Hamlet – Year 6
Literacy Framework Objectives

Develop drama techniques to explore in role a variety of situations and texts or respond to stimuli

Work collaboratively to devise and present scripted and unscripted pieces that maintain the attention of an audience, and reflect on and evaluate their own
presentations and those of others

Improvise using a range of drama strategies and conventions to explore themes such as hopes, fears and desires

Consider the overall impact of a live performance, identifying dramatic ways of conveying characters’ ideas and building tension
Activity
Purpose
Sit in a circle. Recap on last week’s lesson when Polonius found Hamlet’s love letters to his daughter
To encourage the
and he paraded them thoughtlessly in front of Ophelia and the King. Recap the ‘honey trap’ where
children to
Ophelia will be used as ‘bait’ to seek out the cause of Hamlet’s madness. Ask the children to imagine
how Ophelia is feeling waiting for Hamlet to arrive knowing that she has to return his love letters,
against her will, under the secret watchful eye of her father and the King. If you were Ophelia, I want
you and a partner to write one sentence explaining her thoughts at that moment, waiting alone.
Drama Strategy
Writing in role
experience a
situation from
Ophelia’s point of
view by having
her thoughts
You and your partner must say your line out loud three times. Decide if you will say the whole line
To make choices
Voice work –
together, or partition the line between you. Say the line out loud in different voices such as:
on how a line can
expression/tone/
Angry, sad, pleading, distraught, calmly, distractedly, stage whisper etc. whole class to speak their
lines at the same time. Ask pairs to choose how to say their lines. Walk behind the children as each
pair say their line. Children to review performances and look at opportunities for improvement. Check
children know the order in which their line comes and who they follow.
be delivered and
decide on its
Volume/style
effect on an
audience
All pairs to find a space in the room facing in different directions as if acting ‘in the round’. They need
To use movement
Moving image
to make a frozen image to begin their sentence, a movement whilst saying it and a frozen image to
and gesture
theatre
finish. Discuss possible downfalls of trying to make literal actions for every word in the sentence.
Evaluate and improve.
imaginatively to
express a
character’s
emotion or
dilemma
Performance. Run the children’s own version of Ophelia’s soliloquy . Discuss its impact on the audience.
To recognise the
Whole class
difference
performance
between
rehearsal and
performance
carousel
The Meeting – Hamlet & Ophelia – script based
To be able to
Performance
Using an abridged version of the text. Split text into 8 parts (text attached). Put each group around
perform
Carousel
an imaginary circle. Decide on a frozen image and then add the lines with movement. Multiple Ophelias
and Hamlets help children to learn shorter lines, giving way to pieces of paper that restrict acting.
Rehearse/perform and evaluate.
Shakespeare’s
language showing
an understanding
of the meaning
Enter as Polonius – call the children together and explain that there will be a night of great merriment.
To be able to
Teacher in role
After all the sadness in the court, the King has requested that tonight be a celebration. Actors will be
improvise and
Options –
arriving to put on a play. A stage needs to be built, food to be cooked, decorations to be put up – etc
etc. Whole class improvisation ensues. (to break down the improvisation, each small group could freeze
and decide on one line they could say in role – when you tap them on the shoulder they could say their
stay in role in a
whole class
improvisation
high/medium/low
status
line. You could bring each group to life one at a time until everyone is working at the same time.)
Option 2 – rather than staying as Polonius, inspecting the work in a high status role, become a low
status role – work with the pupils and ask for help in how to do things such as an ‘unsure banquet
organiser’ or a gossipy new chef asking about the deaths and madness in the court
Enter as Hamlet in role – greeting the players, explain that you have a surprise for the King that you
To be able to
know he will love. Lay it on thickly how much you love your father-in-law and how he will love the
create
surprise play. You are going to create a new style of play that you heard about at university called
silent movies. There is no sound but only actions. Therefore, every action must be exaggerated! Find a
space in the room. Show me theatre love……………now show me Silent movie love!!!! Show me a silent
movie villain! Show, review and evaluate. Ask each group to take a card with a break down of the scene
they must film and a flip camera in which to record it. (scene breakdown cards below) Also there must
be a speech writer who writes commentary on white boards. Pupils rehearse. If time, peer assess
putting two groups together and then film when whole class watches each scene.
exaggerated
actions to convey
emotions
To be able to
make a short,
silent movie
As Hamlet, explain that you are very excited to see the King’s reactions to these new films at the
entertainment tonight!!!
Resources: paper, pencils, Abridged text, Character and scene cards, flip cameras, white boards and pens
Young Shakespeare Series – Active Approaches to Hamlet by Sarah Gordon & Christopher Geelan Tel: 0208 368 4828
Silent Movie
GROUP 1 – 1 Ophelia/1 Hamlet
OPHELIA
Good my Lord, how does your honour for this many a day?
HAMLET
I humbly thank you; well, well, well
GROUP 2 – 3 Ophelias/1 Hamlet
OPHELIA
My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
That I have longed long to re-deliver;
I pray you, now receive them.
HAMLET
No, not I; I never gave you aught
GROUP 3 – 3 Ophelias/1 hamlet
OPHELIA
My honour’d lord, you know right well you did;
And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed
There, my lord
HAMLET
I did love you once
GROUP 4 – 1 Ophelia/1 Hamlet
OPHELIA
Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so
HAMLET
You should not have believed me; I loved you not
OPHELIA
I was the more deceived
GROUP 5 – 3 hamlets/1 Ophelia
HAMLET
Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where’s your father?
OPHELIA
(looking away) At home, my lord
GROUP 6 – 2 Hamlets/1 Ophelia
HAMLET
Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool no where but in’s own house. Farewell.
OPHELIA
O, help him, you sweet heavens!
GROUP 7 – 4 hamlets
HAMLET
Get thee to a nunnery, go: farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wisemen know well enough what monsters you make of them. To a
nunnery, go, and quickly too. Farewell.
GROUP 8 – 1 Ophelia, 1 Hamlet
OPHELIA
O heavenly powers, restore him!
HAMLET
Go to, I’ll no more on’t; it hath made me mad.
Act One
Taking a walk in the orchard
The Duke and Duchess say goodbye lovingly to their son and leave the palace to take a walk in their orchards. They are very much in love. The Duke’s brother looks on,
green with jealousy.
Act Two
In the orchard
The Duke is tired and goes for his afternoon sleep in the orchard. The wicked brother watches him from behind a tree. The Duchess accompanies him on the ground, lies by
his side until he’s asleep and then removes his crown to leave him sleeping peacefully.
Act Three
In the orchard
The Duke’s brother enters with a poisonous potion, like a pantomime villain. He pours poison in the Duke’s ear and begins to tiptoe off cackling. The Duke grabs his ear
and dies a long and painful death, reaching towards his brother for help. His brother ignores him.
Act Four
In the orchard
The Duchess discovers the body. She enters singing merrily, tries to wake him up, screams and falls to the ground crying.
Act Five
In the Palace
The wicked brother wears the Duke’s crown and marries the Duchess and becomes Duke of all the land. The Duchess’s son looks sad and still grieves for his father.
Act 1 –
Director/Hamlet
Duke
Duchess
Son
Duke’s brother
Sign writer/holder/sound effect maker
Act 2 -
Director/Hamlet
Duke
Duchess
Duke’s brother
Sign writer/holder/sound effect maker
Act 3 -
Director/Hamlet
Duke
Duke’s brother
Sign writer/holder/sound effect maker
Act 4 -
Director/Hamlet
Duke
Duchess
Son
Sign writer/holder/sound effect maker
Act 5 -
Director/Hamlet
Duke’s brother
Duchess
Priest
Son
Sign writer/holder/sound effect maker
Hamlet – Year 6
Literacy Framework Objectives

Work collaboratively to devise and present scripted pieces that maintain the attention of an audience, and reflect on and evaluate their own presentations and
those of others

Consider the overall impact of a live performance, identifying dramatic ways of conveying characters’ ideas and building tension
Activity
Purpose
Drama
Strategy
Sit in a circle. Recap on last week’s lesson when Hamlet was pretending to be mad and his reaction
To encourage the
when he knew the players were coming tonight. He needed proof before seeking revenge for his
children to examine
father’s murder and he realised, “the play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King’.
But now, his mind is spinning again with different questions. We are going to look at his thoughts and
see if we can decipher what he is feeling and thinking from his confused and jumbled mind. Give each
pair a line from an abridged version of ‘to be or not to be’. Walk around the back of the circle and say
Hamlet’s mind and to
develop their own
interpretation of the
famous speech
each line. ( This technique is taken from the Young Shakespeare series) Ask the children what they
think Hamlet is saying? Ask them to come up with their thoughts and how they can back up their ideas.
By the end, each pair would have an idea of the emotion that their line represents.
You and your partner must say your line out loud three times. Decide if you will say the whole line
To make choices on how a
Voice work –
together, or partition the line between you. Say the line out loud in different voices such as:
line can be delivered and
expression/
Angry, sad, pleading, distraught, calmly, distractedly, stage whisper etc. whole class to speak their
lines at the same time. Ask pairs to choose how to say their lines. Walk behind the children as each
decide on its effect on an
audience
tone/
Volume/style
pair say their line. Children to review performances and look at opportunities for improvement. Check
children know the order in which their line comes and who they follow.
All pairs to find a space in the room facing in different directions as if acting ‘in the round’. They need
To use movement and
Moving image
to make a frozen image to begin their sentence, a movement whilst saying it and a frozen image to
gesture imaginatively to
theatre
finish. Discuss possible downfalls of trying to make literal actions for every word in the sentence.
Evaluate and improve.
express a character’s
emotion or dilemma
Resources: Abridged version of Hamlet’s ‘to be or not to be’, Young Shakespeare Series – Active Approaches to Hamlet by Sarah Gordon &
Christopher Geelan Tel: 0208 368 4828
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
To die: to sleep; No more;
and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache
and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,
'tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd.
To die, to sleep – to sleep, perchance to dream:
ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause…….Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia!