Shakespearience in the GCSE classroom: Shakespeare and GCSE coursework.

Thomas, Peter

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For many youngsters, Shakespeare is encountered as a duty, an obligation or a test of Reading. They may be aware, or have been told, that there is some benefit to be gained from the encounter, but they may not be sure what the benefit is or what use it will be to them. And it doesn't help if their previous Shakespeare experience has amounted to preparation for precisely tariffed questions testing Reading for SATs.

The gap between Shakespeare the playwright and Shakespeare the means of national assessment of youthful literacy is wide, unhelpful but understandable. Shakespeare's plays were appreciated in his day by the educated and by those who would not have met a government target of level 4 in literacy: his scripts democratised theatre-going by being unashamedly popular in appeal and variety. As a democratic entertainer he presented on stage the fears, joys and dreams of all, irrespective of rank or wealth or education, and he presented them for all, irrespective of rank or wealth or education. The challenge is to reconnect modern audiences with the same popular theatrical appeal.

If Shakespeare is to be accessible and appealing, the experience needs to be something other than tests of Reading. If Shakespeare can be prised out of the niche marked 'Literature', and 'Reading' becomes a route to 'Performance', youngsters may get closer to his craft, and with more confidence and pleasure. Surprisingly, in an increasingly directed and prescribed curriculum, GCSE can be a help in this. If the focus is on Shakespeare as a dramatist, GCSE coursework can be made more than essays (or 'S.A's' as they are sometimes labelled ...) on books.

GCSE specification requirements

GCSE allows teacher choice of text, teacher choice of task and teacher assessment. GCSE also defines the area of study as 'Shakespeare', rather than a named play. Coursework does not, therefore, have to be based on a single play--or be based on a whole play. Assessment Objectives can effectively be met by comparing parts of two (or even three) plays. This does not mean reduced scope, but closer focus: it rarely advantages candidates when they write about a whole play.

The assessment objectives are helpfully framed to value response and exploration, not just comprehension and knowledge.

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Grade criteria reinforce the importance of addressing Shakespeare's dramatic craft. The AQA criteria specify for Grade C 'insight into characters, structure and stagecraft'; for Grade B 'analytical skill in exploring characterisation, structure and theatricality'; Grade A 'analytical and interpretive skill in evaluating significant achievements within the dramatic genre' and Grade A* 'originality of analysis and interpretation when evaluating Shakespeare's stagecraft and appeal to audience'. There can be no clearer signal to teachers that they need to avoid lengthy character descriptions, plot outlines and invitations to judge who is most to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

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Social, cultural and historical contexts 'SCH' is most obviously about ideas, values and attitudes displayed in the plays which are similar to or different from those of today. This gives useful direction to teachers wanting to explore notions of honour and virtue, attitudes to race, class, marriage, gender, justice or politics. It is equally about Shakespeare's writing for a contemporary audience and for a contemporary stage. This means addressing features of SCH and theatricality and stagecraft as inextricably linked.

Theatricality, stagecraft and audience appeal

Prompting students to see Shakespeare's scriptcraft as adaptation to his stage, his audience and his actors demands a practical approach to his texts:

* Shakespeare's theatre lacked resources of sound amplification, scenery and lighting. His scripts therefore had to be written for vocalizing in an open daytime space.

* Shakespeare's audience was mixed and not reverently, patiently seated in comfortable darkness. It needed variety, pace and interest. Whilst Shakespeare could cater for an educated elite in performances at court and grand houses, most of what he wrote was for a public playhouse and a paying public. Appealing to the varied tastes of this wide audience meant putting together plays with something for everybody: comedy, violence, romance, suspense and references to current and past events in English life and history. Those best pleased by verbal abuse, drunkenness and foolery could enjoy Falstaff, Sir Toby Belch, Petruchio; others best pleased by witty puns, parodies and conceits could enjoy the subtler parts of Much Ado, Twelfth Night and Hamlet. But each play had something for both tastes.

* Shakespeare's actors needed speech and action prompts embedded in their scripts as they could not be given the whole text and directions for fear of rivals' plundering in the absence of laws of copyright.

Assignment setting

Bearing in mind the conditions above, it becomes more worthwhile to see how Shakespeare made use of the limited resources available to him--and how the script may be differently served in the different cultural context of a modern audience and medium. Specification guidance includes recommended tasks which match assessment objectives, such as:

analysis of the dramatic qualities of one or more scenes, related
to performance issues and/or alternative interpretations & related
to the text as a whole, showing how these may be influenced by SCH
factors, or by different cultural contexts.

If the priority is engaging with the dramatic qualities of Shakespeare's scripts, choosing the bits that work is essential. So is playing the scenes in the classroom to see their potential for performance--and studying video versions for different directorial decisions. Getting to grips with technique doesn't require reading the whole of Much Ado: comparing the comic, ironic and realistic qualities of the two gulling scenes does the trick. Comparing one of these gulling scenes with the gulling of Malvolio in Twelfth Night does the trick, too. So does comparing either of these comic scenes of deception with more sombre scenes of deception in Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Richard III or ... whatever arises out of teacher enthusiasm and expertise. The point is that the approach is liberating. Teachers have few freedoms in the curriculum these days, so it's worth making the most of this one.

As a sample of what becomes possible, try this scene from Troilus and Cressida where Shakespeare is doing his best to make his bare stage flexible and dynamic in order to sustain interest and appeal. Where a lesser scriptwriter would have the scene dominated by a single level of interest, he manages to bring off a coup using the device available to a modern film director of a split screen. Cressida has a secret meeting with her passionate suitor, Diomedes, who wants her to give him the love-token scarf given her by her lover, Troilus. Romantic interest assured? Will-she/ Won't-she suspense guaranteed? Women's fickleness or constancy--of interest to a largely male audience?

Now the stagecraft cleverness: Shakespeare makes the scene even more subtle and complex. He brings on stage, as secret observers of this private scene, no other than Troilus himself, and his friend Achilles. Irony? Tragedy? Suspicion/Fear? Trust/Dismay/Revenge? Loads of. Now the ultimate coup. Watching these two watching the other two is Thersites, the mouthy, insubordinate, dirty-minded rogue who delights in the miseries of his social superiors. He comments lewdly on what he sees between Cressida and Diomedes, and on what he sees of Troilus and Achilles watching them. Cressida and Diomedes are unaware of their watchers, and the watchers are unaware that they are being watched, watching. So, what we have is a complex mix of dramatic relationships--between Diomedes and Cressida, unaware of how their meeting affects the jealous and betrayed Troilus--and Thersites, who comments to the audience on what he sees and wants to see.

Now that's what I call stagecraft. The scene is presented here in three different fonts to emphasise the three components of this elaborate bit of theatrical construction.

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I don't suppose colleagues will be tempted to set an assignment on this scene as it stands, but they may be prompted to find something similarly suitable to illustrate Shakespeare's craft in whatever play they have chosen, or in others that seem to offer the same. There are 38 plays to dig into, after all, and I can't think of a better excuse to use initiative and expertise creatively, as well as have students enjoy some active performance in the classroom.

GCSE Literature AOs

AO1 Respond to texts, sensitively, critically and in detail, selecting appropriate ways to present their response, using textual evidence as appropriate

AO2 Explore how language, form and style contribute to the meanings of texts, considering different approaches to texts and alternative interpretations

AO3 Explore relationships and comparisons between texts, selecting and evaluating relevant material

AO4 Relate texts to their social, cultural & historical contexts and literary traditions

For further reading, see The Complete Shakespearience (NATE--to be published December 2008).

For principles underlying this approach, see 'Shakespeare--A teachers' manifesto' (NATE Classroom, Issue 3, Autumn 2007--now published in the members' area of the NATE website, www.nate.org.uk).

For more details of how to match practical Shakespeare work to the requirements of GCSE, see 12 Ways of Improving Shakespeare coursework (AQA) by Peter Thomas.

See also RSC's Stand up for Shakespeare.

Peter Thomas

University of Hull

[Enter DIOMEDES]

DIOMEDES What, are you up here,
 ho? speak.

CALCHAS [Within] Who calls?

DIOMEDES Calchas, I think. Where's
 your daughter?

CALCHAS [Within] She comes to you.

[Enter TROILUS and ULYSSES, at a
distance; after them, THERSITES]

ULYSSES Stand where the torch
 may not discover us.

[Enter CRESSIDA]

TROILUS Cressid comes forth to
 him.

DIOMEDES How now, my charge!

CRESSIDA Now, my sweet guardian!
 Hark, a word with you
 [Whispers]

TROILUS Yea, so familiar!

ULYSSES She will sing any man
 at first sight.

THERSITES And any man may sing
 her, if he can take her
 cliff; she's noted.

DIOMEDES Will you remember?

CRESSIDA Remember! yes.

DIOMEDES Nay, but do, then. And let
 your mind be coupled with
 your words.

TROILUS What should she
 remember?

ULYSSES List.

CRESSIDA Sweet honey Greek, tempt
 me no more to folly.

THERSITES Roguery!

DIOMEDES Nay, then,--

CRESSIDA I'll tell you what,--

DIOMEDES Foh, foh! come, tell a pin:
 you are forsworn.

CRESSIDA In faith, I cannot: what
 would you have me do?

THERSITES A juggling trick--to be
 secretly open.

DIOMEDES What did you swear you
 would bestow on me?

CRESSIDA I prithee, do not hold me
 to mine oath; Bid me do
 any thing but that, sweet
 Greek.

DIOMEDES Good night.

TROILUS Hold, patience!

ULYSSES How now, Trojan!

CRESSIDA Diomed,--

DIOMEDES No, no, good night: I'll be
 your fool no more.

TROILUS Thy better must.

CRESSIDA Hark, one word in your
 ear.

TROILUS O plague and madness!