Recommendations for Shakespeare texts

[MissPaige]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone can recommend suitable editions of Shakespeare texts which I can use to read along and support my DD? She is currently n Year 9 and will be studying Romeo and Juilet in Year 10.Syllabus is AQA if that helps.Thanks in advance

You should ask her school which edition they use. It will be easier for her to use the same version as that studied in school.

Mr Bruff guides have the complete play and an adjacent line by line 'translation' into modern English. DS found it very helpful in understanding.

Hi OP, I adore Shakespeare and I love the Cambridge School copies of the texts - here is Romeo and Juliet. It has notes in it and so many gorgeous pictures!

A good preparation would be to watch the Royal Shakespeare Company's production that is currently on BBC iPlayer. It is their production from 2018, so recent. You can also watch Romeo+Juliet and West Side Story for a comparison. Knowledge of the story and listening to the language (RSC production) will help your DC understand the text when they start to work with it.

I just had a look at the one ahorse linked to, that is a really good version to have. School will no doubt provide one for your DD which they will underline words and write in during class.

We have the Mr Bruff one and yes, it has the translation but you can get that online for free. I didn't rate his book that highly to be honest.

The CGP "Romeo and Juliet text guide" is the revision guide recommended to us by school and I think that is good for getting a thorough understanding of the play in terms of asking questions of you.

Thanks for all the great suggestions, will definitely get DD to to check with school as to version.I have had a look at the edition suggested by @ahorsecalledseptember and looks good so will probably get it. @mudpiemaker apart from CGP are you familair with other guides such as Spark notes etc and how do you rate vs CGP one? @SpikeStoker, suggestion re RSC production but the problem is getting DD to be interested in sitting down to watch it, any tips or suggestions?So much as changed since I was in school!

Romeo +Juliet appeals to teens as it stars Leo decaprio and also Claire Danes of Homeland fame - she looks a bit different from Carrie!!

It's very action heavy (opens with a gang fight) so engages at once. Also yy to West Side Story esp if she likes musicals.

I agree tho it's not easy. Cgp guides are good as they have the story as a cartoon which is a good place to start. And lots more of course!

Look at the RSC website - the education zone has lots of resources for students

Perhaps start with Romeo+Juliet before the RSC production. But I usually find that popcorn and hot chocolate with marshmallows usually works and perhaps have an interval with ice cream as if you were at the theatre. Basically don’t treat it like school work, but fun. Once you have seen one or two you can talk about characters and how each handled the story. You shouldn’t have any trouble getting her to watch Romeo+Juliet or West Side Story. There’s alway Gnomeo and Juliet and Shakespeare In Love as a gateway.

CGP guides are better in terms of 'higher ability'. Spark are a bit more simple... I'd recommend a CGP guide for all her literature texts.

I think the way to look at this is Shakespeare wrote R&J in 1594/95 so this has been talked about and studied a lot.

There are no new ideas, you just need to be able to regurgitate what they want to hear. I studied R&J for degree (English Lit) so didn't initially know where to pitch it level wise when helping.

I agree that Mr Bruff guide is more grade 4/5 but he puts all his videos online on YouTube to break everything down, for free. This is my second child going through GCSE. Every GCSE is a game, learn what scores you points, the more points the higher the grade. We may not like the game, we may not agree with the point system, but this is the game.

Plays are to be watched. I personally hate Baz Luhrmann's version of R&J, both my children saw that one in school and also hated it. We watched the 2006 version on YouTube and some of the Zeffirelli one too. You need context, this is set in Elizabethan times. Is your DD doing History? Could you watch the film Elizabeth with Cate Blanchet? Or Shakespeare in Love?

I think some students do a combination of sparknotes, CGP guides and Mr Bruff. But yes, chocolate, biscuits, cake, whatever it takes to get your DD to watch a film is a good idea.

Every GCSE is a game, learn what scores you points, the more points the higher the grade. We may not like the game, we may not agree with the point system, but this is the game.

^ This. A thousand times this. I'm not an English expert, but I can tell you exactly how to play the game to pass GCSE MFL. especially if you are doing F tier. Yes, you won't end up speaking Spanish, but that's not what we're doing here.

I used to tear my hair out, metaphorically speaking, at students determined to write something complex that they were not master if, rather than simple sentences that won them the marks and that they KNEW! Aaargh. Ok. As you were.

But yes op, game the system; dd got a good grade in Eng Lang by having a plan of what to write and how.

Sorry for typos, funny when I am ranting about accuracy!

You are so right about gaming the system @clary & @mudpiemaker, problem is for me I don't know what the current formats are so as to be able to score points talk less of getting higher ones.Teacher at school has not been of any help as she told DD that as" the language was complex and may be hard to understand" she was better off reading a study guide!! Hence my concern and need to take it upon myself and seek the expertise and wisdom of others.

@MissPaige the good news is, your DD is year 9 so you are coming at this early enough, and we are here to help you.

The main thing I will say is that having the play initially translated is great, but if she can guess the gist of each sentence or couple of sentences then it will serve her better in her exam. As she is doing AQA the format of the paper is she will be given an extract from the text and then the question will be something like starting with this moment in the play how does Shakespeare present X so she has to break down that extract which is great, no memorising quotes as she can quote it from the text, but then she is also asked about the rest of the play so she has to be able to remember some stuff on this topic.

Having an idea of what order things happen in is helpful. Sometimes schools will have printed out bits like Romeo attends the Capulet party and Friar Laurence marries Romeo and Juliet etc and you put the bits in order.

For now concentrate on getting her through Shakespeare, she will also do an 18th Century novel, a 19th Century novel and poetry. All AQA past papers are online, but you need to cross this with the mark scheme to see what they are looking for and if you want to dig deeper the examiner's report which will analyse how students did with that paper.

If you can find out from school which other texts she is doing you can start early on those too. We already know for year 9 which was a gift as it is the same ones Ds1 did last year.

This is a marathon not a sprint, you are clearly a lovely Mother who wants the best for her daughter, so you are already off to a great start.

it's actually a 19th century text (Christmas Carol, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde) and a 20th century text such as Animal Farm or Inspector Calls. Some of the 20th century ones are plays (inspector, also Taste if Honey tho that's not chosen so often) .

I asked DD (Eng lit at uni) and she says the Oxford edition this one as it has the words explained on the facing page and lots of useful analysis. Also it's a cool looking series (this may only be a factor for dd, I do see 😂)

Also later on (not yyyyeeeettt!) use past papers, mark schemes and examiner reports to see what you do well and not so well. There is a limited number of past papers so they will be covered in school (this spec started in 2017, plus there was an exemplar for that year group) but it's still worth knowing where they are for your own use here

I can't thank you enough for your great suggestions and encouraging words @mudpiemaker it is certainly a marathon not a sprint but it is just useful to know that one is "doing the correct training to prepare to take part in the race". How do you suggest the best way to look at the language element? Would it be better to start off looking at various literary devices and techniques so that they are identifable when they come up/used in the play?I know that Shakespeare has things which are unique such as iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets etc but it's been ages since I have read and studied his plays so most definately would not be confident in explaining this.Would it be better to just read the play together and go through it line by line instead? I know that it is likely that they will not get to read the entire play in class and DD will definitely not go off and read the rest on her own! So just trying to see how best to help and support.

Have been told that she will be studying a Christmas Carol also, so any suitable editions of the text would also be helpful.

My respect for teachers has gone up immensely during this lockdown period!!

@MissPaige Firstly at using the incorrect bloody centuries! That will teach me to multi-task thank you clary for correcting me on that.

Okay, so there is loads of helpful stuff on A Christmas Carol too but we are just dipping our toes into the lake that she will need to swim across. Do one thing at a time for English Lit. I will tell you that Ds1 didn't even start his 3rd book until maybe October of year 11. School hadn't decided which book and so we could have had the whole summer to read it and learn it. It was panic inducing frustrating.

I think everyone will agree Shakespeare is the hardest due to the language, but it becomes easier, I promise. English language wise is she doing AQA for that too? Ds didn't. Again, Mr Bruff, loads on it, he is a great introduction

This isn't a one time deal, MN secondary board is incredibly helpful, you can either keep this thread going and adding to it at a later date, just @ people and we will come back or start a new thread and ask another question.

I think the biggest thing to remember with English lit is, it isn't real. This is not a biography, it is a playwrite or author creating characters to behave in a certain way, to represent something, so with Shakespeare this is Elizabethan times, huge numbers of people went to the theatre, it was a place of entertainment and the audidence heckled. This is why R&J goes from fighting to arranging a marriage to a party to a possible conflict to meeting and falling in love. The prologue tells you people are going to die! it is a bit of something for everyone. They believed in fate, and witches, they were all forced to attend church every week due to Elizabeth being protestant and ruling after her Catholic sister Mary. This play is a little poke of fun at the Catholic Italians for Shakespeare's Protestant queen.

Understanding the time period when things are set is important. An Inspector Calls is set in a much earlier time period so we realise that Birling is a complete arse with his whole Titanic is unsinkable stuff.

That is why it can be helpful to watch films that are set in the past Pride and Prejudice, understanding a woman's place in society. Ds2 said "I am not enjoying this" and I said you are not meant to enjoy it just understand it but a little part of me died inside

The CGP complete play edition is the one we recommend at school (English teacher). It's well laid out, with explanatory notes and annotations throughout.

If she is Y9 she is the perfect age for watching the Leo/Baz Luhrmann film imo - it's very engaging and fast-moving and the difficulties with the language are often overcome as it is so plot-driven. As long as she understands that it is an interpretation, and that Shakespeare did not intend his characters to use guns or that the Queen Mab speech is Mercutio having an acid trip...

This edition btw.

I teach using Bravo Mr Shakespeare by Murcia Williams and also The Shakespeare Stories by Matthews and Ross as an introduction before moving on to the full play.

We have downloaded 3 versions of R &J on Sky so will make a start with those whilst waitjng for the texts which have been ordered to arrive.Will then go thorough the text together and try and make sense of it, using the suggestions you have provided up thread. Just hope the DD starts to be less resistant to towards the text than she has been in the past!Thanks for all your great suggestions and tips, I will be back with updates and no doubts more questions

I know people who use ‘No Fear Shakespeare’ and like the modern translation.