William Shakespeare@ Red Room

The month of May has been very Shakespearean. I'd never studied William Shakespeare's plays more diligently before in my whole life. It's been a fantastic experience to know more about Shakespeare, the greatest tycoon of English literature. It's been fun to read aloud the famous lines of Romeo & Juliet, The Tragedy of Hamlet, A Midsummer-Night's Dream, As You Like It, and The Tragedy of Macbeth on Sunday afternoons.

It was at the Stage Time and Wine@ Red Room where I read William Shakespeare with enthusiastic theater lovers twice in April and thrice in May. I was first invited to the Red Room by Ruth Giordano in March this year. Ruth and I met at a Toastmasters club meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April 2011.

Being a Toastmaster, I'm fond of meeting up with people and giving speeches in public. When Ruth invited me to the Red Room, I was flattered. I remember the Saturday evening when I slided the heavy wooden door of the Red Room for the first time, I was impressed by the large living room furnished with all sorts of exquisite antique mirrors. It was a full house of passionate and energetic people lining up to read, to sing, but most importantly, to listen.

When Ruth asked me if I would be interested in joining the Shakespeare Reading Theater hosted by the Red Room at the Fringe Festival 2012 in September. Without second thought, I jumped at the opportunities. Ruth is the Director and her better half is the Playwright.

The Shakespeare Reading Theater is a two-part event featuring Shakespeare's greatest hits. The spoken word will be presented to stimulate the imagination. It is Shakespeare to See but, especially to be heard. Part One features scenes from Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo & Juliet, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Henry V, As You Like It. Part Two is a one-act adaptation of The Tragedy of Macbeth.

First Reading, April 15th, I did the "Taming of the Shrew" for the voice audition.
Second Reading, April 29th, I attempted various roles of Part One, including Nick Bottom in A Midsummer-Night's Dream.
Third Reading, May 13th, I read various roles in Part One and Part Two.
Fourth Reading, May 20th, I read different roles in Part One.
Fifth Reading, May 27th, I read as the Narrator in Part One. I was requested to study three roles of the Tragedy of Macbeth at home in advance, including Lady Macbeth, Lady MacDuff, and the second Witch. I studied line by line of the entire script and compared it with the translated version by Professor Liang Shih-chiu. It was fun to study the background of the Tragedy of Macbeth, and to know the history of the Scottish Play.  

It was a bon voyage reading party for Ruth this afternoon as she would be back to the US with her husband for summer vacation. We had beer, cheese, biscuits. I brought a half dozen of pastéis de Belémpies and a bag of dried mint leaves. We watched DVD of Shakespeare Monologues featuring Ian McKellen. It was inspiring and entertaining! I hope I can watch all Shakespearean plays on DVDs and as many books about the art of voice acting as possible this  Summer!