The Discussions

In the process of discovery, we read aloud, listen to professional actors read, and see film clips. We go slowly, line by line, word by word, so we truly understand every line. We create many lists on huge Post-it notes on the wall to keep track of motifs, parallels, character traits, or anything we feel we need to monitor. We discuss, as we read:

The title.

The places.

The minimal stage directions.

The meanings of words we think we know.

Verse vs. prose vs. rhyme and what it tells us.

The regularity of the rhythm — or lack of — and what it tells us.

Forms of address, such as thee/thou vs. you/your and what it tells us. Also forms of address such as “sirrah,” “my lord,” “my liege,” etc.

Character development, how and why it happens (or doesn't).

Themes and how they are developed and threaded and what they indicate.

Scene juxtapositions and twin scenes and what they tell us.

Rhetorical devices and how they were used to manipulate the reader/listener.

Poetry and how it affects us and the play.

Elizabethan theater and how it affects the reading and understanding of the play.

The Great Chain of Being and the Wheel of Fortune and what they show us.

The humours and how to understand them and their references.

What do the correspondences tell us? A “correspondence” refers to all the connected implications of an item — why does the writer mention two-headed Janus or Nestor or Cato’s daughter, etc.? Every flower, weed, tree, constellation, mythological figure, historical figure, etc., has an underlying correspondence that informs us more deeply about the play — if we but understand it.

We also keep track of such things as motifs, parallels, appearance vs. reality, and various ideas pertinent to particular plays.

And more . . .

 

No homework! No papers! No rules!

We finish up the discussion by viewing the entire play on a 9-foot movie screen at The Mermaid Tavern.

We will all learn a great deal together and it will be a Rich Life Experience.*

*Socrates said the only things we take with us when we die are our experiences.