helena


Currently, the biggest thing happening in my life is A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, as performed by Uni High. Going into this, I thought, "yo, you're a senior. you've got all the time in the world to learn a really huge and challenging Shakespeare role."

No, Kat. Stop taking responsibilities. Get some sleep.

It's too late. I play Helena, arguably the most important character in the show. I'll start by saying this show is super fun and I'm really excited to take on the challenge.  I guess I'm pretty nervous about that. Shakespeare's works are hard enough to capture when reading silently, alone. It's daunting to memorize these lines, understand my own words, and identify with a woman I don't ever want to become.

The thing about Helena is she's pathetic. She spends all her time chasing after Demetrius, a colossal douchebag. [Am I allowed to cuss on this? idk @ Dr. Majerus lmk if that's not ok.] Essentially, Demetrius hops to whatever relationship he will benefit the most from, most recently abandoning Helena for Hermia, who knows what she wants and takes it. Hermia is strong where Helena is weak. Hermia is short where Helena is tall. Hermia is assertive, even aggressive, where Helena encourages emotional abuse at her expense.

In the first act, Helena resolves to foil Hermia's plans to leave and find happiness because it means that she'll get to spend time with Demetrius...while chasing after Hermia, his "love." The further into the show we get, the sadder and sadder she gets.

SPOILER: She never really learns to love herself. Everything works out, I guess, but she doesn't take time to really become her own person. I just want better for her.

Regardless, I'm so excited to learn this role and all that, and I really want to do her justice, since Will Shakespeare didn't write her the ending she deserved.

Aight. Good talk. Kat out.

Comments

  1. Massive PeanutbrainAugust 31, 2017 at 12:20 PM

    I have read the book in freshmen year and I also do not like Helena as a character.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MajerusSeptember 9, 2017 at 8:30 PM

    I love your contrasting description of Hermia and Helena. You are so right to want more for her as a character, but she still gets some very funny and verbally enjoyable lines. I'm looking forward to the play. (Also, "douchebag" we can handle. Remind me to talk about language use issues in class...)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ema RajicSeptember 12, 2017 at 7:09 AM

    I remember when I read this play and I didn't like Helena either. However I really enjoyed this post because you talked about your struggles with taking on a big project/responsibility. I hope you somewhat start to understand Helena and figure out a way to take on her identity for the play!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Leslie AnukwuSeptember 26, 2017 at 11:17 AM

    Have you memorized your lines yet? :D Also, my theory on why she is so underdeveloped is because she is a woman and its a Shakespeare play, meaning that he couldn't take out the time or it wasn't very accepted that she be that "high and mighty" (Idk if my history is right or not). I'm sure whoever Demetrius is in the play will be your knight in shining armor, at the end of the day at least. I'm sure you're gonna do great as Helena! Good luck with your senior year and opening night!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A List of Things That Stress Me Out

The following is a list of things, in no particular order, that are currently contributing to my anxious state of existence: spiders Spiders are so important for our environment to function but... like... stay in your lane. I don't go outside, you don't come inside. Please. My grandpa always told me spiders are more scared of me than I am of them, but I don't know about that anymore, Grandpa. There are more spiders on Earth than there are people. They could be lurking, preparing for world domination. We don't know.  also snakes THEY HAVE SHARP TEETH. WHERE ARE THEIR BONES. NO THANKS. the apocalypse When the apocalypse happens, I won't be able to get conditioner so my hair won't be soft. Also I won't be able to get my heart medication and there will be no painkillers so I will die and be able to feel every second of it!!   college + a career??? The future is terrifying and I am too young to be sure of what I want to do and where I want to
Read more

A Letter to Crunchy Peanut Butter Eaters

Dear heathens, For some unholy reason, there is currently no creamy peanut butter in my house. We have crunchy, and we have extra crunchy. To anyone and everyone who has participated in the crunchy peanut butter consumption that made my family think this was acceptable, I blame you. You will not be forgiven for this. And we need to talk. What are you doing? Why do you do this to yourselves? Peanut butter should not have a notable texture past sticky. I don't care what kind of bread you use. I don't care what kind of jelly. I don't care if you skip the bread and jelly altogether and eat your peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon. Doesn't matter to me. Let's just look at peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a moment, though. The standard recipe is two slices of bread, one spread with peanut butter and one spread with jelly. What we  don't do is attempt to slather CRUNCHY peanut butter all over the sandwich and completely destroy the integrity of
Read more

"There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last."

If any of you have ever been in the same building as me, you've probably heard me professing my love of Jonathon Larson's iconic musical Rent .  Rent  and macaroni and cheese are the only things that consistently cheer me up, no matter what's happening in my life. It is not only the reason I got into theatre but it is one of the biggest influencers in my life. Rent  is a rock opera, the first of its kind. The musical depicts a year in the lives of 8 New Yorkers, most of whom are poor artists with AIDS. Ironically, despite being written about the importance of AIDS awareness and research, Jonathon Larson died of an aortic aneurysm caused by undiagnosed Marfan Syndrome. Marfans is a condition that no one really knew about in the 90s, and in 2017 is still in need of awareness and research.  Jonathon Larson died the morning of Rent 's first Off-Broadway preview performance. He died less than 24 hours from his work changing musical theatre forever. He died confident that
Read more