Join me in a year of working on the sonnets & sharing them with the rest of the world!
Let's make Shakespeare's text as accessible, fun, creative, and interactive as possible!
Go ahead and be as creative as you want: video, song, interpretive dance, painting, or sculpture; get a group of friends or family together; find people you've never met and have them do a sonnet! The sky's the limit.
[See THIS PAGE for instructions on uploading]
This challenge is a way for ALL of us to learn more about these sonnets - not only in the work we might do individually, but from seeing how other people interpret the words.
Now - what if you have no idea what the words mean, haven't got a clue where to start, and know there's no way you're putting yourself on video to look silly? (YES, I'VE BEEN THERE.) First - relax. This is ALL about having fun. It can definitely be scary to think about doing this, but trust me - the value of working on this material is worth it. Plus, you get to connect with other people excited about this material too!
To get you started, here are a couple cool websites that have put together modern translations of all the sonnets - great first stops just to get your bearings: No Sweat Shakespeare and No Fear Shakespeare - love these titles!
If you want even more resources to dig even deeper, I've put together a list on the other side of the page of places I go. And please let me know if you have any other secrets!
(And by the way, reading a sonnet only takes ONE MINUTE! Plenty of time to do one and still get to everything else in your day.)
Just one rule: have FUN!
In Shakespeare-ity,
Nathan
A few more details
WHAT: Beginning June 1, 2010, I will post random sonnets each week - these readings/interpretations can be done by ANYONE, ANYWHERE, at ANY TIME!
How many people can we connect with the sonnets?
Take one of your favorites or one we haven't posted yet, upload it (to Youtube, Vimeo, etc.), and then either post the link to your video as a comment here or send the link to me in an email at:
sonnetchallenge [AT] gmail [DOT] com
It's that easy!
WHY: I really love Shakespeare's text. But I'm not a natural at figuring out what it all means. But fortunately, I DO really love digging through books and other resources to uncover the goodness!
Shakespeare's words are meant to be read aloud, to be heard, to be experienced. Let's do that every week for the next year and see where that takes us.Sonnets are chosen randomly in advance and the numbers are posted on Saturdays.
Sonnets are currently posted on the mornings of Tuesday of each week.
Sonnets are currently posted on the mornings of Tuesday of each week.
Take one of your favorites or one we haven't posted yet, upload it (to Youtube, Vimeo, etc.), and then either post the link to your video as a comment here or send the link to me in an email at:
sonnetchallenge [AT] gmail [DOT] com
It's that easy!
WHY: I really love Shakespeare's text. But I'm not a natural at figuring out what it all means. But fortunately, I DO really love digging through books and other resources to uncover the goodness!
All the cool kids like working on verse - feel free to relax and flex your textual muscles. :-)
And if you have suggestions on how I can make this challenge/site even better, please let me know!
And if you have suggestions on how I can make this challenge/site even better, please let me know!
