“What say’st thou noble heart” I asked Roderigo. I had begun to act out my play for our English Shakespeare project. As I continued to blaze through my lines while maintaining my composure as Iago, my nerves about forgetting my lines began to vanish. Then all of a sudden, I had lost the next line. I began to ponder back and forth trying to remember my lines, but I continued to choke. I was standing in the middle of the stage all alone while my classmates stared at me with blank faces. I looked to the crowd to find some help, but the faces continued to stare at me with confusion. “What say’st thou Iago” asked the black stares.

Prior to the performance, I prepared enough to accurately play my character, Iago. My partner Nick and I had met together many times and I felt like I was ready for the scene. I had an idea of how the play would turn out. I thought that I would stand up in front of my fellow classmates and show them a side of me that they have never seen before. I also wanted to show the true character Iago and why he acted in the ways he did. I envisioned Iago as a very sneaky, deceiving, and stubborn man in this play because he uses the trust of others to fulfill his own lusts. I tried to portray Iago as this dishonest and sly man that was out for himself. My ultimate goal was to show my classmates what Iago was like as a character and how he went about getting what he wanted. I conveyed Iago’s personality to the audience by using my facial expressions to show Iago’s character. Mostly, I would whisper to myself and raise my eyebrows to show Iago’s sneaky and untruthful actions. In my scene, I also used body contact to show how Iago gains the trust of others. For instance, I held my arm around Roderigo’s shoulder in the play to portray as if Iago wanted what was best for Roderigo, when really Iago was looking out for himself. Overall, I felt as if I tried my best to portray my character Iago. Even though I messed up in my play, I tried as best I could to portray Iago.

In looking back at my preparation for portraying Iago, I think that possibly I could have used a little more practice. Although, a little bit more preparation could have helped me more with my play. If I could go back before the time to when I got my lines, I would have started practicing more so that way, I would not have to be worried about my lines. In looking back at my live performance on stage, I feel as if I portrayed Iago as the sneaky and dishonest man I thought he was until I choked on my lines. I feel that when I messed up my lines, I skewed with the portrayal of Iago to the audience. I feel that because I messed up my lines, my classmates did not get the full idea of who Iago really was from the scene. I feel as if my mistakes caused the audience to focus more on my mistake than Iago’s character, thus taking away from Iago’s character. If I could go back and do it differently, I would try to be less nervous on stage. I would do this by imagining the crowd was not even there. I feel that I knew the lines completely, but the pressure of performing really flustered me and took away from my scene. If I could do it differently, I would also try and remain in character during my scene. When I forgot my lines, I feel as if I lost not only my focus but the audience’s focus on my character. If I would have remained in character, I think I could have remembered more of my lines and portrayed my scene much better.

After looking back at the situation the thing I could have possibly done better was practice. Although my main problem was stage fright, it was caused by me not being one-hundred percent memorized by my lines. It was ironic that at the beginning of the play. I felt as if I did what I needed to play the part of Iago. Ultimately, I did not practice more because I felt I practiced what I needed to do well and not what I needed to make my project great.