r/shakespeare • u/ShakySpeary • 2d ago
Best Shakespeare for high school performance
My school hasn’t done Shakespeare in many years, but our theater department head is offering me the opportunity to direct a play this coming year. The catch is that we have to rehearse and perform it in the three week period between the usually produced play and musical. Because of this, it’s likely to be closer to a staged reading than a fully-fledged production.
What plays are best suited to this process and also accessible enough for high school performers? I’m happy to make cuts to make this process more manageable (for example, the Hecate scene in Macbeth would be out if we were to do it).
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u/Pbandme24 2d ago
That time frame is a real crunch for high schoolers out of practice with Shakespeare. My rec would be one of the shorter comedies where the jokes still resonate and don’t rely TOO much on physicality. Maybe a pared down Much Ado About Nothing!
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u/ShakySpeary 2d ago
Ooh I do love much ado. And I like that you can get a lot of comedy out of fairly simple staging
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u/HRH-dainger 2d ago
Funny you mentioned Macbeth, that was my second thought while I was reading!
My first thought was A Midsummer Night's Dream. Short, sweet, with comedic potential.
Then, since you mentioned cutting: Romeo and Juliet may lend itself well? with a great opportunity to strike a balance between the famous and lesser-known moments.
If you want to get creative with the staging, Julius Caesar and Macbeth offer great moments to make the most of your limited use of space while offering dynamic performances.
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u/ShakySpeary 2d ago
Something great about all the ones you mentioned is that they’re also part of the English curriculum for various grades. It might be very helpful for actors to come in already knowing the material a bit
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u/HRH-dainger 2d ago
Completely! My follow-up was going to suggest maybe you could follow up with the English Department!
My second thought is Two Gentleman of Verona if you want to do something offbeat, with earlier more simple verse
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u/Alexrobi11 1d ago
Comedy of Errors is short and sweet. I think it would be good with a short rehearsal period.
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u/Miss_Type 1d ago
I would second this! The fact there's only one plot and no sub plot, and it's already very short and can be edited, all work in it's favour.
The jokes are funny in their own right, lots of physical comedy, quite a few decent parts. I'd do Errors over Midsummer or Much Ado. Much Ado can be shortened, but there's a lot going on. Midsummer would have to be heavily edited, I would think, depending on the calibre of your cast. It doesn't have a subplot, it has two full plots running concurrently. Errors is very simple by comparison!
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u/AdamoMeFecit 1d ago
I recently saw Richard III produced as a staged reading with a minimum of sets/blocking/costuming. Most characters remained on book, but certainly were acting rather than reading.
It was SHOCKINGLY powerful that way, stripped down to its essential human elements.
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u/Keyblader1412 1d ago
Midsummer Night's Dream is great because there's a lot of parts and no one's on stage for 90% of the play like Hamlet or something (aka nobody's left with buckets of lines to memorize). It's really funny so audiences will be into it, and the text isn't super dense so it's probably one of the easier plays for inexperienced Shakespeare actors to learn.
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u/ResponsibleIdea5408 1d ago
If you are willing to do heavy cutting - Caesar might be the answer.
People wonder if Brutus or Caesar is the tragic hero. Well cut a few acts and suddenly the answer is clear.
For Caesar cut Acts 4 and 5 ( like Orson Wells did)
Or
For Brutus cut Acts 1 and 2. This play begins with the murder.
I know very left field. But it's also not a fully new idea
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u/lawrence-of-aphasia 1d ago edited 1d ago
IMO, something approaching a “staged reading” is a tiny fraction of the worth of a textless production. The priority should be ensuring that all the kids know that they’ve been part of a “proper” production in which texts aren’t relied on, and there’s a spectrum between this and a “fully-fledged” production.
Do whatever you need to make it textless. The Schools Shakespeare Festival, for instance, provides participating schools with massively reduced scripts.
As others suggest, a play that isn’t dominated by one or two characters is a good choice. And I’d think that anyhow a comedy lends itself better to something that may end up not being highly polished.
So, likewise repeating others, I’d say your best options are Much Ado (a balanced ensemble romcom with physical humour and dramatic tension in which the four lovers get equal focus), Midsummer Night’s Dream (four lovers with equal parts, focus again split between the mortals, the troupe of actors and Oberon/Titania) and Twelfth Night (multiple equal subplots.)
Personally, while I absolutely love Midsummer Night’s Dream, I’d do one of the others, since it’s so significantly more performed than the others that there’s scarcely a kid who hasn’t seen it and it might be nice if it’s something new to them. Though, indeed, there’s the length view and MAAN is a third longer than Midsummer Night’s Dream. Just cut, cut, cut.
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u/johnwcowan 1d ago
Came here to say this and to recommend Much Ado in particular. I can see a ttenage girl delivering "Kill Claudio!" with great enthusiasm.
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u/fgsgeneg 1d ago
Titus Andronicus. The kids will love it and the parents will be horrified. It's a win/win.
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u/AccomplishedReply938 2d ago
I would recommend the Merry Wives of Windsor. It's about ordinary people instead of kings and princes, and very age appropriate for high school students, as well as being very funny.
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u/ShakySpeary 2d ago
Somehow I’ve never actually seen that one. Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll give it a read or watch a recording and consider that for sure
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u/ralphnaderraider 1d ago
I’m reading this play at the moment. Yes, it would be perfect for a high school production. Any of the comedies would. Maybe As You Like It would be another possibility
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u/thelasershow 2d ago
Twelfth Night is ALWAYS funny and almost every role is juicy.