AD English 9: Dramatic Readings

This information is related to the 9th-graders’ speech for the second six-weeks — especially for 6th period, since the Womanless Beauty Pageant cut into class quite a bit today. The speech is due Monday.

The rubric, which I passed out yesterday, is closely aligned to SOL 9.1. You can download it here. It focuses on verbal techniques (expression, volume, rate, pitch, articulation, and pronunciation) and nonverbal techniques (facial expression, gestures, eye contact, and posture), as well as adapting these techniques to fit the literary form.

Everyone needed to have the piece selected by today, so tomorrow and the weekend can be used to get familiar with it and develop/adapt techniques.

Today in class, we viewed and analyzed some examples of dramatic readings.

First, we watched Tom O’Bedlam‘s version of Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man” monologue from the play, As You Like It.

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Then, we watched another version of the same monologue, this time a clip from a play, performed by actor Nicholas Pennell of The Stratford Shakespeare Festival:

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Here are some focus questions:

1. What differences in verbal technique do you hear between the two versions?

2. What nonverbal techniques does Mr. Pennell in the second video use?

3. How did Mr. Pennell adapt his nonverbal techniques to the form and content of his selection?

We also discussed how dramatic reading lends itself to overly dramatic parodies of speeches. Although we want to avoid this over-the-top treatment, since we’re giving serious speeches, it can be useful to see this end of the spectrum, also.

This clip is called, “Dramatic Reading of Myspace Poetry #6 – Principal Principle”:

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And this one features Christopher Walken doing a Lady Gaga song:

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