Poetry Friday: Oh, the Drama

It's the first Poetry Friday of Autumn. Cool weather, root vegetables, homemade soups and field hockey tournaments are the things I'm happy for this fall.

All you Rhyming Rutabagas -- head over to Amy's Poem Farm for today's poetry post round-up.

Spooky Rutabaga Face looks like
he's ready to spit some poetry.
Do you think he'll show up at this weekend's
Baltimore Book Festival?

Be sure to stop at Heidi Mordhorst's blog, My Juicy Little Universe. Heidi is one of my "tagees" for the Children's Poetry Blog Hop.

What else makes fall a happy time? Knowing that drama season is right around the corner.

My middle schooler is a drama kid, but without all the lights and applause. She prefers melt-into-scenery black clothes and uber-organizing the chaos behind the curtain as stage manager. The first time she got to be on headset with the director? Bliss.

Our middle school won't begin working on the spring musical until December. However, high schoolers around the country are preparing their fall drama productions. (High schools traditionally perform their musicals in spring.)

I just heard from my friend, children's author Naomi Milliner that her HS senior will be taking on Hamlet -- yes, you read that right, HAMLET -- this fall. He and his cast-mates will even get to perform a truncated version of the play at the Folger Shakespeare Library. How cool is that?!

When we studied Hamlet, junior year of high school,
we got to see a production at New York City's Public Theater.
Playing the lead was the divine Kevin Kline.

Sticking with the Shakespearian dramas, today I have a Shakespeare-in-High-School poem by Robert Herschbach. Robert won the 2013 Washington Writers' Publishing House prize for his book Loose Weather. 

Available at this website.

This poem is appropriate to share with your upper middle school and high school students, especially if they are studying that play.

Scottish Play
by Robert Herschbach

The drama club is rehearsing
the end of kings--bloodied iambs
on teenagers' lips,
lies and seduction.
Fog effects, pink-toned dry ice,
grunt of the queen
as she urges on
the essential deed: a king dies. Twice.
It comes with the job.

Everything the king says
is addressed to the dagger
and poison, ghosts
he births in his spare time
or the weird sisters Brianna,
Marissa and Caitlin
whose riddles he must complete.

The queen's hunger
makes geometry worth it,
the smell of a lunchroom microwave
or old socks in gym class
bearable for her sake,

but the queen grows mad
with consequence
and the slave who must pay
has not even one line
for his trouble.

Thanks to Robert Herschbach for sending me a review copy of Loose Weather. This poem, which first appeared in the journal Gargoyle (#59), is posted with his permission. I think it's a good one for prompting some meta-discussion about what it's like for modern high schoolers to study and perform Shakespeare. 

Note: Parents of Legomaniacs, you will love Robert's series of Lego Mini-Fig poems in Loose Weather.

My kid has taken on the role of the Scottish King twice, at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's camp.

Stage fighting at Shakespeare camp.

I have seen the play twice. Once in an atmospheric, modernist Broadway version with Christopher Plummer. Here's a clip from the production, with Glenda Jackson opposite Plummer.



More recently, I saw the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's movable Macbeth. It was spine-tingling to sit at picnic tables with Macbeth and the ghost of Banquo during the banquet scene.

For your drama lovers, I recommend these novels, which revolve around the production of a play. The teens here take on starring roles and behind the scenes drama. If you know of any more drama-themed books, please share.

Surviving the Applewhites, by Stephanie S. Tolan (MG)

The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It, by Lisa Shanahan (YA)

I have not read, but would like to include children's poet Betsy Franco's 21 Monologues for Teen Actors.

I wish you all a drama-free weekend. At least, the bad kind of drama. The Shovan gang is going to see Animal Crackers at Baltimore's Center Stage. I'll sign off with a scene from the original.

Amok at "That Play"

The fabulous Karen Nitkin -- freelance writer and friend extraordinaire -- took me to see "the Scottish Play" Friday night. Our local Shakespeare troupe, the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, stages great productions of The Bard's plays. They perform outdoors at the ruins of a women's school in old Ellicott City. We've taken the kids to two summer productions -- A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest. Both excellent. Are the kids too young for Shakespeare? Nay! We prep by reading picture book versions together. Maybe watch "Shakespeare -- The Animated Tales" and they are good to go. Being familiar with the plot, characters, and a few famous speeches is enough for kids to enjoy live Shakespeare. The costumes, props and acting do the rest. However -- Miss J was not so sure about seeing Macbeth. Her "Stories from Shakespeare" --retold by Nicole Baxter -- has a drawing of Banquo's ghost that gives her nightmares. She settled for my promises to tell her all about it. Both kids were hysterical and intrigued about the "curse" on this play. I taught them that they must call it "That Play" or "The Scottish Play." Check out this article on the curse from the Austin Chronicle. Karen and I chatted as we trudged up the hill to the ruins. Then we realized the play was starting in the parking lot. No fourth wall tonight! We trudged back down -- good thing it was a beautiful night. The audience participation was cool. During the early scenes of the play, the audience followed the Scottish generals around on a dark battlefield as if we were infantrymen. Another scene that worked well was the banquet where Banquo's ghost appears (great acting, BTW). We sat around tables as if we were partying with Macbeth and his cohorts. It added depth to a scene where Macbeth's cracks are starting to show. But, as Karen pointed out, it was a bit much. We never sat for more than 15 minutes and often stood, wrangling for a view. The last scene was played in near darkness. Here comes Macduff with -- what is that he's holding? Macbeth's head on a stick?! Glad I didn't bring the kids. The prop head looked enough like the actor to be freaky. So, Karen and I got our exercise. The leads were terrific. Loved the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech. Loved how Lady Macbeth appeared physically smaller as the weight of her actions caught up with her conscience. Look for a link to Karen's theater review in the Baltimore Sun later this week. Next summer, the troupe has the comedy "Twelfth Night" on its schedule. It's Miss J's absolute favorite. We can't wait! I know it's been over two weeks, but I can't let go of the Dodge Festival yet. A bit more on that this week.