„To be or not to be, that is the question.“
Whilst the author of these famous words definitely is no more, his work is still known until this very day and will probably be for a long time to come. In commemoration of the 400th anniversary of his death on 23 April 2016, our school decided to honour one of the most influential and popular authors of all time:
William Shakespeare.
In a variety of ways pupils from Years 8 and 10 approached THE BARD – the results were presented right at the main entrance to the school. Have a look at the pictures and find out more about Shakespeare, his life, works, influence – and the different ways to spell his name.
(Helga Fiek)
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the bard's death on the 23rd of April 2016, class 10b was confronted with the following task:
"Write a short play or a poem dealing with Shakespeare or his work. There are various options: You can write a time slip adventure, a story about the writing process of a play/ a sonnet, a poem in which you quote Shakespeare, a modern version of a sonnet or a (part of a) play or a poem referring to a famous quote."
Have fun reading the best texts written by our students:
This story is about the real thing between a girl from the upper classes and a boy from the lower classes. Romeo´s family come from the lower classes. They were the chairwomen, gardeners and the waiters or waitresses. They are the persons that nobody notices in the house of the higher classes. Juliet came from the higher classes. Her family was very rich and famous. They lived in a big villa and were known for their good parties. Juliet's boyfriend was Paris, a rich and famous singer. Juliet was not faithful and often made things precipitously and had affairs many times. Romeo and Juliet and their families lived in Vegas.
One night Juliet celebrated a big party. There were many rich and famous people. Romeo was working there as a waiter. He was drunk, because he had many problems with money and he was afraid. Juliet also drank too many drinks, because – let's face it – she had too much money. She was completely drunken and in her intoxication she kissed Romeo. Apparently she was completely nuts because she asked him if he would marry her. Actually this idea was perfect for Romeo because if he married a rich person he would become rich, too, and thus solve all his problems.
So they drove to Las Vegas and had a ten-minutes-ceremony. For everybody who can't imagine this ceremony: plastic flowers, plastic wedding dress and plastic rings. When they came back home they saw Romeo's brother Mercutio and Juliet's brother Tybalt. Mercutio was a waiter, too, and by mistake had dropped a glass into Tybalt's lap. Tybalt who often tried new drugs, flipped out and boxed Mercutio. Mercutio defended himself – like a normal person – and skidded Tybalt against the bar. Tybalt – a very fancy man – snapped the lemon knife and stabbed it into Mercutio's heart. Before the others could help him he was dead and lying in a puddle of his own blood. Romeo who couldn't understand this mess – the alcohol did crazy things to his brain – became angry and threw Tybalt out of the window. Tybalt died, too.
Five minutes later Paris, who understood nothing either, asked Juliet if she would marry him. Juliet who was completely confused, shocked and still in her intoxication ran to her brother's room and swallowed some of his pills – I think a green, a yellow and a pink one. It must have been one too many because she fell on the ground and choked. Romeo who came in a few minutes later saw the dead body of Juliet and saw no reason in living without her because in her last will was not written that he would get her money, so he swallowed some pills, too. Paris who found the dead bodies fell into a big depression. But that is another story.
(written by Jule Eimkemeier, 10b)
act 1 scene 5:
R = Romeo / F1 = Romeo's friend, T = Tybalt / C = Capulet, J = Juliet / F2 = Juliet's friend
At Capulet's party
R: “Do you know who's the beautiful girl next to the stoned guy?”
F1: “Oh, yes I can see her. She has a cute face. But I’m sorry, I don't know her name.”
R: “She's so lovely. I really hope she has no boyfriend. Wow. I swear I've never seen a girl so comely.”
Tybalt arrives
T: “Hey. You. Aren’t you a Montague? Because of your stupid family my uncle got arrested! You should all rot in hell. How do you dare to come to my party? If you and your little friend don't disappear in a second, you'll have a surprise. Oh, I promise you wouldn’t survive.”
Capulet arrives
C: “What's going on here?”
T: “This idiot, a Montague, showed up here and thinks he would be the best.”
C: “Isn't this Romeo?”
T: “Yes! It´s him. This twit.”
C: “Tybalt, calm down. You're just spreading bad mood. I've heard Romeo is quite alright. Let him be. And now show our guests your best side.”
T: “I don't fancy this poseur. This is our party and these people shouldn't be allowed to show up here.”
C: “Stop this kind of behaviour. It's my party and my house. So leave this event or behave yourself.”
T: “Shit.”
C: “Go. Sometimes you're not better than the Montagues. Furthermore I don't want to play the mediator the whole evening. I have to save my party. We need better music. Where's the DJ? I need to talk to him.”
T: “Romeo, I've never met someone like you. I don't want to handle this crap anymore.”
Tybald and Capulet leave, Romeo dances up to Juliet.
R: “Hey. You're so beautiful that you made me forget my pickup line. What do you think about joining me tonight? Know what I mean?”
J: “What? I don't even know your name. Maybe we can start a bit slower.”
R: “Maybe you can give me a kiss at least?”
J: “Are you crazy?”
R: “Come on. My name's Romeo. Now you know it and you can kiss me.”
J: “The fact that I know your name doesn't mean that I know you. So don't touch me.”
Romeo kisses her, Juliet slaps him.
J: “What's wrong with you? I said "no" and just because you're a good kisser, it doesn't allow you to drive me crazy by kissing me.”
F2: “Juliet, what are you doing here? I want to talk to you alone.”
Juliet and her friend leave.
(written by Larissa Starke, 10b)
To be or not to be?
I´m from Europe
You don´t know what I´m up against.
I have no money, I do not have a big house and my car is very old.
I´m not happy, my dreams are just dreams.
Nobody can help me, my girlfriend has left me.
Now the question is: to be or not to be?
To be a lonely man or to give up?
I´m from Africa.
You don´t know what I´m up against.
I have to walk ten miles every day to find water.
I cannot read, I never went to school.
I have no dreams, my future is uncertain.
Now the question is: to be or not to be?
To accept poverty or to give up?
I´m a rich kid.
You don´t know what I´m up against.
I have a lot of money, but I have cancer.
I don´t know have much time I have to live.
My dream is to have friends who support me.
Now the questions is: to be or not to be?
To accept fate or to lose hope?
(written by Robin Wolter, 10b)
A poem refering to a famous quote:
„All the world's a stage, and all the men and woman merely players.“
(William Shakespeare)
There is something I ask god every night in my prayers:
Is the world a stage and all the men and woman merely players?
Do I have control?
To whom belongs my soul?
Who knows? Maybe all I am doing is of no earthly use.
Is it even worth to wake up early
When I can see the sun only barely?
Do my make- up all girly
Style my hair nice and curly?
And only get bad marks rarely?
When all that happens in the future is foretold?
Yes, it is worth it.
The world is a stage and I have faith
So stop to complain and don't be afraid
To make a mistake which is easy to erase
When you believe in yourself.
Use this stage and strive
To make the best of your life
Because you don't know if there will be a second life.
Don't start a fight
Lay down your knife
And just be nice.
Go out and live your dreams
It does not matter if you want to be a housewife
Or just have fun in the nightlife.
(written by Julia Kunik, 10b)
When I wanted to go to sleep my bed turned into a portal which brought me to the 16th century. Seconds later I fell from the sky right into a market stand full of fruits. I was shocked about the situation, I would have never expected my bed to turn into a portal… I mean who in the world would expect this. There was bright daylight so I thought it was nearly 12:00 am. Everyone at the market was looking at me. They looked like homeless people with clothes, I mean rags as clothes, and me in my pyjamas. They started to whisper and shout at me that I was a sorcerer just because I had fallen from the sky. I ran away and they tried to catch me. I hid myself in a big building and just a few moments later I saw that was a theatre. It was completely empty so I had enough room to escape from the big mob with their bad taste for clothes. I looked around and saw a little door which was open so I decided to do some exploring. Behind the door was a little office and there was a man who was laughing all the time. I presented myself and told my story how I had fallen through a bed-portal to 400 years in the past, how I had fallen from the sky and how everybody had stared at me. He said his name was Shakespeare, which I obviously didn´t believe because I had heard this name in this boring English lesson with mister Christenstahl. Shakespeare laughed again and said :“you know what, the same happened to me and I was in the year 2313.“ After that he stopped laughing and said: “This is definite the most unbelievable story I have ever heard but you gave me a new idea for a play.“ I felt like he was kidding me and wondered why he was not trusting me and believing my story.
That night he invited me to sleep in his house which was the office in his theatre. I did not sleep well on the pillow full of hew and this annoying mouse which wanted to cuddle me the whole night. The next day the light shone brightly through the busted windows. Shakespeare was staying in front of me with a big grin in his face. I was instantly on edge because who in the hell is happy at 6:00 am! He said:“I have good news for you! You have the new main role in my new play which I wrote last night!“ I just looked at him and thought:“ Is he haywired? Me as an actor is the dumbest idea I have ever heard!“ But I saw in his crazy eyes that there was no way to escape.
After a moderate breakfast I started to study my text for the play. His font was unreadable and the jokes in this play were the worst I had ever heard so I started to overwrite it. After a long day he came up to me and said that the next performance was the next day. I was dog tired so I instantly started to sleep. After a next bad sleep I was fully motivated to perform the play. Obviously not. The theatre slowly started to fill up with people and I slowly started to be nervous. With a moderate knowledge about my text I started to talk in front of like 2000 people. Just after a few words I realized that the guys there liked me. Fully in my role I started to get shaked and I thought I had had an heart attack but then I heard a soft voice saying: “Micheal, Micheal , MICHEAL!!!!! WAKE UP!“ And the daily routine started again.
(written by Dustin Jandl, 10b)
