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 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.
   • Production B, because Bottom's plan in part 8 is a plastered man whose fingers make the crack.
3. 2.

   Luz fills the period-note row. How does the note in part 2 help explain why bringing in moonlight is a hard thing?

   • Quince wants to disfigure Moonshine, so the scene shows the tradesmen spoiling their own play.
   • Plays were given in afternoon daylight, so no real moon could ever shine on the tradesmen's play.
   • With so little scenery, words and props had to show the time, so moonlight needed a plan.
   • Production A's projected window shows that Shakespeare's stage had moonlight effects.
4. 3.

   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 love story of Pyramus and Thisbe, since the solid wall hides the lovers from view.
   • The fun of amateurs inventing clumsy fixes, since the problem arrives already solved.
   • Bottom's open casement, which Production A replaces with a projected window of its own.
5. 4.

   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.
   • B alone, because Bottom's almanack in part 4 shows the moon will not shine that night.
   • Both do: A follows Quince's lantern-bearer, and B follows Bottom's open casement.
   • Both do: A follows Bottom's open casement, and B follows Quince's man with a lantern.
6. 5.

   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?

   • The lantern would light the stage, since afternoon playhouses were too dim to see the players.
   • A lantern-bearer would tell the audience it is night, as words and props usually did.
   • The lantern-bearer would disfigure the moon on purpose, to make the lovers look foolish.
   • The lantern would show the moon's phases, just as part 13 says an almanack does.
7. 6.

   Bo fills the chart. Does Production B's empty stage lose anything that the script asks for?

   • Yes: it loses Bottom's open casement by replacing it with a projected window.
   • Yes: it loses the script's real wall, since the plastered actor is B's own invention.
   • Yes: it loses the audience's belief, since no one can take a plastered actor seriously.
   • No: the script itself plans an actor as Wall and a lantern for Moonshine, and B keeps both.

8. 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.

9. 7.

   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?

   • A piece here means a part of the theater building, which the audience now owns.
   • American theaters offered mostly London plays, so a comedy by an American was a new pride.
   • Part 2 names Mr. Wignell as the speaker, so our own means the speech belongs to him.
   • The actors had begun their careers in England, so they were proud to be playing their own roles.
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 B, because a confident modern host makes old verse easier to follow today.
    • Production A, because a speaker in a homespun coat embodies the plainness the prologue praises.
    • Production A, because its speaker gestures toward the fashionable boxes on modern youths.
    • Production B, because part 5 praises refinement, and B's smooth host is the most refined speaker.
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?

    • The actors had trained in England, so the audience would doubt their American accents.
    • 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.
    • Nearly every play they saw came from London, so the question struck at their habits.
12. 10.

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

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