English 533 , Section 1, Schedule 21212
San Diego State University, Fall 2014
TTH 9:30–10:45, AH 4176
Dr. Edith Frampton Office hours:
T/Th 8-9 a.m., AL-288 & by appoint.
eframpto@mail.sdsu.edu; 594-6232
From Kempe's Nine Days’ Wonder (1600) – Will Kempe was one of the principal actors of Shakespeare's earlier plays.
Shakespeare Comes Alive!
Welcome! William Shakespeare wrote plays to be seen and heard in live, collaborative, public performances, rather than to be read silently in private. Many of his works weren’t even published during his lifetime. In this course, we’ll attempt to experience Shakespeare’s plays as closely as possible to the way in which they were intended to be appreciated, by listening to, watching, and performing them, in addition to reading them. The emphasis will be on dramatic works as blueprints for collaborative productions. We’ll therefore be attentive to Early Modern English, theatrical spaces, performance techniques, social hierarchies, and cultural practices. While we’ll thus situate Shakespeare’s writing within its original historical contexts, we’ll also address ourselves to the ways in which it is read, performed, and understood today. In addition to reading six of Shakespeare’s plays, we’ll have the opportunity to attend two professional productions together at the world-renowned Old Globe Theatre in
Balboa Park. Active participation in class discussions, debates, and projects is a key component of the course, helping to further develop your interpersonal and public speaking skills. The class includes a semester-long collaborative group project, which includes the analysis of a selected play text, pertinent research on that play, the creation of a production plan for staging the play, and a final presentation and performance by your group. There will also be two essays, a midterm, and a final exam.
Expected Learning Outcomes on which Assessment Will Be Based
Students completing this course successfully will be able to:
• constructively contribute to discussions and debates about aspects of Shakespeare’s plays and their performance
• accurately
respond to questions about language, plot, characters, themes, contexts, and performances of the plays
• fully research a selected play in order to present on it and write about it with accuracy and academic honesty
• create informative, engaging, pertinent presentations, working with group members, to present to the class
• patiently collaborate with other students on group projects and discussions, demonstrating tolerance of others
• confidently articulate ideas to the class, in the form of a group presentation and a memorized performance
• invest the time to compose carefully argued, well-structured, fully supported essays
Required Texts **Be sure to get an edition with good notes.**
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594?), As You Like It (1599?), The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597?),
Pericles (1607?),
The Winter’s Tale
(1611?), + one more to be determined by group choices
Required Course Work and Grading: 1000 total points possible Grading Scale
140: attendance & prepared participation (5 pts each for 28 classes) A = 1000-920 C = 769-720
60: contributions to class-wide discussions (3 pts per contribution) A- = 919-900 C- = 719-700
200: two five-page essays B+ = 899-870 D+ = 699-670
200: midterm exam
150: final exam
250: final research project and presentation, including essay
B = 869-820 D = 669-620
B- = 819-800 D- = 619-600
C+ = 799-770 F = 599 - 0

Class Procedure
While class sessions will often include a lecture, on which you should take notes, this course will be conducted as a seminar, in which the emphasis will be on discussion , either among the class as a whole or within smaller groups. You are therefore expected to come to class having done the reading very carefully and be ready to participate fully in the analysis of that reading. This is an extremely important aspect of the class and is weighted correspondingly in your final grade. You are further expected to arrive promptly and stay until the end of every class, since arriving late and leaving early is very disruptive.
Punctual attendance is included in the final grade. You will receive points for each day of attendance and additional points for contributions made in class. Points will be deducted for late arrival, early departure, inappropriate use of a cell phone or the Internet during class, or any disruptive or distracting behaviour. The current reading should always accompany you to class.
Midterm Exam, Final Exam, and Essays
The midterm and final exams are intended to be rigorous enough to motivate you to read and watch carefully and to pay close attention in class, since doing so will ensure that you will perform successfully on them. They will cover significant components of the assigned reading, class discussions, lectures, and presentations. You will be required to identify characters, main events, themes, and prominent passages, as well as demonstrating knowledge of pertinent historical and performance information. You may only make up a missed exam if you provide official documentation of your absence, such as a doctor’s note or a death certificate . Separate guidelines for the essays will be handed out in class.
Collaborative Project and Presentation (separate handout with more detailed guidelines provided)
Throughout the semester, you will be collaborating on a group project that will be presented in
November or December. Early on, your group will select a play not covered in our class, from a list to be provided. Your group members will individually read the selected play and then analyze it together during class sessions designated for this, with the goal of teaching the rest of the class about it. The final presentations will have two components: a ten-minute overview of the play and a twenty-minute, fully memorized, and creatively staged group performance of a scene or group of edited scenes.
In order to create a cohesive performance, early in the semester, your group will select a pertinent theme, motif, or incident in the play, upon which to build a unified and engaging “ production concept ,” as if you were going to be producing the entire play together in a theatre somewhere. You will then together choose a twenty-minute scene or edited set of scenes to memorize completely , rehearse, and perform for the class, in keeping with your production concept. This should be as fully staged as possible, in order to provide an informative and entertaining performance that brings the play to life for us.
In addition to creating a character and memorizing lines, each of you will choose one different area of production expertise for which you will be individually responsible, such as set, props, costumes, blocking, make-up, stage fighting, sound, music, or special effects. All of your group’s production choices should be guided by the production concept upon which you have agreed together. There will be designated class time, throughout the semester, for your group to rehearse your scene(s) and overview of the play for the class.
At the end of the semester, you will each hand in an essay focused on your group play, as described in the separate project guidelines. You are welcome to use any sources for your research, but you must cite all of your sources for both quoted material and ideas , including a Works Cited that follows MLA guidelines. If you wish to make reference to the words or ideas of someone else in your writing, you are required to fully and accurately acknowledge your source(s). Plagiarism will be reported to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities and will result in an F for the course .
Special Needs
Students who need accommodation of their disabilities should contact me privately to discuss specific accommodations for which they have received authorization. If you have a disability, but have not contacted Student Disability Services, at 619-594-6473 (Calpulli Center, Suite 3101), please do so, and please also make an appointment with me to discuss any accommodations that you might need.

You are responsible for carefully reading the assignment listed and any additional handouts .
Date Assignment to be completed BEFORE this class In-class plan
T 8/26 Syllabus; introductions; show sign up
Th 8/28 Print/read: “The Sixteenth Century” on BlackBd; buy Lecture: The Rise of Tudor Britain;
books & folder; sign contract; do written assignment; pay $27 cash for two tickets
get $27 cash for two tickets to bring to class
T 9/2 Read: Two Gents , Acts 1-2 + all accompanying notes; The Making of Shakespeare consider group play options (clips: In Search of Shakespeare ); groups choose plays for project
Th 9/4 Read: Two Gents , Act 3 + all accompanying notes; Lecture: Shakespeare’s Poetic Lan- get copy of group play WITH GOOD NOTES guage, Blank Verse, & Scansion
T 9/9 Read: Two Gents , Acts 4-5 + all accompanying notes; Lecture: Two Gents Themes & Plot
read: Act 1 of group play + all accompanying notes
Th 9/11 Read: Acts 2-3 of group play + accompanying notes Staging Two Gents: visit from Old
Globe Theatre Teaching Artist
Sunday, 9/14 Optional Performance of The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Old Globe Theatre,
T 9/16 Write essay
Balboa Park ***ARRIVE AT 6:15 P.M.***
, following separate guidelines Discussion: Two Gents in performance; essay due
Th 9/18 Read: As You Like It , Act 1 + all accompanying notes Lecture: Elizabethan theatres & read: Act 4 of group play + accompanying notes performance practices; group project work: discuss/analyze group play; choose production
concept, & scene(s) to be performed
T 9/23 Read: As You , Acts 2-3 + accompanying notes; Lecture: As You Like It and the read: Act 5 of group play + accompanying notes Pastoral Tradition
Th 9/25 Read: As You , Acts 4-5 + all accompanying
notes
Lecture: As You Like It and
Renaissance cross-dressing; group
project work: assign parts & tasks
T 9/30 Read: The Merry Wives of Windsor , Acts 1-2 + notes
Lecture: “Citizen” or “City” Comedies;
Falstaff, and the Order of the Garter
Th 10/2 Read: The Merry Wives of Windsor , Act 3 + notes Group project work: rehearse
T 10/7 Read: The Merry Wives of Windsor , Act 3-5 + notes Debate: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Th 10/9 Start memorizing lines for group performance Midterm review; groups: assign
T 10/14 Study for midterm exam production elements to members
Midterm exam; peer-reviewed essays

Th 10/16 Continue memorizing lines for presentation;
start researching/brainstorming about your individual production element
T 10/21 Read:
The Winter’s Tale
, Acts 1-2 + notes
Th 10/23 Read:
The Winter’s Tale
, Act 3 + notes;
T 10/28 Read:
The Winter’s Tale
, Act 4-5 + notes
Th 10/30 Read: Pericles , Act 1 + notes
T 11/4 Read: Pericles , Act 2-3 + notes
Th 11/6 Read: Pericles , Act 4-5 + notes
T 11/11 Finish play memorization, costuming, etc.
Th 11/13 Finish final project
Go over midterm;
Lecture:
& King James
Discussion:
Lecture:
Lecture: Pericles
Discussion: groups: rehearse
The Winter’s Tale
, Bohemia
The Winter’s Tale
Winter’s Tale
Pericles
Group work: rehearse
Lecture/Discussion:
,
, Time, Choices
Pericles
Final Presentation Dress Rehearsals
Sunday, 11/16 Optional Performance of Pericles: Old Globe Theatre,
Balboa Park ***ARRIVE AT 1:15 P.M.***
T 11/18 Finish final project/work on essay Group 1&2 Project Presentations;
T 11/20 Finish final project/work on essay
essay due
Group 3&4 Project Presentations
T 11/25 Finish final project/work on essay Group 5&6 Project Presentations
THANKSGIVING BREAK
T 12/2 Finish final project/work on essay Group 7&8 Project Presentations
Th 12/4 Finish final project/work on essay Group 9&10 Project Presentations
T 12/9 Prepare questions on/for final exam; Review for final exam; final project finish final project essay component & proofread essay due
Th 12/11 Study for final Final exam 8 - 10 a.m.
From a 1616 engraving of London by Claes Jansz Visscher (1587-1652)