Which Shakespeare play...?

[husbandcallsmepickle]

Which Shakespeare play did you study for GCSE English? We were chatting about this at work and most of my colleagues read Macbeth. I was in the minority as I studied A Midsummer Night's Dream.

You must have been the same exam board as me.

Absolutely.
we took our DD to the theatre including a few Shakespeare plays and she thoroughly enjoyed them (mostly quite fun performances - The Tempest at the Minack with a bit of rain at exactly the right point, plays in the park by those tiny enthusiastic travelling troupes etc). But then she had do ‘do’ Romeo and Juliet for gcse …. Killed it stone cold dead for several years.

Macbeth - which I love - O level 1986

College made me sit it again even though I passed so 1987 Julius Caesar - also loved but then I am a ‘think about Rome at least once a day’ people!

GCSE was Macbeth. A level was As You Like It.

Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Did Anthony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Nights dream at A Level.

O Level Julius Caesar. It was that or Merchant of Venice depending on which teacher you had.

Oh and we did Much Ado About Nothing at GCSE as well! How come we did 3??

My grandfather (sadly died before I was born) was an English teacher and apparently famous for his classroom performance of "God for Harry, England and St George!"

Macbeth at O level. Richard III and Hamlet at A level. Saw both RIII and Hamlet on same day at Stratford and was lucky enough to see Anthony Sher as Richard. Ken Brannagh was Laertes in Hamlet, Frances Barber Ophelia and Virginia McKenna as Gertrude. Brilliant

Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet at GCSE. I remember the Baz Luhrmann version of R&J was in cinemas when we were studying it and we had a brilliant school trip to watch it.

Then Hamlet and The Winter’s Tale for Eng Lit A Level. Loved both of those.

It was often an end of term treat to watch a film version of whatever play we had been studying and that was usually when I would finally understand what the plot was.
I always think with plays it should be you watch a performance (obviously a filmed version as theatre is expensive) FIRST and then study it in depth.
I remember a few years ago my daughters primary announced just days before World Book Day that the dress up theme was Shakespeare.
It pissed almost all the parents off because they had already sorted out costumes. A few of us from the PTA went to the head to complain about the late notice and I pointed out that "They aren't really books but plays. To be watched. On a stage." 😂😂😂

I liked the film version which had Stanley Tucci in it.

Year 8 - Midsummer
GCSE - Othello and Merchant of Venice
A Level - Much Ado About Nothing 🥰 my favourite

As a teacher I taught Romeo & Juliet in Year 9 and Macbeth for GCSE.

'O' level - The Merchant of Venice'

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew ears? If you cut him, doth he not bleed?

Horrible Shylock? Poor old Shylock? Both?

O Level: Romeo & Juliet
A Level: Anthony & Cleopatra and Coriolanus

Yes, I am a big fan of Much Ado, especially the Branagh version.

So maybe this is a good place to ask if anyone here has read "By any other Name" by Jodie Picoult, and what you thought.....?

Macbeth for O Level (got unclassified for English.Lit!!) then had to learn big chunks for a comedy play 30 years later - only time I ever needed a prompt - it was my nemesis.

I did Macbeth for GCSE. We did A Midsummer Night's dream in Y7, it was my first real exposure to Shakespeare! Also did Twelfth Night in Y8 and Romeo & Juliet in Y9.

For A-Level we did The Tempest and then Hamlet.

Our kids high school does it this way - when they start on a play, they watch it first in class, or at least, alongside starting to study it. It definitely helps. Easy with Romeo and Juliet as there’s the baz L version, and some great filmed Globe stage productions. It was harder in lockdown when they were doing Macbeth in y9, and we were trying to find a suitable version to watch - the Roman Polanski one was as a pp described above, very very 1970s, there are loads of other versions but they tend to make them v gritty and gory and often 18 rated, which is absolutely fair enough given the subject matter, but hard when you want one to watch with your just turned 13 year old! We did find one in the end.

GCSE: The Merchant of Venice
A-level: King Lear
We also did A Midsummer Night's Dream but I can't remember when! A-level, probably.

Julius Caesar for O level.

Othello and The Winter's Tale for A level.

Henry IV part 2. “He vaulted onto his horse with his cuisses on his thighs”. Sorry Shakespeare if I got it a bit wrong after 60 years !

They're the same ones that I studied.
It was 1972 for O Level and 1974 for A Level.

Twelfth night and Romeo & Juliet for GCSE,
Hamlet and Henry V (which was amazing) do A level. Love Shakespeare. When I have time I’d like to study more of them!

The Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar - was gutted!

I had wanted A Midsummer Nights Dream or Romeo and Juliet. Can’t remember much about either of them except going on and on about the bloody pound of flesh for weeks!