POST-SHOW ACTIVITIES


(Common Core Code: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.5) HOW DO ARTISTS DEBATE THE ROLES AND FUNCTION OF ART IN SOCIETY?


After watching Travesties, students continue the play’s thematic debate about the role of art in society and articulate their own perspectives.


REVIEW


Ask students to recall their impression of the discussions about art and artists throughout Travesties. You may provide this Quote Sheet (available HERE), which organizes some of the play’s keys statements according to character and perspective. You may point out that while Tom Stoppard introduces a range of different perspectives, his play does not endorse any one over the other, and use that to segue to a debate.


PEPARE


Arrange students into four groups. Each group will create an argument for one character’s perspective on art. Ask students to put these ideas into their own words, and either find or create an example of the type of art this character would like, based on their point of view. (Decide whether you want to allow time and resources for students to create their own examples. Consider allowing visual art, music, literature, and spoken word as sources.)


DEBATE


Allow each group to present their given perspective on the role of art, show their sample, and explain how this work is an example of such a perspective. You may allow other students to pose questions and challenges to the presenting group about art.


REFLECT


Which of these perspectives on the role and function of art do you agree with the most? Do you have an alternative opinion on art’s function that has not been expressed in the play?


HOW DOES A PLAYWRIGHT IMAGINE A FICTIONAL MEETING BETWEEN HISTORICAL OR FAMOUS PERSONALITIES?


(Common Core Code: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.9)


Travesties was inspired by playwright Tom Stoppard’s realization that three major influencers of western culture in the twentieth century lived in Zurich in 1917 and developed some of their important ideas and works there. After viewing Travesties, students engage in a playwriting process that mimics Stoppard’s exploration of the disparate important figures living in Zurich in 1917.


BRAINSTORM


Reveal the location and time period chosen. Generate a list of people who were present at the time, along with notes about their work, later life, and style. On what issues do these people agree with each other? In what ways might they disagree or have differing approaches to the same problems? Create a second list of events (like the production of The Importance of Being Earnest) and locations (like the library) that could potentially bring the historical or cultural figures together.


WRITE SHARE & REFLECT


Working individually or in small groups, have students select two or three important people and one location or event to bring them together. Students should then write a scene imagining what would happen.


Host a staged reading of scenes. How did the playwrights incorporate each character’s beliefs and/or style into the scene? What parts of the scene were based in history, and what did you invent or imagine? What was challenging about this activity?


TRAVESTIES UPSTAGE GUIDE 21


FOR EDUCATORS


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