Download post-show discussion questions and activities

POST-SHOW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
AND
ACTIVITIES
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2013.
POST-SHOW MATERIALS
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Use the following questions and activities as means for students to evaluate their experience of the performance
of The Winter’s Tale, as well as to encourage their own imaginative and artistic response. Consider also that
some of the pre-show activities might enhance your students’ appreciation of both the play and its playwright
post-performance.
THE WINTER’S TALE : PERFORMANCE REFLECTION
AND
DISCUSSION
Following their attendance at the performance of The Winter’s Tale, ask your students to reflect on the
questions below. You might choose to have them answer each individually or you may divide students into
groups for round-table discussions. Have them consider each question, record their answers, and then share
their responses with the rest of the class.
Questions to Ask Your Students about the Play in Production

What was your overall reaction to Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale? Did you find the
production compelling? Stimulating? Intriguing? Challenging? Memorable? Confusing?
Evocative? Bizarre? Unique? Delightful? Meaningful? Explain your reactions.

What themes of the play stood out in production? [Themes might include: Jealousy and its
destructive effects; honesty as the mark of a true friend, despite the personal costs to self or
the friendship; loyalty at odds with morality; betrayal as the undoing of relationships; the rivalry
between friendship and love/marriage; the repentance and suffering that follows a grave error
or unjust act; the power of forgiveness; the triumph of time, (i.e., time’s power to overturn,
transform, and/or heal); love’s power and limitations; estrangement between husband and
wife, fathers and children; generational conflict, especially between fathers and children;
oppressive and possessive misogyny; male annoyance with bold, defiant women; and
benevolent and forgiving women.]

What themes were made even more apparent or especially evocative in production/
performance? Explain your responses.

Is there a moment in the play that specifically resonated with you either intellectually or
emotionally? Which moment was it and why do you think it affected you?

Describe the pace and tempo of the production (e.g., slow, fast, varied). Did it feel like the
pace of the production matched the inherent tempo of the story and/or was suited to the style
of the play? Why or why not?
Questions to Ask Your Students about the Characters

Did you personally identify with any of the characters in The Winter’s Tale? Who? Why? If no,
why not?

What character did you find most interesting or engaging? Why were you intrigued or attracted
to this particular character?

What qualities were revealed by the actions/objectives, language/speech, and physicalization
of the characters?

Did any characters develop or undergo a transformation during the course of the play? Who?
How? Why? Was the transformation meaningful? In what ways?

In what ways did the characters reveal the themes of the play? Explain your responses.
Questions to Ask Your Students about the Style and Design of the Production
Was there a moment in The Winter’s Tale that was so compelling, intriguing, or engaging that it
remains with you in your mind’s eye? Write a vivid description of that moment. As you write
2
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2013.
POST-SHOW MATERIALS
your description, pretend that you are writing about the moment for someone who was unable
to experience the performance.

How did the overall production style and design suit the story, inform the characters, and
reflect the central themes of The Winter’s Tale? Explain your response.

How did the style and design elements of the production (e.g., sets, costumes, lighting, sound,
original music), unified under the directorial vision of Rebecca Taichman, enhance the
performance? Did anything specifically stand out to you? What three words would you use to
describe Rebecca Taichman’s and her creative team’s style/design for the production?
Explain your reactions.

What did you notice about Christine Jones’ scenic design? Did it provide an appropriate and/or
evocative setting for the story of The Winter’s Tale? How and why, or why not?

What mood, atmosphere, or impact did Christopher Akerlind’s lighting design establish and/or
achieve? Explain your experience of the lighting of the play.

What did you notice about the costumes, designed by David Zinn, worn by the actors? What
do you think were the artistic and practical decisions that went into the conception of the
costumes?
FREE WRITE/JOURNALING: MY FIRST SHAKESPEAREAN _________________.
You might want to give your students the opportunity to first reflect personally, privately, and subjectively upon
their experience of The Winter’s Tale in performance before engaging them in more objective, public, and/or
analytical evaluations of the performance event at McCarter. Free writing/journaling is a great way for your
students to clear their heads, process the performance event, record their personal observations, and/or
chronicle their overall experience.
If free writing or journaling is something already familiar to your students, then providing a prompt might not be
necessary. However, the following prompts might be useful to inexperienced or first time free or journal writers:

Dear Mr. Shakespeare, today I saw The Winter’s Tale and there’s something I want you to
know!

My Personal Relationship with Will...Will Shakespeare, that is.

Dear Director Rebecca Taichman, today I saw your production of The Winter’s Tale and
there’s something I need to tell you!
Chances are that this production of The Winter’s Tale marks your students’ first McCarter Shakespearean
production, first Shakespeare Romance, or, perhaps, their very first experience of a Shakespearean play in
performance—certainly, for some, this production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale might be a student’s first
experience of a live professional theatrical performance ever. Accordingly, the following prompts could be
used:

Dear McCarter, today I saw your The Winter’s Tale by “Willie Shakes” and it was __________.

Personal reflections on my first Shakespearean Romance.

My very first experience of Shakespeare in performance was ___________.

Personal reflections on my very first experience of a live theatrical production, Shakespeare’s
The Winter’s Tale.
Although free and journal writing is intended to be a private, personal and chiefly reflective activity,
some of your students might like to volunteer to share aloud their written observations or to use their
written reflection as a jumping off point to talk about their personal experience of The Winter’s Tale,
Shakespeare in performance, or a live professional theatrical event.
3
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2013.
POST-SHOW MATERIALS

How did Matt Tierney’s sound design affect your overall experience of the play in performance?
What sound moments do you most remember? Which were the most effective or affecting?

Did you find that the music in the production, composed by Nico Muhly effectively served in the
telling of the story of The Winter’s Tale? Was there a particular musical moment that stood out to
you? How did was the storytelling moment enhanced by the music? Overall, what did the music
bring or add to the production?
ADDITIONAL POST-SHOW QUESTIONS
AND
DISCUSSION POINTS
FOR
THE
WINTER’S TALE
On Opposites and Transformation in Shakespearean Romance and The Winter’s Tale
Two characteristic themes of Shakespearean Romance—wonderfully explored in The Winter’s Tale—are
those of opposites and transformation. Romances are filled with opposites, contrasts, and contradictions—
opposing characters, tones, and ideas abound, yet somehow they all fit together into one story. Director
Rebecca Taichman muses
Life contains all of these. These opposites mingle and mix and they don’t cancel each
other out.
Shakespeare’s Romances explore all sides of the human experience, and characters are able to change and
grow. Where tragedies ruin and comedies save, romances forgive and show true transformation of character.
Taichman offers,
Our production is organized around a central theme in the play: Transformation. The
Winter’s Tale investigates how the human spirit can be transformed by jealousy, by love,
by forgiveness. Our story is told by a company of nine actors in which everyone in Sicilia
plays everyone in Bohemia. Hopefully at the heart of the endeavor you will feel a
celebration of the actor’ capacity to contain multitudes—as Shakespeare was celebrating
our capacity for contradiction, transformation, multiplicity, so too does this production.
4

Share the above thoughts and quotations on Shakespearean Romance and the themes of opposites
and transformation as they pertain to The Winter’s Tale with your students—if you are able, project or
write the paragraphs on the board or provide copies of them for your students to read and
comprehend.

Then ask your students to indicate what words, phrases, or ideas resonate with them in light of their
experience of The Winter’s Tale in performance. Use their initial responses as a jumping off point for
a discussion on opposites and transformation in the story of the play and as manifested in the
director’s and her designers’ choices and staging. Specific questions for discussion may include:

What opposites, contrasts, or contradictions were most noticeable in Shakespeare’s story,
its tone, and/or its characters?

What opposites, contrasts, or contradictions were especially featured or highlighted in the
design or staging of the production?

How where the kingdoms of Sicilia and Bohemia oppositional or contrasting in terms of look,
style, and feel? What words would you use to describe visually, stylistically, or emotionally
the specific lands and their inhabitants? How does color function in the different kingdoms?
What about music?

How did Taichman, her designers, and her company of actors play with, use, or embody the
concept of transformation in their telling of The Winter’s Tale?
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2013.
POST-SHOW MATERIALS

How did the idea of transformation find its way into the scenic design of the play? What
transformations occur on stage to indicate shifts in setting?

How were costumes used in the various transformations of characters/actors?

To what is Taichman referring to when she speaks of the “actors’ capacity to contain
multitudes?”

What transformations of character within one actor most excited and/or intrigued you?
Why? Did this kind of “doubling” (i.e., actors playing more than one role in a production) add
to your enjoyment of the play or reception of the overall story? How or why?

Which doubling assignments created interesting parallels? Fascinating opposites?
A Winter’s Tale Miscellany
On Rogues

What impression did the character of Autolycus make on you? What is his occupation
and social position in the play? What does he want, why, and how does he go about
getting what he wants? Does he have any twenty-first-century equivalents/counterparts?
How does he end up as the lights come down on the play? Does he get what he
deserves? What do you see as Autolycus’ function in The Winter’s Tale?
On Bears

The extremely rare and perhaps most famous of Shakespearean stage directions “Exit,
pursued by a bear” is featured in Act 3, scene 3 of The Winter’s Tale. It is not known
how this moment played at the Globe Theatre in 1611 when the play was first performed.
What do you think of the staging of that moment in the McCarter production? What
words would you use to describe this dramatic moment or its effect on you? What other
ways might that moment or effect might be staged theatrically? Is there a more effective
or less effective way to stage the bear?
On Statues

The final scene of The Winter’s Tale is set in “a chapel in Paulina’s house” and features
the stunning spectacle of the statue of Queen Hermione—rumored in the previous scene
to have been created by “that rare Italian master, Julio Romano”—miraculously coming
to life. How did you receive and process the incredible events of the final scene? Is it
your understanding that the statue is magically transformed into the living, breathing
Hermione? Or is there another, more credible explanation to this occurrence? What
evidence is offered by the play? Why do you think this happens in the story? What
effect did this resurrection and its resulting reunions have on you?
On Moral or Message

5
If you had to articulate a moral or message for Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale what
would you say? What does the play have to say about compassion and forgiveness?
Who would be the play’s spokesmodel for forgiveness? What does the play have to say
about jealousy? Loyalty? Repentance? Time?
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2013.
POST-SHOW MATERIALS
IF YOU WERE SHAKESPEARE, THE TALE YOU WOULD TELL!—SCRIPTING
UNDRAMATIZED (OR ALTERNATIVE) MOMENTS FROM THE WINTER’S TALE
Part of the craft of playwriting involves the plotting of the story of the play—that is, the playwright’s selection
and dramatization of certain moments/events that make up an overall narrative to shape, contain, and focus
his or her specific telling. Shakespeare, as a master of plotting, knew that it isn’t possible or desirable to show
an audience every moment that happens in a narrative—there is only so much time a playwright has to unfold
a story, bring its conflict to a climax, and then tie up all of its loose ends—so he purposefully selects to
dramatize some moments and not others.
For example, in Act 2, scene 1 of The Winter’s Tale, Shakespeare shows us the shocking moment when
Leontes accuses Hermione of being an adulterer in front of his young son Mamillius, and certain members of
the court, and orders her to be taken to prison, yet decides not to show us the moment when Hermione gives
birth in prison. Likewise, in Act 5, scene 2, Shakespeare craftily elects to have the Gentlemen of the Sicilian
court efficiently tell one another—and us—”the news” of the many dramatic moments that occur offstage when
Camillo and the inhabitants of Bohemia arrive in Sicilia. No doubt that dramatizing the many revelations and
reunions told in only 120 lines of text by the Gentlemen of Sicilia would have taken another thirty minutes or fill
up thirty pages were they scripted, hence Shakespeare’s decision to cut to the dramatic chase and tell of
these events and not show them.
Ask your students if there were any undramatized moments from The Winter’s Tale narrative that they would
have enjoyed to see scripted and played out on stage—and then have them dramatize them!
Below are a few moments told but not shown by Shakespeare that student playwrights might like to dramatize
themselves, either solo or in scene-writing groups:

The moment when Leontes and Camillo are reunited after sixteen years.

The moment when Leontes must explain to Perdita, in the presence of Paulina, Polixenes, and
Camillo, how and why she was abandoned in Bohemia, and what has happened to her mother.
Or perhaps there are other moments not even imagined by Shakespeare that your students might want to
invent and explore. For example:

The moment in which a younger Leontes and Polixenes first meet the young Princess Hermione.

The moment—perhaps a comical one—when the Clown nearly divulges to Perdita at dinner with
their father that he and the Old Shepherd are not related to her by blood.
Student playwrights might also like to experiment with writing alternative or divergent versions of dramatic
moments from The Winter’s Tale. For example:

An alternative dramatic moment to Act 3, scene 2, in which Leontes accepts the prophesy of the
oracle as truth and must explain his jealousy and misconduct and beg for the forgiveness of
Hermione, Polixenes, Camillo, and/or his Court.

The alternative dramatic moment in which Prince Florizel respectfully and responsibly confronts his
father, Polixenes, to ask for his permission to marry “the shepherdess” Perdita—possibly in the
presence of presence of Perdita and/or Camillo.
Variations/Options:
6

Challenge student playwrights to write their scenes in iambic pentameter.

Challenge student playwrights to adapt their dramatic moments to a different time or place. For
example, they can set their dramatic moments in modern day New Jersey and imagine their
characters in social and cultural positions/situations suitable for such a setting.
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2013.
POST-SHOW MATERIALS
THE WINTER’S TALE: THE REVEIW.
Have your students take on the role of theater critic by writing a review of the McCarter Theatre production of
William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. A theater critic or reviewer is essentially a “professional audience
member,” whose job is to provide reportage of a play’s production and performance through active and
descriptive language for a target audience of readers (e.g., their peers, their community, or those interested in
the arts). Critics/reviewers analyze the theatrical event to provide a clearer understanding of the artistic
ambitions and intentions of a play and its production; reviewers often ask themselves, “What is the playwright
and this production attempting to do?” Finally, the critic offers personal judgment as to whether the artistic
intentions of a production were achieved, effective and worthwhile. Things to consider before writing:
7

Theater critics/reviewers should always back up their opinions with reasons, evidence and details.

The elements of production that can be discussed in a theatrical review are the play text or script (and
its themes, plot, characters, etc.), scenic elements, costumes, lighting, sound, music, acting and
direction (i.e., how all of these elements are put together). [See Theater Reviewer’s Checklist.]

Educators may want to provide their students with sample theater reviews from a variety of
newspapers.

Encourage your students to submit their reviews to the school newspaper for publication. And ask them
to email them to us at [email protected].
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2013.