Twelfth Night Begins!

In the spirit of the holiday season, we'll be reading/studying/performing an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."

Here are some links to the actual, non-adapted play for your perusal. :-)

Version One - in HTML for online reading

Version Two - from Project Gutenberg - for downloading and printing

Be sure to take a look at your script over the weekend!

Much Ado - Modernizing Costume Project

Paper & Tape Costumes
Theater III & IV: History & Design

Directions:


• For this project students will explore costume history and elements of design & modernization.
• After watching parts of the movie “Much Ado About Nothing”; student should choose one character to modernize to a time period between 1920’s-1980’s dress. The modernization should be justified, like taking a soldier from the show and making them a WWII costume.
• After design and planning out costumes, group will create said costume out of paper towels and tape!
• Students will work to research and create 1 modernized paper costume based on their selected time period (1920-1980).
• Your basic materials will be butcher paper and tape, so be prepared to be creative!!!!
• Once costumes are complete students will “model” costumes for class on their chosen model (a preselected classmate) and present their justification of design.
• Groups should research time period they are modernizing to, and be able to point out the class key clothing factors and styles of the time. (You may wish to do more research on your own – some class time will be available for further research.)


Theater IV students will be expected to create a design board (instructions will be presented in class).



Paper & Tape Costumes
Research Worksheet

Time Period:___________

Character:


Notes on modernization (your ideas & justification):









Costume Sketches: (rough draft of what you will make)
(Your final sketches will be done on 11x17 construction paper, in color.)

Costume Design Rubric-Theater III

Student Name ____________________________________

“Much Ado About Nothing” – William Shakespeare

Character Name: __________________________________________________________________________________

Brief description of the character:

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Justification of design choices:
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Theater IV ONLY:

Is the student’s design work presented on a design board?            Yes_____     No____ (minus -2)

Is the student’s design concept original?                                    Yes _____             No _____ (minus -2)

Comments __________________________

Is the design sketched/ illustrated on 11”x17” paper in color?              Yes _____            No ____ (minus -2)

Comments __________________________

Does the design contain fabric swatches?                                      Yes _____            No _____            (minus -2)

Comments __________________________

Student Name _________________________________

Final Score __________

Category	5 points-Excellent	4 points-Proficient	3 points-Developing	2 points-Emerging	Points Earned
Concept – Does the design for the character create meaningful design concept that is appropriate for the play?	The design for the character perfectly created a meaningful design concept that is appropriate for the play.	The design for the character almost always created a meaningful design concept that is appropriate for the play.	The design for the character sometimes created a meaningful design concept that is appropriate for the play.	The design for the character rarely created a meaningful design concept that is appropriate for the play.
Color/Texture/Pattern Do the design elements work to establish character, location, and enhance the mood of the piece?	The dramatic elements perfectly worked to establish character, time, location, and enhance the mood of the piece.	The dramatic elements almost always worked to establish character, time, location, and enhance the mood of the piece.	The dramatic elements sometimes worked to establish character, time, location, and enhance the mood of the piece.	The dramatic elements rarely worked to establish character, time, location, and enhance the mood of the piece.
Design – Do the designs of the costumes show an understanding of social class, age and the assigned historical period?	The designs of the costumes show an excellent understanding of social class, age and historical period.	The designs of the costumes show a good understanding of social class, age and historical period.	The designs of the costumes show a fair understanding of social class, age and historical period.	The designs of the costumes show little or no understanding of social class, age and historical period.
Costume Pieces – Are all costume pieces accounted for in design: clothing, appropriate undergarments, footwear, hats, outerwear, etc?	The design included all costume pieces that are appropriate for the particular characters.	The design included most costume pieces that are appropriate for the particular characters.	The design included some costume pieces that are appropriate for the particular characters.	The design included few costume pieces that are appropriate for the particular characters.

Medieval Theater: Notes

Medieval Theatre

 Time frame: 5^th c- mid 16^th c

 Secular theatre died in Western Europe with the fall of Rome

 Theatrical performances were banned by the Roman Catholic Church as barbaric and pagan

 Most Roman theatre had been “spectacle” rather than literary drama

Roman Literary Drama

 2nd c. bc - 4th c. ce

  Origins in Greek drama and Roman festivals

 Tragedy: Seneca

 Comedy:Terence and Plautus

Roman Spectacle

•Gladiatorial combats

•Naval battles in a flooded Coliseum

•“Real-life” theatricals

•Decadent, violent and immoral

•All theatrical events were banned by the Church when Rome became Christianized

Byzantine Theatre

 The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium)  with its capitol at Constantinople (today’s Istanbul) flourished until 1453.

 The Byzantines kept Greek and Roman theatrical pieces alive and saved manuscripts and records of Classical playwrights.

Drama in the Early Middle Ages

 Small groups of  traveling performers – minstrels, jugglers, acrobats, bards, mimes, puppeteers -- went from town to town entertaining.

 They performed in taverns and at festivals for the commoners and at court for the nobility

 Festivals usually contained both pagan and Christian elements ( e.g. Halloween and Christmas celebrations )

Liturgical Drama

 The Roman Catholic Church was responsible for the rebirth of European theatre in the 10^th –12^th century.

 All Europe had been converted to Christianity

 The Church needed ways to teach illiterate parishioners: cathedrals, stained glass windows, sculpture, painting and drama

Religious rituals ( the mass, baptism, etc.) embody theatrical elements.  

 Priests began to incorporate such elements into the gospel lessons of the mass.

 The first short plays were called tropes

 Written in Latin, these tropes were performed by the clergy during the mass.

Religious Vernacular Drama

 Vernacular: language spoken by the people

 To reach the commoners, the clergy began to translate the liturgical plays into vernacular languages

 As the plays became more elaborate, they were moved from the altar of the church to the church yard.

 As more roles were added, commoners were used as amateur actors

The 3 M’s of Religious Vernacular Drama

 Mystery plays: Biblical stories

Miracle plays: saints’ lives

Morality plays: allegories

Mystery Plays

 Mystery:  from French mystere -- secret.  The term could refer to Biblical truths or to the secrets of the crafts held by the guilds who were responsible for producing the plays.

 In England, these Biblical plays were produced in cycles: a series of plays depicting Biblical history from the Creation to the Last Judgement.  Also known  as Cycle Plays.

 The cycles were usually performed at the religious festival of Corpus Christi -- in the spring or early summer.

Mystery Plays performed by Trade Guilds

 While the plays were written by the clergy and overseen by the Church, the performances were produced by the guilds of each town and mostly performed by amateur actors.

 Productions were considered a religious duty, and each guild invested considerable resources into productions.

 Plays were often assigned to guilds associated with the subject matter of the play and became a kind of “advertisement”

The Flood:  Shipbuilders or Barrelmakers

 The Nativity: Shepherds

 The Magi: Goldsmiths

Miracle Plays

 Miracle plays were similar to mystery plays in dramatic techniques

 Dramatized the lives of Roman Catholic saints
(in order to become a saint, a person had to perform 3 documented miracles)

 The most popular subjects were the Virgin Mary (plays usually written in Latin), St. George (dragon slayer and patron saint of England)  and St. Nicholas ( associated with Christmas festivities)

Morality Plays

 Theme: how to live a Christian life and be saved.

 Allegory:

 A story told on two levels: the literal and the the symbolic

 Plot: a journey through life or to death

 Emphasis switches from Biblical and saintly protagonists to the common man: Everyman, Mankind

 Focus on free will

 First major use of professional acting companies  

Dramatic Techniques

 Theatre was performed in found spaces: town squares, taverns, churches, banquet halls -- no specifically designated theatres

 Theatre was intimate -- audience interacted with performers

 Elaborate special effects

 Characterization was often dependent upon costume and makeup