THEME TEACHING LESSON SIX - DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION

Students view a filmed interpretation (Baz Luhrmann) of Act II, Scene 3 from Romeo and Juliet. After the viewing, we discuss Friar Laurence’s motivations in the scene. Why is he angry with Romeo (he feels that Romeo is being capricious and falsely avowing loyalties to every woman he meets)? Why does he agree to perform the marriage (he thinks that helping to forge such a bond of love and loyalty will dissolve the dissention between Romeo and Juliet’s respective clans)?

Students read “Script Scoring” from The Stage and the School (6th edition). We discuss the reason for and uses of script scoring. We discuss how the use of script scoring greatly influences the portrayal of a character, and thus influences all genres of literature. We discuss the great importance of script scoring to actors. We discuss the niceties of the use of this tool – that script scoring tells the actor when to pause, when to lift and drop inflection, etc.

Using the scoring marks presented in “Script Scoring,” the students score a copy of the Luhrmann Act II, Scene 3.

Volunteers read their scripts according to the marks they’ve chosen to include their copies of the Luhrmann script, and afterward elucidate which mark they chose for which point. We compare and contrast the students’ readings, and examine how the varied inflections create different interpretations of the same character, thus, the same play.

As an actor and a proponent of drama, I find this lesson tremendously exciting, but my enthusiasm ebbs as it becomes clear that the students don’t find the material riveting. They enjoy watching and discussing the Luhrmann clip, but they dutifully score their scripts in silence. They perk up a little bit when students read and the class compares the performances, but I am a still a little bit shaken. It’s just a great indication of how a teacher must hone his student-interest compass; I consider script scoring infinitely more enjoyable then Venn diagrams, which the students adored!