By Rabita Aziz (May 1, 2003)

Did you know that when you walk, if you lead with your hips and your pelvis, you are a very confident person who likes to have a good time? Or if you walk with your chest leading the way, you are pompous and arrogant? Or if you walk with your head in front of you, you are always thinking and scheming? Well, those were some of the insights and stage tricks that nearly 90 students learned about Monday when Nicole Murray from the Shakespeare Theatre paid George Mason a visit for a special workshop on Shakespeare.

Ms. Sinha set up this special workshop for her English students, in commemoration of William Shakespeare’s 439^th birthday. Students from Mrs. Dean-Pratt’s English class also joined in the merriment, which took place in the TLC for one-hour intervals between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM.
 

Ms. Murray first got all of the students up and walking around the room. While the students were walking, she told them about how different people walk in different ways, and how a person’s personality can be apparent by the way they walk. She then told the students to walk in different ways, such as with the head in front, or with the feet leading the way, slightly exaggerated of course. This put the students in a relaxed mood, and everyone seemed eager about what was going to happen next. She then asked for 10 volunteers, and gave them each one syllable from a famous Shakespearean line. She did this to show the students how iambic pentameter works in Shakespearean plays.

Juniors Allison Penland, Nora McCulla, and Matt Meyer look  on as junior Whitney Lemke and her classmates perform  dramatic scenes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the  Shakespearean workshop on Monday, April 28.  (Photo by Rabita Aziz)

The students with the unstressed syllables had to crouch down and practically whisper their syllable, while the students with the stressed syllables had to jump up into the air and shout out their syllable. 

Next, Nicole Murray asked for ten more volunteers, and those students were asked to read certain lines, which basically summarized Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet. After a first read-through, the students were then asked to read their few lines again, this time under 34 seconds. The record for this was 26 seconds! Finally, pieces of paper were handed out to the students. These papers had the summary of a certain scene from Hamlet on the back of the paper, with the description of a character on the other side. Students were told to walk around the room and find the people with the same paper they had. Those students then broke up into groups, and had to pantomime their designated scenes in front of the workshop. These pantomimed scenes were put together to create the entire play of Hamlet. 

Many of the students really got into the fun activities. Everyone was up and animated. "It was a lot of fun to be able to physically get up and be animated," said English teacher Mrs. Dean-Pratt. She also added, "I think it was great, and I think we should do more things like this." The great Bard would have been very proud of the Mason thespians!