
My dearest students,
I am finally back in Ottawa, safe and sound after a very exciting few days away in Stratford. I had an amazing time at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival! I first visited Stratford when I was in Grade 11 and my English class was fortunate enough to take a trip to go and see The Taming of the Shrew. From that moment, I was hooked both to live theatre and Shakespeare. I am excited to tell you about some of the tings I did while I was away!
On the first day of the conference, we got to have a discussion with some of the Stratford's Festival's actors and a university professor. What I found very interesting was that the actors said that they really want the audience to be engaged and be on the edge of their seats. Also, they said that we would be surprised how much time actors spend talking about the audience. This was something I had never thought of before! Even more reason to be attentive since they are keeping an eye on you (not in a creepy way though;). Next, we went to a workshop that involved lots of fun, hands-on activities (we will definitely do some this year!). That night, we went to see the show Grapes of Wrath. The actors were amazing although I did not really enjoy the play that much (it was quite depressing!). The next morning we went to a dance workshop where we learned how they danced in Shakespearean times. It was hard but really cool! Finally, we went to see Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. It was phenomenal! They had modernized it and it was done with rock and roll music. It was funny, interesting and the actors were unbelievable!
I had such a great time learning all about Shakespeare and his time! I will share my passion for this great literature as the year unfolds. I am very excited to see you all tomorrow!
Warmest regards,
Mme Charles
PS I really enjoyed reading about your week on your blogs! It was always one of the highlights of my day!
PPS In honour of you guys, I went looking for a geocache called Biebermania (since Stratford is his hometown and all). Found it and dedicated it to you guys in my comments :)
PPPS Hope you enjoyed my
recount!
Oops! Almost forgot my awesome things
Thursday's awesome thingLive theatre So I am the first one to admit how much I love movies. Not just a certain kind of movie, but movies in general. However, watching even the best movie could never compare to the thrill that I get from watching live theatre. There is just something about the fact that each performance is unique, no two are ever the same. The lights, the people, the costumes, wow! It is just plain incredible, not to mention....
awesome!Friday's awesomenessRiding at the back of the busOkay, so I know it's been mentioned before, but it truly deserves to be mentioned again. Yellow school buses are really cool, and as an adult it is very rare that we get to ride them. When we do, we are usually at the front of the bus, sometimes in the middle, but never at the back. So when I boarded the bus and saw that back seat free, I ran to it with a smile on my face (I actually walked because you should never run on a bus as it is dangerous, but you know what I mean!) and sank into that dark green bucket seat. Feeling cool at 31?
Awesome!