It's over, it's done.

Today, June 11th marks the completion of my performance of the prologue of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet".

One week ago, I performed my rough draft of my final performance in class to get feedback and find out where I needed to improve. I didn't have my lines completely memorized, and so I missed one line (oops) which was kind of embarrassing, but I realized that I needed to practice my lines a lot more. Otherwise I think I was pretty well prepared, I had a basic idea of what I was going to say, and probably forgot due to nerves. I knew my blocking and what I was going to do in the scene, so I think it wasn't too bad. My feedback was that I needed to talk slower and be more questioning on the word "unclean". I took all of my feedback into account and tried to be more emotional. I think the audience understood the language of my scene, as it was relatively simple and I think I pronounced it clearly. Also, to make "unclean" seem more questioning, I lifted my hands, and paused before I said it.

Today was the big day. After performing my final draft I was really afraid that I had forgot some things, and wasn't sure exactly what (kind of like an instinctive gut feeling, you know?) so I freaked out for a bit. I think my final draft was an improvement from my rough draft, because I knew exactly where I was walking to, what posture I should have, and I remembered to talk slowly, with pauses often enough, so that it didn't seem like one big blob. I feel that I did communicate the emotions and circumstances of the scene really well. I remembered all of my actions and felt confident. I spoke loudly and clearly, and I am sure the whole audience was able to understand what I was saying. The prologue is supposed to be an introductory thing for the audience who hasn't seen Romeo and Juliet before. I think I showed this well through a talk show form because it seemed like a good introduction to me, and I think it went quite smoothly.

I now know and understand Shakespearean theatre way more than I did in the beginning of the unit. Especially in terms of the technical aspects and how important the dialogue was. Shakespeare would, a lot of the time, make up his own words, and so it was up to the actors to perform his play using good inflection, projection and emotion. Otherwise, the audience wouldn't know what was happening as they didn't know the language. This is kind of a way that Shakespearean specifically was like Commedia, because there wasn't a language that everyone could comprehend, but it was how the actors showed it that allowed the audience to understand. Although I didn't face this problem as everyone could understand the language, I still had to give emotion, and ensure everyone could understand, so this was still extremely important. The main acting skills that helped me succeed were my preparation and rehearsal. I learned most of my lines early on so that was really good preparation and rehearsing it made me that much better. In future, these are two skills that will be really important for me.

Two households, both alike in dignity...

In fair Verona, where I do not lay my scene. :P

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present my script, for the Prologue of Romeo and Juliet, marked with notes of: costume, tech, inflection, emphasis, and all other things I need to know to make my scene the way I want.

Ta-daa!

So, for my scene, I had originally chosen to be a reporter on scene. For example, when a disaster strikes then the newspeople change to a reporter on spot. However, I decided this was not best and decided to change it, because the reporter on scene thing wouldn't really work. You normally have to have the background of the scene, which wasn't available to me. I decided to do some sort of a talk show, with a special episode on Romeo and Juliet, which made much more sense. The only thing I use is one big, comfy chair, like where Ellen sits in her show. I think this is a good choice because the prologue is supposed to be the beginning informative bit of Romeo and Juliet, so a talk show, which informs the public about celebrities, current events, etc. would be a good idea. Because I am doing this in the setting I have chosen, I don't speak like I normally do. Instead, I try to project more, and use more inflection. In places where I think I should sound questioning, I change my expression so that it matches and I use a tone which is questioning. I think this seems more like a talk show person, which is what I am aiming for. For my physical choices, again, I am thinking about being like Ellen, my main model. The aim is to be comfortable, but formal. I speak slowly, because I am introducing the whole play, and clearly because I need everyone to be able to understand. I try to hold my head and shoulders high, to be confident, and not look down too much. I also use hand gestures to show things, like the two households, etc. Overall, think Ellen DeGeneres. :D