Description
A director discusses and advises students on how to deliver the ‘Queen Mab’ speech from Act 1 Scene 4 of William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The meaning of specific Shakespearean references is discussed and tips for performance are given. A final production of the scene performed by the students is included.
Classroom Ideas
Before watching the clip, ask students to work in small groups to create an improvisation showing a group of friends teasing one of them about a relationship. Discuss the type of teasing in the Queen Mab speech and allow them to use their own language - within reason! Watch them and discuss the intimacy between friends as they banter with each other. Watch the clip and then read the scene, exploring the language used by Shakespeare. Ask them to create the scene using similar movement and body language from their improvisations, but this time with Shakespeare’s language. Alternatively, you could read the scene and then get them to write their own modern day version and perform these, returning to Shakespeare’s language at the end.
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