Care and respect at Steveston-London

 Drama 8:  You are getting into the swing of things here at Steveston-London, but this is a strange year, in which you are not able to meet a lot of students just hanging out in the common areas of the school.  It is going to be a challenge this year to create a strong school community, which is one of the hallmarks of our school.  In the Drama club, we always welcome newcomers to our midst enthusiastically because we know that they will continue the great traditions of our theatre and of our school.

The idea of treating each other with care and respect has long been a motto of Steveston-London.  This is something we want all of you to practice each and every day.  It is essential in Drama where people are asked to take creative risks all the time.  You must strive to demonstrate to your classmates that you care for and respect each of them, and that means that you listen to their ideas and take them seriously.

Sometimes you can be insensitive without meaning to be.   But this is not an excuse for poor behavior.   Don't discount someone's idea with a joke or a mean remark.  One of the goals in Drama 8 is to become a better listener and to try to be considerate of others.

Being accepting of the diversity in our student population is one way of demonstrating your care and respect for others.  It is exciting to be able to share our vastly different perspectives and in the theatre, we need to embrace the idea that everyone should have a voice and deserves to be treated with the utmost care and respect.

English 12:

We will be starting our study of "Hamlet" next!  This is obviously very exciting for me, because I love Shakespeare and I'm always eager to share his amazing work with everyone.  "Hamlet" is (arguably) his greatest (and longest) play.  Like a number of works we have read this quarter, "Hamlet" could be called a coming of age story.  Hamlet is a young man who is struggling with many of the issues that face all of us, but especially young people.  He faces intense family pressures -- dealing with the loss of his father and his mother's sudden marriage to his uncle.  He feels required to take action, but cannot seem to take the first step.  He is struggling with his relationships with his friends, his elders and his companions.  He feels like he can't trust anyone.  He struggles with his mental health -- sometimes, he wonders if he is crazy and sometimes, others wonder the same thing.

This is a play, so it is meant to be seen and experienced.  Shakespeare always starts things out with a bang!  In the first scene of the play, we meet a ghost on the foggy battlements of the castle of Elsinore!  Perfect for Hallowe'en!

Fun Facts about Shakespeare:

1.  He died on his birthday (we think) -- April 23.  I usually celebrate with a cake on that day.  He was born in 1564 and died in 1616.

2.  He is said to have played the ghost in "Hamlet".  He was an actor, a theatre "director" and producer and made a good living in London in the theatre before retiring to Stratford, the town where he was born.

3.  His wife, Anne Hathaway, was 26 when he married her.  He was 18.  They had three children -- Susanna, born 6 months after their wedding day and then twins, Judith and Hamnet in 1585.

4.  His son, Hamnet, died in 1596.  Some suggest his son's death plunged him into a dark time during which he might have written his darkest, bleakest plays.

5.  His first play was likely "Titus Andronicus" which is a very violent and gory play.

6.  His shortest tragedy is "Macbeth" -- also quite gory.  His shortest play is the comedy "A Comedy of Errors" which is about two sets of twins!

7.  He wrote 37 plays in all - tragedies, comedies, romances and historical plays.

8.  This is his epitaph:

Good friend, for Jesus' sake, forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blest be the man that spares these stones,

And curst be he that moves my bones.

He is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon.

9.  He likely went to grammar school in Stratford, where he would have learned Latin among other subjects.  He would have begun attending school at 7 and stopped when he was about 14.

10.  In addition to his plays, he also wrote poetry, especially when the theatres were closed because of outbreaks of the plague.

11.  We don't know a lot about Shakespeare's private life, because people didn't keep records about "ordinary" people in those days.  Most of the things we hear are not verified or verifiable.