About This Lesson
While Henry VIII may be one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, Henry VIII coincides well with the teaching of Elizabethan England. In this unit, students will explore the rituals, contexts, and history of Shakespeare, Henry VIII, The Reformation, and Elizabeth I in England. Acting skills and vocabulary will also be covered in order to activate the Shakespeare’s text. Students will also rehearse, memorize, and perform a 25-minute version of Henry VIII. This lesson works best when taught a couple of days a week over the course of a month, in order to give the students adequate time to memorize and rehearse. Students should be given an off-book date of about two weeks before the final performance. You may note there are many controversial topics in this unit that you are free to include or avoid, but Shakespeare’s play is full of humans behaving badly, including government corruption, religious persecution, marital infidelity, sex jokes, and murder plots. Use your best judgement when dealing with the students in your particular classroom. Inhabiting Shakespeare’s characters require that you embody some pretty shady characters, so allowing the students some freedom to be “bad” is required to make this script work.
