But don’t we all…
Good morrow reader, and welcome to my first summative portfolio post of 2021. Over the past 5 weeks, the PLP 10 class has been working towards a production unlike any other. Somehow against all odds we managed to pull off a radio show version of Shakespeare’s. “Romeo and Juliet.” What exactly did that entail, well I could go on forever. I can confidently say that this was the biggest project of my grade 10 year so far and with that comes growth. Let’s dive into my reflection on said growth and how I’ve gotten to that point with the help of this project!
The driving question asked us how we could bring our own presentation and adaptation of Romeo and Juliet for radio to life, in order to help a modern audience appreciate the relevance of Shakespeare in present day. Personally I think we succeeded, not only in bringing the play to life, but also in preaching the relevance of Shakespeare. Starting off with milestone 2. Before this milestone, I had created 3 podcast episodes, each of them solo and in an informative style. Our task for the second milestone, was to answer the question, “What makes a classic?” The best part came in how we had to present our answer, a co-hosted podcast episode. My group mates, Angelo and Brenton, and I sat down and had a recorded discussion on the topic. The conversation was fantastic in the fact that we managed to integrate our individual podcast topics as well as the idea of Romeo and Juliet, and the answer to the question, “What makes a classic.” Over the past few years I’ve gained tons of experience in recording and making something out of unscripted conversations and material. Since we knew what we had to discuss and how we had to maneuver the conversation, the results were better than I expected. I personally prefer making a co-hosted podcast rather than a solo one. I really loved having the option to use other peoples voices, thoughts, and ideas to help prove my point or answer the question. It does require LOTS of meticulous editing but it makes for a better episode.
On the flip side there are things I learned from the making of the co-hosted episodes. Like don’t leave editing to the last minute, and plan your conversation but don’t script it. There’s definitely a sweet spot and I’m not sure that I’ve hit it yet, but that’s a goal for the next one.
Now moving into a second “phase,” of this project. Our live radio show. I kid you not the level of stress this production instilled in me was through the roof. Despite that I survived and actually had a lot of fun. Our class was divided into four teams, which in the end almost proved useless but was practical for the beginning. Down to one week pre-performance and we all had roles, with the exception of myself and 2 of my peers. Cut even closer to the show and I was given a new job. Re-write the script, two days prior to the performance. 🥲. I did it, successfully might I add and with the help of my classmate Meg. While it was taxing on my sleep schedule, or lack thereof I was very happy with how it turned out and the production was a success. On a more reflective note, I learned a thing or two from this experience. The first being that, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, can fall apart or simply not work even down to hours before a presentation. I’ve been in similar situations before with projects like DI, but this was different in a sense. The fact that the story made zero sense instilled so much panic and yet I was able to pull through. The second big thing I came out of this final production with, was my understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare in 2021. If you know me personally this might seem biased as I am a humanities driven person, but in all honesty, I’ve seen many adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, and my ability to analyze and further understand them is a fantastic skill to have.
All in all, this project was one for the books. I’ve come out the other side with a greater understanding of how Shakespeare’s works have become classics and are adapted all the time. I didn’t even know that one of my all time favourite movies is simply an adaptation of “The Taming of the Shrew.” But that’s all for today and thank you for reading!
Ciara
