The Rover, Day One

It’s time for Behn! I love this play, and I really enjoy teaching it–I just hope that the limited time we have is enough, and that the disruptions of midterm can be overcome. Tomorrow, students will have read acts 1 and 2 of the play, so I’d like to give them a little bio and background/critical information about Behn as a context, saving the thematic issues until next class. Then, I plan to have students get into groups and select the scene–or some portion thereof–they feel is most important thus far. That should give us an interesting place from which to think about key ideas, images, characters, and events, plus set us up for some thematic discussion next class. Using their ideas, we’ll watch select scenes from the BBC/WPT production, which should raise more questions for them. I’m going to ask that, for next class, students jot down one key question they’d really like answered about the play–and I can’t forget to go over updates to the summary assignment!