1. Conventions of Shakespearean Drama
What to take note of

2. A minor beginning Watch this: https://youtu.be/WqeykHtKUbk
What kind of information is being presented?
Why is it necessary?
In your pod come up with an alternative beginning, in essence:
How do you deliver this information to an audience without using this same device?
How would you do this for a live performance?

3. Soliloquies, Monologues, Asides
A soliloquy is…..
Character is alone on stage
Expresses inner thoughts and emotions
Delivered for benefit of audience
Can be accepted as truth…as the character sees it
A monologue is…..
A speech delivered to another character or characters
Cannot be assumed to be the truth
An aside is…..
Breaking the “fourth wall” and talking directly to the audience
Expresses thoughts of the character
Is not heard by other characters onstage

4. On strange words… Archaic words: words no longer in common use
Thee, thy, thou (the easy to understand)
Betwixt (the slightly more complex)
Obsolete words: words no longer in use, and no longer in most dictionaries (like “beteem”)
Requires use of footnotes to understand
Contracted words: words in which a syllable is left out
Generally done to preserve the meter of the line
Know’st, ‘twill, wi’

5. Wordplay
Pun: a play on words, often using sound to create double meanings
Two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at them and says: “I’m sorry, gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per passenger
Double entendre: a word or phrase with more than one meaning, one of which is risqué
Malapropism: the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often to great amusement
I remember because I have photogenic memory.