A play on the page, and two ways to stage it

Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 1 (Shakespeare's comedy, script copied exactly with … marking each cut, and two invented productions): Scene note:
   [1] The tradesmen are rehearsing their play about Pyramus and Thisbe, lovers who meet by moonlight and whisper through a crack in a wall, and they must solve two staging problems before performing in the Duke's hall.
   [2] In Shakespeare's open-air playhouses, performances took place in afternoon daylight with very little scenery, so dialogue and a few portable properties usually established the time and place.

   From the script:
   [3] QUINCE: … there is two hard things: that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber, for you know, Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight.
   [4] BOTTOM: … Look in the almanack; find out moonshine, find out moonshine. …
   [5] BOTTOM: … then may you leave a casement of the great chamber window, where we play, open; and the moon may shine in at the casement.
   [6] QUINCE: Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lantern, and say he comes to disfigure or to present the person of Moonshine. Then there is another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber; …
   [7] SNOUT: You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?
   [8] BOTTOM: Some man or other must present Wall. And let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisbe whisper.

   Production A (invented):
   [9] The Grandview Opera House builds a painted brick wall on wheels with a slot through it, and moonlight streams through a huge window projected behind the stage.
   [10] The rehearsal looks expensive and believable, and the tradesmen simply admire the scenery.

   Production B (invented):
   [11] The Ferry Lane Players use an empty stage on which one actor in a plaster-streaked smock raises two fingers to make the crack, while another carries a lantern and a bundle of twigs.
   [12] The audience watches the tradesmen invent each solution from their own bodies and ordinary materials.

   Word notes:
   [13] An almanack is a yearly calendar showing the moon's phases, and a casement is a hinged window.
   [14] Quince says disfigure for represent, loam and rough-cast are clay and coarse plaster, and a cranny is a crack.

2. 1.

   Ari fills the truer-to-the-source row. On the wall, which production is truer to the script, and why?

   • Production A, because a painted brick wall on wheels looks far more convincing today.
   • Production B, because Bottom's plan in part 8 is a plastered man whose fingers make the crack.
   • Production B, because Snout says in part 7 that you can never bring in a wall.
   • Production A, because Quince says in part 6 that they must have a wall in the great chamber.
3. 2.

   Tala fills the chart. What does Production A's lavish scenery give up from the script?

   • The scene's look of expense, since painted bricks on wheels look cheap and shabby.
   • The fun of amateurs inventing clumsy fixes, since the problem arrives already solved.
   • The love story of Pyramus and Thisbe, since the solid wall hides the lovers from view.
   • Bottom's open casement, which Production A replaces with a projected window of its own.
4. 3.

   Jun fills the truer-to-the-source row. For Moonshine, which production follows a plan that the script itself offers?

   • A alone, because projected moonlight is the most natural way to show a moon.
   • Both do: A follows Bottom's open casement, and B follows Quince's man with a lantern.
   • Both do: A follows Quince's lantern-bearer, and B follows Bottom's open casement.
   • B alone, because Bottom's almanack in part 4 shows the moon will not shine that night.
5. 4.

   Pia fills the period-note row. In a daylight playhouse like the one in part 2, how would Quince's lantern-bearer from part 6 work?

   • A lantern-bearer would tell the audience it is night, as words and props usually did.
   • The lantern would show the moon's phases, just as part 13 says an almanack does.
   • The lantern-bearer would disfigure the moon on purpose, to make the lovers look foolish.
   • The lantern would light the stage, since afternoon playhouses were too dim to see the players.

6. Use this

   The Contrast, Prologue (Royall Tyler's American comedy of 1787, script copied exactly with … marking each cut, and two invented productions): Scene note:
   [1] The Contrast was first performed in New York in April 1787 by professional actors who had mostly begun in England, and nearly all their plays came from London.
   [2] The 1790 printing says its prologue, a speech made directly to the audience before the play, was spoken by Mr. Wignell, who also played Jonathan, the Yankee servant.

   From the script:
   [3] EXULT, each patriot heart!—this night is shewn / A piece, which we may fairly call our own; / Where the proud titles of “My Lord! Your Grace!” / To humble Mr. and plain Sir give place.
   [4] Our Author pictures not from foreign climes / The fashions or the follies of the times; / But has confin’d the subject of his work / To the gay scenes—the circles of New-York. …
   [5] Why should our thoughts to distant countries roam, / When each refinement may be found at home? …
   [6] But modern youths, with imitative sense, / Deem taste in dress the proof of excellence; / And spurn the meanness of your homespun arts, / Since homespun habits would obscure their parts; / Whilst all, which aims at splendour and parade, / Must come from Europe, and be ready made. …
   [7] Let not light Censure on your faults offend, / Which aims not to expose them, but amend.

   Production A (invented):
   [8] The Old Ship Theater re-creates a candlelit evening of 1787: the actor who will play Jonathan steps before the curtain in a homespun coat, bowing to the spectators as fellow citizens of a new nation.
   [9] He points proudly at himself on our own and gestures toward the fashionable boxes on modern youths.

   Production B (invented):
   [10] The Tenth Street Playhouse keeps the house lights up and dresses the speaker in an expensive modern suit; he delivers the lines smoothly, like a host welcoming guests to a gala.
   [11] On the words ready made, he flicks a designer label on his own sleeve, so the audience laughs at the speaker himself.

   Word notes:
   [12] Shewn is shown, a piece is a play, climes are foreign lands, and gay scenes are lively society.
   [13] Imitative means copying, meanness means lowliness, homespun means plain and home-made, and parade is costly show.
   [14] Censure is blame, and to amend is to correct.

7. 5.

   Milo fills the truer-to-the-source row. On who speaks the prologue, which production is truer to the play's first performances, and why?

   • Production B, because its speaker talks straight to the audience, as a prologue must.
   • Production A, because it re-creates an evening of 1787 right down to the candles.
   • Production A, because part 2 says the actor who played Jonathan spoke the prologue.
   • Production B, because today's audiences relate more easily to a speaker in a modern suit.
8. 6.

   Zee fills the period-note row. How does part 1 explain part 3's boast of a piece which we may fairly call our own?

   • Part 2 names Mr. Wignell as the speaker, so our own means the speech belongs to him.
   • American theaters offered mostly London plays, so a comedy by an American was a new pride.
   • A piece here means a part of the theater building, which the audience now owns.
   • The actors had begun their careers in England, so they were proud to be playing their own roles.
9. 7.

   Kira fills the chart. What does Production B's smooth gala host give up from the prologue?

   • The voice of a plain new citizen who prefers homespun ways to costly imported show.
   • The mockery of ready-made fashion, since the designer label makes the speaker look admirable.
   • The play's New York setting, since a gala host suggests some foreign city instead.
   • The speech to the audience, which Production B invents by keeping the house lights up.
10. 8.

    Ren fills the truer-to-the-source row. Which production's speaker better matches the humble Mr. and plain Sir of part 3, and why?

    • Production A, because a speaker in a homespun coat embodies the plainness the prologue praises.
    • Production B, because a confident modern host makes old verse easier to follow today.
    • Production B, because part 5 praises refinement, and B's smooth host is the most refined speaker.
    • Production A, because its speaker gestures toward the fashionable boxes on modern youths.
11. 9.

    Esme fills the period-note row. Why might a 1787 audience hear part 5's question about distant countries as aimed at them?

    • Nearly every play they saw came from London, so the question struck at their habits.
    • The speaker gestured at the fashionable boxes, a movement Tyler wrote into the line.
    • The word notes call climes foreign lands, which shows the audience had traveled abroad.
    • The actors had trained in England, so the audience would doubt their American accents.
12. 10.

    Noah fills the chart. What, if anything, does Production A's candlelit re-creation give up?

    • The joke against the speaker himself, which A drops by removing the designer label.
    • The prologue's pride in America, since the speaker merely bows instead of boasting.
    • The sting for today's audience, since the jokes about copied fashion stay safely in 1787.
    • The speech to the audience, which Production B's raised house lights restore.