To be or not to be versed in Shakespeare
“Wherefore art thou, Romeo?”
The quote from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is often misinterpreted. But students at the Pegasus School in Huntington Beach zeroed right in on the meaning.
“[Juliet] isn’t asking where Romeo is,” said Ellie Bush, a 12-year-old sixth-grader, pointing out a common misconception.
“The whole speech is Juliet asking Romeo why he has to have the last name Montague. She’s wants Romeo to forget his family name and remember their love.”
Pegasus students study the Bard throughout their years at the private school, which offers preschool through eighth grade.
On Friday — the day before the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death — nearly 20 students in sixth through eighth grades presented monologues from “Romeo and Juliet,” “Macbeth,” “Hamlet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” competing against each other to see who would do the best reenactment.
But the participants were asked to go beyond a recitation of the speeches. They needed to understand every word they were saying.
It’s all part of Shakespeare Week, which is a national annual celebration that aims to bring the Bard, who died on or near his birthday, to life for primary school children.
Kathy Henderson, a former librarian at Pegasus, said she started the Shakespeare program at the school 13 years ago to give students a deeper understanding of Shakespeare.
“Shakespeare is a gift, and it’s one you need a guide into,” she said. “The younger you start, the better it is.”
Each grade level learns age-appropriate lessons relating to Shakespeare during the annual weeklong program, which encourages kids and faculty to dress in garb evocative of the era.
Kindergarteners learn facts about the playwright and are encouraged to speak with their parents, neighbors and other adults about him so they get an understanding of the universality of his stories. As they get older, the children are quizzed, with the questions becoming increasing complex.
By third grade, students can join the year-round Shakespeare Club, which involves a good deal of acting. And when they reach the middle school level, when they study Shakespeare’s plays on a regular basis in class, they can compete in the monologue competition and participate in a picnic, complete with traditional music and performers on stilts.
Jason Lopez, head of the school, said he believes the Shakespeare lessons make Pegasus unique.
“When I’m watching our students performing, I’m impressed by the performances always, but even more so I’m amazed by the audience of students who understand what’s going on and understand what they’re saying,” he said. “I think part of the challenge is having the confidence that you can introduce something like this to a young child and they can understand it, so long as the teaching is there.”
Six students in the monologue competition won tickets to see a production by Shakespeare Orange County.
Natalie Lou, who won for her humorous portrayal of Puck from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” said coaches and teachers help the students prepare for their monologues.
“A lot of us at Pegasus read a lot of Shakespeare, and it helps that our teachers break down each section for us to explain the different meanings of the words,” said the 13-year-old, who was dressed in a forest-green fairy outfit with a crown made of fake shrubbery on her head.
Ellie, dressed in a light-blue Renaissance period dress, said she tries to understand the stories by relating them to her own life, like comparing Romeo and Juliet to her parents.
“They would do anything for each other,” she said. “They’re just like that.”
She said while some of the themes, like death, are shocking for kids her age, they understand that the stories are from a different time period.
“Shakespeare is really fun when you think about it,” Ellie said. “The thing about Shakespeare is if you’re performing it, you get to put yourself into a completely different person. You’re not just portraying a person. You are that person because you’re speaking in a language you wouldn’t normally use, so you have to work harder. It’s just a lot of fun.”
