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WellesleyX: Shakespeare on the Page and in Performance: Young Love

Explore Shakespeare's plays of young love, Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to learn what makes them so compelling and magical.
3 weeks
4–5 hours per week
Instructor-paced
Instructor-led on a course schedule
This course is archived

About this course

Skip About this course

This literature and theater course will delve into two wonderful plays of young love, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and try to bring alive what makes them so compelling and popular -- as both literature and drama.

As we explore the genius of the plays on the page, we will also study the lives of the plays in performance, from Shakespeare's own theatre to the stages and screens across the globe today. To help us further, actors will occasionally join our effort to demonstrate ways of bringing the text alive as living theatre.

At a glance

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English

What you'll learn

Skip What you'll learn
  • A new appreciation for Shakespeare's greatness and popularity, on the page and in performance across the globe.
  • How to combine literary and historical analysis with theatrical approaches to bring Shakespeare alive.
  • New ways of understanding Shakespeare's continuing relevance to us today as we explore recurring themes in plays that trace the arc of Shakespeare's career.
  • Analyze Shakespeare’s plays, Romeo and Juliet and A Midnight Summer Night’s Dream.

Week 1:

  • Introduction to Theatre in Shakespeare's Time
  • Romeo and Juliet

Week 2:

  • Romeo and Juliet
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream

Week 3:

  • A Midsummer Night's Dream

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