#BraveNewWorld2015
@TheatreCloud
theatrecloud
learning
Exercises: Shakespeare in Brave New World
4 September - 5 December 2015 UK Tour
Explain that in the play Brave New World, John the Savage was given the book The
Complete Works of Shakespeare at an early age and absorbed it all: He often uses
the language of Shakespeare to express what he is feeling, mostly in edited and mix
and match form.
John describes the works of William Shakespeare as:
“The words inside the book were so strange, like drums at summer dances, if
drums could speak. Like magic, but magic that’s about me...”
ÜÜ
Ask students what they think he means by this statement.
ÜÜ
Explain the term Iambic Pentameter as a five-beat meter of rhythm that is a
useful way of connecting with the energy of the language of Shakespeare’s
plays.
ÜÜ
Conduct a simple ‘call and response’ exercise where you clap a beat and ask
the students to clap it back to you – this should be a mix of simple and more
complicated
ÜÜ
The final call out that they respond to should be iambic pentameter – te-tum,
te-tum, te-tum, te-tum, te-tum.
ÜÜ
Repeat this but instead of clapping with your hands, tap your chest to indicate
the link to a human heart beat and explain that one of the reasons people think
it’s a useful rhythm is because of that connection to our hearts and so that if
there are any changes to this – it is often a clue to the emotion of the character
Brave New World 2015
Resources © TCTC
theatrecloud.com/learning
1
theatrecloud
theatrecloud
Exercises: Shakespeare in Brave New World
(continued)
Exercises: Shakespeare in Brave New World
(continued)
ÜÜ
ÜÜ
You could test out an auctioning exercise to offer students deeper understanding
of this speech:
──
──
──
──
Stand in a circle with everybody having a copy of speech
Read it through altogether
Say that for each line we’re going to choose the most important two-four words.
Ask the group which is the first most important word in the line O, she doth
teach the torches to burn bright!
For whatever word they offer, get them to suggest an indicating action
All should then say the words with the accompanying action
Choose one or two more of these for that line and repeat so that as a group you
have created an active version of the text
Then divide the group into seven smaller groups – one for each line and they
should repeat the action exercise
All should show back their actions, staying in a circle and all copying back to the
demonstrating circle group
Try and say it through altogether with all the actions
Ask the group for repetition of themes, imagery and words and how this can
give us a deeper understanding of the text being spoken – even if we don’t
fully understand every word that’s being said, the rhythm and the sound of the
words can help us to connect with the intention of the character
learning
learning
There is a similarity to a horse galloping too and so demonstrate this rhythm
with a small gallop te-tum, te-tum, te-tum, te-tum, te-tum where your second
foot hits harder than the first. Now, while galloping say a line of Shakespeare
for example: O, she doth teach the torch-es to burn bright! With the stress on
the underlined syllables
ÜÜ
Have this line visible and ask students to gallop and speak the line to the same
rhythm
ÜÜ
Try some other bits of Shakespeare text that might be relevant to the students
other learning and ask them to gallop them (you might have these pre-prepared
on small sections of paper for handing out)
ÜÜ
Offer them the line “To be, or not to be, that is the question” and ask them to
gallop it – becoming aware hopefully that there’s an extra beat to this and how
this can leave us with a question or something unresolved – explain that this
device is often useful in gaining a deeper understanding of the language
ÜÜ
Explain that it’s actually a very natural rhythm for us to speak in and so
they shouldn’t worry too much about it as a form but by being aware of the
technicalities of it and embodying and physicalising the language, we can often
forge a deeper connection to it
And when he first sees Lenina sleeping John exclaims to himself:
“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
ÜÜ
Read it through, at least once, as a whole group
ÜÜ
From students’ knowledge of the story of Romeo and Juliet open a discussion
around what this might indicate about the relationship between John and
Lenina and the possibilities for parallels that might occur and predictions they
could make
theatrecloud.com/learning
──
──
──
──
Towards the end of the play, the World Controller Margaret Mond reveals why Art
and Literature have been banned in the new world order.
This is a slightly edited version of the speech that Romeo speaks when he first
sees Juliet in Shakespeare’s play of that name.
Brave New World 2015
Resources © TCTC
──
──
──
2
ÜÜ
Read the scene section through in pairs and talk through any Shakespeare
references within it. For example “there are more things in heaven and earth
than are dreamed of in your philosophy” said by Hamlet to Horatio in the play
Hamlet after they have seen the ghost of Hamlet’s father and in reference to
their philosophical conversations as students together. Consider where the
reference to The Tempest comes from in what John says.
ÜÜ
Ask students to put the scene on its feet considering to what extent they agree
or disagree with the two views being stated by Margaret and John
ÜÜ
Share these back with the whole group and facilitate a discussion about the
different perspectives offered and what kind of world the characters are
inhabiting and whether that has any resonance to today’s society
Brave New World 2015
Resources © TCTC
theatrecloud.com/learning
3
theatrecloud
theatrecloud
Exercises: Shakespeare in Brave New World
Scene from Brave New World Adaptation by Dawn King
Version One (continued)
learning
learning
Scene from Brave New World Adaptation by Dawn King
Version One
JOHN: ...and sin.
MARGARET: Ah. Sin. Another dangerous old idea. You don’t believe in God, do you?
JOHN: I believe in good and evil. And I believe… that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy.
MARGARET: Our ‘sins’ are simple pleasures… that give delight and hurt not.
JOHN: You don’t see the hurt. I do.
MARGARET: Have you tried Soma, John?
JOHN: MARGARET: Of course. You’ve read The Tempest.
MARGARET: I’ve read Shakespeare, The Bible, and the works of many philosophers. I have a safe room full of banned books, and old paintings and artworks as well.
JOHN:
The poison that you use to blunt your minds and pacify your slaves?
JOHN: I know what a slave is.
Why ban works of beauty, if you like them?
MARGARET: Beautiful old things might give people big ideas, make them think there’s more to life than personal fulfilment. We need them content, working to buy new things. That keeps the economy moving.
JOHN: Why can’t you make new things that are like Shakespeare?
MARGARET: Our world isn’t the same as Shakespeare’s world. You can’t make drama without emotional or social instability, both of which we have eradicated. We’ve sacrificed high art for world peace. I think it’s a fair trade.
JOHN: There is hunger and sickness here. In your minds and your souls.
MARGARET: Surely you must know what true hunger is like, true pain? There’s no comparison.
JOHN: Your world is distraction, pleasure, and...
MARGARET: And work. Don’t forget work.
Brave New World 2015
Resources © TCTC
theatrecloud.com/learning
1
Brave New World 2015
Resources © TCTC
theatrecloud.com/learning
2