I may have done something terribly stupid.
I let my two senior classes vote on what play they’d like to read next. I made up a list of choices and figured I had them pegged — if I were a lazy teenager in high school, would I vote for Shakespeare or A Christmas Carol? Hm. I even tried to sort of sell Dickens to them: “What’s not funny about crippled British kids and ghosts?” They agreed. Or so I thought. And then every last one of the smarmy little freaks voted for Merchant of Venice.
Abused Jews: 1, Crippled British Kids, 0.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I’ve got them hooked on the Bard. It’s just that I was sort of looking forward to a play with a tad less bleakness after MacBeth. Oh, and my other class? They voted in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie! I mean, what the hell.
I think the girls voted for Prime because it’s so many girl parts. But the boys must have been hoping to see girls in school girl uniforms. It’s the only explanation.
Back to grading papers before the drama starts…
Just focus on all the sex jokes in Merchant and you’ll be fine. On second thought…
Seriously, will they pick up on the racism and xenophobia, not to mention underlying homo- or bi-sexuality in the piece? Or will they just lust after their pound of flesh? I can’t wait to find out the answer.
@ Phem: Yeah, the last thing I need is a class full of kids shrieking Shakespearean pussy jokes at the top of their lungs. Big fun.
I have the feeling that they’ll get the racism, xenophobia. They’re certainly exposed to a great deal of it in their everyday lives. Fingers crossed.
Though I was worried today when they kept “kiddingly” nominating the unpopular kid to be “the Jew”…