2. William Shakespeare More than a poet in tights.

3. A few interesting Facts about William Shakespeare… William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. He died in 1616… …on his birthday. Bummer.

4. Shakespeare created more than 1700 of our commonly-used words. Dawn Eyeball Gloomy Hobnob Bedroom Birthplace Cold-blooded TORTURE

5. What was a Shakespearean play like? Many people today think that a Shakespearean play must be crusty and boring.

6. …but a play by William Shakespeare had all of the things that make movies so popular today! Violence King Lear got his EYES gouged out!

7. LOVE! Romeo and Juliet could hardly wait until they got married!

8. Wild Parties Falstaff (Richard II) was ALWAYS drunk.

9. A Shakespearean play was a VERY exciting time in England. To get the right perspective, imagine the opening night of a hit movie by a very popular actor or director. That’s what going to a Shakespeare production was like!

10. Shakespeare presented his plays in the Globe TheatreGlobe Theatre

11. There were two types of seats an audience member could get… The upper-class English citizen could sit in the Gallery…. … They had benches to sit on, and could buy pillows for their backsides.

12. …while the less fortunate people had to stand on the ground!

13. But being a groundling wasn’t all bad. Quite often, the groundlings would take part in ‘audience participation’. They would bring bags of tomatoes, old potatoes, etc….. If a ‘bad guy’ walked onto the stage…he would often get pelted with stinky vegetables. Keep that in mind next time you’re at the movies.

14. The Globe was an open-air theatre. Why do you think this is important?

15. The Globe was an open-air theatre. The audience was open to the weather (really only an issue for the groundlings). Shakespeare had to describe things like the moon, the sun, windstorms, etc by writing them into his script, or pointing to pictures of the sun and moon.

17. But Shakespeare is so tough to understand, with all the ‘thou’s and ‘wherefore’s’ and ‘heretowhithers’….I don’t understand! No problem….

18. Shakespearean plays are not meant to be read silently….. …..plays need to be watched!

19. But first a few questions…

20. Can a play that was written 410 years ago, be interesting today? Can it use the same language? Will we be able to understand it? Will this presentation EVER end?

21. Before it does, here are a few things to look for… The narrator… This is the actor who would let the audience know what scene was supposed to be. The narrator would open and close the play. Check out the narrator in the play we watch.

22. Are you ready? Let’s Do it!

23. But before we do, here are a few things to look for… “Old-fashioned words”….. I’ll be stopping the play to explain these… It will become annoying…

24. Today’s Feature Presentation…. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet