We brainstormed the key things that the class knew about Shakespeare. Here are some of the answers:
“He was buried on the day he was christened??
He wrote Romeo and Juliet, which is a love story.
He wrote Macbeth, we studied this in Year 6. We watched the film, and a cartoon version, and studied the language.
He died on his birthday, 23rd April, 1609??
They do re-enactments of the type of theatre he did in the Globe Theatre…
We studied Hamlet, and studied in Year 5. We watched the film, and did our own versions of it.
The original Globe Theatre burned down, they set off a cannon and it burnt down.
His wife was Ann Hathaway.
He invented the sayings, “heart of gold” and “wild goose chase”, and many others…
He wrote many famous plays: Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest,
The women did not act and their roles were played by men, often teenage boys.
He was dyslexic?? In his time there was NO STANDARDISED SPELLING OR GRAMMAR! You could SPELL and write grammatically how you wanted…
He brought the idea of ghosts and witches, he was obsessed by ghosts, as were many people in that time.
Romeo and Juliet was about warring families, similar to Across the Barricades but NOT about religions.
He wrote in POETIC LANGUAGE.”
Much Ado About Nothing Reloaded 