The clips to answer the questions is at the end of the instructions.
The purpose of this assignment is…
- to cultivate your attention to detail through the skill of careful watching.
- to practice using the theater arts vocabulary that you’ve learned from the readings to describe and analyze a work theatrical performance
Grading Criteria
- All your answers must be in your own words, accurately reflect and be supported by specific and detailed descriptions of four short clips below. You do not have access to the entire performance, so your descriptions should only be of what’s happening during the “to be or not to be” soliloquy.
- Your score for this assignment will reflect the quality and accuracy of all your responses together and not question by question.
- Using any outside sources will result in an automatic zero on this assignment.
- Do not repeat the question or include unnecessary padding to your answers.
- Superficial answers that offer little insight or that use few specific examples from the clips will be assessed accordingly
- Here are examples of the kind of descriptions that would not be considered detailed or specific enough to satisfy the assignment’s requirements.
- Noting that “as Hamlet, Scott wears modern clothes” without including any specific details that describe what the costume actually looked like and how it supported the actor’s performance.
- Describing Essiedu’s performance as “animated” or “intense” without including detailed descriptions of what he did that made the performance “animated” or “intense.”
- Answers must demonstrate evidence of basic proofreading. A few errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics are fine. Answers that include an excessive number of careless errors will be assessed accordingly.
Answers must include detailed descriptions of what is happening on the stage during clip, and you must explain how the included detail supports or is related to the point you’re trying to make.
Directions
You will want to view each clip a few times, focusing on different theater elements each time. The contextual information above provides enough to get a sense of the scene and its purpose within the play overall. Focus on the theatrical elements (performance, set, costume, lighting, sound, etc.) and not plot/theme.
Step Answer all the following questions for all four Hamletclips below.
- Using specific examples from the clip, describe each actor’s performance. Description should include…
- style, is the actor going for a naturalistic or theatrical performance,
- gesture, actions that communicate a state of mind,
- movement, how the actor moves through the set,
- dynamics, how loudly or softly the actor speaks,
- energy or intensity of the performance, and
- the cadence or rhythm of the words as the actor speaks.
- Using specific examples from the clip, describe the costuming, stage design, and lighting design in each production.
Step Answer all the following comparative questions using all four Hamlet clips below.
- How did the differences in each actor’s performance affect your perception of Hamlet as a character and your understanding of the feelings and ideas Hamlet is expressing in the soliloquy? Use details you noted in your descriptions that illustrate your thoughts.
- How did the differences in costuming, stage design, and lighting affect your perception of Hamlet as a character and your understanding of the feelings and ideas Hamlet is expressing in the soliloquy?
- Which performance did you like the best and why?
- How did comparing these four different variations of Hamlet help you understand that theater is an interpretive art form?
Four examples of the “To be or not to be” soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. https://youtu.be/olhENnfCZ1chttps://youtu.be/LdZVR4Ry3jQ
