English · Year 7

Active learning ideas

The Globe Theatre and Elizabethan Stagecraft

Active learning works for this topic because the Globe Theatre’s open-air design and improvisational staging demand kinesthetic and collaborative engagement. Students must experience the physical layout and social dynamics to grasp how Elizabethan playwrights shaped their work for this environment.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS3: English - Shakespeare
• KS3: English - Drama and Performance

• 35–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Simulation Game
• 50 min · Small Groups

Model Building: Globe Theatre Replica

Provide cardstock, scissors, and templates for groups to construct a labelled cross-section model of the Globe, including yard, stage, galleries, and trapdoor. Groups add annotations on design features. Finish with a gallery walk to share insights.

Explain how the design of the Globe Theatre influenced Shakespeare's writing choices.

Facilitation Tip

During Model Building: Globe Theatre Replica, circulate with a checklist of features like trapdoors and galleries to ensure accuracy before students finalize their designs.

What to look for

Provide students with a diagram of the Globe Theatre. Ask them to label three architectural features and explain how each feature might have affected a playwright's writing or a performance's staging. For example, 'The open yard allowed for direct audience engagement, influencing how Shakespeare wrote his speeches.'

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Simulation Game
• 35 min · Pairs

Role-Play: Interactive Soliloquy

Assign pairs a Shakespeare soliloquy; one performs to the 'audience' of groundlings who respond with cheers or boos. Switch roles and discuss how reactions alter delivery. Debrief on Elizabethan participation.

Analyze the role of audience participation in Elizabethan theatre performances.

Facilitation Tip

When running Role-Play: Interactive Soliloquy, stand at the edge of the performance space to model how groundlings crowded the stage, creating a visceral sense of proximity.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'If you were a groundling at the Globe, what would be the best and worst parts of the experience compared to attending a modern play?' Facilitate a class discussion, encouraging students to reference specific aspects of theatre architecture and audience behavior.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Stations Rotation
• 45 min · Small Groups

Stations Rotation: Stagecraft Conventions

Set up stations for minimal props (improv scene with words only), multiple roles (quick changes), boy actors (gender swap demo), and audience effects (heckling practice). Groups rotate, recording notes.

Compare the staging conventions of Shakespeare's time with modern theatrical productions.

Facilitation Tip

For Station Rotation: Stagecraft Conventions, assign roles within groups so quiet students have clear responsibilities like managing props or timing transitions.

What to look for

Present students with short video clips or descriptions of different theatrical conventions (e.g., a modern Broadway musical with elaborate sets, a minimalist fringe theatre production, a Shakespearean play with period costumes). Ask them to identify which conventions are similar to or different from Elizabethan stagecraft and explain why.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Simulation Game
• 40 min · Small Groups

Comparison Debate: Elizabethan vs Modern

In small groups, chart similarities and differences in staging, then debate as a class which approach best serves drama. Use visuals of Globe and contemporary theatres.

Explain how the design of the Globe Theatre influenced Shakespeare's writing choices.

What to look for

Provide students with a diagram of the Globe Theatre. Ask them to label three architectural features and explain how each feature might have affected a playwright's writing or a performance's staging. For example, 'The open yard allowed for direct audience engagement, influencing how Shakespeare wrote his speeches.'

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should avoid overemphasizing modern staging techniques when discussing Elizabethan theatre, as this can reinforce misconceptions about elaborate sets and lighting. Instead, focus on how dialogue, gesture, and audience participation created theatrical meaning. Research suggests that embodying roles—even briefly—helps students internalize the constraints and freedoms of the period more effectively than lectures alone.

Successful learning looks like students confidently explaining how architecture influenced staging and audience interaction. They should also demonstrate empathy with historical constraints by adapting modern expectations to Elizabethan conventions in discussions and role-plays.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Model Building: Globe Theatre Replica, students may add elaborate sets and painted backdrops, confusing them with modern stage design.

  Before construction begins, display a side-by-side comparison of a Globe stage diagram and a modern set design. Ask students to identify which elements belong in their replica and which do not, explaining how the Globe relied on audience imagination.

• During Role-Play: Interactive Soliloquy, students may perform in silence, mimicking modern audience behavior.

  During the warm-up for this activity, have students practice shouting a line from Shakespeare (e.g., 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!') to demonstrate the rowdy energy groundlings brought to performances. Redirect any silent performances by asking, 'How would a groundling react to this moment?'

• During Role-Play: Interactive Soliloquy, students may assume women played female roles in Shakespeare’s time.

  Assign pairs to switch roles during the activity, with one student playing a female character and the other playing a male character. Afterward, debrief how this challenges modern assumptions and why boys took on these roles.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Simulation Game
• Stations Rotation