When Nicky decided to try out for Play Pro, I reminded him, “You know you’ll have to do Shakespeare, right?” Nicky hates Shakespeare. Heck, so do I. I can handle Shakespeare in small doses… as in one-line. “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” (Richard III, Act V, Scene IV). After that, I zone out. To read Shakespeare or to watch a Shakespearean play would be absolute torture to me! I gave my time in school. I respect the genius of iambic pentameter, but I don’t know what the hell that guy was talking about.
(You can read about my first experience with Romeo and Juliet here).
I digress…
Nicky decided he would endure Shakespeare to participate in Play Pro, so off to the Festival he goes!
With his position on Play Pro comes a parental responsibility… I am officially a Drama Mama. To cheer the students on this week, I helped some moms decorate the drama lockers.
One of these is Nicky’s, and he told me he doesn’t even know which one is his. Hope he enjoys his Shakespeare decor! My kid refuses to use a locker! And I’m like… but you could keep food in there! And… he has TWO lockers. TWO!! (The other one is for ceramics). So much wasted space!
I wasn’t in charge of the lockers - I just went to help. My assignment was to put together some goodie bags for the students. The competition is for both Play Pro and Dance Co, so they asked me to do a small gift/treat for everyone (47 kids) and a larger break-a-leg gift for Play Pro (21 kids).
For EVERYONE, I made a little bag with a tag that said, “Shine at Shakespeare like the star you are!”
Please excuse my blurry photos. These were taken at night, and I think my lenses were smudged.
The bags each have some Starbursts, a star bracelet, a finger LED light, and a Shakespeare sticker.
The stickers are fun because each one is different, and I like how they show through the cellophane star bags like peeping Toms.
For PLAY PRO, I decided to make Shakespeare insult bags. This was so much fun! I read through tons and tons of Shakespearean insults to come up with the ideas (way more Shakespeare than I should ever have to read as a person who graduated high school 21 years ago) (I did it for the kids)!
I initially thought of this because Scotty and I read The Wednesday Wars years ago, and since then, we’ve often called each other “pied ninnies” which comes from Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest and is one of the phrases that tricked Holling Hoodhood into liking Shakespeare.
Any time I think of Shakespeare, I think of “pied ninnies,” so when I started brainstorming ideas for treats, I couldn’t help pondering the brilliance of giving everyone a tiny pie. But then my plan evolved, and I came up with this:
Now before someone lectures me about saying “good luck” to actors, I’M QUOTING SHAKESPEARE! Superstitions don’t apply!
Anyway, here’s what’s in the bags:
“I’ll beat thee, but I would infect my hands!”
(Anti-bacterial hand wipes)
“Like the toad; ugly & venomous”
(gummy frogs)
“This kiss is as comfortless as frozen water to a starved snake!”
(chapstick & kisses)
“Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
(sour gummy worms)
(also, not a typo - the word is “froward.” it means “difficult to deal with).
“The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril!”
(tissues)
“That roasted Manningtree ox with pudding in his belly!”
(pudding)
And the final item is a Shakespeare insult sheet:
“You impertinent, fat-kidneyed horn-beast!”
I saw this on Pinterest and recreated it to fit the gift bags.
As much as I love a pied ninny, I abandoned the pie idea after trying to find an affordable option. Walmart used to have mini pies for 50 cents, but you know how that’s going lately (price increases and fewer flavors available). Pudding was a lot cheaper.
I had a blast putting these together. I love doing stuff like this. I hope the kids get a kick out of it and expand their vocabularies.
This is sooooo creative! I love it! You must have spent a lot of time on this project. Impressive!
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