The final pages include a dessert recipe and other activity ideas. December 2000 issue. By Mike LoMonico. By Brenda Pinder, Ken Watson, et al. Rather than giving simple activities with specific answers the series provides thought-provoking, interactive lessons on such ideas as contemporary relevance, prose vs. poetic elements, performing Shakespeare, comedy, themes, film and theatrical interpretations, and personal response.
Activities require detailed student or group responses and an understanding of the play.
The plays profiled are Macbeth, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, and Romeo and Juliet. Sections range from 29 to 42 pages in length. Activities often require additional materials such as copies of the text or film versions of the plays. Grades 7 and up. Noted Shakespeare scholars mine a lode of background material to help students master each play s main plot, interwoven subjects, characters, and themes together with contemporary related issues.