A Midsummer Night's Dream a book by Paul Leonard Murray and William Shakespeare

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Description

"The concept is original and the execution brilliant. This is Dr. Seuss meets Shakespeare, with all the joy of the former meshed with all the intrigue of the latter. The rhymes are really clever, and often elicited an actual LOL."

- David Crystal, author of Shakespeare's Words and How Language Works.

The Silly Shakespeare for Students edition of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream simplifies the famous play without dumbing it down. It's perfect for introducing students to the Bard and helping English Language Learners practice speaking and oracy skills while grappling with the classics. Author Paul Leonard Murray, director of the Belgrade English Language Theater, has cut the play down to an hour or so and made the language more accessible. But he's kept all the funny parts! Not only that, the whole thing is written in rhyming couplets

Production notes and a summary of the play make putting on Shakespeare easy and fun, even if you've never done drama in class before! Looking for something different for drama club, student theater, or speaking class? Want to spice up your literature or reading class and give students a new appreciation for Shakespeare? This is the series for you.

Product Details

Price

$10.00

Publisher

Alphabet Publishing

Publish Date

April 01, 2020

Pages

92

Dimensions

5.5 X 8.5 X 0.22 inches | 0.28 pounds

Language

English

Type

Paperback

EAN/UPC

9781948492713

About the Author

Paul Leonard Murray has worked as an actor and educator for over 30 years. He graduated in Theatre, gained an MA in Educational Theatre and a PhD in Applied Theatre. Originally from England but now living and working in Belgrade, Serbia, Paul is a passionate believer in the power of theatre to engage, educate and amuse children of all ages. He is currently the director of Belgrade English Language Theatre which is a youth theatre for young people for whom English is not their native tongue. The plays in the Silly Shakespeare for Students series were developed with the help of his youth theatre member's and can be read in class or performed. Inspired by the humour of the Goons, Monty Python and Commedia dell Arte (and of course the bard himself) Paul hopes that these adaptations can help to inspire further appreciation of theatre, the English language, Shakespeare and silliness.

William Shakespeare (April 26, 1564 (baptised) - April 23, 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the Bard of Avon. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Reviews

***A Reader's Favorite 5-Star Winner***

"I really appreciated the fact that much of the rhyme and rhythm of the original text is kept in place so that it still feels true to the bard's lyrical style. Many of the rewordings play into the new couplet rhyme scheme beautifully, and the incidents are indeed as funny as ever. "

- K.C. Finn, author of The Book Of Shade

"A simplified version of the play with brilliant humour and rhyming throughout. Great to play with in a classroom and can't wait to use it on some intermediate students when I can. The opening had me glued from the start and it flows beautifully. Genuinely fun theatre to bring into class."

- Alan Hall, co-host, Phrasally Verbocious ELT Podcast

"I've been lucky enough to read three of the resources in this series - consistently engaging, humorous, easy to read and well-graded. I am genuinely trying to hold back the praise with this one - these are top notch resources."

- Peter Clements, blogger at ELTPlanning and co-author of Start Up

"perfectly encapsulates the spirit and story of the original while being fun and silly and appealing to the humour of the elementary student. I wish this had been available when my nephew was studying Grade 4 English

- Adena Lee, Goodreads reviewer

"I thoroughly enjoyed the care taken by Paul Leonard Murray in rendering the Elizabethan text of the drama A Midsummer Night's Dream highly palatable for English as a Foreign Language cast members and audience. The rollicking humor of William Shakespeare's somewhat bawdy play is retained despite the simplification of the text, and the innate rhythm of the English language still dominates the script."

- Lois Henderson, Reader's Favorite

"...despite having read A Midsummer Night's Dream countless times, I still found Murray's text funny. Between the couplets and the storyline, it was a very joyful, wacky reading experience and I breezed through the entire play in under an hour... f all of the plays in the Silly Shakespeare for Students series is as good as A Midsummer Night's Dream, then Murray will have helped make the Bard accessible for a whole new audience."

- Louise Hurrell, Reader's Favorite

" It's no simple task to rewrite a whole classic in the form of couplets, and the author rightly merits high praise for his commendable efforts in this regard.... I whole-heartedly recommend A Midsummer Night's Dream: Silly Shakespeare for Students to all young native English learners. It will also serve as an excellent textbook for learners of all ages, all over the world."- Raju Chacko, Reedsy Discovery

"The concept is original and the execution brilliant. This is Dr. Seuss meets Shakespeare, with all the joy of the former meshed with all the intrigue of the latter. The rhymes are really clever, and often elicited an actual LOL. The pace and staging are terrific. And informed by Paul's evident theatre background, I can see that they would be a joy to perform in, for youngsters especially."

- David Crystal, author of Shakespeare's Words and How Language Works.