Writing – Thursday 11th February

Today, we will be planning the writing of our very own review of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A review is when we say how we felt about something like a book, film or play.

A review is like someone has asked us our opinion of it and we are telling them what we think.

Here is a structure for writing a review. Today, you will use it to PLAN your ideas. We will write the review tomorrow.

You can use the sheet underneath to help you plan and record your thoughts. (this does not need to be printed – you can just use the headings for each paragraph).

  1. Start with a few sentences describing what the book is about
  • But don’t give any spoilers or reveal plot twists!
  1. Discuss what you particularly liked about the book

Focus on your thoughts and feelings about the story. You should write about:

  • Who was your favourite character, and why?
  • What was your favourite part of the story, and why?
  • Which were the best scenes?
  • Did the story make you laugh or cry? Why?
  • Did the story grip you and keep you wanting to know more?
  1. Mention anything you disliked about the book

Talk about why you think it didn’t work for you. For example:

  • Would you have preferred a different ending?
  • Did you find it difficult to like any of the characters?
  • Did you like the theme of the book?
  1. Round up your review

Summarise some of your thoughts on the book by suggesting the type of reader you’d recommend the book to. For example: younger readers, older readers, fans of relationship drama/mystery stories/comedy.

Would you compare it to anything else you’ve read.

  1. You can give the book a rating, for example a mark out of five or ten, if you like!
  • Here is the planning sheet to help you organise your thoughts and ideas:

You may also want to refresh yourself about parts of the play. You can use any of the previous blog posts and you will find the RSC Learning Zone website particularly useful. The link is here:

https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeare-learning-zone/a-midsummer-nights-dream

18 thoughts on “Writing – Thursday 11th February

  • 11th February 2021 at 9:39 am
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    its about when some adults love each other and magic
    2. i like that its confusing
    puck because he likes magic and does magic
    the magic/forest scene because there’s magic
    magic/forest scene
    none because its not funny or sad
    not really
    3. that there’s basically no emotions shown through the book
    no its alright and a nice ending i guess
    no not really
    no not really
    4. mystery and probably older readers
    5. 6/10

    Reply
    • 11th February 2021 at 9:56 am
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      Hello Kiran

      There are some good ideas to start with here but you will need to expand on them more in your review.
      For example, try to think of a way of explaining the basic plot. You could think about the four lovers, the threat from Egeus and how the different worlds end up in the forest.

      Why do you think that there are no emotions? Think about some of the speeches and scripts you have read over the last few weeks involving characters like Helena and Hermia. Hermia got quite upset with her father!

      You will also need to make your review appeal to the reader as they are reading it to find out different opinions on the play.

      Mr Bushell

      Reply
  • 11th February 2021 at 9:55 am
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    Midsummer’s night dream is about 4 lovers, the mechanicals, the Duke of Athens, the King and Queen of the fairies and a mischievous fairy called Puck. It’s a story about love, fighting and magic in Athens and a forest.
    I liked Bottom because he was pretty funny in the play and I like that Puck plays tricks.
    I did not enjoy the fighting parts of the play because it isn’t nice and they could of talked about it instead.
    In some bits of the story it was funny which I liked but a lot of the story was confusing for me.

    I give it a 3 out of 10 because I’m not a massive fan of Shakespeare.

    Reply
    • 11th February 2021 at 10:01 am
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      Hello Cody

      You say you’re not a massive fan but you definitely know a lot about the story!

      I like your ideas for the first couple of paragraphs. You begin to summarise the plot well without giving anything away.

      Try not to admit being confused (even if you are!). This might put the reader off and make them trust you less. Don’t forget that they just want your opinions of the play before they watch it. You don’t have to go into the whole plot so you could just talk about how these different worlds meet in the forest and then lots of strange things happen!

      I will show you some examples of plots tomorrow but by all means safely search some today to see how other people do it.

      Well done on a good start.

      Mr Bushell

      Reply
  • 11th February 2021 at 9:59 am
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    My review was that at the start it was quite interesting but also much detailed. At the middle it got more entertaining and attractive. But the end was a lttile quick and not interesting. Here are the stars for each section, the whole story and more!
    Start- 6/10
    Middle-9/10
    End-3/10

    Whole story- 8/10

    Young readers- 7/10
    Elder readers- 9/10

    Reply
    • 11th February 2021 at 10:04 am
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      Hello Hargun

      Try to go into more detail about each section. What would people like about different scenes in the play? What are the interesting bits? Go into detail about the plot and characters so that the reader has an idea about what they will see. Introduce the story to them in a way that makes them want to watch more and understand it.

      Mr Bushell

      Reply
  • 11th February 2021 at 10:39 am
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    Midsummer’s Night’s Dream – review plan
    The story is about 4 lovers and the problems they came across. There is some magic involved and some fantastic creatures like fairies, or a human with a donkey’s head and the funniest of them all was for me personally Puck. The main issue in the story was that Hermia’s father didn’t agree to her wedding with Lysander, who she loved truly. Her father already chose a future husband for her daughter. Things got even more complicated when the love potion was used.
    What I liked the most about the book was the scene with the actors meeting and discussing the play for the Theseus’s wedding.

    Who was your favourite character, and why? Puck as he was cheeky , funny and sly, but made everyone laugh.
    What was your favourite part of the story, and why?
    Which were the best scenes? Mechanicals scene
    Did the story make you laugh or cry? Why? The story made me laugh sometimes when it was mainly about Puck and Donkey’s head
    Did the story grip you and keep you wanting to know more? I wanted to find out what will happen in the end.
    Mention anything you disliked about the book: The language used what hard to understand sometimes.

    Would you have preferred a different ending? No, I’m happy with how it finished, as the ending was very happy and resulted in 3 weddings.
    Did you find it difficult to like any of the characters? No, I liked most of them, they were all different so it made it more interesting.
    Did you like the theme of the book? I don’t like romantic stories that much, but luckily there were humoristic scenes.
    I would recommend the book to my friends as it’s classic and written in a specific way. The story is very interesting overall and has got elements of humour, comedy and drama.

    Would you compare it to anything else you’ve read: I would compare it to ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

    You can give the book a rating, for example a mark out of five or ten, if you like! 8/10

    Reply
    • 11th February 2021 at 10:56 am
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      Hello Alex

      You have some terrific ideas here Alex. You start to create a good balance of not telling the reader too much but telling them enough to become interested.

      We will look a some examples of reviews tomorrow but feel free to safely search some today.

      Keep up the good work!

      Mr Bushell

      Reply
  • 11th February 2021 at 11:52 am
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    1. midsummer nights dream is a dream that willliam shakespeare had and then wrote it and called it a midsummer nights dream.
    2. i liked the scenes with puck in it.
    a. Lysander because hes like me
    b. when puck was being naughty
    c. with puck in
    d. no because none were funny nor sad
    e. no
    3. nothing i disliked
    4. it was good and i liked it a lot
    5. 3/5

    Reply
    • 11th February 2021 at 12:50 pm
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      Hello George

      You have some good ideas here so now look to give more detail about each one. Explain why you like a particular character or scene.

      Mr Bushell

      Reply
      • 11th February 2021 at 2:50 pm
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        because puck is naghty and i like lysander becase hes like me

        Reply
  • 11th February 2021 at 12:24 pm
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    A midsummer night’s dream is about magic,betrayal and lovers. In this story there are many amazing things like positions, fairies , and a man with a donkey’s head and a mischievous fairy called Puck working for the king of the fairies Oberon. In a wonderful peaceful city of gold which was called Athens in this city there was a young girl called Hermia and her father Egeus wanted her to marry a man who she does not love called Demetrius. Hermia actually loves this man called Lysander put her father disagrees to her marrying Lysander. Soon, Oberon made a plot for Puck to put this potion on Demetrius and Lysander to make them fall in love with Helena Hermia’s best friend. Lysander and Demetrius fight over Helena .

    Helena and Hermia have a fight soon PUCK wares the potion then Duke Theseus came he announced a triple wedding Egeus was furious.

    Puck is my favourite
    When Puck turned bottoms head into a donkey
    All of them
    No
    Yes

    Reply
    • 11th February 2021 at 12:47 pm
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      Hello Jayden

      You have some good ideas here and have picked out some good plot details to include. Tomorrow, look to develop your sentence structures so that everything is clear and makes sense.

      Try not to just say “yes” or “no” – give detail and explain what you think.

      Keep up the good work.

      Mr Bushell

      Reply
  • 11th February 2021 at 1:11 pm
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    the book is about some friends who love there bestfriends friends and they also go to a forest and do a little bit of bad things.
    i liked that the mechanics were acting kind of rude!
    my favourite character was demetrius because i have a friend in real life that is called demetrius.
    i dont have a favourite part of the story.
    i dont know what grip means.
    i didnt hate anything about the story.
    no, i wouldnt have prefered another ending because i like the ending.
    no, i didnt find it difficult.
    yes i like the theme of the book.
    i give the book a 9/10.

    Reply
    • 11th February 2021 at 1:19 pm
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      Hello Timur

      You have some good ideas here. You need to find a way to explain the basic plots in a clear way. You use the word “friends” a lot and it sounds a bit muddled!

      Try to explain things in good detail, such as how the mechanicals act in a rude way.

      “Grip” in this instance means that the story is so good that it doesn’t let you go!

      Mr Bushell

      Reply
  • 11th February 2021 at 2:33 pm
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    writing

    The book is about a plot and some strange things happen. It all starts in athens
    then goes through different scenes and stages. There are lovers, fairies,a king and
    queens,a duke and problems with someone’s farther.

    1.Puck as he is mischevious, silly and those are my favourite types of characters
    2.The plot as it gets all jumbled up and made me laugh.
    3.The forest as most of the plot or all of it happens there.
    4. Laugh as the plot got all messed up and it was all Puck’s fault.
    5. Yes as I was eager to see what happens next.

    1. I would prefer a different ending as I think shakespear could have done it in a bit more deatail
    2. I found it difficult to like theseus and egeue as they were in athens and most of
    the play is in the woods
    3. The theme of the play was really good.

    I would compare the book as a comedy as it made me laugh

    It would be 9/10

    Reply
    • 11th February 2021 at 8:09 pm
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      You have some good ideas here which will really help you write your review tomorrow.

      Well done and I’m looking forward to seeing your final review.

      Reply

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