... in Middle English.
NBD.
This is our group for our Middle English class's performance of Herod, this really awful 16th-century play depicting that time when Herod had all the little boys in Bethlehem killed. Yeah...
Tell me we are not totally legit with our swords though. Luckily one of the girls in our group is dating a boy who is in the fencing club. Quelle chance!
3 knights, 3 Herods, Nuncius
So we each got assigned a part (or two parts, for the three of us below, who each had two or three roles), and we had to memorize our lines IN Middle English. No easy task, my friend, when you consider the fact that the great vowel shift took place after this play was written. Luckily for me, French vowels are pretty similar, and we had a great TA who helped us with some of the trickier pronunciation problems. After a solid week (cough, cough, day) of memorizing, I was ready to go!
The three of us played the knights sent to kill the babies as well as the mothers of the babies (or in our cases, our beloved stuffed animals. Mine was a giraffe)... kind of awkward, yes, but what can you do.
I played Miles (knight) #1 and Muliers (woman) #2. To give you an idea of how unintelligible this text is, here is one of my passages:
Go lightly!
Gett out of this wonys,
Ye trattys, all at onys,
Or by Cokys dere bonys
I make you go wyghtly!
Thay ar flayd now, I wote; thay will not abyde.
So, I mean, you can make sense of it... kind of. I only wish that you could read it in the Middle English accent that I have no choice but to read it in, in my head. It just makes it so much better! I thought that I was going to hate this assignment, but I ended up really liking it. Not that I'm good at acting, by any means, but it was still kind of fun. Oh, but the best part was that afterward, our professor was saying something about how he didn't think this shy girl had it in her to be Herod, and then he goes, "And I get the impression that Mindy just grew up speaking Middle English." Haha! Love it. So, if you need any help with Middle English pronunciation anytime, just let me know!
4 comments:
You never were one to shy away from words--at any decibel level, so it's not a stretch that Middle English suits you. You were practically born speaking. Are you done yet??? :)
Is it sad if I may be saying "fy! fy! fy for reprefe!... have at this habbard and holard..." as the first thing in my head in the morning...?
La bonne réponse: OUI.
I love Dr. Chapman!! I was a "kuh-nikt," too, when we did the same, horrible play. I also thought it was an interesting choice for the Christmas season. I also thought I would hate it, and didn't like parts of it, but had fun in the end. I think we were his first class to do it (clear back in 2008 or 2009 or something). Sorry for making it a success so you had an opportunity, too. Or, maybe, you're welcome??
Haha, Amanda I guess I'll say thank you!! It really was fun :) Glad that you know what I'm talking about with liking that horrible play.
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