These past two years, I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to the amazing world of William Shakespeare. I have had the opportunity to participate in two of his plays, Much Ado About Nothing, and Macbeth. Both of these plays were enriching and they helped me discover my acting abilities as a whole. So I thank Mr. Monroe for this amazing experience I’ve had.

My overall experience as an actor has been wonderful. Being exposed to Shakespeare has really broadened my acting horizons. Being a narrator, my preferred role, in the 7th grade production of Much Ado About Nothing, helped introduce me to the style, beat, and language of Shakespeare. Being narrator also helped prepare me for this years production of Macbeth. By being a narrator, one of my more comfortable parts, I realized this year that maybe I should step out of my comfort zone and strive to be more. So this year, when I learned that we were doing Macbeth, I knew who I wanted to be: Lady Macbeth. I can’t even describe the compulsion I felt to achieve my goal. I put a lot of time and effort into memorizing my audition monologue. I gave it my all and blew away Mr. Monroe as well as my classmates and was casted as the role of Lady Macbeth. My experience as Lady Macbeth has opened doors I didn’t even know existed. I was introduced to the evil yet compelling character of Lady Macbeth, which I played well. I had no problem memorizing my lines and was ready to go onstage without a script within the first 2 months of rehearsals. So, when the time came for the final performances, I was ready. Those final performances made my whole Shakespearian experience worth it. I played my part beautifully (at least that’s what people tell me), and I will miss the thrill of being under the lights. So my overall experience as an actor was one of vigor and enjoyment.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed playing my role as halftime show in 7th grade, I enjoyed being the center of attention in Macbeth much more. Being Lady Macbeth helped open doors of potential that I would have never discovered if I hadn’t set my sights on farther horizons than I had been used to. I found out that by blocking out everything and becoming my character, I was very comfortable on the stage, something that I could not achieve last year due to stage fright and lack of time I put into preparing. The great thing about being the lead in the play is that it forced me to spend long hours going over and over my lines, practicing them again and again. After a while, I began to understand the lines, as well as the character, more clearly. By doing this I could also learn to block out the watchful eyes of the audience and focus on getting the lines out clearly and enunciating and emphasizing words as needed. So Macbeth better helped me prepare for being under pressure than Much Ado.

Even though Macbeth would be the preferred performance when it comes to story due to the constant rising action and suspense, I think looking around the intense fighting and mass murder, Much Ado has a far better storyline. Whereas Macbeth has one main mood: evil, Much Ado has many different moods throughout the production, which the audience likes. Yes, most people prefer action movies to sappy Romance genre; Much Ado is a story of love, wit, treachery, and deception. The story of Hero and Claudio, a couple hopelessly in love, of Benedict and Beatrice, the “frienemies”, and of Don John and Borachio, the troublemakers. Macbeth’s story starts with war, and ends with war, with a lot of murder in between. If you prefer straight-up action, battles (internal and external), and massacre, then Macbeth is the play for you. But I personally enjoy plays with different moods, different personalities, and a little betrayal here and there, which is what Much Ado portrays.

On the other hand, Macbeth’s characters are much more interesting than those of Much Ado. Much Ado’s characters were far too predictable. Claudio sees Hero; he’s going to fall in love. That’s obvious from the minute Claudio sets foot on stage. Macbeth, however, has many two-faced characters. Take Lady Macbeth, for example. In the beginning, when she greets Duncan, she seems very homely, hospitable. Then, when she sends Macbeth to murder him, her character switches, changes faces, if you will. She becomes devious and controlling. She is also clearly the matriarch in this play, keeping control over Macbeth up until the scene when she kills herself. But again, in the dinner scene, she is very kind, a bit condescending, to the guests to make them feel welcome. But then we see the controlling side of her again when Banquo’s ghost comes to the table and Macbeth freaks out. Lady Macbeth is probably the best example there is to give support to my claim that Macbeth’s characters are better than those of Much Ado.

When it comes to theme, I’d have to say Macbeth wins. Again, Much Ado is too predictable, the theme being, “love conquers all.” But iN Macbeth, powerful lessons are learned. Lessons such as “if you let greed in, you lose control.” Powerful lessons that can be used in the real world. People struggle against the bonds of greed daily. Whether it is during work, or at school. Greed is always present. Another great theme in Macbeth is “greed and power go hand in hand.” Which is true. When you’re greedy, it is usually because you want something that will give you power. In Macbeth, you see this right away as the witches foretell the kingship of Macbeth. You see his greed and hunger to become king. This hunger was strong enough that he killed his best friend to hide his terrible deeds. So you see, the themes in Macbeth really lay out the entire story, which is good in a play, to be able to sum up the whole thing with a couple of phrases.

In my overall experience as an actor, I have gained so much knowledge that I can take with me to high school and beyond. Having the amazing opportunity to act in plays like these has made me realize how lucky I am. Not every school has a teacher who will put the time and effort into putting together a play like the ones we act in. Through this experience, I have realized that maybe I will want to continue to act through high school and maybe even in college. And acting in these plays has really prepared me for the expectations they will have for me at CB. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Shakespeare as a whole.

I am saddened by the fact that this was my last year acting on this stage. I had the time of my life as Sargon the Great in 6th grade, Narrator 2 in 7th grade, and best of all, Lady Macbeth in 8th grade. I have learned so much by just reading the play. Because of this great experience, I better understand Shakespeare and his styles and language. I feel like this has expertly prepared me for high school and I will continue to pursue acting in my next four years. So thank you to my school for this wonderful experience and thank you Mr. Monroe for putting so much time and effort into these productions. I can’t wait to move on to high school and show off my knowledge and skills to the teachers there.