda hills behind the theater. The whole effect is to suggest the idea that in this ancient, outdoor, ruined place, the magic of the story blooms to give us entertainment and hope. Staging: As we said before, the director must choose to represent events rather than actually produce them. In working with the actors, director Joel Sass felt that the actors should have a hand in creating the effects themselves out of simple, at-hand materials much like very young children do when they are playing pretend. A box can become a cave, a ship, a house, or a trap just by calling it so and acting as if it were true. Remember also that the actors will change from character to character very quickly, changing their costumes and their voices. Surprisingly, this is very similar to the way that Shakespeares company of actors worked closely and creatively, using what was at hand to create the truth of the story for the audience.
See Shipwreck in the Classroom, page 31, for further exploration of these ideas. 18
THIRD PORT OF CALL: Pericles Background

Pericles in history: Pericles, like many of Shakespeares main characters, was a real historical person, born about 490 B.C. At the right is a picture with Pericles name in Greek. Pericles was one of the foremost leaders and statesmen of Athens in its golden age; in fact, he was one of the main creators of a successful and thriving democracy in that city. He restored and built many important monuments and temples in Athens, including the impressive Parthenon, which you can see today. He was also an important warrior; eloquent speaker, and supporter of arts and literature. However, as we see in most of Shakespeares plays, the character in the play is quite different from the actual person.
www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/Polis/pericles.gif
Pericles in fiction: Pericles was a popular hero in stories before and during Shakespeares time. John Gower, a medieval poet, wrote several books that are collectively known as Confessio Amatis. In the eighth book of these stories was a tale titled Apollonius of Tyre that describes many of the events Shakespeare uses in the play. Since Shakespeare also makes John Gower the narrator of Pericles, it is widely assumed that Gower the poets work served as one of the main sources for the play. The plays timeline: The play is believed to have been written around 1607 or1608, close to the estimated times of writing of Cymbeline, The Tempest, and A Winters Tale. Like these other late plays, Pericles is considered not a tragedy or comedy, but a romance: a form of literature where the primary events and characters are imaginary, fantastical, or mythological. This is important to understand since the plot and characters in Pericles are complex and often improbable: but it is clearly not Shakespeares intent to present a realistic play. The problem of authorship: It is generally agreed that the play is not written entirely by Shakespeare; a man named George Wilkins is probably the author of first two acts. George Wilkins was an English poet and playwright who was associated with the Kings Men (Shakespeares theater company). Statistical analysis of word frequency appearing in this text as compared to other playwrights of the time also seems to indicate that the first two acts most closely resemble Wilkins other writings, and that the other three acts more closely match Shakespeares writing, although there are also theories that the entire play was written by one and revised by the other. Another fact is that Wilkins published a novel in 1608 called The Painfull Adventures of Pericles, Prynce of Tyre, being the true history of Pericles as it was lately presented by John Gower. This novel is very similar to the play. Publication of Pericles: Pericles was not included in First Folio (the first publication of Shakespeares collected works in 1623) perhaps because it was almost certainly co-authored rather than being wholly written by Shakespeare. However, the play was one of the most popular of Shakespeares plays in its time, printed in many editions on its own, and often performed. 19
FOURTH PORT OF CALL: Gower as our Guide

Ben Johnson described Pericles as a mouldy tale, perhaps because it is narrated, strangely, by a dead man. John Gower was an actual person, a fourteenth-century English poet (a contemporary with Chaucer) who wrote many books of romance stories, often in rhyming couplets (as Gower the character speaks in couplets in Pericles). One of the stories Gower wrote down was a Greek story called Appollonius of Tyre which parallels many of Pericles adventures. In having Gower as a character in the play, Shakespeare is almost certainly announcing the major source of his material. The ancient art of storytelling usually involved a central figure, a shaman or elder who invited the tribe to gather together to hear the stories. We still do this today, even outside of storytelling festivals that go on all around the country. For instance, when a person calls a meeting to order, or a teacher begins a class, it is a summoning of a group of people to come together to listen. For this play, Shakespeare employs an ancient, well known figure to guide the audience through the complicated story. This guide is John Gower. You might notice that the quality of his speech is also quite different from what we usually hear in Shakespeare. Part of this can be attributed to the authorship question (see Third Port of Call, page 19) but Gower is intended to represent the medieval poet himself and to strike a noticeable difference between his narration and the stage action. Language: Gower speaks with archaic vocabulary (eyne meaning eye, pelf meaning possessions, iwis meaning assuredly), mostly in regular rhyming couplets, and in a different rhythm than most of Shakespeares verse. In this version, Gower is a musician who will actually sing the story at times. Narrative device: He also serves as a clear and sometimes amusing framing device for the play, constantly setting up the next episode in the series, and even denigrating his own position as storyteller: despite his long-windedness, he usually ends a speech by saying that the action we are about to see is much more important than his words. Universal storyteller: The ancient image/device/idea of the storyteller is pervasive across all cultures of the world, and Gower also serves as our passage into the world of the imaginary, as all good storytellers do. In this play, Gower is our village poet, inviting us to gather around and listen to the story of our humanity.
EXERCISE: First Person

Think about the people who saw something firsthand. Frank Buckles is a West Virginia man who is the last known American veteran of World War 1 still alive. He is 107 as of this writing. There are only a few survivors of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, and most of them were too young at the time to remember much. The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most important documentations of what some victims of the Holocaust in World War II had to endure; there were many other stories that never got written down. What kinds of stories would these people tell if they could? Do we lose something when the last survivors of an event are gone? If so, what would that be? What's the most important thing you'd like to know about
Mr. Buckles' experience in the war? What would you ask him?
Ask the oldest person in your family about an historical event they witnessed. Record their story, and then transcribe it.
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FIFTH PORT OF CALL: The Heros Quest (Pericles)

Joseph Campbell, in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, sets out to find the similarities between the hero stories, myths and legends of all the cultures of the world. He found a basic pattern that threaded through all of the stories of heroes, no matter what culture or time period. He called this common pattern the Heros Quest. Lets compare the classic format of a heros quest to Pericles journey in the play. Note that in Pericles we have two heroes journeys, undertaken by Pericles in the first part of the play and Marina in the second. 1. BEGINNING OF ADVENTURE The hero is living his everyday life. Then he is lured, carried away, or simply decides to begin his adventure. Pericles sails forth to win the daughter of Antiochus.
2. FIRST TEST The hero runs into a difficult obstacle that must be defeated. The hero may either defeat the threat and continue on the journey as planned, or may be defeated and continue the journey in another way (through running away, or undergoing a seeming or actual death). 3. TESTS AND HELP In the middle of the journey, the hero goes through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten him, some of which give magical aid. 4. GAINS or REWARD When the hero has passed his tests, he gains his reward. The triumph may be represented in the form of a marriage, his reconciliation with his father or parent, or even becoming a god himself. Sometimes the hero does not gain the reward and must begin the journey again.
Pericles is confronted by the dark riddle; he defeats it by solving it, but is chased away by threat of murder.
Pericles brings corn, saves a kingdom. This kingdom is familiar (family) but will test him with feigned death of his daughter later.
Pericles is shipwrecked, receives gift of fathers armor and wins the hand of Thaisa in a jousting contest. In a storm, Thaisa seemingly dies after giving birth to Marina. Pericles leaves Marina with Cleon and Dionyza and retires to Tyre. 14 years later Pericles sets out to find Marina. He is told she is dead, and he goes to Mytilene, is reunited with Marina. He finds Thaisa at Dianas temple and all are reunited.
5. THE JOURNEY BACK The final work is that of the return. Having accomplished the goal and received reward, the hero begins the journey back towards home. 6. HERO RETURNS HOME Upon arrival home, the hero must leave the magical or adventurous world behind, and take his reward to heart.
Thaisa and Pericles live the rest of their lives together.
7. RESOLUTION The hero is changed in some way from his original status or world view. What did Pericles learn on his journey? How has he changed?
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FIFTH PORT OF CALL continued: The Heros Quest (Marina)

But in this play, nothing is simple. In fact, as you have already noticed, many things happen twice or even more times. So not only does Pericles go through the stages of a classic heros quest, so does his daughter Marina. Marina is threatened with murder by her substitute mother (Dionyza), and is abducted by pirates.
1. BEGINNING OF ADVENTURE The hero is living her everyday life. Then she is lured, carried away, or simply decides to begin her adventure.
2. FIRST TEST The hero runs into a difficult obstacle that must be defeated. The hero may either defeat the threat and continue on the journey as planned, or may be defeated and continue the journey in another way (through running away, or undergoing a seeming or actual death). 3. TESTS AND HELP In the middle of the journey, the hero goes through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten her (test), some of which give magical aid (helpers). 4. GAINS or REWARD When the hero has passed her tests, she gains her reward. The triumph may be represented in the form of a marriage, reconciliation with her father or parent, or even becoming a god herself. Sometimes the hero does not gain the reward and must begin the journey again.
Marina is put into a brothel. She defeats the dragon of prostitution by remaining completely pure.
Marina continues to battle and win against the state of slavery she has been put into.
Marina convinces Lysimachus of her virtue and he falls in love with her. She is recognized by her father (back from the dead) and they are reunited.
5. THE JOURNEY BACK The final work is that of the return. Having accomplished the goal and received reward, the hero begins her journey back towards home. 6. HERO RETURNS HOME Upon arrival home, the hero must leave the magical or adventurous world behind, and take her reward to heart.
Marina goes with her father to find her mother and all are reunited.
Marina marries Lysimachus.
7. RESOLUTION The hero is changed in some way from her original status or world view. What did Marina learn on her journey? How has she changed?
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SIXTH PORT OF CALL: The Sea

Here be dragons The sea is one of the most powerful forces of nature, and it plays a major part in Pericles. The sea was, and is still to us today, dangerous, compelling, life-giving, and forceful. The ancients summed up these complexities by personifying the sea in the form of the god Neptune, who could command the oceans to move at his will. In ancient times the sea was the main barrier to exploration, and you will find history books full of famous ships, explorations, disasters, discoveries of new lands, pirates, and battles. In fact, the sea was as difficult to cross and as vast as outer space is to us today. Often on ancient maps the seas and unexplored lands would be rendered simply as terra incognita or unknown territory. In one famous instance, the Lenox Globe map of 1503, the unexplored regions were noted with the phrase hic sunt dragones or here be dragons, warning of the unknown (perhaps sinful) nature of that place. Remember that at the time Shakespeare lived, America was beginning to be explored by the English, French and Spanish. The excitement of new discoveries, civilizations and even possible treasures were the big news of the day, and fired many artists imaginations, including Shakespeares. (Did you know that the state of Virginia, colonized by English explorers, was named for Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen?) Since the sea is literally a place of mystery and adventure, it can also serve as a metaphor for the unknown or the unconscious in the mind and heart of man. In Pericles, the sea serves to show us the major themes of the play: the duality of good and evil, the test and reward of the hero, the path of the heros journey, and the fate that befalls the hero. For instance, it supplies pirates, who capture Marina, but who also save her from Leonine, the murderer. It buries Thaisa, but also washes her up to be brought back to life by Cerimon. It shipwrecks Pericles, but also yields up his fathers armor, which helps him win Thaisas hand in marriage.
Things to think about: 1) Pericles loses his wife, Thaisa, at sea in a terrible storm and endures other shipwrecks throughout the story. The destructive force of the ocean has been strongly felt in recent events: the destruction of New Orleans and other cities caused by the rising sea levels after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the tsunami which wiped out many cities along the Indian coast in 2004. The power of the sea to separate and destroy families doesn't seem so fantastical in the context of these real life events. 2) Every time Pericles travels on his ship, his life is greatly altered in the country he in which he ends up. The immigrant experience of coming to America in the early 20th century was largely made up of their experience on ships, and on what they found when they arrived in their new country. Think about the good and bad fortune they found in their new home.
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FINAL PORT OF CALL: Pericles Resources
Pericles on Film:
There are over 20 screen versions of King Lear, and more of Hamlet, but Pericles has only one. Pericles, Prince of Tyre 1984 UK Directors: David Hugh Jones. Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare, BBC TV
Pericles on audio CD:

Arkangel Complete Shakespeare with Sir John Gielgud as Gower and Nigel Terry as Pericles 2-CD set. Unabridged text. Publisher: Audio Partners, 2006.
Of general interest for Pericles:

Joseph Campbell. The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Princeton University Press, Princeton, new Jersey. First printing 1949. Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi. The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. New York: Harcourt Brace. "Newly Updated and Expanded" edition. Illus. Graham Greenfield, with Eric Beddows. Maps and Charts by James Cook. xiv + 755 pp
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Classroom Activities Guide

May/June 2008
Increasing Empathy Through Imaginative Connections
This guide was created as a supplement for teachers preparing students to see California Shakespeare Theaters production of Pericles. Worksheets are designed to be used individually or in conjunction with others throughout the guide depending on time and focus. Whileawe recognize that no Theater Professional Development workshop, whichmeeting certain standards, discussion If you are interested in California Shakespeare aspect of this guide fully outlines a course for provides easy-to-learn tools for teachers to questions and topics areand arts education activities into California standards-based core curriculum to enhance students learning, be incorporate theater devised to address certain aspects of California state content standards. The activities here can minimally reproduced for educational,Director of Artistic Learning, at 510-548-3422 x115. please contact our non-profit use only. All lessons must be appropriately credited. If you are interested in a California Shakespeare Theater Professional Development Workshop, which provides easy-to-learn tools for teachers to incorporate theater and arts education activities into California standards- based core curriculum to enhance students learning, please contact the Artistic Learning Administrator, at 510.548.3422 x105.
Jonathan Moscone - Artistic Director Debbie Chinn - Managing Director Emily Morrison - Programs and Outreach Manager Tara Misra - Collaborations and Marketing Manager Samantha Fryer - Artistic Learning Administrator
Our Mission
We strive for everyone, regardless of age, circumstance, or background, to discover and express the relevance of Shakespeare and the classics in their lives. We make boldly imagined and deeply entertaining interpretations of Shakespeare and the classics. We provide in-depth, far-reaching artistic learning programs for learners of all ages and circumstances. We bring disparate communities together around the creation of new American plays that reflect the cultural diversity of the Bay Area.
Our Funders and Sponsors

Artistic Learning programs are underwritten by generous support from The Dale Family Fund, Education Fund of Orinda, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Oakland Fund for the Arts, and The San Francisco Foundation.
Artistic Learning Sponsor:
Student Discovery Matinee Sponsors:
Presenting Sponsors:
Season Sponsors:
Additional season underwriting is provided by The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation.
California Shakespeare Theater 701 Heinz Avenue Berkeley, CA 94710 510.548.3422 www.calshakes.org
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE: SHAKESBOOK PROFILE (p. 1 of 2)

Overview: Being able to empathize with fictional characters sheds light on our own personal situations. Grade: 6-12 State Standards: English Literary Response and Analysis 3.0-3.4 Read and respond to historically or culturally
significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. Students conduct indepth analyses of recurrent patterns and themes. Determine characters traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy
Goal: To bring the characters of Pericles into a real-world context. Outcomes: Students will be able to use basic facts from the text to imaginatively enter into the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of fictional characters by creating a mock Facebook page. Activity: Familiarize students with the profile layout of a social network site page, such as Facebook. (See following sheet). 1. Ask the students to fill in the profile with A. vital statistics B. likes and dislikes C. friends Note: Students should use information drawn from their knowledge of the play (Pericles goes on lots of sea voyages), filled out by their imaginations (maybe one of his hobbies is sailing). 2. Profile photos may be drawn, or cut out from magazines, or an actual photo of the student could be used and attached to the page. Remember, many actual Facebook profile pages do not have an actual photo of the person who made them students sometimes choose a picture of something they feel represents them a tree, a poster they like, etc. 3. Share the pages you have created in student pairs or in a group discussion. Reflection questions: Name one thing you had to imagine about your character that you think is really interesting. Was it easy to imagine beyond the play for instance, what Thaisas activities and interests might be? Or do you feel the play did not provide enough information? How so? How easy was it to decide who your characters friends are? Would your character ignore a friend request from other characters in the play? Why or why not? Extension exercise in writing dialogue: Beyond the basic profile information, a further way to extend the activity is to have the students write on each others profile walls. A wall is the area on a profile page where friends can write short messages to each other that are posted directly on the page for others to view. Note: Require the students to fill out the worksheet manually, rather than actually fill out a public profile online. If you can post the mock profile page that follows onto your school or school blog website for students to fill out online within the framework of this project, that would work as well, but false profiles in a public space should be actively discouraged. 27
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE: SHAKESBOOK PROFILE (p. 2 of 2)
Pericles, Prince of Tyre is at a feast with his family!

Updated 1,000 years ago
Networks: Relationship Status: Birthday: Hometown: Political Views: Religious Views: Mini-Feed
Ancient Greek Empire Married to Thaisa 495 BCE Tyre Being Prince is good. Diana rules!
Pericles, Prince of Tyre has no recent activity.
Friends Simonides Lysimachus Helicanus Cerimon
Information Contact Info: Email: Current City: Personal Info:
Bigtimehero@ancient.empire Tyre
Activities: Napping, babysitting my grandkids, being thankful Im retired Interests: miniature ship building Favorite music: hymns to Diana Favorite TV shows: Survivor Favorite Movies: Harry Potter, Hook, Pirates of the Caribbean Favorite Books: Robinson Crusoe, the Lemony Snicket series Favorite Quotes: If I would tell my history, it would seem like lies my daughter
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SHAKESBOOK STUDENT WORKSHEET

is:
Updated 1,000 years ago
Networks: Relationship Status: Hometown: Political Views: Religious Views: Information Contact Info: Email: Current City: Personal Info:
Ancient Greek Empire
Friends
Activities:
Interests: Favorite Music: Favorite Movies: Favorite Books: Favorite Quotes: Favorite ________________:
Wall
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SHIPWRECK IN THE CLASSROOM (p. 1 of 2)

Overview: The students job will be to create an active, visual representation of a ship getting wrecked at sea. They must represent and perform this shipwreck in any visual way they like: a hip-hop dance, a mime, a puppet show, YouTube video clip, etc. They may use any objects they find in the classroom or create their own to represent the ship, the sea, a storm, a giant squid, the sailors, etc.; or they may want to use mime. Grade: 4-12 State Standards: English Comprehension and Analysis 2.5 Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration Goal: Students become engaged with Shakespeares language by working together to convey specific meaning through kinesthetic action. Outcome: Students will work together to create through visual and activity a central event in the play (a shipwreck) that cannot be realized literally. They will choose the appropriate dialogue to that moment and stage the physical and visual action that expresses it. Preparation: Students should be familiar with the story.
Activity Part One Creating the Shipwreck: Divide the students into small groups of three or four. They must create and perform this shipwreck in any visual way they like: a hip-hop dance, a silent film, a puppet show, YouTube video clip, etc. They may use any objects they find in the classroom to represent the ship, the sea, a storm, a giant squid, the sailors, etc.; or they may want to use mime. The performance should last about two minutes and have a beginning, middle and end. For instance, students should represent the ship Before the wreck (calm sea, sunny sky, sailors eating dinner and singing songs) During the wreck (what causes the wreck rocks, storm, sea monsters; and what happens to the ship, the passengers, and/or cargo) After the wreck (what is the weather like, does anyone survive, does anything remain of the ship?).
Activity Part Two: - Adding Shakespeares Words: Familiarize the students with one of the following two scenes (choose the text that might be most appropriate to your students grade and ability level):
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SHIPWRECK IN THE CLASSROOM (p. 2 of 2)
Gower, Prologue
Pericles, Act 3, Scene 1
And so to sea. Their vessel shakes On Neptune's billow; half the flood Hath their keel cut: but fortune's mood
Thou god of this great vast, rebuke these surges, Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou, that hast Upon the winds command, bind them in brass,
Varies again; the grisly north Having call'd them from the deep! O, still Disgorges such a tempest forth, Thy deafening, dreadful thunders; gently quench That, as a duck for life that dives, So up and down the poor ship drives: The lady shrieks, and well-a-near Does fall in travail with her fear. Wilt thou spit all thyself? The seaman's whistle In your imagination hold Is as a whisper in the ears of death, This stage the ship, upon whose deck Unheard. The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak. Thy nimble, sulphurous flashes! O, how, Lychorida, How does my queen? Thou stormest venomously;
The students in each group must pick 4 lines from either speech for them to say during their performance of the shipwreck as they have practiced. The people who are actually performing may speak in turn, or in unison, or they may prefer to have an external narrator. This should be a choice that works well with the type of performance they have elected to create. The final performances should incorporate both visual elements and the language.
Coaching: Encourage students to be imaginative their choices within the framework of the goal of representing the shipwreck. Especially if your class has seen the Cal Shakes production, drive the students towards choosing a different way to represent the shipwreck than was used in the play. Reflection Questions: What was the hardest detail to represent clearly? Why did you make the choices you decided on? How did the language work to help you illustrate the concepts? What concepts seemed to work well in performance? Why? 31
SHAKESPEARE COMIC BOOK (p. 1 of 2)

Overview: Creating comic books is an ideal way to help ELL students visualize the language, increase literacy, and get all students engaged with Shakespeares words. Grade: 4-12 State Standards: English Comprehension and Analysis 2.5 Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration Goal: Students become engaged with Shakespeares language by working together to convey specific meaning through kinesthetic action. Outcome: Students will work together to choose a most important moment. They will choose the appropriate dialogue for that moment, stage the physical action that expresses it, and contribute that moment to a finished book product of the story. Preparation: Students should be familiar with the story. Activity Part One Acting the Story: 1. Have students decide on the key events in the story and list them in order. 2. Divide the students into groups of 2 or 3 students. 3. Assign each group of students an event to turn into one page of the comic book. 4. Students should highlight the one or two line(s) from the original text that best illustrate that event. 5. Have students pose each event as a tableau. 6. Reflection: Student audience can evaluate the pose and make suggestions to improve it. The scene should clearly indicate the emotions of the characters and convey the context and main idea of the text. 7. Take a digital photograph, or make a drawing of the pose. You may wish to have one member of each group draw the pose, or have one artist for the class who records the images. Activity Part Two Making the Book: 1. Using the Photoshop filter, transform the scene to comic book style. If your students dont have access to a digital camera and Photoshop, have students draw the scene on standard-sized paper. 2. Show samples of different comic book styles (Disney/Marvel/manga/anime, etc.) and have students vote on one style to use for all the drawings so that the finished book has continuity. 3. Add speech bubbles and fill bubbles with the relevant line(s) of Shakespeares text. 4. Assemble all the pages into one comic book. 5. Add a Title Page. Coaching: You dont have to do the comic book all at once. The whole class can work together on one page a day. Reflection Questions: How did you choose the important moment? What made this event interesting to you? How did the language in the play help you create your tableau? Do these events translate well to your chosen style of animation? Does it work as a comic book? Why or why not? Extension Idea: Have the students paraphrase, or translate, the Shakespeare quotes they are working with into their own words to modernize the context and provide a deeper connection to the situations and experience of the characters. 32
SHAKESPEARE COMIC BOOK (p. 2 of 2)
The example is an excerpt from the King Lear comic book created by Claire Stoermers 5th grade class at Fruitvale Elementary School, Oakland, California.
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BLIND OBSTACLE COURSE

Overview: The heros journey involves difficult tests, but he or she always gets some kind of help. Grade: 6-12 Use with a group that has the ability to work collaboratively, with a lot of noise. State Standards: Literary response and Analysis 3.3 Analyze interactions between main and subordinate characters in text (e.g., internal and external conflicts, motivations, relationships, influences) and explain the way those interactions affect the plot. Goal: to work collaboratively, to communicate clearly, to build positive group interactions, and to explore the role of helpers in a heros journey. Outcomes: Students will guide a blind partner safely through a maze of obstacles. Students will discuss the role of helpers to Pericles and Marina in Pericles. Materials: A large open room with many different sized objects (desks, chairs, backpacks, etc.) that will not be dangerous to bump into or touch (to create the obstacle course). Coaching: Emphasize this is not a race, but is about communicating clearly. As must be excellent leaders who can develop their partners trust in their verbal directions to create a safe passage. Bs must indicate potential movements with their body language and the As must be good observers of that language and adjust their directions accordingly. How to Play: First, safety is paramount. Establish a signal that will indicate an immediate Freeze to every participant. For this game, a very loud sound works best a crash on a cymbal or piano, or a dustpan. Pair students, and decide who is Partner A and who is B. The pairs will then stand opposite each other across the room so all the As are on one side of the room standing directly opposite from their Partner B on the other side. The Bs will close their eyes and the As will use any available materials in the room desks, chairs, backpacks, etc. to create a difficult passage across the room. Bs keep their eyes closed. (Blindfolds can be useful; older students generally can stick to the eyes stay closed rule in the spirit of the game.) On the leaders command, the As will begin to call out instructions to their partners to get them to move through the course. They may say anything they wish to help their partner. Bs may also talk but their primary job is to listen and respond. Once the partner B reaches A, they may open their eyes and survey the course they just traveled. You may play again reversing the roles of A and B. They will have learned a lot from the first time through. Reflection: Did you have misunderstandings? How much did you trust what your partner was saying? What is your reaction to not being able to see what you were trying to do? Did you think of ways to communicate to overcome the difficulties built into this game? What kind of communication was most successful to help your partner get across? Were you able to minimize your partners difficulty? Do you think Pericles or Marina felt similar emotions? Why or why not? What characters in Pericles are helpers? How did they help Marina and Pericles? 34
OLYMPIC OBSTACLE (p. 1 of 2)

Grade: 5 12 State Standards: English Writing Applications 2.1 Write narratives with plot, point of view, setting and conflict. Show
rather than tell. Use a range of narrative devices (dialogue, suspense). Theatre Standards 2.2 Write dialogues and scenes, applying basic dramatic structure: exposition, complication, conflict, crises, climax, and resolution.
Goal: Have students think about the obstacles Pericles overcomes in his heros journey and create their own obstacles. Outcomes: Students will work together collaboratively to create a scene and write dialogue as an Olympic event that dramatizes an obstacle in their heros journey. Students will act out their scenes. Brainstorm: List on the board in two columns (Pericles and Marina) some of the obstacles each overcomes in his/her journey. Activity: Divide class into groups of 3 students. Give each group a piece of paper Assign a recorder to write down responses Give them 5 minutes to brainstorm a list of obstacles that their imaginary hero might overcome. Tell them the obstacle will be acted out as an Olympic event. Ask them to be as creative as possible and let them know it is ok to be over the top (e.g., trimming a dragon's toenails as an Olympic event) as long as their choice is appropriate to a school setting (no obscenities or questionable activities). Ask the recorder to read the list for each group and tell the class which obstacle theyve chosen to act out. There will be one athlete who mimes the task while 2 Sports Commentators explain his/her actions. Write the following on the board, discuss, and tell them to be sure to include a line or two of dialogue for each element: Exposition (setting the scene with the dialogue Who is this hero? Why is s/he here? What is s/he trying to prove?) Complication (No toenail clippers? Has to improvise with hedge trimmers?) Conflict (Does the dragon return?) Crises (Running out of time? Will s/he succeed or fail when the trimmer breaks?) Climax (What change in his/her behavior allows him/her to win? Gets a big metal file.) Resolution (Success and glory? An advertising contract with Super Sharp Toenail Trimmers?)
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Teachers Guide Pericles 2008 OLYMPIC OBSTACLE (p. 2 of 2) Get back in groups and have students write the dialogue for the sports commentators. If your class is particularly motivated they can also add an "instant replay" and a post-game interview.
Performance: Students perform their Olympic events for their classmates. Remember, there will be one athlete who mimes the task while two Sports Commentators explain his/her actions. This may take several days, so be sure to ask reflection questions after each event. Use performance rubric on the next page for assessment. Reflection Questions: What did you like about this performance? What could be improved? How was it to come up with an idea for an Olympic Obstacle? How did you agree on which idea you would perform? Writing Extension: Pick an obstacle faced by Pericles or Marina and write about how you would react in a similar situation.
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Teachers Guide Pericles 2008 PEER OBSERVATION RUBRIC FOR STUDENT SCENES
Your Name: __________________________________________________ Names of students you observed: ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________
While watching the performance put a grade in the blank beside each question. + = the students met the requirement in an excellent way + = the students met the requirement in a way that was very good = the students met the requirement = the students did not meet the requirement
_____ 1. The students worked well together as a team. _____ 2. The students came up with a very creative idea for their obstacle. _____ 3. The students wrote dialog that communicated the main ideas of their scene very well. _____ 4. The students presented the scene convincingly and were loud enough for the audience to hear. ______5. Every student in the group participated. (Give a + for bravery if you think this was very hard for these particular students)
What could they do to improve their performance?
What did you especially like about this performance?
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HEROS QUEST ACTIVITY (p. 1 of 2)

Overview: The Heros Quest is one of the major themes of Pericles. In this exercise we'd like to take a journey through an ordinary day in a student's life, but use the imagination to take it fantastical proportions. Grade: 3-8 State Standards: Speaking 2.3 Deliver oral responses to literature: Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas of literary works (make assertions about the text that are reasonable and supportable). Goal: Students will understand the archetypal journey of the heros quest from seeing it through their own experience. Outcomes: Students will complete the journey chart below, and expand into creative writing and tableau performances. Materials: Student worksheet of the Circle of the Heros Journey below. Activity: Explain to the students that this exercise is an imaginative journey, but starting from your real life. The group leader should take the class through an example exercise before having each student create their own. The leader can draw the circle on the board to fill in the groups answers as in the sample. Students, led by the teacher, will fill in each of the boxes for the topics below, moving in a counter clockwise circle, and ending at the center. To keep the conversation moving, use a verbal prompt to the class such as What comes next in the story? Origin The teacher can use their own name as the hero for the sample quest. Ex: Ms. Franklin. Then name the reason for leaving home: what does Ms. Franklin want that makes her leave? Ex: She wants to save penguins from the melting ice. Encourage students to think of other important goals: (love, saving the environment, building a new city) rather than simple material gain (wanting a new car or a million dollars). First Test - Have the students name a big problem that Ms. Franklin will run into when she tries to save the penguins. Ex: She goes to the Antarctica and finds that its much colder than she thought and she doesnt have warm enough clothes. Further tests Have the students name an even more difficult obstacle. Ex: The police arrest Ms. Franklin when she starts loading penguins into her sled to save them. Help Have the students name a magical item or a fantastical character that will help the hero. Ex: In jail, Ms. Franklin finds a magic feather in a crack in the wall and waves it. The jail dissolves. Giant ice machines appear in the snow and replace the melting ice so the penguins can survive. 38
HEROS QUEST ACTIVITY (p. 2 of 2)

Reward Have the students name what the hero receives for achieving their goal. Ex: The penguins give Ms. Franklin a golden feather crown and lots of warm clothes. Return Journey Have the students name how the hero travels back home. Ex: Ms. Franklin returns safe and dry in her warm clothes. Resolution How has the hero changed, or what did they learn? Ex: Ms. Franklin learns that she should be prepared for different weather when traveling, and that she could achieve what she set out to do.
Now, give the students the blank worksheet (see below) and have them use their own name as the name of the hero. Ask them to fill in the blanks on the worksheet to create their personal heros journey. Encourage them to pick a goal that is meaningful to them, and to use the fantastical element.
Coaching: Students will naturally want to add places where the journey goes to; encourage this and other imaginative details the students volunteer. Reflection questions: What did you want to add that wasnt in the outline? What was the most interesting part of the journey for you? Is it interesting to have a hero who doesnt seem particularly brave, or who makes obvious mistakes? Why or why not? Extension Activity: Once you have completed the worksheet of the journey and are familiar with the elements, students may wish to create a board game that details, in game format, the struggles and triumphs possible on this journey. If your students have the resources and mindset, they may wish to envision the journey as a video game. (In fact, most of the storylines in video games are based on the heros quest model.)
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HEROS QUEST SAMPLE PAGE
Home: Leaves to save penguins.
First test: Too cold!
Return Journey: Returns warm in clothes
Resolution: Respect the weather; you can achieve your goal.
Reward: Feather crown, warm Further tests: Jail!
Help: Magic feather
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HEROS QUEST STUDENT WORKSHEET

1) Home:
2) First test:
6) Return Journey:
7) Resolution:
5) Reward:
3) Further tests:
4) Help:
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HEROS QUEST ACTIVITY

Part Two TABLEAU CONNECTING THE WORD AND THE BODY (p. 1 of 2)
Goal: To experience the heros quest personally and kinesthetically through non-verbal performance. How to Play: Part 1: How to Create a Tableau Divide class up into pairs. Explain that a tableau is a frozen picture, like a snapshot from a cell phone camera. Emphasize that tableaux are really about seeing clear emotions in the face and specific action in the body. Have the pairs of students, all at the same time, practice tableaux. You can do this by simply calling 1,2,3, Freeze! Ask the students to simply stay in their seats, and show you the situations you are going to describe. They should freeze in an appropriate pose for the situation when you call Freeze! Some examples are listed below. Examples of Classwide Frozen Pictures Youre in class, and the bell has just rung on the final class day and it is now summer vacation A UFO is hovering in the courtyard of the school and the principal is beamed up Youre sitting in the stands of the stadium when a new sports record has just been broken (e.g. Bonds homerun record) Youre waiting to get into a very popular movie on opening night Youre at a surprise party the moment the guest of honor walks in Youre at the science fair, and someones project next to you has just exploded
o o o o o o
Part 2: Putting Language into Action Tableaux Now demonstrate a standing frozen picture for the students. For instance, bring a volunteer up and have a student count 1,2,3, Freeze!. You might show them a frozen picture of thing (a clock), or any of the situations listed above. Have student pair up and make tableau together of ABSTRACT ideas: a waterfall, a storm, splashing in a puddle, etc. Prepare Tableaux Using the Heros Quest sample. The leader will review the story chosen either the sample story or one of the students stories. The leader will assign each pair of students the part of the story theyll be working on. Students will have two minutes to prepare the picture that represents their part of the story.
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HEROS QUEST ACTIVITY

Part Two TABLEAU CONNECTING THE WORD AND THE BODY (p. 2 of 2)
Part 3: Performance All pairs line up in story order. Each pair steps forward in order and shows their tableau. Discuss go around circle with pairs and each pair discuss what the idea was for their tableau. Side coaching: Pick the dramatic moments. Show the feelings of the characters. You can choose to be inanimate objects in the tableau as well, as long as it illustrates that part of the story.
Reflection: Why did you make the choices you did? What do you think you could (not should) do differently if you had the chance to do this over again? What do you think one of the actors jobs is when they must do a speech like this?
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES: For a Shakespeare play such as Pericles: Pick characters who are not the main characters and make tableaux about how they are responding to the main characters. Have all students demonstrate the same lines. Compare the variations. Put theme words (juicy words) on index cards and enact those words. Use the word in sentences all day. Have students pick out the 5 key events in the plot of Pericles and create a tableau for each in order (main points and sequencing). Make a slide show of the key events tableaux.
For writing practice: Create a short story of the heros journey from this worksheet. On a separate sheet of paper, the student can add details about each part of the journey. Details, depending on the grade and ability level of the students, can include: o Locations o Specific events o Other characters o Descriptions of the above
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MAD LIBS (p. 1 of 2)

Mad Libs were invented in the 1950s and are a favorite way for educators to familiarize students with parts of speech and vocabulary in a humorous way. Grade: 6-12 State Standards: Vocabulary and Concept Development 1.2 Identify and interpret figurative language and words with multiple meanings Goal: To break down Shakespeares language into familiar parts of speech, and increase understanding of the text and characters situations through humor. Outcomes: Students will be able to identify familiar parts of speech in Shakespeares language, learn Shakespearean vocabulary, and make connections with the original meaning when significant words are replaced. Activity: 1. For this activity you will use the sample below from Pericles, but this is also fun to do with some of the more well known Shakespearian monologues such as To be or not to be from Hamlet, or Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. Alas, the seas hath cast me on the rocks, Washed me from shore to shore, and left me breath Nothing to think on but ensuing death. Let it suffice the greatness of your powers To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes, And, having thrown him from your watery grave, Here to have death in peace is all hell crave. Pericles, 2.1 Directions: 1) If necessary, go over the parts of speech with your class. With some classes you may need to do the exercise on the board instead of having students write in journals. Either way, ask students to supply words that fit the following parts of speech in this order: Exclamation Verb past tense Plural noun Noun Noun Gerund* Noun Verb Plural noun Verb past tense Plural noun Verb past tense Adjective Noun Noun Noun Verb
*Shakespeares noun breath is not a gerund, but for students understanding and todays usage, it is more helpful to use a gerund.
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MAD LIBS (p. 2 of 2)

2) Write the following passage on the board and have students insert their words in the appropriate places: (Exclamation), the seas hath (verb past tense) me on the (plural noun), Washed me from (noun) to (noun), and left me (gerund) Nothing to think on but ensuing (noun). Let it (verb) the greatness of your (plural noun), To have (verb past tense) a prince of all his (plural noun), And, having (verb past tense) him from your (adjective) (noun)., Here to have (noun) in (noun) is all hell (verb).
They may end up with something ridiculous like this: SNAP!, the seas hath flipped me on the houses, Washed me from chicken to dog, and left me sighing Nothing to think on but ensuing bread. Let it build the greatness of your crayons, To have walked a prince of all his socks, And, having run him from your beautiful computer, Here to have cell phone in sandwich is all hell eat.
3) Enjoy the silliness! 4) Write Shakespeares original passage on the board where everyone can see it and discuss.
Reflection: Go through the passage line by line. What do these words mean: hath, left me breath, ensuing, suffice, bereft, crave? Who is talking in this quote? What has happened to him? What is he thinking about? Whose or what powers does he acknowledge?
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SAY WHAT I SAY: Shakespeares Language

Overview: Shakespeare invented over 2,000 words and expressive phrases. In this lesson, students use drawing and pantomime to identify and analyze some of Shakespeare's phrases. They then write a story using the newlyidentified words, lines, and phrases. Goal: Students will: identify words invented by William Shakespeare. interpret the meaning of words through drawing. identify words by interpreting drawings. analyze the meaning of a line or phrase. pantomime to communicate the meaning of a line or phrase. interpret pantomime to identify a line or phrase. write a short story using Shakespeare invented words, lines, and phrases.
Supplies: Index cards with Shakespearean words such as: mountaineer, fortune-teller, bandit, watch-dog, schoolboy, football, worm hole, hornbook, shooting star, moonbeam, dew-drop, glow, dawn, alligator, lady-bird, luggage, eyeball, love-letter, puppy-dog, farmhouse, bedroom, birthplace, fairy land, worthless, long-legged, pale-faced, hot-blooded, flea-bitten, green-eyed, upstairs, downstairs Stopwatch for timekeeping Large chart paper Markers Lined paper Pencils
Instructional Plan: Note: Prior to class, prepare a list of approximately 60 words invented by Shakespeare.
(one source: www.shakespeare.about.com/b/2003/08/13/words-shakespeare-coined-2.htm) See Resources, page 53
Warm Up Explain to students that many of the words and phrases we use today were invented by William Shakespeare. Words like zany, lonely, critic, and fair play are just a few of about 2,000 words introduced through his poetry and plays. Write Shakespeare's words on index cards to use during the game. Select words that could be easily conveyed through drawing. Some examples might be: mountaineer, fortune-teller, bandit, watch-dog, schoolboy, football, worm hole, horn-book, shooting star, moonbeam, dew-drop, glow, dawn, alligator, lady-bird, luggage, eyeball, love-letter, puppy-dog, farmhouse, bedroom, birthplace, fairy land, worthless, long-legged, pale-faced, hot-blooded, flea-bitten, green-eyed, upstairs, downstairs Tell students that they will now play a game in which they must "draw" Shakespeare's invented words. The instructions are as follows: 46
Teachers Guide Pericles 2008 1. Select a time-keeper from the class. He/she will keep time and record the team points on the board. 2. Divide the class into two to four groups. 3. Select a person from each group who will be responsible for putting a hand up when the team has figured out a word. This person will be able to look at the word being drawn in advance, but he/she MAY NOT give hints to others on the team, nor tell the player who is drawing and how to draw the picture. 4. Have teams count off numbers to see who will go first, second, third, etc. 5. Post large sheets of newsprint paper with markers in each teams area. 6. Have one member from each team come up to be given the word to draw. Show the word on the card or quietly say the word in the players ear. All teams should get the word at the same time. They will have 45 seconds in which to draw and guess the word. 7. The first team to guess correctly gets a point for the word. 8. Allow the next player from each team come up to get a word. Repeat until each person has had one to two turns. NOTE: If you wish to simplify the game for younger students, record the full list of words to be drawn on the board or distribute a list to each team. Students will search for, rather than guess, the word that is being drawn. Extension Ideas: Shakespeare also put phrases into our language that we still use today. Too much of a good thing, Good riddance, and In my minds eye, are all word combinations made famous by him. Put several phrases on the board. They may include: Every inch a king, Not budge an inch, Wild-goose chase, or Sweets to the sweet. Enlist a student volunteer to select a phrase and pantomime it for the class. Have the class guess the phrase that is being depicted. Each student should write a short story using a sampling of Shakespeares words, phrases, and lines meaningfully. Have the student underline the Shakespearean words, phrases, or lines used within the story.
Reflection: Can you see how Shakespeare might have created some of these words? How many of these words do we use today? Invent your own: make up a word that describes a rainy day (cloudmug? dampshirt? How about a sunny day? Adapted from an exercise on writingfix.com by Mary Beth Bauernschub, Teacher, Kingsford Elementary School, Mitchellville, MD. Northern Nevada Writing Project (nnwp) sponsors the writingfix.com and they can be found at nnwp.org.
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Teachers Guide Pericles 2008 YOURE THE CRITIC: CALSHAKES PLAY CRITIQUE Grade: 6-12 State Standards: Theatre Arts Aesthetic Valuing 4.0-4.2 Critique and derive meaning from works of theater, film/video, electronic media and theatrical artists on the basis of aesthetic qualities. Goal: To give students the opportunity to explore their responses to a specific performance and to use their imaginations to create their own imaginary productions. Outcomes: Students will write about and discuss their specific responses to CalShakes performance of Pericles. Activity: Give each student a Youre the Critic sheet (on next page). Have them give this production a rating of 1 to 5 stars. (One star is the lowest rating and five stars is the highest.) On a separate sheet of paper, students write a paragraph review of the play. In other words, they describe why they gave it that rating. Ask them to give specific examples to support their reasons. Reflection: Discuss as a group, or in writing, have students reflect on the following questions: 1. How would you describe the character of Pericles? 2. How do you understand the casting of actors to play opposing roles? Did that make sense to you? Did it make a particular point about the play? Was it interesting to watch? 3. Do you think Pericles is a changed man by the end of the play? Do you think you are meant to think so? 4. Think about and describe: - the vocal and physical actions of the actors (characterization) - the set - the costumes 5. What do you think are some of the themes of the play? 6. Did the elements of characterizations, set, and/or costumes reinforce any of these themes? 7. Shakespeare writes about things that we all experience: Love, jealousy, death, anger, revenge, etc. Write a paragraph about one emotion in the play that relates to your own life at the moment. Now, imagine you are the director of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, and discuss or use a new sheet of paper to create your new production. - Cast the characters of Pericles, Antiochus, Thaisa, Marina, Dionyza and Lysimachus with famous actors. - Would you set the play in an imaginary ancient world as in this production? What other setting could you place the play in that would make sense? Why? - How about costumes? Imagine how the characters in your new production would be dressed that would illustrate the kinds of characters they are and the setting you have created for the play. Extension Activity: Have students create a video or drawings of the sets and costumes for their own imaginary production. 48
Teachers Guide Pericles 2008 YOURE THE CRITIC: CAL SHAKES PLAY CRITIQUE NAME: __________________________________ 1. Circle the number of stars that best matches how youd rate this performance. (One star is the lowest rating and five stars is the best rating.) Then write a paragraph on the back of the paper that specifically describes why you gave it that rating. Do not simply say I didnt like it, but say why. For example, I didnt like the fact that the director changed the setting to New York or I loved the way the actors made me believe that they were really going to kill each other.
2. Outline the main actions that happened in the plot (what were the big events in the story?) a. b. c. d. e. f. 3. What is the central idea or theme of the play?
4. Describe what the actors did to help you understand the Shakespearean language.
5. What did you particularly like or dislike about the staging (set design, lights, costumes, music, etc.)?
6. Shakespeare writes about things that we all experience: Love, jealousy, death, anger, revenge, etc. Write a paragraph (on the back) about one emotion in the play that relates to your own life at the moment.
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Teachers Guide Pericles 2008 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Teaching Shakespeare: www.folger.edu www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators/ http://parallel.park.uga.edu/Courses/F97/433G/group5/page.html Davis, James E., ed. Teaching Shakespeare Today: Practical Approaches and Productive Strategies. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 1993. Crystal, David, and Crystal, Ben. The Shakespeare Miscellany. The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc. Woodstock and New York, 2005. Crystal, David, and Crystal, Ben. Shakespeares Words: A Glossary and Language Companion. Penguin Books, The Penguin Group. London, 2002. Papp, Joseph and Elizabeth Kirkland. Shakespeare Alive! New York, New York: Bantam Books, 1988. Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless Guide to the Best of the Bard. New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1993 Asimov, Isaac. Asimovs Guide to Shakespeare. New York, New York: Random House, 1970. Pollinger, Gina and Emma Chichester Clark. Something Rich and Strange A Treasury of Shakespeares Verse. Kingfisher, 1995. Peterson, Lenka and Dan OConnor. Kids Take the Stage, Back Stage Books, 1997. Theatre Games for Young Performers. Meriwether Publishing. Ltd., 1985. Doyle, John and Ray Lischner.Shakespeare for Dummies. IDG Books Worldwide, 1999. Shakespeare for Elementary Students: www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators//elementary Bender, Michael. All the Worlds a Stage: a Pop-Up Biography of William Shakespeare. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1999. Foster, Cass and Lynn G. Johnson. Shakespeare: To Teach or Not To Teach. Grades 3 and Up. Scottsdale, AZ: Five Star Publications, 1992. Garfield, Leon. Shakespeare Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. Morley, Jacqueline and John James. Shakespeares Theatre: the Inside Story. East Sussex, London: Simon and Schuster Young Books, 1994. Web Resources: Tudor and Elizabethan Times: http://www.snaithprimary.eril.net/ttss.htm Life in Elizabethan England: http://renaissance.dm.net/compendium/ Shakespeare Resource Center - Elizabethan England: http://www.bardweb.net/england.html
Word and Phrase search: www.opensourceshakespeare.org/concordance Shakespeare Searched: Shakespeare.clusty.com

Words Coined: www.shakespeare.about.com/b/2003/08/13/words-shakespeare-coined-2.htm
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Teachers Guide Pericles 2008 CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS

This guide was created as a supplement for teachers preparing students to see the Cal Shakes production of Pericles Worksheets are designed to be used individually or in conjunction with others throughout the guide depending on time and focus. While we recognize that no aspect of this guide fully outlines a course for meeting certain standards, discussion questions and topics are devised to address certain aspects of California state content standards. Specific English, History and Theater standards are listed below. ENGLISH LANGUAGE STANDARDS GRADES K-8 GRADE 6 5 4-8 5-8 STANDARD 1.2 1.5 2.0 2.3 READING Vocabulary and Concept Development Identify and interpret figurative language and words with multiple meanings Understand and explain the figurative and metaphorical use of words in context Comprehension and Analysis Generate & respond to essential questions; make predictions; compare information in age-appropriate text. Describe and connect essential ideas, arguments and perspectives. Discern, connect and clarify main ideas and concepts in texts, and identify and assess supporting evidence Literary Response and Analysis Read and respond to, increasingly complex literature. Distinguish between the structural features of the text and the literary terms or elements (theme, plot, setting, characters). Clarify ideas and connect them to other literary works. Analyze characterization as delineated through characters thoughts words, speech patterns, and action; the narrators description; and the thoughts, words and actions of other characters Understand and recognize themes Analyze the relevance of the setting (place, time, customs) to the mood, tone and meaning of the text Contrast points of view (1st & 3rd person, limited and omniscient, subjective and objective) in narrative text and explain how they affect the overall theme of the work WRITING Strategies Use various reference materials as writing aids Writing Applications Write responses to literature that demonstrate careful reading and understanding of the work. Draw inferences and support judgments. Speaking Applications Using speaking strategies in section 1.0, above, students make narrative presentations, informational presentations, oral summaries, poems, soliloquies or dramatic dialogues that establish situation, plot, point of view and setting. Show rather than tell. Deliver oral responses to literature that interpret and provide insight that connects the students own responses to the writers techniques and specific textual references. Draw supported inferences about the effects of a work on the audience.
4-8
3.0
3.3
5 8 7
3.4 3.4 3.6
4 4-8
1.7 2.2-2.5
4-8
2.0
2.2
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HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE STANDARDS GRADES K-8
GRADE STANDARD HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE STANDARDS 6-8 Research, Evidence and Point of View: 1. Students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research. 2. Students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories 5. Students detect the different historical points of view and determine the context in which the statements were made
ENGLISH LANGUAGE STANDARDS GRADES 9-12 GRADE 9-10 STANDARD READING Vocabulary and Concept Development 1.1 Identify and use literal and figurative meanings of words and understand word 1.2 derivations Distinguish between denotative and connotative meanings of words and interpret the connotative power of words Comprehension and Analysis 2.5 Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration. Literary Response and Analysis 3.0 Read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. Students conduct in-depth analyses of recurrent patterns and themes. 3.4 Determine characters traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy 3.11 Analyze recognized works of world literature: Identify and describe the function of dialogue, scene designs, soliloquies, asides, and character foils in dramatic literature. WRITING Writing Applications Write responses to literature: a. Demonstrate comprehensive grasp of significant ideas of literary works. b. Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text or to other works. c. Demonstrate awareness of authors use of stylistic devices and an appreciation of the effects created. d. Identify and assess the impact of perceived ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text. Listening and Speaking Students formulate adroit judgments about oral communication. They deliver focused and coherent presentations that convey clear and distinct perspectives and solid reasoning. They use gestures, tone and vocabulary tailored to the audience and purpose
9-10
9-12
9-10 9-10
9-10
2.2
9-12
1.0
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GRADE 9-10
STANDARD 1.14 Identify the aesthetic effects of a media presentation and evaluate the techniques used to create them (e.g., compare Shakespeares Henry V with Branaghs film version) Speaking Applications Deliver oral responses to literature: a. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas of literary works (make assertions about the text that are reasonable and supportable). b. Analyze the imagery, language, universal themes and unique aspects of the text through the use of rhetorical strategies (narration, description, persuasion, exposition, a combination). c. Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text or to other works. d. Demonstrate an awareness of the authors use of stylistic devices and an appreciation of the effects created. e. Identify and assess the impact of perceived ambiguities, nuances, and complexities within the text. Recite poems, selections from speeches, or dramatic soliloquies with attention to performance details to achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect and to demonstrate an understanding of the meaning (Hamlets soliloquy to be or not to be).
11-12
2.3
11-12
2.5
HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE STANDARDS GRADES 9-12 GRADE STANDARD HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE STANDARDS 9-12 Research, Evidence and Point of View: Students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research. Students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories Students detect the different historical points of view and determine the context in which the statements were made
THEATER ARTS STANDARDS GRADES K-12 GRADE STANDARD ARTISTIC PERCEPTION: Processing, Analyzing and Responding to Sensory Information Through the Language and Skills Unique to Theater 4 1.0 Observe environment and respond, using the elements and vocabulary of theater 9-12 1.0 Use the vocabulary of theater, such as acting values, style, genre, design, and theme, to describe theatrical experiences. 4 1.2 Identify a characters objectives and motivations to explain the characters behavior 8 1.2 Identify and analyze recurring themes and patterns (e.g., loyalty, bravery, revenge, redemption) in a script to make production choices in design and direction 9-12 1.2 Document observations and perceptions of production elements, noting mood, pacing, and use of space through class discussion and reflective writing. GRADE STANDARD HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT: Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of Theater 9-12 3.3 Identify key figures, works, and trends in world theatrical history from various cultures and time periods
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GRADE STANDARD AESTHETIC VALUING: Responding to, Analyzing, and Critiquing Theatrical Experiences 4 Critique and derive meaning from works of theater, film/video, electronic media and theatrical artists on the basis of aesthetic qualities 5 4.0 Develop and apply appropriate criteria for critiquing the work of actors, directors, writers and technical artists in theater, film, and video. 4 4.1 Develop and apply appropriate criteria or rubrics for critiquing performances as to characterization, diction, pacing, gesture and movement 5-6 4.1 Develop and apply appropriate criteria for evaluating sets, lighting, costumes, makeup and props. 7 4.1 Develop and apply appropriate criteria or rubrics for evaluating the effective use of masks, puppetry, makeup, and costumes in a theatrical production 8 4.1 Develop criteria and write a formal review of a theatrical production 5 4.2 Identify examples of how theater, television and film can influence or be influenced by politics and culture 7 4.2 Explain how cultural influences affect the content or meaning of works of theater 9-12 4.2 Report on how a specific actor used drama to convey meaning in his or her performances. GRADE STANDARD CONNECTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS, APPLICATIONS: Connecting and Applying What is Learned in Theater, Film/Video, and Electronic Media to Other Art Forms and Subject Areas and to Careers 4-12 5.0 Apply what they learn in theater, film/video, and electronic media across subject areas 4.0
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Pericles Teacher&#39;s Guide - California Shakespeare Theater - 2008

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Pericles Teacher&#39;s Guide - California Shakespeare Theater - 2008

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TEACHERS GUIDE

Our Funders and Sponsors

Artistic Learning Sponsor:

Student Discovery Matinee Sponsors:

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

PERICLES: Increasing Wonder

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

What to Expect at the Bruns Theater

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

PERICLES: Increasing Wonder

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

PERICLES: Increasing Wonder A note to teachers

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

ELIZABETHAN CULTURE: Some of the Basics

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

SHAKESPEARES LANGUAGE: Lost in Translation?

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

Pericles, Prince of Tyre: Synopsis

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

Can you trace Pericles journey on the map?

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

WHOS WHO In Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

Cerimon (SEH-rih-mahn): A healer in Ephesus who brings Thaisa back to life.

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

Boult: Servant to Pander and Bawd.

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

PERICLES: Increasing Wonder

Consider the following questions before and after the show.

BEFORE Viewing the Play

AFTER Viewing the Play

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

FIRST PORT OF CALL: A Talk with Joel Sass, director of PERICLES

to wash them ashore again elsewhere, transformed and miraculously alive.

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

SECOND PORT OF CALL: A VISUAL LANGUAGE Costumes, Set, and Staging

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

THIRD PORT OF CALL: Pericles Background

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

FOURTH PORT OF CALL: Gower as our Guide

EXERCISE: First Person

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

FIFTH PORT OF CALL: The Heros Quest (Pericles)

Thaisa and Pericles live the rest of their lives together.

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

FIFTH PORT OF CALL continued: The Heros Quest (Marina)

Marina marries Lysimachus.

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

SIXTH PORT OF CALL: The Sea

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

FINAL PORT OF CALL: Pericles Resources

Pericles on audio CD:

Of general interest for Pericles:

Classroom Activities Guide

Our Funders and Sponsors

Artistic Learning Sponsor:

Student Discovery Matinee Sponsors:

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE: SHAKESBOOK PROFILE (p. 1 of 2)

Teachers Guide Pericles 2008

PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE: SHAKESBOOK PROFILE (p. 2 of 2)

Pericles Teacher's Guide - California Shakespeare Theater - 2008

Pericles Teacher's Guide - California Shakespeare Theater - 2008