Skagit Valley College

Catalog Course Search Details

 Course Title:   Acting Shakespeare

 Title Abbreviation:   ACTING SHAKESPEARE

 Department:    DRMA

 Course #:    136

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 IUs:    5

 CIP:    500501

 EPC:    n/a

 REV:    2018


 Course Description  

An introduction for the actor to the plays of William Shakespeare, including historical perspectives, script analysis, verse forms, and acting traditions, using the ""Playing Shakespeare"" videotape series from the Royal Shakespeare Company.

 Prerequisite  

Prerequisite: Grade of 2.0 or higher in ENGL 097, or AESL 098, or appropriate test score.

Additional Course Details

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0


Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Academic Humanities  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Other Institution Equivalencies Table
Institution Course # Remarks
CWU ENG 361, 3562
EWU ENG 350
SEATTLE U ENGL 330, 331
UPS ENL 353
UW ENG 225
WCC ENG 351, 352
WSU ENG 305, 306
WWU ENG 214

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Complete a scansion study of Shakespeaean verse.
  2. Understand the relationship between meter and meaning in poetic text.
  3. Understand the components of prose, blank verse, and rhyming couplets.
  4. Analyze poetic texts for both form and content.
  5. Analyze a soliloquy or set speech for performance.
  6. Develop staging alternatives for a scene using implied stage directions.
  7. Understand the use of irony.
  8. Understand the traditional and contemporary Shakespearean acting styles.

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes

Revised August 2008 and affects outlines for 2008 year 1 and later.

1. Information Literacy

Definition: Recognizing when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
1.1 Determine the extent of information needed.
1.2 Access the needed information effectively, efficiently, ethically, and legally.
1.3 Evaluate information and its sources critically.

2. Critical Thinking

Definition: The ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge within a discipline and about the ways in which that knowledge is constructed and validated and to be sensitive to the ways these processes often vary among disciplines.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
2.1 Identify and express concepts, terms, and facts related to a specific discipline.

3. Communication

Definition: Understanding and producing effective written, spoken, visual, and non-verbal communication.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
3.2 Recognize, produce and demonstrate appropriate interpersonal, group, and public speaking skills.

6. Individual Awareness & Responsibility

Definition: Understanding, managing, and taking responsibility for one’s learning and behavior in varied and changing environments.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
6.3 Apply successful organizational strategies of planning, goal setting, prioritizing, resolving conflict, and managing time to specific goals and/or projects.

7. Aesthetics & Creativity

Definition: Interpreting human experience through engagement with creative processes and aesthetic principles.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
7.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the creative process.
7.4 Demonstrate an understanding of the role of arts and creative expression in societies.

Course Contents

  1. Two plays and various sonnets will be read and discussed with particular focus on the following topics:
    • Scansion and blank verse forms.
    • Meter and the relationship between meter and meaning.
    • Blank verse forms and their use in poetic drama.
    • Naturalistic acting and the Shakespearean text.
    • Poetry and emotion.
    • Character and language.
    • Irony as a dramatic device.
    • Play structure.