This is an interactive game that teaches the craft of Shakespeare’s writing and stagecraft in the form of an Elizabethan escape room. You must find the lost play of William Shakespeare before a mystery thief destroys it! Solve the clues and learn about Shakespeare’s writing and theater to uncover a historical mystery!

Course Description

In this fully online, fully interactive game, you play as a member of Shakespeare’s company. You’ve just discovered that someone has stolen Shakespeare’s new play “Love’s Labors Won,” and you need to find it before the show tonight! In the course of the game, you search the Globe Theater and Shakespeare’s study. Then a mysterious note reveals that someone has stolen the play! You must figure out who it is, and find the play before the thief burns it! Through the course of the game, you will learn about Shakespeare’s theater, the secrets of how he wrote some of his great plays and beautiful poetry, and the work of his contemporaries in a fun, interactive way.

The class is organized into four parts, based on four locations where you will search for the missing play:

Part I- Search the Theater

Part I- Search the theater (website/ Slides/ Jamboard)
You learn the basic parts of an Elizabethan stage (Google slides)
You label the parts of the theater (Google Forms)
You do a virtual tour of the theater (via Globe Theater.com)
Web quest- answer 3 questions about Shakespeare’s Globe: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/ (handout)
You search the tiring house (the backstage area of the Globe), and find the letter from the thief (Sites).

Part II- THe Crime

A video plays where the thief declares that he’s stolen Shakespeare’s play for money and revenge.
After the video, you will learn about plays, printing, and theft in Shakespeare’s day through a series of Google Slides
Activity- make a folio, quarto, and octavio with just a piece of paper (handout)
Web Quest- answer 3 questions about how Shakespeare’s plays were printed and the first folio (Slides)
Activity 2: make an actors’ scroll or roll the way that Elizabethans might use (video)
Easter egg- find a pair of gloves in the print shop and answer questions.

https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/shakespeare-100-objects-pair-gloves/

Part III: Write a New Play

You’ll gain new understanding of the types of plays Shakespeare wrote and their basic plot structure via Google Slides. You’ll then take a short quiz to confirm what you learned.

-Plot Structure
You’ll learn about the basic structure of Elizabethan plays via Google Slides.
A second set of slides will demonstrate the plot structure of Romeo &Juliet
You’ll mix and match a series of plot elements to create your own Elizabethan play via Jamboard

Tragedy:

• A hero is given some unwelcome news
• He feels betrayed by those close to him
• He agonizes about the ethics of killing someone close to him.
• He kills someone (or banishes an honest man) and immediately falls into a downward spiral.
• The hero does (this will be a mandatory choice)

Comedy:

• The heroine disguises herself as a boy
• A hero or heroine swears (s)he will never fall in love and immediately falls in love
• The heroine pretends not to be interested in the hero, (but secretly loves him).
• A loyal best friend is captured, sent to prison, or bewitched
• The hero and heroine hate each other due to a series of misunderstandings.
• The hero and heroine get married (this will be a mandatory choice).

History:

• An ambitious young man arises to challenge the king for the throne.
• The old king dies, (or is murdered)
• A new king becomes king
• Duels and or battles
• Someone dies in battle
• Someone is murdered, assassinated, or sentenced to death.
• New King gets married
• King and Queen reign peacefully (at least for now)

Romance ( if students pick this option, they can mix and match everything (except the main character dying)

Verse practice-
You’ll learn about the verse Shakespeare wrote, through a series of slides and a jam board.
Activity- You will be given a series of famous lines from plays and movies, (such as a quote from a Disney Movie, a Star Wars film, or a song). You will then determine if it is an iambic pentameter line (Google Slides).
Easter egg- you find a second note from the thief (Google Sites).

Part IV- THe Tavern

You will look at a series of pictures and videos about Shakespeare’s contemporaries and try to figure out which of them stole the play. Through the handout, you will conclude who the thief is.
You find a dagger in the tavern and take it. Outside the tavern, you will fight the thief in a short animation. GAME OVER.

THe FIrst Class starts April 28th, 2023. CLick here to register!

https://outschool.com/classes/shakespeares-lost-play-mystery-game-ny9HhlxI?sectionUid=23c96e2a-6a34-427f-a481-79fe3200421c&usid=MaRDyJ13&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link