In the play Othello, I played the main character himself which was Othello. I tried to get in character for the play by behaving like Othello outside of the play basically generally when I was in public. I aimed to practice my lines about 3 three times a day 2 weeks before the actual performance to ensure the fact that I knew my lines well before the play. In terms of the audience I had to look confident yet unsure in my scene a bit like being split between two personalities.
The parts in my scene where I really got angry or so became a 'dark' human being were the most effective because to the audience it was the most exciting,scary and highlighted the fact that the line I said while talking like that was an important line. In terms of specific lines I delivered quite a few good ones especially my last few lines which I delivered in a very dark and low-key tone.
My greatest challenge was the actual performance how everything would come together on the real day, learning my lines hoping that my partner did as well, making sure I portrayed my character well & a number of other things. After working hard practicing lines day by day, coordinating with my scene members and eventually getting to the day essentially everything came together much better than I expected.
Generally the performance was alright I'm talking about the play as a whole, in terms of my own performance I would have to say I did pretty well but as usual there was room for improvement. I should have possibly practiced more and maybe my stage performance in terms of my movement was not as great as I wanted it to be. I would try to make a stronger attempt to in general improve my on stage performance by getting more involved in drama performances and in class.
During this long, tiring yet rewarding process I have possibly not learnt a lot of new skills but I have solidified on skills I already have. Things like voice projection, confidence and teamwork have just become better for me a new skill would be performing an actual performance in front of a group of people, that was a very interesting first for me.
The best part of the entire unit was getting to know that we will be performing it to a large audience compared to what we are used to. Another great part of the unit was just the variety of things we learnt, experienced and developed on. Knowing about the play prior to learning in class helped, the experience in general was the most valuable thing for me.
As mentioned earlier I would just improve on bits pieces of the whole process because to be honest I feel that I have done extremely well from start to end. The process we followed as a group was straightforward and clear it's just about perfecting it and possibly dedicating more time to it. Overall though minor improvements because there is always room to improve!!!
To conclude I would like to take the opportunity to say that this entire experience has been of of the best things in my life and the best drama related assessment I have ever done. Through the minor lows and major highs this 'Othello' performance was one of the most enlightening, wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable experience I have been part of in a drama point of view. Ending the unit on a high was essential and I feel I have achieved that.
Shawn Simon 10C
