**DUE ASAP** THEATER PAPER SHAKESPERIAN PLAY REFERENCE

Module 2 – Application Project

One of the responsibilities (and joys) of directing is in choosing the style in which a production will be set. If you view both Kenneth Brannaugh’s 1996 film of Hamlet (Brannaugh as Hamlet) and Zeffirelli’s 1990 film of the same title (Mel Gibson as Hamlet), you will see different settings for the same text. If you view Zeffirelli’s 1968 film of Romeo and Juliet (with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey) and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film (with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes), you will see vastly different interpretations of the same text. [All four of these filmed productions are easily available through Netflix, public libraries, and on-line. Try to see at least a few minutes of either pair – Hamlet OR Romeo and Juliet.  If accessing these films is not possible for you this week, I have placed, within the module, links to selections or trailers from these films that you may view instead.]

 After viewing sections of these diverse interpretations of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet:

1.     Peruse the attached document, “Shakespearean Sources for the Assignment,” in which I have supplied the plot summaries and characters for five Shakespearean plays.  

2.     From the five plays supplied, choose ONE Shakespearean play and suggest a new setting (time and place) and/or situation that you could use as the base for a new production. Explain how the play would work in this new environment.  Be specific in your details concerning the major characters (those that impact the central storyline, those that I have highlighted in the summaries provided) and the main events of the play. [Do NOT plagiarize any ideas from the internet; this interpretation is meant to come from your own creative brain.  If you are having problems creating a new situation, email me for addition help or for an alternate way of completing this assignment.] 

[NOTE: Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet are NOT included; those two plays are not allowed in this assignment because they are part of the content of the module.]

Example: It would not be sufficient to write “Romeo and Juliet could be placed at a high school, and Romeo is a geek while Juliet is a cheerleader.”  That’s not enough.  Who would be the Nurse or the Friar?  How could they get married without parental approval? How would the setting and action change in the new interpretation?  All those issues should at least be addressed.  [I have provided an example of how this idea could be sufficiently developed into a new interpretation.]

Slightly Different Grading Criteria for this Application Project

AP criteria (total 100 points)