Act 1, Scene 1
Getting started
“Now I am alone”:
The soliloquy
Materials needed:
A small “stage” area; can be at front of classroom; a class set of the “Soliloquies” text (see
below); a book such as Swan of Avon that
includes a drawing of the theaters of Shakespeare’s time
Time needed:
10-40 minutes, depending on class response
(be flexible and have a backup plan)
Students participating:
students volunteering one at a time
One amazing new element of Shakespeare for
most students is that the performers sometimes speak directly to the audience. This is
not something most kids experience in plays
they might have seen. This solo speech is
called a soliloquy. Sometimes, as in Hamlet’s
case, they can last for five minutes; other
times they are just a few moments. In them, a
character can share inner thoughts by speaking
them out loud.
The idea of the soliloquy takes some getting
used to for kids. The first one in Midsummer
is by Helena, who bemoans her problems with
Demetrius. “Who is she talking to?” we ask
the kids. Someone will offer, “Herself?” That’s
true in a way, but there’s a second layer to it,
so we ask, “Who else is there in the same space
with that actor, at that moment?” “Oh -- the
audience...!”
This exercise is very simple, just like the one
above. It works because once you’ve established this as fun to try, most kids will want
to give it a shot. If only a few want to try it,
move on to the next piece. Be ready to keep
the exercise short if the kids are still holding back. It’s good to have a “Plan B” activity
waiting, either another language activity or
one of the “Area 1” games.
If you are focusing on Midsummer, use the
“Midsummer soliloquies” sheet here. This
exercise can obviously be adapted for any play.
Whatever you use, however, it’s best to trim it
down to just 4-8 lines so kids can get a taste
of the speech without getting tangled in too
much new language.
1. Show a drawing of the Globe theater during an imagined performance – there is a good
one in the book Swan of Avon. Introduce the
idea of the intimacy between player and audience in Shakespeare’s time: sharing the same
light (daylight), only being a few feet a part,
with the player almost surrounded by people,
high and low. Discuss how this gave Shakespeaare the opportunity for a special sort of
relationship with the audience.
2. Write out the word “soliloquy” and have
the kids repeat it after you, perhaps even copy
the spelling. Discuss the root of the word
– “soli” as in solo or solitary, “loquy” as in
“language” or talking.
3. Pass out the example soliloquies. Read
them aloud and explain the setting of each
one. Then ask the students to imagine that the
front of the room is the stage of the “miniGlobe” and that the class is the audience. So
now, the object is to see what it’s like to perform a bit of a soliliquy and make eye contact
with the audience.
4. Model this first for the students. Text in
hand, pause on certain words or at moments
of punctuation to make eye contact with different kids. Share the eye contact around the
room very deliberately.
5. As the students to discuss how you did
this. Why not just look at one person the
whole time? Students will begin to see how
the soliloquy does a few things at once: sheds
light on the character, builds a bond between
the character and the audience, and invites the
whole audience into feeling more involved in
the play. All three are important.
6. Ask for volunteers and allow students
to take a shot at these. By the way, as with
anything we do, “boys can play girls, girls can
play boys.” The emphasis is on the words and
the practice, so encourage boys to use Helena’s
words (they don’t have to “act like a girl”) and
girls to try Oberon’s words.
7. As with the two-character scenes in the
previous exercise, the repetition by different
students should begin to result in a growing
expressiveness. As before, stop to highlight key
words. Have students underline or highlight
these and give them extra emphasis. Work
on fluency and volume; you can also challenge students to learn 1-2 lines of one of the
speeches so they can try doing it without the
text in hand.
8. Challenge the students to try to learn one
of the mini-speeches over the next few days.
Some students may find it difficult at first to
learn more than one or two lines overnight,
but set a goal of everyone learning one of the
soliloquy pieces by the end of the week.