Much Ado About...

Dorin, Anastasia & Marcus!

What was your first experience with Shakespeare?

Dorin: My first exposure to Shakespeare was the usual Grade 10/11/12 English classes that covered Romeo and Juliet/Macbeth/Hamlet, and I had a hard time getting past the language. It was only when going to see a friend perform in several Shakespeare Company shows when he and they were first starting out that I really started to enjoy it. I realized that I didn't need to understand all the words if it's acted well, as the behaviour and relationships would give me the gist. His acting experience served as a catalyst to me getting into acting in the first place, and, although I’ve been in more than a few plays, this is my first full-on Shakespeare play.

Anastasia: I must confess I fell in love with Shakespeare due to Baz Luhrman's 1996 Romeo + Juliet.  I was obsessed! Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes tugged my young heartstrings. That summer I read Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and settled on Twelfth Night as my favourite. My aunt bought me my first Complete Works for my 13th Birthday. Thus, my love affair began.

Marcus: My first exposure to Shakespeare came at the age of 11. My incredibly eager drama teacher decided to give us a choice in the play we were going to perform for the other grade 6 classes. The options were: "King Lear" or "Charlotte's Web"(I have no idea how or why these 2 shows were on the table together, but I can only imagine how wild a full season would have been with my drama teacher as an artistic director). As pre-teens we had to decide between doing a boring play for “babies” or Shakespeare. We didn't like our options until our teacher made us excited to do Lear by telling us that “a character gets their eye's gouged out”. I can't recall how parts were decided, but I landed the title role. Imagine 11-year-old me, wearing a Santa beard, playing King Lear, with ping-pong-ball-eyes bouncing around on stage. The following year, we did "Shrek" or something.