Shakespeare Performance Exhibition
In his many works, Shakespeare explored human emotion, life's greatest challenges, and knowledge and perception among other concepts. Despite having put pen to paper hundreds of years ago, the relevance of Shakespeare's work is indisputable as of 2016. Sure, the language might be considered slightly awkward if one were to use it in the current day, but the message behind those words will never change. Whether it was the love story of Romeo and Juliet, the gruesome tale of Titus Andronicus, or the tragedy surrounding Ophelia, Shakespearean text still remains a prominent part of the English language.
As I mentioned earlier, some of Shakespeare's works get lost in contemporary times because of the outdated language and the somewhat old-fashioned jokes. However, by retaining the original context and modernizing the humorous components, Shakespearean text can become more appealing to audience members from a variety of age groups. In the play that we put on as a team, I think we were able to effectively modify the play to meet today's societal standards. By creating drama on stage, actors and actresses are able to add emphasis on a particular situation and grab the audience's attention in an efficient manner. People like to connect to one another on an emotional level, and a tricky situation in a performance could get the audience involved with the storylines in the script. For example, if a character was faced with the tough decision of going to a funeral or his best friend's wedding, that scenario would trouble the viewers, too. When putting on a play, there needs to be some form of interaction – whether that interaction is direct or not – so that the performance is engaging. |
Note: Click here for a reflection of the complete Exhibition for all classes.
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Honestly, the performance itself was the best part of the project. It was the culmination of all of our hard work that we put into rehearsing, memorizing and staging the show, and I felt very rewarded once it was all said and done. It was also exciting to perform outside of school at a different venue, and I think the new location benefitted the quality of our play tremendously. When we performed the play after that big Thursday night, it wasn't as successful, and I think that could be attributed to the change of environment. By holding it at the San Marcos Civic Center, our team had the opportunity to experience what it was like to perform out in the community, and impact people outside of the traditional school setting.
I don't know if there was a negative moment for me in this project, but memorizing lines was really stressful. I took on two larger roles in two different scenes, and I needed to make sure that I was splitting my time equally between both characters that I would be playing. However, because the Titus Andronicus scene came first in the order of the script, I ended up devoting more time to that portion of the play than the football scene I was a part of. Thankfully, we ran the football scene more often towards the end of the rehearsals process, and everything started to click from there. Still, being able to know my lines was a big responsibility, and it was not easy.
If I could change anything about the process behind the project, I would have alternated memorizing the lines for each of my roles on a daily basis. One day I would focus on Titus Andronicus, and the next day I would focus on my lines for the football announcer. While preparing for the show, I mostly used the initial stages of the project to memorize my Titus Andronicus lines, which left me to rehearse my other set of lines in a shorter period of time.
After completing the Shakespeare project, I learned...
1. Memorization can definitely be stressful – but with the help of peers – one starts to become more familiar with his/her designated role. Remembering what to say is important, but the emotion and the action involved with a character is arguably more significant to the success an actor/actress may experience while performing.
2. Time cannot be taken for granted. While three weeks might seem like a long time to memorize lines for some people, the time flew by quickly. I needed to make sure that I was staying on top of the daily work I needed to do in this area, and that I was not falling behind with my roles.
3. Having confidence in not only yourself but your peers can be the key to success when putting on a play. Deadlines for the various components involved with a performance can become worrisome. Nevertheless, trust is really important to exercise in "crunch time" situations, and it can contribute to a better final product as a result.
I don't know if there was a negative moment for me in this project, but memorizing lines was really stressful. I took on two larger roles in two different scenes, and I needed to make sure that I was splitting my time equally between both characters that I would be playing. However, because the Titus Andronicus scene came first in the order of the script, I ended up devoting more time to that portion of the play than the football scene I was a part of. Thankfully, we ran the football scene more often towards the end of the rehearsals process, and everything started to click from there. Still, being able to know my lines was a big responsibility, and it was not easy.
If I could change anything about the process behind the project, I would have alternated memorizing the lines for each of my roles on a daily basis. One day I would focus on Titus Andronicus, and the next day I would focus on my lines for the football announcer. While preparing for the show, I mostly used the initial stages of the project to memorize my Titus Andronicus lines, which left me to rehearse my other set of lines in a shorter period of time.
After completing the Shakespeare project, I learned...
1. Memorization can definitely be stressful – but with the help of peers – one starts to become more familiar with his/her designated role. Remembering what to say is important, but the emotion and the action involved with a character is arguably more significant to the success an actor/actress may experience while performing.
2. Time cannot be taken for granted. While three weeks might seem like a long time to memorize lines for some people, the time flew by quickly. I needed to make sure that I was staying on top of the daily work I needed to do in this area, and that I was not falling behind with my roles.
3. Having confidence in not only yourself but your peers can be the key to success when putting on a play. Deadlines for the various components involved with a performance can become worrisome. Nevertheless, trust is really important to exercise in "crunch time" situations, and it can contribute to a better final product as a result.