Hello everyone!
This is Joyan and Michelle, blogging for today’s events(: So the very first thing we did today was to go for the Drama workshop in Juliet Room. Unfortunately there was a small mishap when the timings were mixed up. Apparently we were to report at 9am, and the very nice trainer – Claire had been there since a quarter before 9. However due to some miscommunication, we only reached slightly before 10am. Thankfully everything was soon settled by our awesome teachers and we were able to attend the workshop successfully!
I think the Drama workshop was really quite a success as Claire was very entertaining and also introduced us to many different and eye-opening drama exercises. One example would be the exercise where we were to pretend to be objects that complemented other objects. This forced us to think out of the box and also think of apt actions to represent the objects!
Claire also introduced to us the different forms of comedy such as black comedy, miming, comedy of the manners and so on. Later, we even had the chance to act out a short excerpt of a play written by Shakespeare involving two pairs of twins. This was especially interesting and funny as some of our classmates could really act super well! It really showed us how every word, action, and movement can mean so much and bring across completely different meanings.
I think the drama workshop was truly an eye-opener, allowing us to step out of our own normal characters and try to be somebody else completely different.
After the drama workshop, we went to visit Shakespeare’s birthplace. First we went through a museum showcasing Shakespeare’s history and his works. I was really inspired by this because the various short video clips shown of Shakespeare’s works really showed how his works have been adapted and acted out throughout the years, transcending all time boundaries. I think it’s good too that the United Kingdom, in particular this place we went to today – Stratford, prioritizes culture so highly. Clearly a lot of time and resources had been spent on building the museum and every part of the museum was designed exquisitely.
Later at Shakespeare’s birthplace, we also got a sense of how Shakespeare lived his life when he was a young kid, and even a teenager like all of us! The houses then in his time were vastly different from the sort of houses we live in these days. So it was really very interesting to see how a famous writer was born and lived in those days!
Following that, we had lunch (Pasty Presto’s!) at a park in the Town Centre. The park was extremely interesting as there were many other people having their own picnics at the park! There were families, teenagers, couples and many different types of people. Not too far off from where we were eating was an entertainer who called himself a ‘magician’. Personally, I found him rather annoying but he was able to attract quite a number of people who surrounded him and sportingly helped him in his acts, giving him money afterward.
We had our mini amazing race around Stratford-upon-Avon after lunch! I felt that it was the highlight of the day as we were able to experience the Shakesperean culture of this town for ourselves and get to know more about him and his works through exploring the area and doing the tasks ourselves. We were to split into groups of 4 for this activity, with people that we had not been sharing the same room with. I grouped up with Esther, Simhwee and Charlotte while Joyan grouped up with Hui Han, Eugenia and Charis. We were given a number of tasks relating to the town, Shakespeare and literature, and we were to finish the tasks by a stipulated time. The first task we had was to take a picture in a jest pose. For my group, we had a cute family of 4 help us take a photo :D We then rushed down to the lake to take a picture with the swans at the lake. On our way to the next task, we saw a fountain designed in the shape of two metal swans and decided to take a picture of it just for fun :D Not being able to find the location of our next task, which was the Shakespeare monument, we asked a policeman where it was (:
I found the monument extremely interesting and I felt that it adequately portrayed some of Shakespeare’s best works and the different genres. To me, the masks on the monument were especially fascinating as the masks had either a smiling or a frowning face and each had various types of plants pouring out of its mouth, symbolising the many types of genres. Another of the tasks was to go to Shakespeare’s grave and write what was written on his gravestone. I did not realise that Shakespeare was actually buried within the church! (Holy Trinity Church, to be exact). We then headed to the school where Shakespeare studied at, taking a picture of it. While looking for the school, our group got lost! We couldn’t find the road that the school was on (when we followed the map) and we had to ask many passer-bys where the school was.
The second last task was to go to Waterstone’s bookstore, find three of Shakespeare’s plays and take a picture with it, making sure that we took a picture with it that depicted the title of the book. Last but not least, we had to post a letter to Juliet’s balcony in Verona!
Overall, I really enjoyed the entire experience as we were able to mingle with the locals (by asking them directions!) and we got to feel the culture of the place by running around looking for items that belonged to Shakespeare. For me, I learnt to interpret literature by experiencing it and acting it out (: Special thanks to the teachers for planning this and allowing us to run around on our own! :D
Tata! :D
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Joyan and Michelle (:
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