Richard Jones-Nerzic
This is my favourite interpretations activity. Not only is it a great dress-up, role-play lesson, it also helps relatively young students to understand that historical reality is a very difficult thing to pin down. It takes seriously what David Lowenthal once descibed as the ‘epistemological fragility of history’.
Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for the activity which features in the Counsell et al Think Through History series of texts, Changing Minds.
The activity takes a pair of students through an empathetic journey as two Italian brothers on a visit to Shakespeare’s London. Along the way they encounter all the dangers and delights of London at this time. The interpretative twist is provided by the fact that one of the brothers is a pessimist and the other an optimist.
My only original contribution to the activity is to provide some additional resources along the way and to film the concluding role-play.
For example, I made this video to illustrate London as it might have looked in 1600.
The second video below is a lesson in its own right about Elizabethan theatre. The edited extracts are taken from Olivier’s wartime production of Henry V. The students are given an extract to watch with headphones in an ICT room. The following questions are designed to get them thinking about change and continuity in the theatre.
Before the final role-play I give the students some ‘Horrible History’ extracts to learn about Elizabethan swearing and how to make a ruff. On the day of the role-play we even have competitions for best costume and best/biggest ruff!