Before taking this course, I had not watched any of the plays or performance. At that time, I thought being an actor or performer is easy. Their work is just memorizing the lines, and reciting it with some acting. But after watching Romeo and Juliet, I found out that performance was not as simple as I thought. Each actor and actress puts efforts on studying their characters, so that they can exactly show the traits/characteristics of that character. Later on, my mind was completely changed when I wrote about the review for Romeo and Juliet. That review was the first time I analyzed a play. Even though I had not learned much at that time, but it was the first time I used my knowledge to analyze a play. After doing that assignment, I realized that besides the act, other elements like staging and lighting is also important. Then, I learned more about the staging, in other words, director's view. By learning that, I knew the way to adapt a play. Next, I adapted my own version of Romeo and Juliet. I carefully paid attention on costumes, props, staging, and lighting. After I showed my ideas to the class, my adaptation was chosen and that was my first time I performed my own play.
After I gained much knowledge about performance, I also experienced the beauty of the literature. Take Shakespeare's literature as an example. After watching Romeo and Juliet, we started to read the book. In the book Shakespeare used a lot of terms that nowadays writer wont use. The punctuation also plays an important part in his literature. Most importantly, the play itself describes a melancholy story that makes readers connect to themselves.
Besides Shakespeare's work, I also learned a lot about poetry. By taking this class I learned the way to analyze and write a poetry. Haiku is a great example. Haiku is a type of poems that is popular in Japan. There are usually three lines, 5 syllables for the first line, 7 for the second, and 5 for the last line. In order to analyze other poems and proses, we learned about rhetorical strategies like simile and metaphor. There are many other strategies, like onomatopoeia and personification, that I still remembered. I probably will carry the memory forever.
This year we read a lot of short stories like Krik Krak, My Love My Love, etc. Krik Krak is a book that relates to the history of Haiti. When I read the book, I was greatly touched. The dad who decided to suicide in order to escape, the mom who decided to be a "night woman" in order to support her son, all of these touched me deeply. Oh, we also performed our own adaptation. Our group decided to adapt the last story, Caroline's Wedding. For me, this was an inevitable memory. Not just because I learned the way to perform, but it was the last performance that I had with my friends in this class.
Thank you Ms. Guarino~ Thank you for having me in this class. Without you, this course will be a lot more different and dull. And thanks to the friends and people who helped me in this two years. Without you guys, I do not think I will pass this course haha.
David Wang
The Last Blog Post for
IB Literature and Performance II
May. 29th. 2019 Peace & Love
Goodbye 再见 Adiós Au revoir 안녕
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