Shakespeare

Pieces

Phoebe monologue from Act III Scene V of As You Like It

Sonnet 104

Reflection

I have no idea where I would be today without this competition. It helped me discover my passion for Shakespeare a year ago, and now here I am one year later, off to nationals again and with an even deeper love for Shakespeare. I was disappointed that the competition had to be completely online this year, but I was still just as determined as last year to be a part of it and make it as far as possible. So, I carefully selected the pieces I felt the most connected to, memorized and worked on them ahead of time, took time to think about and absorb their meanings, and did my best to create the best performances possible in my self-tapes. All that hard work has paid off because I qualified for nationals for the second year in a row! I can't express how excited I am to have made it to the national level and be one of the top high school Shakespeare performers in the country once again. This time, I'm even more confident going into the national competition because I know what to expect and prepare for, and I know I have a shot at winning the whole thing. I am so determined to win it all this year and go to London for the Oxford Shakespeare summer program, so I'm going to put everything I've got into preparing for the competition and making my pieces the best they can be. This competition has already opened doors for me, and I know it will continue to open many more in the future. I cannot even imagine what winning it will bring me. I at least hope to be a finalist this year because I've worked so hard and I want this so badly, but no matter what happens, I'm just so grateful to be a part of it all again; even though COVID-19 has once again stolen my trip to New York City for nationals.

Pieces

Jailer's Daughter monologue from Act II Scene IV of The Two Noble Kinsmen

Sonnet 60

Goal Statement: I hope to better understand how to interpret Shakespeare's language, and how to best perform his works.

Reflection

For this Shakespeare unit, I worked on and performed a monologue as Jailer's Daughter from Act II Scene IV of The Two Noble Kinsmen. I had so much fun throughout this entire unit and I learned a lot from our Shakespeare guest artist, Breona Conrad from Southwest Shakespeare Company. She taught me that every period, comma, and semicolon is in the text for a reason and has a different effect on how you perform the text. A period is there to show a pause and the end of a train of thought. A comma is there to tell you your thought is not finished yet and you should keep going. A semicolon also serves as a pause indication that breaks up the different parts of your thought, but does not end the thought like a period. Also, I learned that Shakespeare's lines are usually broken up in ten syllables each, and if the line is not ten syllables long, it probably means that line is important, and shows a shift of emotion or a thought that should stand out. In addition, I learned that if there are any capitalized words within the monologue, they should be emphasized. All of this really helped me learn how to read and understand Shakespeare. There are many different ways that you can interpret Shakespeare because Shakespeare is not here to tell us what he truly means, so there is not just one way you can perform it. For my performance, Breona gave me the idea to create a "cell" that I could keep looking back on, and it really enhanced the energy and focus of my scene. I would visualize a man in that "cell" that my character was drawn to, and would occasionally stare at the "cell" when I felt my character would based on her language. I am very happy with the way my performance turned out, and I think performing Shakespeare is becoming a new passion of mine! I definitely achieved my goal and even more from this unit!

At the end of the unit, I performed this monologue for the school level of the ESU National Shakespeare Competition, and I ended up winning first place! In February 2020, I will be performing this monologue again at the Phoenix regional competition, along with a sonnet. I feel like this Shakespeare unit has well prepared me for this competition, and I am very proud to get to represent my school.