Shakespeare
To Go!
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Running Time: About 40 minutes
Flexible cast of 4, 2 Male, 2 Female
Easily adapted for larger cast
(All ACTORS play various roles as suggested in the script, i.e., a tree or door, whatever is necessary and clever. ACTORS should have fun finding fresh ways to present these scenes.)
MAXWELL: (M)
Plays PETER
QUINCE, ORLANDO and THISBY
GLORIA: (F)
Plays SNUG,
KATHERINE and other characters
BETSY: (F)
Plays FLUTE,
KATHERINE and other characters
JB: (M)
Plays BOTTOM,
PETRUCHIO and PYRAMUS
SYNOPSIS OF SCENES
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act I, scene ii
The Taming of the Shrew: Act II, scene i
The Taming of the Shrew: Act V, scene ii
As You Like It: Act III, scene ii
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act V, scene I
"We
Had a Blast With the Script!"
Lighten Up!
Have Fun with the World's Most Popular Playwright!
"The high school kids I worked with had a blast with the script, and we performed for over 2000 students in our area!"
Marianne Carruth, Tryon Fine Arts Center, NC
SHAKESPEARE TO GO!
SCRIPT SAMPLE
A too cool crew of actors shows up to do scenes from Shakespeare. In between scenes they try to make sense of it all...
BETSY: Why are all Shakespeare plays all named for men?
GLORIA: Yeah. Take "Macbeth" for instance. It’s more about Macbeth’s wife, isn’t it?
MAXWELL: And I suppose you’d like something more politically correct?
GLORIA: Sure, why not? "Lady Macbeth’s Excellent Adventure."
BETSY: It has a nice ring to it.
JB: (Smirks.) How about, "Mrs. Hamlet and Her Clinically Depressed Offspring"?
MAXWELL: "How Cleopatra Got Her Groove Back."
BETSY: (Joins the fun.) "Little Sally Caesar Has a Really Bad Hair Day." (Quick look to GLORIA, who boils.) Sorry.
MAXWELL: You can’t turn Shakespeare into a chick flick, Gloria. Face it, women just aren’t as interesting as men.
JB: Hey, Betsy. Weren’t you saying the other day you’d like to do something from "The Taming of the Shrew"?
BETSY: (Skeptical.) Yeah.
JB: You up for Act Two, scene one?
BETSY: I think so.
JB: Great. Now we’re going to need a door for this scene. Gloria&ldots; (Wiggles finger at her.)
GLORIA: (Fuming.) A door?
JB: (Places GLORIA near CENTER, then places her arms above her head to make an arch. To GLORIA.) Ah, ah, ah. There are no small parts...
MAXWELL: ...only small minds.
JB: (To MAXWELL.) You, too, stage boy. This door is double hung.
(Places MAXWELL to the side of GLORIA, then places MAXWELL’S arms above his head. They each make a side of a double door by standing with their right shoulders touching, facing the STAGE or PLAYING AREA. )
Perfection.
(Demonstrates the "door" that is MAXWELL and GLORIA. They swing forward or backward to "open" and "close" like a saloon door, spinning on their heals. JB "opens" and "closes" it with a "skreeech," the sound of creaky door hinges.)
No slamming.
MAXWELL: I’ll make you pay, my friend. Mark my words.
JB: (To BETSY.) Ready?
BETSY: Ready.
JB: Places, everyone! Pay close attention, Gloria. You may learn something.
(For the following scene from "The Taming of the Shrew," ACTORS assume the following roles: JB as PETRUCHIO, BETSY as KATHERINE and MAXWELL and GLORIA as the "door." JB crosses UPSTAGE as BETSY/KATE is in a huff and marches through the door. MAXWELL and GLORIA skreech every time PETRUCHIO or KATE move through the "door." JB/PETRUCHIO follows KATE through the door and "closes" it. Speaks as PETRUCHIO.)
Good morrow, Kate, for that’s your name, I hear.
BETSY/KATHERINE: Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing: They call me Katherine that do talk of me.
JB/PETRUCHIO: You lie, in faith! For you are call’d plain Kate,
KATHERINE: Indeed?!
PETRUCHIO: And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst; But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom.
(KATHERINE softens, liking what she hears. PETRUCHIO become bold and grabs her, then tries to waltz with her across the STAGE.)
Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate, For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate, (Becomes suddenly serious and drops down on one knee.) Take this of me, Kate of my consolation—
Hearing thy mildness prais’d in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,
Myself am mov’d to woo thee for my wife.KATHERINE: Mov’d! In good time! Let him that mov’d you hither remove you hence. (Moves to "door," "opens" it and begins to step through, but PETRUCHIO stops her and pulls her away from the "door." Angry.) I knew you at the first you were a moveable.
PETRUCHIO: (Slams "door" shut.) Why, what’s a moveable?
KATHERINE: A join’d-stool.
PETRUCHIO: Though hast hit it! (Gets down on all fours.) Come sit on me!
KATHERINE: Asses are made to bear, and so are you. (Gives his rump a push with her foot.)
PETRUCHIO: (Falls.) Women are made to bear, and so are you.
KATHERINE: No such jade as you, if me you mean.
PETRUCHIO: Alas, good Kate, I will not burden thee! For knowing thee to be but young and light—
KATHERINE: Too light for such a swain as you to catch, and yet as heavy as my weight should be.
PETRUCHIO: Should be! Should—buzz!
KATHERINE: Well taken, and like a buzzard.
PETRUCHIO: O, slow-winged turtle! Shall a buzzard take thee?
KATHERINE: Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard.
PETRUCHIO: Come, come, you wasp! In faith, you are too angry.
KATHERINE: If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
PETRUCHIO: My remedy is then to pluck it out.
KATHERINE: Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.
PETRUCHIO: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail.
KATHERINE: In his tongue.
PETRUCHIO: Whose tongue?
KATHERINE: Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell. (Goes to "open" door. MAXWELL and GLORIA open.)
PETRUCHIO: (Slams them shut.) What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman—
KATHERINE: That I’ll try. (Strikes him.)
PETRUCHIO: I swear I’ll cuff you if you strike again.
KATHERINE: So may you lose your arms. If you strike me, you are no gentleman! And if no gentleman, why then no arms?
MAXWELL: Speaking of arms... (He and GLORIA drop their arms and shake them from exhaustion. PETRUCHIO and KATHERINE are too busy to notice.)
PETRUCHIO: A herald, Kate? O, put me in thy books!
KATHERINE: What is your crest? A coxcomb?
PETRUCHIO: A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen.
The Scene from Taming a Shrew continues...
Note: This is a sample from the actual script. To review the entire play, order the PERUSAL SCRIPT (online instant download).
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